Bluebird22

Group 2 she had a red/burgundy leotard Swanprincess. This is our first experience of ballet theatre uk and Midas and I'm so pleased the girls decided to try them. Think it's a great confidence boost especially after knock backs from royal earlier in the year

I've just heard from my pupil re: ballet theatre uk, she has been offered a part scholarship for the summer programme and a place on the associate programme! Lots of good news all round for my pupils, one has waiting list at MiDAS and one has a place. And thankfully we've all been spared the long waits for decisions, which makes it all even better! Congratulations to all the lucky bunheads who've been awarded places

drdance, is it possible to just do one day of the summer intensive?

Robin64, I've seen my pupil today who auditioned yesterday and she was full of it! She absolutely loved it! Had another pupil audition at Ballet Theatre UK who loved that too! The weather must have made everyone very cheery as both girls commented on the lovely music at both auditions. Fingers crossed for your DD

I had a student audition yesterday Swanprincess and she loved it too! It's always lovely to hear of auditions where it is enjoyable for the pupil! I think you may have been in the same group as my pupil. Am I right in thinking everyone should know by Friday/Saturday, great if so I'm just as impatient as the kids!

Our dance school puts on a week long summer school, with the end product being a show case at a local theatre. We take everyone, and group them according to age and ability. We have teachers from all over come in and teach a routine and run a class, body works head of jazz teaches, one of the thriller cast, one of the billy elliot cast,ex northern ballet dancer, etc. It's a great week and everyone really enjoys it, there's lots of variety and for those who want to go off to vocational school it's a good opportunity to work with top dancers and teachers. Might be something other dance schools could look into? Especially since a lot of the non residential summer schools work out too expensive for parents

As a dance teacher I'm in the process of assisting 2 pupils with DVD applications, purely because the auditions clash with holidays. Some things I've noticed: always check that the light is good in the studio, mark through each step with the camera since some lines will look awful if the angle is wrong, encourage your dancer to really perform since it will look smaller anyway on DVD, try not to dance along with them since the camera starts bobbing (oops). And a little tip for photos try and shoot from below as it makes legs look longer. With the exception of a DVD audition I did myself, this is my first experience of videoing dance. I have recruited one if the Dancing Dads to help with the more techy side and what he has put together is brilliant looks very professional and far better than anything I could manage. (Think he was also quite pleased to be of some use to his dd, since his wife normally does everything shoes, hair, sewing etc) I can certainly see why it's useful since you can keep referring back to it and comparing it long after all the other children have left. I've said for a long time would be hugely beneficial for exams to be recorded to avoid any discrepancies between examiners marking etc. read another thread regarding RAD marks and the huge differences that have occurred this time. To this end I'm glad it's not just BBO that have vastly different marks depending on examiner!

What examining body is this with?

She taught at the BBO dance days and then some pupils have classes with her once a month. She's a real ballet icon, very old school in her ways but the students are always desperate to please her! Legseleven, did your DD also have classes with Simon Horrill? He taught me when I was a scholar and doing my teacher training, I always thoroughly enjoyed his classes and I know my students do too

Oh absolutely drdance, I have a little rule with all my associates, whenever they go to their associate programme or dance intensive, they write down one correction and one thing they were praised on for as many of the classes and teachers that they can. It's great I love seeing what the students come back with, especially after classes with Brenda Last!! The bbo offers a jazz scholarship scheme which is great but I do try and encourage even those who aren't bun heads to get as a high a quality of ballet as they possibly can, because its unavoidable whatever they decide to do dance wise! The Lowry one probably would be closer though I think there is also one in Leicester or Nottingham which wouldn't be too bad either

I think that would be a great idea, I know the singing element has a lot of my pupils on edge. In fact one is so terrified of the singing element she is not even sure she should audition for vocational. If he does decide to put some workshops on please let me know as I'm sure I have pupils who would be willing to try. I also know of a venue I use £10 an hour depending on where you wanted to run classes

Yes there's very few who have heard of bbo if you go beyond Birmingham! I think I would be interested to see a little more of the RAD syllabus since I know a lot of girls at vocational either do istd or rad, so from a prepping point of view maybe that would be beneficial. I can only think of one local RAD school and I know a few of their former students are now at ballet west, central or have just left elmhurst

I can't believe schools would wish to ban their pupils from extra dance activities, it seems a little self centred and vain to assume a child can be the absolute best they can be with only one tutor ? My boss and principal, has always encouraged her pupils and staff to audition for associate programmes and take part in whatever additional training they can access, and I've always assumed that was the norm! I'm based predominately in stoke on Trent but I also teach in Cheshire and Staffordshire moorlands. Bbo is a huge thing locally. In fact at any bbo course or weekend it tends to be predominately northern children with very few from the south. We also use the idta syllabus for some subjects, and one of my pupils is off to Walsall this weekend to compete in their freestyle scholarships.

Taximom, what is CAT? And angeline your advice has been fantastic! We are currently in the process of moving studios, so we are planning an open day to celebrate, I think having some professional dancers give talks and share their experiences would be hugely beneficial to both pupils and parents. I think I may try and include some of our studios current vocational students to give a more current perspective. As a new member to this forum I can't believe how helpful and informative everyone has been. I've got so many new ideas to help my pupils. Thank you all again and feel free to keep sharing ideas I'm finding it very useful!

Wow everyone has raised brilliant points! I think I will put together an information pack about full time and vocational school as I think hfbrew and Tulip have said the decision definitely needs to come from the pupil and their family! I do encourage my pupils to go and watch dance and on more than one occasion I've taken them myself to save the parents spending money on a ticket. I think viewing dance whether its balle, musical theatre or contemporary only ever has a positive influence on the kids. The time back to class so enthusiastic and inspired which I think is really important! As far as associate programmes and sharing on the website goes we do try and do that but I've found individual guidance specific to each pupil t be more effective. One of the boys I teach auditioned and gained places at SLP and Hammond as an associate and declined both places because he just felt something didn't quite work for him there. Having done a little more digging he's since decided he wants to focus on just ballet and contemporary rather than a wider range of subjects. What would everyone recommend as far as those students who want to study classically rather than musical theatre/commercial at 12/13 when they make that decision should they focus purely on subjects taught at ballet school or should they continue to study all forms of dance? Will studying everything prove to be a hindrance ultimately? Thanks again, everyone's advice has been brilliant X

Hi all I'm new to this forum and having read round some of the other topics, thought i would try and see what help you can give me! I've taught at my local dance school for the past 8 years, and as a relatively young teacher I started with the tinies and a lot of those have stayed with me (the eldest of my pupils now being 14). A number of my older pupils have expressed a desire to go on to further vocational training in either ballet or musical theatre. Obviously these are my first pupils I'm preparing really, and I want to make sure I'm doing the absolute best I can for them. Should I be recommending that those age 12 and aiming for ballet careers audition for full time places earlier than 16 or should associate programmes be sufficient? We are based in the midlands, and from a financial point some of the associate programmes in the south were just too far to travel. A number of them currently hold BBO ballet scholarships, SLP associates, Hammond and Elmhurst associates. They are also auditioning for MIDAS, Ballet Theatre UK, York Ballet, and I have a number auditioning currently for JAs with Royal and Elmhurst. On top of their ordinary syllabus classes they attend specialist technique classes working on perfecting their ballet and audition technique. Should I be doing anymore? Would really appreciate any guidance you can give me, as I want to give my pupils the best possible chance! I have suggested to a number of them taking classes with different teachers within our school which some of them have done and others have declined Thanks xx