Bluebird22

@Picturesinthefirelight I am completely with you! I don’t think it’s my place as a teacher to advise students to use tampons over pads, it is a very very personal choice! What I have suggested are black tights, ballet skirts and if it makes them feel more comfortable shorts.

I have a student in year 5 currently doing Royal and Elmhurst, it seems to be the norm for that particular centre. I’ve had quite a few in the past do both, all I should add are very high energy kids. To begin with they found it very tiring, naps on the car journey home etc, but I think the times for one changes when they move year groups making it a slightly later start in the morning. We only live just over an hour away from the Birmingham centres so travel time isn’t too bad.

@SJBallet yes bun pins, particularly on thick hair, although I’ve seen the shorter length bun pins being used on fine hair too. This is the link I send out to parents

I recommend the U shaped hair pins rather than bobby pins, and sort of knit them into the plaits!

I feel I was overly cynical last night, I’m very very tired, desperate for a holiday and too invested in my students! I’ve concluded my girls being teenagers are prone to dramatics, and the likelihood is the panel did look at them but ruled them out as unsuitable early on and then they stopped looking at them. It was a big audition group and there’s not too much point continuing to look at someone if they aren’t great at the barre, unless they suddenly draw your attention in the centre!

My students thoroughly enjoyed the ballet class said the teacher gave them loads of feedback throughout... but the panel didn’t look away from the boys. I was aware beforehand that they were particularly interested in me sending boys (I sent a mix) I just wish more places would adopt the Hammond associates approach and not audition girls when they aren’t looking for girls. Ive had a very long day so maybe this is the cynic in me escaping for a rant- apologies!

We’ve heard from Manchester, pretty much the results I expected (annoyingly!)

Still waiting for Manchester! There’s a post on facebook saying they will be out this week apparently

I think body type is a huge huge part of it, but so many kids have that ideal body type that the magic has to play a part in it, or else how do they decide between one kid with the perfect body and another ! @meadowblythe I thought you were going to have some lovely tale with the shoes, I have one of my first students who went to vocational schools ballet shoe with the little green dot I drew on the heel to remind him to show off the inside of the foot, framed on my living room wall! I am far too sentimental for my own good. I think the same can be said for most dance teachers your babies are our babies too, so we are here nail biting and anxiously refreshing and sending message after message wanting to know if the results have come yet, and if they aren’t they are just exercise more professional restraint than I do!

@Pinkpip100 I was in a very fortunate position with one of my students 2 years back where they auditioned for something and I knew someone on the panel, this was after an unsuccessful JA audition. Turns out in auditions they completely lost their confidence and stopped being the child they were in class and exams, not that they became awful but the panel just didn’t see the magic, they were just another “good kid”. The term before the next round of JA auditions I did lots and lots of mini auditions in class and adopted so many different personas, minimal speaking, hyper strict, fast paced, slow and finickity teaching styles. I was shocked myself as they did completely disintegrate in audition type scenarios. Something must have twigged because the second JA audition and subsequent Elmhurst audition were both immediate yeses, followed by summer school offers, EYB places and further associate offers. Perhaps your dd does have real potential but it’s her audition presence and confidence that needs work?

I think there are still some waiting to hear from Manchester!

No nothing yet! I emailed and they said they were hoping to get them out this week 🤷🏻‍♀️

This is the first year in quite a few years my Year 6 SATs kids have seemingly been under no pressure, which has been joyful to see- moving to high school is a big enough transition without pressure in the final few months of Primary school. My GCSE kids on the other hand have been under more and more pressure, my job during this time completely changes, I get all their exams done and dusted before the start of GCSE exams and when they come to dance class I just respond to what they need, which is sometimes just a yoga inspired lesson or floor barre. I’m not going to get anything out of them when their mind is elsewhere. Those auditioning for vocational school I encourage them to get all auditions done before Christmas.

I didn’t do very well getting feedback from Elmhurst but Royal did give me feedback. The general conversation is not so much what is wrong with your child that meant they didn’t get a place, they pointed out a few issues but certainly not factors that have held others back, it feels more like a case of “there was just others we wanted more”

We find North Ealing tube station car park to be very cheap, I think we paid £4.50 for the day back in March. According to maps it’s about 50minutes to Rambert. Keen to hear of any other cheap parking options! I’m a very confident driver everywhere but central London, North Ealing is nicely within my comfort zone, minimal traffic minimal stress!

Canvas do wear out quicker, but not as quickly as canvas ballet shoes, not sure on why. I think the canvas do a better job of blending into the line of the leg, that may be because the girls I teach who wear them have unusually pale complexions? Canvas you can probably get away with washing too, which is a major plus as they will be in direct contact with the dancers feet!

Do you mean these? https://uk.blochworld.com/product/S0639L?gclid=Cj0KCQjw_r3nBRDxARIsAJljleH6ZETauZHpGswSVAP7E3OvG2DGqdsMpWWhVkjJV6Rq7eNTI1ZrhAkaAqceEALw_wcB Some of my students wear them as an alternative to foot thongs for modern as contemporary as they've found their little toe gets left behind when they pirouette in foot thongs. I haven’t explained that very well, but it can be quite painful!

It is a separate audition and scheme, some of mine did both. There were two audition groups for juniors today, I would say maybe 20 in each group. All the other auditions just had one group and I think mids and seniors were together in one audition

Spent the day sat at auditions today in Manchester. Normal class format, all of my students enjoyed the ballet, not so keen on the jazz!

I’ve used gogo designs in Leek Staffs, they have a full catalogue of things they can personalise with embroidery or screen printing depending on your preference. Turn around time varies depending on workload but the longest I’ve had to wait is 2 weeks and I think that was around a bank holiday. I found them quite reasonably priced too and the quality was really good.

Student received hands on correction the year she was offered a place, so don’t take it as a negative!

One of my students will be heading to ballet upper school in September. They have danced with me since they were 2. They’ve consistently danced with me for about 7 hours per week (1 evening and a Saturday afternoon + assisting with younger classes), with associate classes once a fortnight and EYB/full length ballet productions and workshops thrown into the mix as well. In the run up to auditions we substituted a class lesson for a private lesson. And for a number of years an at home conditioning programme has been in place. Most recent ballet result was Distinction* At 11 vocational school wouldn’t have been an option- every child is different. If at home training is what’s best for your child then find a teacher who your child clicks with and who has a similar mindset and goal as you. There are many brilliant teachers out there, but not every brilliant teacher will be the right person to guide and nurture your child. Good luck!

One of my little students went to see Puss in Boots for her birthday and was fizzing with excitement at her next class. I think it’s a much better approach for little ones to have their own ballet.

Happy to be corrected on this... but I think funding for the Degree courses from Student Finance is GCSE grade dependent. This is probably not an issue for most but I have had some students who have found maths hugely problematic, so it’s been discussed!

I have students who have done west end productions and also tours. They rehearsed in London and generally stayed in hotels with chaperones for the rehearsal period. One production then had to spend 6 weeks rehearsing at the first tour venue. It does vary between productions and how they work their child licensing. Some are a week on tour a week off performing maybe 4 shows, some break less frequently for home visits but perform fewer times per week. Think the norm seems to be 3 casts although certain performances you can be down as understudy so you can’t leave the area.