dancemad

Sorry I cannot comment on BBO as I don't teach it. As far as the Grade syllabuses for ISTD, RAD and IDTA are concerned (which I am familiar with) there are differences in when the various technical steps are introduced. Personally I would say that ISTD Imperial introduces more challenging technical steps earlier. Most of the Imperial syllabus is 'free work' in the exam so this requires more command over the technique. The level at which steps are introduced with the IDTA are comparable to the ISTD but the exam only requires one 'free' enchainment from Grade 2 onwards. The RAD syllabus steps are more or less a Grade behind ISTD (so Grade 2 in ISTD would be Grade 3 RAD) and the IDTA are far closer to the ISTD than RAD. All of that said none of it really matters because if you have a good teacher the technique will be sound whatever society you follow. In an ideal world a good teacher should be giving free classes to older students too but ofcourse timetables don't always allow for that. 

NBS doesn't give any scholarships of its own I'm afraid

Has anybody heard approximately how many girls are auditioning for y7 places tomorrow/Saturday? There's a mum at Bath JAs who seems to know all this type of info through her JA teacher! Makes no difference of course but would be good to prepare DD if there are going to be 60 girls there.

Our JA teacher said that 50 girls had been selected for the final.

Has anybody heard approximately how many girls are auditioning for y7 places tomorrow/Saturday? There's a mum at Bath JAs who seems to know all this type of info through her JA teacher! Makes no difference of course but would be good to prepare DD if there are going to be 60 girls there.

Thank you Janet. It's interesting isn't it.

I stumbled across this earlier. Helping young dancers handle disappointment.

http://www.danceadvantage.net/dealing-with-disappointment/

Maybe go to a good pointe shoe fitter with plenty of makes to choose from. That way your student could try the rises in different shoes as they do vary tremendously. Have you tried a shoe with a 3/4 shank?

Please can anyone tell me what time the Year 6 boys RB JA class is at the London centre. Many thanks

VERY poor advice from whoever recommended he use one!! He might have 'poor' feet now but they will be better than damaged ones!!

I'd be inclined to put the emphasis on the shank design of the shoe rather than something that will 'support' from the front. It also doesn't make sense to me why a student would use one type of shoe for training but then have to change for a performance. If your daughter has found a shoe she is happy with that is such a bonus. It's important a student feels secure when it comes to pointe work. Her technical work could suffer if she feels uneasy about her shoes.

My dd came home after a jazz class (she's 8) and said the teacher asked them to learn a pirouette for a presentation they are doing for parents end of term. Just like that... So bearing in mind I have no knowledge of how to dance we referred to YouTube where we learnt that a jazz pirouette is done in 2nd position whereas a ballet one in 1st. To my surprise she's actually getting the hang of it ok (after watching loads of tutorials) but my question is, will it give her bad habits for ballet? If so, is there anything we can do to help?

A jazz pirouette usually has a preparation from parallel 4th. A preparation from a true 2nd would be very difficult for an 8 year old to execute because it's harder to transfer the weight back to centre to turn securely. It will not create bad habits for a classical turn because the preparations are so different. If anything it should help because your DD will get used to the feeling of turning & the principles of spotting and weight distribution remain the same.

Just my opinion, but getting straight to the pointe (Ha Ha) I think they are ridiculous! I am a teacher. The traditional ribbons on pointe shoes lend strength to the ankle. What benefit does you DDs teacher give to these shoes?

Just came across this in Closer online..

Speaking previously to the MailOnline, she said: “I joined ballet school at 16, and for two years all the teachers told me to lose weight or I’d never be a dancer, or get a job. They used to ask me why I was big – did I drink a litre of cider every night?

This is a quote from wikipedia.

Porter grew up with her mother and grandmother, and has only met her father once.[2] A former ballet dancer, Porter was told by the ballet school she attended that she was overweight for a dancer, she later attended The Hammond in Chester.[2]

As anyone can add/edit/create Wikipedia pages information is often incorrect, especially without a reliable citation. Jorgie is a friend of DD. Bookies favourite to win Jungle at moment I'm told

Jorgie only went to Hammond (at 16) & it was there that she ran into the comments regarding her weight. Her first love was ballet & initially that was what she wanted to pursue.

She was a FANTASTIC commercial dancer when a senior at Hammond. Knowing the teachers there, I'm certain they didn't actually use the words "too fat". I think that is just how Jorgie, in her down to earth way tells it

I don't agree that the NYCB Workout is "very difficult" if you choose to do the easier modifications. It was always actually advertised as being suitable for 'beginners' or 'advanced'. Hope you find something to suit you anyway Munchkin

Hi Munchkin. Have you ever seen the New York City Ballet Workout? I suppose it's quite an old programme now but it is great to do at home & very enjoyable. It might be worth looking at to keep all your strength until a suitable time when you can get back to class. There are copies available on Ebay/Amazon I would imagine.

One of my students (age10, year6) has recently had feedback from two separate associate programmes and the information is interesting...

Elmhurst have said that for anyone looking to be a classical ballet dancer they must be in full time training by age 14 to stand a chance of succeeding. For musical theatre they must be in full time training by age 16.

 

Royal Ballet have suggested that she needs to have auditioned before age 14, no further information other than that.

 

I read success stories on here every day, lots of DC don't start vocational training until 16/18, but how likely are they to then succeed?

 

It's really pickled my brain, do Elmhurst and Royal write off people for upper school training if they haven't started by age 14? Is it just a tool to get children to audition for lower school, which brings in money and then again for those who successfully gain a place? Am I being cynical?

 

Just wondered if anyone else had meetings like this with associate teachers ? And what people's thoughts were ?

Putting it bluntly, saying that a student has to be in full time training by age 14 to pursue a classical career is simply nonsense. There are successful dancers who trained at their local dancing schools until the age of 16. I can think of two young men in Birmingham Royal, a young female soloist with ENB and a female member of the Royal corps without any trouble. All entered full time training at 16. There must be more I don't know of I'm sure.

I think some teachers have forgotten they are teaching CHILDREN. They need to be focusing on establishing secure, safe technique upon which one can build & develop strength. Then introduce stretching gradually & carefully.

I have to disagree with the concept that a hypermobile dancer doesn't struggle with her body. Hypermobility can look very desirable and of course many professional dancers are hypermobile, but they have had to work extraordinarily hard to strengthen the ligaments around their lax joints, strengthen hamstrings in order to engage them, strengthen turnout muscles so that they can physically hold that often flat turnout, etc. Many hypermobile dancers suffer joint and muscle pain as a matter of course, and they often have very low propriorception which means that they simply cannot feel which muscles are engaging.

 

All dancers have their own personal battles of course, including those who are less mobile, and of course you are correct in that flexibility and talent do not always go together. But don't make the mistake of thinking that natural flexibility does not equal lack of effort.

Couldn't agree more and hypermobility IS a serious hindrance to most young dancers trying to grasp secure ballet technique. Most vocational schools will cover various tests for hypermobility in the audtion physio, and if they think it's an issue, will reject the dancer.

Happy to have donated. Thank you for all the work you put in

All very good points Celib. When our DD was on a year round ballet trainee programme in NY we found that the cheapest way to eat was to fill a deli/salad box at Wholefoods. Cheaper than grocery shopping or 'eating out' and no food waste! We also bought everything from Amazon & had it delivered

'Just' the DDI Jade. Think this is down to time constraints

quote name="MeganReid" post="128603" timestamp="1430287133"]

Last year a lot of the girls were jazz focus, there were only three classical focus girls. Most jazz focus went on cruises with companies such as costa, princess, P&O and carnival. One of the boys joined Murley dance

company, a neoclassical company based in London, and

is now dancing with the vienna festival ballet. One of the

classical girls decided to go for jazz and is now dancing

on a costa cruise. The other two- Honoka and Sahya

went to cinevox junior company and ajkun respectively.

Hope this helps!

Hi Megan

An additional boy went to a classical company in Florida

too didn't he?

Edited because for some reason I managed to post in the middle of Megans quote!