Billyelliott

Juniors over - phew- no mishaps DS got a special commendation , but there was no outright winner of the boys as they were " inconsistent" between their class work and solos . We were quite surprised about the winner but not the runners up ! A super standard of dance to watch . We will be back to see the premiers after a pizza!

I was also thinking of saying the same thing ! The classes alone are exhausting ! Never mind the travel especially in the winter months !

Thank you ! See you there ! Safe travels everyone ....

Oh how wonderful! Many congratulations to all who had the courage to audition ! May there be manyany years of dance sucess ahead of you ! I think we still have our YES letter from yr 4 so posh and with the Floral Street address etc on it and the Royal Ballet logo ...... Now we are sad that there are only 2 classes left before me move on ! It has been 3 years of hard work and early mornings , but loved wandering around Covent Garden and drinking coffee while waiting with grandma .....I shall miss my favourite Costa in Shelton street ! Wonder if we will ever be back to the Royal Opera house one day ? !

It's such a shame that although most competitors offer their congratulations , some feel it necessary to justify why their child has not won ! We were also the butt of some remarks along the lines of "argh ! that boy...." So it's really obvious that its aimed at us , and implying he has an unfair advantage being a boy ! Good job he has a thick skin! I have been tempted by remarks to wondered if the adjudicators may be biased to encourage boys , but they can't all be wrong if he wins with the same routines in all the festivals .... Why spoil what should be a time of fun and celebration of the love of dance !

All the best ! The most stressful bit is getting there and on time , so make it as easy on yourself as you can , they Are nice and relaxed and friendly there is nothing to stress about !

How about getting her to choreograph something for herself and one or two friends that has a story line - Then present it to you or a group of friends and family. My DS loves this and then they spur one another on in the expressions of the characters and storyline and they learn from each other how to make it a believable performance / story without words.

Loulabelle DS is 10 so probably in the class below and likewise hoping for consecutive days though also in 3 groups - at least they seem not to be competing against each other !! Xx

How old is Dd Loulabelle? Wondering if DS is in the same class ? He also has his song and dance through as well as his modern and duet . We are about 1&1/2 hours on the train , but as long as its after 10 in the morning DS can travel for £1 with his teacher .....so fingers crossed that it won't break the bank !

You can get a idea of what it's like - or used to be like - at Elmhurst on YouTube if you search for " ballet school -Elmhurst ....." The is a 4 part programme that follows 5 welsh students through one year of life there ! I don't know how to post a link perhaps someone else can .....ithe the one with an image of a pile of point shoes next to it ! My only observation of the differences of the first two schools , having visited with DS twice for auditions would be that White Lodge is quite steeped in tradition and almost exclusively a classical focus with excellent attention to details of technique, whereas I got the impression that Elmhurst may be a little more forward thinking and possibly has more contemporary content in the training , though still focussing mainly on classical ballet ! As I say that is only a parents impression and what I have gathered from the things we were told on our visits . A good way to find out more is to go for an audition at the schools and ask questions of the students there. Someone once said to us , that when you go to audition , and are shown around the school, think about the atmosphere and choose the place you feel that you could be at home in if you get the choice ! I think that may be good advice , and you may well find that the audition results will decide for you , so go ahead and audition for as many as you can , with an open mind , it will be good experience , as long as you are ready to accept the possibility of not getting a place and decide in advance that its a learning experience. There are many paths to a dance career , so just push a few doors and see which ones open for you ! All the best. http://m.youtube.com/results?q=ballet%20school%20-%20elmhurst%20school%20for%20dance#/watch?v=k4-q6N3Ib1M i have tried to past the link and a smiley but it doesn't seem to work ! Sorry

I may not be able to go as I have to work that week , unless its a weekend or the Thursday -so his teacher will take him up - but you will know him by his silver unitard !

Will your DD Be there Loulabelle ?

Oh we'll done to your DD Loulabelle

So now the AED regionals are over , a quick breath and get ready for JC finals ! Train tickets purchased , costume washed , last run through booked , T-shirt ordered - ready to go! It's our first time - interested to see there is no syllabus content , so I am presuming there is a freework class similar to the one at the semmis ? !

Quite agree!

Found one more boy - yet to make contact ! Will do my best to spread the word !

So now we wait for the 1st July to see which days we will have to get up to London for the finals ! What a shame it's the same week that Carlos Acosta is dancing at the Coliseum - I so wanted to take DS to watch him live before its too late! Does anyone know if there is a pattern from past years ? Are the groups usually at the weekends ? How late do they run in the evenings? Otherwise i shall just hope that there will be a couple of seats left to book once the timetable is out !

Well surprise my DS stood in for someone who has dropped out of the team for our inter modern group today , and in spite of that and with another girl very poorly they held it together and came 3rd with honours - so that goes through to London as well! - looks like it a hire a coach job !

The ones in the photo don't look at all like the ones Ed describes he has specially made for him !

We had a flesh body stocking thing for DS -that covered everything and was then painted - it was the same as the girls ones and just stretches over everything so it fits like a glove ! It was made by "wear moi" i think

That is so funny - about the house and the washing i mean! That is exactly what i have spent today doing not to mention the grass that is knee high in the garden .....the things we do to support our dancers ! Well done to all who got through and those who did not ! It does look like some results are a bit strange , though it seems like a well organised and fair scoring system.....

Apologies - not meaning to be sexist either ! So far I know of only 3 girls and one boy or 2 if mine is included going into yr 7 that's only 5 there must be more out there unless that's why there are more auditions in June or unless they are coming from Japan or somewhere else overseas !

Well done ! Hope to see you there ☺

Have found quite a few girls , but yes anyone else out there !!

Tough competition seems to be the general consensus - though much fun being had by all ! So far DS is the only one from his dance school with solos going through to London , which really surprises me......and he is one of the younger ones . Is it the fact that he is a boy .....or is he just better than I think ? There seems to be a fair amount of judges comments about the overuse of gymnastics and tricks in the modern dances , but I have been in the dressing room and perhaps not seen a representative sample ! I do hope I will get to see some of the London finals as the standards must be going to be very high, bearing in mind how few from each group are going through !