ballettaxi

My DD wears her Pointe shoe covers (from Just Ballet of course) when breaking in new shoes and also when she is moving between changing room and studio door when at her classes. She does this as the main corridor is where everyone enters the Dance School with their outdoor shoes on and she's very conscious of not damaging her teachers lovely floor (her words) by walking rubbish in on the soles of her shoes.

Hi Oldermum, I've just spotted this thread and have really taken heart from your comments on the difficulty in darning Freed's. DD only ever wears Freed Studio Professionals - they're the only ones that she 'connects' with. And I really thought I was being a bit of a 'woos' (i.e. weakling) when it came to darning them. Each shoe takes me at least 3-4 evenings do and my finger tips are throbbing by the end of it - that's with a curved needle and a thimble. But now that I realise those with far more experience at this than me find these particularly shoes 'challenging' I won't be so hard on myself. Yes, she probably should do them herself - but I get cups of tea on request and a LOT of chores completed by her while I'm struggling so maybe I'll do a few more pairs before I had them over..........

Tiger mothers of the ballet world unite - I'm available for coaching tips for those who haven't yet found their inner tiger!!

Thanks Fiz - think I like that

Yes, I've just had an interesting meeting with DD's Head Teacher who had a problem with the length of her skirt - new skirt for the start of the new term (our schools started back last week). DD is 13, 4' 8" and can fit into age 8 clothes for the waist and hips (same as the majority of our children). Her new skirts (which we spent an age finding) sit just at the top of her knee cap are proper school skirts with a couple of box pleats - she wears her school jumper or blazer at all times as she wants to hide the fact that her skirt has had to be pulled in by AT LEAST 6" at the waist due to the size that we had to buy to get the correct length. She has proper sturdy school shoes (similar to Dr Marten Mary Jane style - as she needs to wear her orthoptics) and wears black opaque tights every day - without being too biased I have to say she looks really smart every day and entirely appropriately dressed for school. (Many people comment that she always looks so smart and sensibly dressed and they wish they could get their daughters to dress the same way for school.) So HT had pulled her aside after her years assembly yesterday morning and asked her if she thought her skirt was an acceptable length for school. DD replied that yes she did think so as we had spent a long time finding one that was the 'proper' length. HT replied that she thought it was 'far too short' and that she would like DD to do something about it before she saw her again. DD came home last night and told me about their encounter - red rag to a bull is the only way to describe my reaction!! So this morning I took DD to school and waited with her to speak to the HT. DD was wearing the same style of skirt again. I asked her what she thought was wrong with the skirt stating that as far as I'm concerned it was modest and smart. She felt it was just a little on the short side. Now at this point I almost choked with laughter as HT (who is not a large woman, but is certainly not as slim as she once was - or indeed was when she bought the suit she was wearing today!) was wearing a skirt that had shifted up while she was sitting to well above her knee - meanwhile DD and I were sitting quite comfortably with our very conservative lenght skirts covering our knees completely. What I did instead was agree that there are many girls who wear skirts which are too short however I had to diasgree with her in respect of DD's as I most certainly would not send her out (school or otherwise) in something which was not appropriate to both her age and the enviornment that was going to be in. I also pointed out that DD would never wear her school skirt with anything other than opaque tights which I was sure she would agree looked very smart. I explained the challenges we had in finding her something that was acceptable and DD actually showed her the amount of excess material that was at her waist to demonstrate the lengths (no pun intended) that we'd gone to in our search for proper school skirts. Needless to say she did back down - and when we were leaving her office there were a few girls walking by at the time with significantly shorter skirts - I made a point of commenting that perhaps those where the girls she should be speaking to rather than DD. She did acknowledge this and apologised to DD. Both Schools and manufacturers have to realise that children come in all shapes and sizes and despite our efforts as parents we simply can't always get the 100% perfect solution to the uniform issue. We have to find ways to meet it as best we can without our children looking like sacks tied in the middle. We actually tried to get our school to introduce a kilt for the girls as this is far easier to regulate what everyone is wearing and lasts far longer than a traditional school skirt - but the same HT felt it was a bit much. Sorry for the rant - but I'm only just calming down now that I've typed this out!!!!!

Clara, my DD tends to get similar marks for her Graded exams (passed Grade 5 with a 94 which we were all delighted with) always receiving a high Distinction, but thankfully when she was entering her IF exam in March her teacher had her very well prepared for the difference between the Grades and the Vocation scoring. She received a high Merit (one off a Distinction and a 9 for her performance section) which she was ecstatic with, as was her teacher - she had told her and her friends that they should be delighted with a Pass as it's so difficult and different from the Grades. The girls have returned for their new term and having moved up to studying for their Intermediate exam she told me that she'd overheard some of the younger girls who are now starting their IF classes saying that they would easily get Distinctions and it wouldn't take them as long as the older girls (DD's group). That was before their first classes - 3 weeks in they've certainly changed their tune and are amazed that DD & her friends sat the exam after 18 months. Think those exercises are just a little bit harder than they thought and possibly it's a bit more difficult than their normal Grade classes. Ah, the ignorance of youth.........

Didn't realise it's being slated by the critics. I watched all 5/6 episodes shown so far yesterday whilst doing post holiday ironing - maybe I'm still seriously jetlagged OR I caught too much American TV whilst on holiday but I quite enjoyed it. I think I'd probably put that down to it not being at all difficult to follow, moving along quite swiftly (never been a big history fan) and was 'costume drama' enough to keep my husband and children out of the room for the full duration of my ironing marathon. Whether or not the next episode will hold my attention remains to be seen - perhaps I'll record the rest of the series and keep for another ironing day when I want peace and quiet.

Well, just short of a month post audition, DD received a No thanks today . DD obviously disappointed, but thoroughly enjoyed the audition and was so glad she went for it. Apparently they're planning an event in December for the auditionees - no further detail given, but she'll get more info nearer the time. So thought that was a really nich touch. Thanks for all your good wishes in advance - I shared them with her and she was really touched that so many of you took the time to do so.

Ditto Belljul's comments. DD was at the same audition and gave a pretty similar summary. She did also say that they were encouraged to just relax and enjoy the process. She came out of the audition absolutely high as a kite as she had the best time ever - in fact all the auditionees were 'buzzing' when they came out of the studios.

Huge excitement in our house - DD has an audition on Saturday for H&G !!!! :-) Not only an audition BUT both Eve Mutso AND Christopher Hampson (!!!) will be part of the team taking the auditions (no disrepect to the Education Officers who will also be there obviously!)! DD can hardly contain herself - understandably! Now she just has to perform on the day - the audition will be a mix of ballet technique and creative sessions, so everything doubly crossed now!! (apologies for all the ! - can't get emoticons to work from my PC so need someway to show the level of hysteria in our house!!)

dancetaximumx2 - sorry I didn't see your post on Friday - I hope you got your application in before closing. We used a 'standing straight with arms at her sides' photograph of DD for this - a copy of the same one actually that went along with the Seniors application. Not heard anything yet re H&G, I understand the letters re auditions will be posted after the holiday weekend so unlikely to hear anything until Wed or Thurs this week I would imagine.

- that you'll be so grateful for ballet when they turn (overnight) into a hormonal teenager and it's the one topic you can discuss that doesn't dissolve into an argument; and - that, despite all their friends having boy/girl friends, they reject all advances with the statement 'you're a good friend, but I simply don't have time for a boyfriend and I don't let anything distract me from ballet'. Yes DD's dad LOVEs that one! :-)

DD's application form completed and sent off. Just need to keep our fingers (toes and eyes) crossed that she'll get to audition. The H&G auditions for Glasgow take place the week after the Senior Associate auditions - which we're also waiting to hear about an audition for. Was unlucky both Mid Associate years (after LOVING her time in Juniors) so hoping for 'third time lucky' with this one. Any extra fingers crossed on her behalf would be very much appreciated! :-)

DD had beautiful wavy waist length hair this time last year but was determined to have it cut into a short bob, BUT ballet was her big concern. So the morning after her last end of year show last June she had it all chopped off!! The bob was chin length and a mass of curls - she loved it and so did everyone who saw it. When her ballet teacher saw this she raised an eyebrow - however DD had already calculated that by the time her ballet exam was due to take place (IF March this year) she would have enough hair to put into a proper bun - at the correct height and without the sticky out bits at the back (low hairline at the nape of the neck - we know what you mean pups_mum). I think her teacher wasn't convinced, however 2 weeks before the exam DD took the time to straighten her hair and put in a proper bun and her teacher was stunned at how she managed to do it. Not having curly hair, she hadn't realised that DD's hair was actually about 3 inches longer than it looked. DD took great pleasure in getting rid of the 'sweaty' hairbands she'd been using and announced that she's never doing that again and that she just had to get short hair out of her system. So back to normal now.

We received IF results on the 12th for exam taken at local centre on the 10th March. This may even have been delayed as DD's teacher on holiday during Easter break. I know she started contacting us immediately on her return. Delighted for DD that she didn't have to wait any longer (and delighted with results).

Had to laugh at that one taxi4ballet - when we have very bad snow I leave our little car in the drive for hubby to take to the station - if he get's stuck it's a walkable distance - just..... and I take our 4WD as I have the kids to drop off and then a 20 mile drive to work. Unfortunately I can't reach above half way up the windscreen and windows (the car's not that tall, I'm just vertically challenged!). So to prevent the snow falling onto the windscreen when I brake I have a little ritual that my neighbours find very amusing. Once I've reversed out of our drive I brake sharply - the snow falls down the back windscreen and that's the back half of the roof cleared. Then I make the car jerk forward - no I'm not about to stall this is part of the process - and hey presto the rest of the snow falls on to the front of the windscreen and I can then use the scraper and the wipers to remove it. Then I can drive off happy in the knowledge that I'm not going to be blinded at any time.

Alison, I can empathise with you re the coverage. I live not far outside a major city at the top of a hill. My mobile will only work if I stand in my dining room with one hand on the metal frame of my french doors - yes I'm using myself as a booster for the signal!! When I look at the coverage on providers maps we tend to be at the centre of the blank doughnut which circles our house i.e. little or no coverage available! And it's not just mobiles we have problems with - we're too far from the BT exchange to get a broadband speed above 0.5mb (we did celebrate when we managed to ditch dial up only 18 months ago!!!); we are ABOVE the old analogue transmitters for TV so never even bothered to install an aerial; no cable company will extend it's coverage as far up the hill as we are; and my sky dish has to be re-aligned at least once every 6 months as every time the winds get above 70 mph we get the lovely 'no signal' blue screen!! Needless to say we read a lot of books in our house. You may wonder why we bought the house - yes, it was the view!

When my DD started at Scottish Ballet JA's she was 9 and part of their very first class was being shown how to do their own buns - they were told quite clearly that they must be able to do it themselves. Since then the most I have to do is ensure the starting pony tail is smooth and at the right height for exams/auditions. On a normal class day she will do everything herself. Unfortunately she has very fine, exceptionally curly hair - so we are 100% reliant on GHD's and John Freida Frizz Eaze for exam days (the serum gives a much nicer finish than hairspray we find as it doesn't look so 'solid') - for normal class her teacher accepts that she'll have her 'wild' days where the curls just will not stay in a pony never mind a bun.

Just thinking about the childs tantrum reminds me of when my children were younger and behaved in that way (must be a Tesco's thing). I was fortunate that one our neighbours was the store manager and if she ever saw my two acting up she would send the security guard over to ask if there was a problem in his very stern voice (a lovely man who was a retired university lecturer). Worked every time, my two would be terrified that they were about to be banned from the store that they would instantly behave. They also would apologise to the security guard on our way out of the store - he and my neighbour always gave me a wink and nod. It was our little secret - my husband always wondered why I always insisted on going to the same store - it was simply because I didn't have 'contacts' in the other ones. Still have never told my children and they're now 13 and 8. he he

Without having the benefit of KathyG's fabulous sewing machine I have always used a coloured thread to stitch DD's initials onto socks ('embroidered' would certainly be pushing the skill level involved!). I've used this method on the inside seams of leotards/tights as she always found the fabric name labels irritated her during class. However I do use the fabric name labels on character skirts, sweat tops and warm up clothes. For my non dancing son all his school clothes have his 'secret code' stitched in a unobvious place. It's a little stitched square of bright green thread and invisible marker (the stuff you use to mark valuables with your postcode) - then even if someone removes the fabric name label, he can prove that the item is his as he knows what to get the teacher to look for. I know the above sounds neurotic, but one year of having to purchase 4 school badged coats (at £40+ each time for a 5 year old!) led me to develop my own method for ensuring he always got his items back.

I've done the same as Katymac in the past when DD's drawstrings have snapped or become very frayed. I'd tried the safety pin option and just didn't have the patience for it. When sewing the drawstrings together use a contrasting thread (I use black), then you don't run the risk of damaging the new drawstring when you cut them apart afterwards - voice of experience on that one! oops.

Yes DD was in the 11:45 class. Do you remember the name of the teacher? We tried to google him last night but we could only agree that we thought his name was Mark but drew a blank at this surname - you can imagine the bizarre results we got when we googled 'Mark, Royal Ballet'!!!! Have you been to many of these events? I'd love to know what someone who has seen more of these or indeed someone from RB who has taught these Masterclasses thought of the standard of the students. My DD met up with a number of friends that she hasn't seen for a while from her SB JA classes, which was nice to see how they're all progressing. She was the only attendee from her dance school, her teacher knows that she is very serious about her dancing and will attend every class she can.

Hi Blackballetshoes My DD attended the class yesterday and had a wonderful time. She loved the teacher and the 'exercises' (I know nothing of the names of moves - I just know what I like). Was absolutely buzzing when she came out. We weren't sure if she'd be able to get to the class as she'd injured her foot recently, but 2 weeks of (almost) resting it, and she was ready to go. She was a bit disappointed that she wasn't 100% and able to really push herself, but has memorised everything that was taught (wrote it all down in her Ballet book in the car afterwards) and was practicing it for the rest of the day. She can't wait to tell her teacher about it all. Definitely a worthwhile day and worth resting her foot for (wow!) according to DD. I'd also be interested in other's thoughts and opinions.

About 2 years ago my DD took a bit of a growth spurt (all of about 2 inches in as many months). This was at the time of the Swine Flu and her primary school closed early due to a concentration of suspected cases. As a precaution all the children who had been in close contact with those cases were prescribed a low dose of Tamiflu. I provided DD's height, weight and DOB to the school doctor for them to prepare her prescription accordingly. When we went to the school to pick this up the Nurse advised that the Doctor wanted to speak to me and my DD. His concern was that my DD was 'malnourished(!)' due to her exceptionally low weight. To say I was appalled at his attitude when speaking to me about this is an understatement. I was just a little bit angry. I asked him if he knew my daughter or had he spoken to her teachers to identify if they had any concerns. He didn't and hadn't. At this point I asked him if he could point out the child he thought was malnourished from the group of children playing in the gym hall. He couldn't. (At this point DD was alternating between cartwheeling halfway round the hall then piroutting back to the start again.) Taking a very deep breath I pointed out DD to him and then explained to him that she was a dancer, had just been accepted onto SB's JA programme, trained over 8 hours per week and also swam, did karate and ran or cycled everywhere. Also that she ate the same portion sizes as her father, had raw vegetables for snacks and in fact was a source of embarassment to me when we visited friends as she always had her head in their fridge looking for snacks - there was simply no filling her! Very long story to say that in my opinion I wouldn't worry about what other people are saying/commenting - you know your DD and if she's healthy and eating the right balance then everything will balance out in the long run. My DD is still approx 4.5 stone, 4' 8", has her periods and is far more shapely than a number of her friends who are at different stages of development.

Oh no, Don't tell my daughter that taxi4ballet - she's only 4 ft 10 with size 4 feet (we're hoping she grow into her feet - and her ears for that matter but that's for another thread!) She was hoping to get to at least 5ft 3 so that she could tower over all the other females in our family whilst still being an 'average' height for ballet (sorry don't want to start the height debate again), but since she's had her periods for about 6 months now maybe she should give up on that dream. Her pointe journey started about 2 months ago (aged 12 1/2) with about 10-15 minutes at the end of her IF class. Her teacher has given her a series of exercises to do over the holidays and will be starting a pointe class when they return in August. She has indicated that this will comprise of exercises for the most part with a small amount of pointe at the end to begin with and, as the girls develop the necessary strength then the pointe work will increase. The amount of time they spend on pointe will be an individual decision by her rather than everyone at once - she's VERY strict with them around what is appropriate and safe for them to do - and definitely doesn't entertain any one upmanship. If they're not ready or not doing the exercises then they don't get to go on pointe and won't be invited back to the class. Might seem harsh but it's for their own good so I'm happy with that.