Anna C

No different to Royal Ballet and its RBS/Aud Jebsen Young Dancer intake then - most of whom join the company as Artists after their Aud Jebsen year.

I think it’s easy to forget that we, as parents, are paying customers, and when our child spends much of their week at one particular dance school, we get emotionally involved and can start to feel (or be made to feel) disloyal if we consider moving schools. When my dd was learning to swim, I had to move her twice before we found a Teacher she “clicked” with. We didn’t think twice about loyalty, or whether the swimming teacher would be cross/upset/take it personally - the pool and teaching style were not working for dd. Simple as that. When we moved, she started to look forward to swimming lessons instead of fearing them, and progressed rapidly up the classes. Looking back, I wish we had been able to change dance schools without fearing being labelled disloyal or getting a “bad reputation” in the small, close-knit dance world. It should be a no-brainer that if our children are not thriving and getting what they need to progress, we take our money elsewhere. I agree with drdance that speaking to the Teacher is vital, explain the issues and ask what, if anything, can change - if things improve, then great; if not, then there is nothing wrong with doing trial classes with other schools, seeing if they have space, and if so, giving the appropriate notice to your current school and making the switch.

Also worth considering is the number of students from UK vocational schools who keep their place at RBS US for all three years and graduate at the end of the course. I’m not talking about those who sadly sustain injuries or those who choose to leave, but those who are assessed out before final year. I hope things have improved in this regard but I think it’s an important question to ask if offered a place.

I’m not sure I’m remembering correctly, but in the past, have some international dancers been “sponsored” while at RBS or in the Company?

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I agree. It seems to me to be promoting inclusivity, not “Gender ideology”. As for arguing that “Gender Critical” people should be represented, from what I’ve seen on Social Media, “Gender Critical” all too often equals Transphobic, so I can quite understand why RBS might not think it appropriate to include GC people in its Pride Month artwork.

I forgot to say, never EVER listen to competitive Dance Mums™️ and/or their offspring (and at auditions, never take any notice of those doing Competitive Stretching/Warmup routines) - they’re the dance equivalent to Trash Talking before a wrestling match; designed to psych you out and make the other person feel better about herself/himself. Every dance student has her own path, her own routine, and the only person your dd should compare herself against is her, and her progress. It’s not a race, there’s no rush - she might change her mind and decide she wants to be an Astronaut! Even if she doesn’t, she’s 11. The only thing she *should* be doing right now is enjoying her dancing.

Absolutely. With dance training, it’s *always* quality over quantity - especially at 11! The only time you really need to think about adding in more hours - purely really for stamina and strength - is if you’re planning to audition for 16+ full-time dance training alongside students who have been at a full-time dance school from years 7-11. But that’s more for those who are aiming for a career as a professional dancer. For someone like your dd though, her first priority going forward should be good local ballet training (the foundation of almost all dance training; even Musical Theatre), then Modern and Tap. RAD Ballet classes also give the opportunity to learn Character dance, which forms part of the RAD Graded exams. I’m not sure if they still do so but when my daughter was an Associate at Central School of Ballet, Character was one of the classes studied, alongside Ballet, Pointework and Contemporary. If Associates are not affordable at the moment, it’s really not a problem. You can look again in a year or two (or three) if necessary. CAT schemes might be more affordable because I think they attract grants - and go up to 18, although I think 16 is the cut off age to apply: https://www.nationaldancecats.co.uk/what-are-cats/funding/

All good advice; I agree that Associates aren’t essential but I don’t agree that they’d be unnecessary or a waste of money - it all depends how good your daughter’s local classes are. A good, selective Associates scheme (or CAT scheme) can be really useful in all sorts of ways, not least to supplement local training and for the reasons SissonneDoublee mentions. Another thing to think about is what academic qualifications might be of use; a GCSE or even A Level in Business Studies could be very useful if running her own school is an eventual aim. The RAD Teaching courses (or ISTD Teaching Courses) are probably what springs to my mind as a good route for a prospective Dance Teacher - the other option being the progression from performing as a professional dancer to the RAD Professional Dancer’s Teaching Diploma or the Royal Ballet School’s Teaching Diploma (https://royalballetschool.org.uk/train/dancer-training/dance-teacher-training/diploma-of-dance-teaching/). What will be important, as others have said, is a really strong grounding in ballet; your dd will need RAD/ISTD or equivalent Intermediate exam at a minimum, but to be honest she will have even more options if she can pass Advanced 1 or even Advanced 2. A pass at Intermediate in Tap and Modern would also incredibly useful if she would like to teach other styles. Acro is probably the least useful and Contemporary really needs a level of maturity so can be started later. And welcome from me too. ☺️

When my dd was there, the uniform changed after Prep 1 and again the year after she left Pre-Seniors (😳££) but if I remember rightly, it was a very nice, very flattering Dans-ez leotard in a different shade/belt for each group, a sheer black dance skirt for Pre-Senior character, and the ballet leotard with black tights over for Contemporary. Most girls wore canvas split soles and their usual pointe shoes for ballet, RAD character shoes for Character and bare feet or foot thongs for Contemporary. More recent parents will correct me if I’m wrong but I think that the leotard is now the same colour for Preps 1-3 but with different belts, only changing to a darker green leo for Pre-Seniors? Leotard, skirt and ?belt were ordered via the school, tights and shoes were from anywhere.

And are you in the UK? Also, is your daughter currently taking classes in-person?

Hi Vanmalc77 and welcome. Can you give us a little more information in terms of age of dancer, and current level being studied?

They are every Saturday with a break for half term. As akh suggests, it’s probably best to email to find out class times - I can remember being up in London for most of the day before dd was old enough to go alone but that was several years ago!

I wish the ROH would hurry up and announce casting for this bill, especially for the live stream on the 9th (?) - it’s less than a month away so I can’t understand why even provisional casting isn’t available. 😕

This is what I found on Friday, Dawnstar - because I was warm, the outside temperature was warm AND it was warm inside the ROH, I didn’t get any fogging at all wearing glasses plus a cotton mask with nose wire. I did have my nose wire tightly moulded to my nose, and at times I had to breathe through my mouth, but on balance it was still better than not having the joy of live ballet. I’m now fully vaccinated but suspect I had COVID in December 2019; the chances of me transmitting it are slim to none. However, my daughter isn’t yet old enough to be vaccinated, and having been coughed on more than once in the past by an ROH audience member not covering his/her mouth, I’m more than happy to wear a mask (and dare I say, I *like* the social distancing measures wrt seating). In fact not having had a cold or tonsilitis since 2019, daughter and I were agreeing that we would continue to wear masks on public transport and in tube stations after any requirement has ended. 🤷🏻‍♀️