Farawaydancer

5 hours ago, expatballetmom said:

Hi-

We sent in an application for EBS SI and this may sound like a basic question but was there an application fee or a return confirmation email once submitted? A confirmation # flashed on screen but I didn't receive a confirmation email. I emailed them to inquire but haven't heard back. 

 

Also, as an aside, any experiences with Elmhurst Si for a 13 yr old. It says its a three day intensive only so curious how much dancing is involved and if there are levels.

 

Thanks!

They are split into levels and they have four 1.5hour classes each day. DD enjoyed the junior summer school but preferred the longer senior one once she was old enough. 

36 minutes ago, Exhausteddancemum said:

Thank you so much! My daughter was really impressed by it and now has heart set on it 🤦🏼‍♀️ I have explained it’s practically unlikely to happen as such limited MDS places. I know they offered some on the audition day but was trying to work out of there was an slim possibility there were some left to still try for  

The ones they give out early tend to be those which have become available in a particular year group and they can start immediately, the ones given to y7s are the ones freed up by the leaving y11s if that makes sense? Good luck, it’s a very happy school. 

Lots of information around this now thankfully. 

They do accept students out of year group for upper school. 

My older dc really struggled to settle in y7, it wasn’t helped by an unsupportive ballet tutor making those lessons miserable. He probably would have jumped at the chance of coming home every weekend, to decompress a little, but it wasn’t an option really due to distance. He didn’t really settle until y8. However, he never wanted to move to a different school. There was enough about it that he enjoyed, to get him through the tougher days. I think if we’d seen that he wasn’t enjoying any of it or if he’d regularly been distressed on the phone to us, then we would have made the decision for him to come home. Children can’t always appreciate the long term implications of the decisions we make and sometimes we just have to make the unpopular choices for them. 

It isn’t quite as simple as a certain number of dada places.  Dada funding is a lot of money, so they might have 10 people who need a lot of it each, or twenty people who don’t need so much. It depends on the applicants that year. 

My dd is at Hammond, feel free to DM. 

AdB’s class is definitely a Gen class, adapted for a range of dancers, whereas Emma’s is very much an adv/pro class! (This is according to my dc of course, I can only dream of being fit enough to take any class!!

2 minutes ago, TJK said:

Hi everyone,

 

OK, I'm new.... with lots of questions! My daughter is now Year 11, and about to apply for VT starting 2023. Two pressing issues;

 

1. Her current ballet school has just stopped offering Advanced F classes due to lack of numbers, and I am scrambling to fill in the gaps in her training. She is getting one class, but needs more support. On a waiting list at RAD - any other suggestions in London? Thanks.

 

2. What are Vocational training institutions looking for in a 16 yr old applicant? What should she be doing NOW to increase her chances of getting in?

 

Thanks SO much

If you’re London based you have lots of options but I would contact Emma Northmore and see which ABA/BBA classes were suitable. 

You can opt for a current year assessment if you’re expected to have a substantially different income that year, but once you’ve done it you can’t switch back again in subsequent years, because you can’t be assessed on the same income twice.  

2 hours ago, Balletbuds80 said:

I think i know deep down that i am just not ready for this to happen right now and we will probably wait a few years. She is part of a great dance school and also does a weekly associate course. 
Apologies if i offended anyone with my original post asking is 11 too young? It is a question i have asked myself for my DD and us as a family. I totally appreciate it will be exactly the right time for some DC.
Yes there is the cost element. We would make changes to make it work as i am sure many do. We may still go down the route of auditioning to see what happens and make our final decision on the results. Good luck to you all. 

That’s an answer that is individual for each child, family and local circumstances. One of my dc ideally would have gone later, but he wouldn’t have still been dancing at all had he gone to a local school, we just don’t have access to suitable training locally. My other dc was absolutely ready to go at 11 and is thriving in a vocational (and boarding) environment. 

2 hours ago, Balletbuds80 said:

Hi. We are in the position in that my DD wants to go at 11 and us parents are reluctant to send her. So i am in a quandary about what to do. Will she resent us if we hold her back? Her dance school principal has said it would be selfish of us to hold her back. Talk about Mum guilt. We cant afford it for one. Is 11 too young? Only at the weekend we heard about a bad experience but know there are good experiences too. 

If you can’t afford it then it can’t happen. And it’s very much not up to her teacher! I’d be really cross if my dc’s teachers had said that. 

Dd could only do hers consistently well and to her satisfaction when she had no choice but to do it herself every morning! Until then it was easier to give up and just get me to do it. 

As others have said it’s perfectly normal for her to be anxious, it’s a huge thing. However I would also let her know that it’s ok if she changes her mind. There are a couple of children every year that don’t turn up as expected in September for one reason or another. I’ve always made it clear to my dc that coming home is always an option, that nothing is absolute. They’ve never taken me up on it, except for two weeks in y8 where my ds needed some support dealing with his ballet teacher and it couldn’t be done at school, but they always know it’s possible and we would listen to them. 

There was an Elmhurst one which had the same - a boy leaving because he didn’t have funding. It’s still on YouTube I think. 

2 hours ago, Kerfuffle said:

Interesting comparisons between the world of ballet and football, although there are some major differences too. In sport it’s much more obvious why you aren’t achieving as much as someone else - it’s  much more quantifiable than in the arts where aesthetics and other aspects are so subjective. It’s interesting to see that some of the depression amongst the performing arts is related to the precarious nature of their employment (actors have higher rates than dancers, perhaps because they go from job to job rather than being in a company). Creative work does require you to make yourself open to rejection and self criticism but that act of creativity is also hugely fulfilling and for some it’s the only thing that can make them happy. Ideally there is more than one route to this, not only as a star of stage/screen/concert hall but also as an amateur or being a teacher nurturing those skills in the next generation or a creative career behind the scenes. I guess if we had a world where children could learn these skills but also be well educated and resilient that would make up for the potential disappointments ahead. Unfortunately this is hard in both  the arts and sports and more needs to be done to help support them when they “fail” - which might  mean changing paths but hopefully lead to something just as fulfilling. 

My ds was in the same primary school class as a boy who went through the academy system and is currently signed to one of the big premiership teams. Whilst their earnings might be poles apart, I at least know my ds has had a good education and has a plan b/c/d. The same cannot be said for his primary school friend, who’s secondary education has been patchy at best. 

2 hours ago, Medora said:

I find it very difficult to understand exactly what is involved, we have been sent the audition pack but I still can’t seem to find the total cost anywhere. I also think it would be so very helpful if they could publish the rehearsal schedule on their website instead of just giving it over the phone. 

This is why we didn’t go forward with it last year - couldn’t get any definite details out of them, everything was a bit vague and the lack of an upfront cost was off putting!! Shame because it sounds like a lovely experience. 

1 minute ago, BusyDancemum said:

Thank you! There was no mention of a waitlist in the email so I just wondered.

They will sometimes give you a hint, if you ask directly, as to where you are on the list, and therefore whether you are likely to be offered mds. 

18 minutes ago, BusyDancemum said:

We also had an email with self funding information.  Does anyone know if there is a waitlist for MDS?  And if so is everyone placed on it or only if it is mentioned.

They put everyone in order and offer to the next on the list. There will be movement as people takes places elsewhere, so hang in there, there is hope! 

1 hour ago, MissEmily said:

@dancermom I know about girls, but not boys. 29 girls (according to my not-always-totally-reliable pupil!) were at the second day and they’ll offer 13 girls places.

They will offer as many places as they want. They don’t have a set number, sometimes it’s less than 13 girls, some years have a lot more than that. 15 girls started with my ds in y7. 
 

Hope you all have answers soon!
 

21 minutes ago, Tiaramum said:

Just as a side note RBS now have two programmes for the 5 years at whitelodge, the foundation programme covering years 7,8,9 and then the development programme for 10 and 11. Those dancers finishing  year 9 in July at White Lodge have not been assessed out, they have finished the programme and for whatever reason did not get offered a year 10 place. There is still a lot of assumptions made that students have been assessed out. I've no idea whether this thread is related to White Lodge or not but feel its important to get this message out there. 

 

 

That’s just assessing out with a different name. I doubt the year 9s who aren’t staying into y10 see it as anything else. (Unless of course they’re choosing to leave for their own reasons)

1 hour ago, Kerfuffle said:

 @Farawaydancer I have never seen Grishko 3007 but have tried 2007 I think!!

Yes, she had 2007s originally but now prefers the 3007. She bends the shank to fit her arches and wearing them in class does the rest apparently. 

1 hour ago, Kerfuffle said:

Hi I’m wondering if anyone can recommend some pointe shoes that will cope with very strong highly arched feet with high insteps that are quite broad across the metatarsals? My DD wears Bloch European Strong which have a nice curve to fit her high arch but they get worn through very quickly. I am really interested to know if there are any Grishko shoes or similar that offer that kind of support but also don’t die quickly. She has recently turned  15 and has been learning  repertoire including pas de deux. 

Dd has similar feet and wears Grishko 3007s. 

16 minutes ago, Jewel said:

This is pre-pandemic but at Hammond they had Saturday morning dance classes.  Saturday afternoons they were allowed to go shopping into town (in groups or supervised depending on year group).  Every so often a trip would be organised, swimming or to the beach.  Sundays were a bit more chilled, often homework catch up or going to the park etc.

This is still pretty much what weekends look like at Hammond.

11 minutes ago, dancefanatic said:

Anna, the question is more that the UK are refusing imports from Russia, or at least that is my current understanding.  And I have orders for her particular shoes that stretch back to November/December last year as they are just so very difficult to get hold of anyway.

I don’t think they’re actually shipped from Russia are they?