tutoo2much

They can afford it?

The Royal Swedish Ballet School offers a free year's tuition to select International Students and board is just over £300 a month. http://www.kungligasvenskabalettskolan.se/international-course

To be honest I don't know anything about them! I think they might be partner Prix de Lausanne schools, so would expect the standard to be high. Some parents are obviously concerned that if there dd or ds got into ENBS or another top school here they wouldn't be able to send them. I thought it might be interesting to see what else is out there.

The National Ballet school of Portugal offers tuition for £2600 a year. http://www.edcn.pt/

I have checked out the school of the Hamberg Ballet. The website is in English. It does seem cheaper than ballet training here. The fees stated on the web-site are about £6500 pa, that includes board and tuition. http://www.hamburgballett.de/e/schulgeld.htm

Belljul- Have your DSs teachers recommend he uses these devices?

She just needs good enough feet.

Thank you. No auditions in Midlands then!

Hi I can't find anything on the website with dates for their summer school this year. Does anyone know?

Not sure if it is just me, but I cannot get the website up for NYB. Does anyone know the dates of audtions and the dates of the summer school, presumably at Tring?

I have seen that your dd is doing about 6 hours a week ballet. Does this include associates? I know that may be all that is possible in your situation, but at our local ballet school serious students aiming for vocational training would probably be doing quite a bit more than that. But I don't know what is the norm at this age!

When my dd was going to audition I requested a list of rehearsal dates beforehandn which I got. X

I think there is one in Bristol.

I seem to remember from another thread that your son was not overly keen being taught in another style at his summer school last year! Is the POB summer school a week or two. Maybe he would just like to do it for the 'experience'. How long does he have off this summer? Would a physical and mental break from his school be equally beneficial?

I find it hard to believe that children are assessed out at WL without taking anything into account except what happens in one class. Are Elmhurst and Hammond so harsh?

Lisadebs-I find ballet reports and evaluations can concentrate on what you need to accomplish rather than what you have achieved. It's almost as though as soon as one issue is rectified another one materialises. Most of the issues you mention such as strength and stamina can fluctuate during puberty and can be worked on. Even technique can crumble during a growth spurt. No doubt teaching staff are aware of this, just as they are the issue about her missing classes due to performances. Obviously being singled out for performing with the company is a mixed blessing. Kathy G- What are the other schools attitudes to children assesed out from their ballet schools? edited to add- My motto- Hope for the best, expect the worst!

I couldn't find on their web-site where they are based!

Sounds like an amazing experience, do all the children get a chance to take part or is it all done on size or ability?

It is really good that you are getting expert input from the CAT team. It is invaluable. My friend's DD does it and she was telling me they were incredibly supportive with the older students. Even taking them to see schools in London they thought might be suitable at 18. Apparantly all their graduates that wanted a place at a vocational school got one!

I was once told by a dance teacher that it was better to go away at 18. One of the reasons was that companies/cruise ships will prefer to employ 21 year olds to 19 year olds, as they are more mature! She taught on a BTECH which the students did aged 16-18. There were several students who didn't get funding at 16, but did at 18.

If it's not too much trouble................

Thank you for such a detailed explanation. It sounds really useful would be great to get some objective measures with which to measure progress. I know it doesn't mean you are a better dance compared to X Y or Z. Also to get information which could prevent injuries. Do you run regular clinics/ group sessions which you could book into or do you need to make individual arrangements?

It was mentioned on another threads that it was possible for dance students to have fitness and performance tests. I would like to know a bit more about this to see if it might be something useful for my DD. -What sorts of things do the tests measure? Are they designed for dancers? Are they objective so they could be re-measured to monitor improvement? -Is a purely physical tests or do the performance test look at more artistic qualities? If the latter is even possible? In what form is the feedback and does it include any advice/exercises to improve any areas of difficulty? Finally whereabouts are they held, how long does it take and how much does it cost? (I think I have cover everything out of who how why when where!) Finally I would be interested to know which, if any of these tests are performed routinely in vocational schools (for some reason I remember someone telling me they were in Hammond) and whether or not anyone has a DD or DS who have had them. 222much

From what I have observed at our local school the majority of students who go to dance/musical theatre and contemporary colleges at 18 years old rather than 16. They do a BTEC during the A-levels period which I presume prepares them for auditions. The ones that get places with funding to schools like Laines Urdang and Millenium do tend to have a very solid ballet background. Some of them will have known from an early age ballet isn't their thing but will do 4-5 classes a week minimum at age 15 and most of them started doing multiple classes a lot younger. There are exceptional students who have started ballet later like your daughter and like your daughter will often have exceptional facility or a background in something like gymnastics. I don't think they tended to do more than one class a week in modern, tap or jazz. I think most of them seem to do contemporary with GCSE dance rather than an extra lessons in it. When my daughter was 10, she was in Grade 6 and Interfoundation. There would sometimes be much much older girls in her class. I don't suppose they particularly enjoyed being with the little ones, but somewhere along the line they started to move ahead very quickly. I am sure their physical and mental maturity played a part in this. So I would try and encourage her to disregard the fact she is in with the young ones for her CAT programme. She has only been doing ballet for a year some of them will have been doing it for six. When my daughter was put in the intermediate group rather than the advanced group at summer school she was quite upset as she felt that she belonged with the more advanced students. I was too embarressed to tackle the teacher about it, so sold it to my daughter as a welcome opportunity to focus on the basics. Your tendus and plies can never be too good I assured her. I said it must be what the teacher felt she needed at this moment. And for good measure added in some stuff about the growth spurt she was having and needing to work on her core.(I read an American ballet site and this seems to be the underlying message when parents discuss how disappointed their DD's are with their'placement' at summer intensives) In the end my daughter just focussed on herself and I think she quite enjoyed it not having to worry about the more technical stuff. My point being, stick with the CAT scheme. Anyway it sounds like the summer/easter schools you will an oppotunity to get a taster of what these schools want. Good luck it definitely is exhausting for us parents.

I am not a teacher, or an expert, nor do I have a child at this stage yet. However I think that most of the auditions at musical theatre/dance colleges consist of a ballet class. It would depend as to which colleges she was hoping to get into and whether or not she would need scholarships/funding. I would think more ballet. (and maybe a bit more ballet.) There is only so much you can do time and moneywise. Would she be prepared to give up something else?