Chassé

I believe (but I could be wrong, please correct me) that at Rambert now they are streamed for ballet across the whole school rather than a class for each year group.

My understanding of the course at LSC (based on friends who go there and teachers I know who teach there): Everyone receives the same degree on paper (called BA (Hons) in Theatre Dance). In the first two years everyone on the course does ballet (first class, every day unless it has changed since I was given that info), jazz (not sure how many times per week) and contemporary (usually graham based I think, also not sure how many times per week). I believe everyone also takes choreography and the same theory classes. The rest of the timetable is where it differs depending on what you want your focus to be - everyone has either individual singing lessons or individual pilates coaching, and then can choose from a range of options including pointe work, tap, cunningham, musical theatre dance, acting etc. The idea is that you choose to "specialise" in the options relevant to the course focus you were offered the place for (ie ballet, contemporary, jazz or musical theatre) with the intention of then joining that "company" in the third year. The third year consists of classes, creation of pieces and then a tour, all of which happen within the company you have chosen (ballet, contemporary, jazz or musical theatre), as well as an independent project/dissertation on a topic of your choice. I do know however that you do not necessarily have to choose the options for the focus you were offered - I know people who were offered jazz but ended up following a musical theatre route for example. I think the reason behind the format of the initial audition/recall is to ensure that people offered a place have suitable base levels in ballet, contemporary and jazz as well as real strength/potential in at least one. With regards to being offered more than one focus option for a recall, I have heard it is best to attend the recall for the style you think you are strongest in/most likely to be offered a place in, rather than the necessarily which style you eventually want to focus on, as once you arrive at the school you can actually follow whichever route you want (although I'm sure the teachers offer guidance on which they think you are most suited to). I hope this info helped somewhat - don't take it as 100% accurate though as I have not attended the school myself so this is all hearsay, but this is definitely my understanding of how the course works.

I regularly go to one of the advanced ballet classes at danceworks on a Saturday and people wear a real mix of stuff - in fact I would say very few people wear just a leotard and tights but lots are probably wearing them underneath layers of other clothing. Shorts rather than tights are quite popular too. Really people just wear whatever they want/feel comfortable in. The danceworks studios can get very hot, especially during busy classes!

Some things I find help with my pirouettes (mine are still awful but they get slightly better when I focus on these things...) breathing out on the turn - I found this made real difference for me, I used to breathe in, but I noticed a big improvement with breathing out instead. I know different things work for different people so maybe have a play around with different breathing options and see what works for you having the weight more over the front foot in the preparation, rather than in the centre placement of the arms - make sure the first isn't too low, or too stretched out in front of you. Also slipping the hands together so they overlap slightly can help with creating a secure first position but I know some teachers don't like this. It is worth practising like this to get the feeling of the connection to use in a proper first position, as long as slipping the hands doesn't become a habit you can't break Maybe these tips will help you - they helped me, just have a play around and see if they work for you

I loved the programme, and thought all the dancers were amazing, but I was particularly blown away by Jacob and Jason's duet. I think it is interesting to note that Jacob is only 17 - I feel like they didn't really highlight that on the show as he wasn't the youngest, but 17 is still quite young to be that phenomenal!

Ah yes of course. Makes sense now! Thanks Pas de Quatre

http://dancetabs.com/2015/04/resignation-of-dance-uks-chair-farooq-chaudhry/ And the saga continues... Although I'm slightly confused as I don't recall seeing any comments by Farooq Chaudhry in any of the articles I've read, am I missing something here?

Sorry meant the 8th of May, with the live final on the 9th, not 7th and 8th! Xx

I've heard that the category finals will be shown one each Friday for the four Fridays leading up to the live final, with the last one being the ballet final on the 7th May before the live final on the 8th. As I understand it, there is one winner from each category who then goes on to the live final, as well as one "wildcard" picked from across the rest of the finalists. Then from live final there is one overall winner.

Is the btec a 2 year course? If it is, another thing to consider is that if you plan to audition again next year (have I understood that correctly from your post?) then as far as I'm aware, leaving a 2 year btec course after 1 year does not give you any kind of qualification, whereas if you did A levels after one year you would gain AS level qualifications. This would mean that if you ever wanted to complete your A levels later in life you would only have to do the A2 part of the course. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe with a btec, any credits you build up along the way are lost if you leave. Of course as everybody has pointed out above, you would gain many things from the btec in dance unrelated to the actual qualification, it is just something to think about.

My youth group went to the south west regional in Taunton a few weeks ago, it was a really good day and everyone enjoyed it. We did a couple of workshops, a flash mob and we got to watch the half of the perfomance we weren't in, which was nice. Good luck to your DD and her group Katymac, and I hope she has a good day!

Two more girls I know have been offered places, which is excellent news!!! One of the girls who has been offered reserve was saying something today about being told they might be holding a recall for people on the reserve list this year, but I only caught half the conversation so I'm really not sure... had anyone else heard about this? Congratulations balletqs to your student! You must be very proud

I know 8 people who auditioned the week after, some in each audition on the Monday and Tuesday, and out of those 3 got to do solo and physio/interview. As far as I know none of them have heard yet. The yes and the reserve both did solos and physio/interview, but I know another on the 25th who also did solo and physio/interview, and one who did just solo, and neither have heard yet. It's very confusing! It might be of interest that my friend's brother auditioned quite a few years ago now, and she told me he just did his solo and wasn't asked to stay for physio/interview, but was offered a place, so it doesn't necessarily mean anything. Although he was very good - he was offered a place straight into second year of royal upper school which he accepted.

I remember last year my "no" came in the post, but I know one person this year who has been offered a place and one reserve list, and they both came by email, so I think maybe they send letters to everyone and email to those who they are offering. Obviously then the emails arrive before the letters. This is purely theory and speculation though, and I don't know anyone who has heard from auditions after the 25th, so don't lose hope!

And I find people quite often just say "Oh Studios is twelve thousand" and forget to mention the 950 making it more like thirteen! However at my audition last week, the principal of the school told us that there are scholarships available of up to £3000 out of the remaining £6950 based on household family income, which I did not know. So there is still some hope, although I do not know the details of the thresholds.