Anna C

I agree Julie. That's precisely why dd's teacher sends the students to HQ to take their Inter Foundation, to get them used to the venue.

That's outrageous David! :-(. Why aren't the school continuing to run syllabus classes as well as show work? We moved my dd at 7 to her current school because every other year the only classes were in preparation for their show. Fortunately our current school manages to do both. Would it be worth asking your teacher to speak to the principal/Director to say that it's not really on to enforce a 6 month break, eight months into a syllabus?

I agree; Grade 6 is a lovely syllabus. Great for working on your movement and artistry!

Re. Tape being uncomfortable to pull off, Dd uses Bunheads Toe Tape as opposed to micropore tape, because the Bunheads stuff sticks to itself but is not very sticky on the skin (if that makes sense!). If she's taping up a blistered toe, we tear a tiny piece off a cotton wool pad, place it over the blister, and tape it into place.

It's always fairly rubbish Fiz! But thank you. :-) x

We were posting at the same time, hfbrew. :-) Incidentally, where you mention being at Adv. 1 standard for auditioning at vocational school, I'm guessing you mean Upper Schools!

Hi Lemongirl, Vocational Grades can be taken alongside the Graded exams. Some - like Inter Foundation - are optional. In order, the RAD Vocational exams are: Intermediate Foundation (optional) Intermediate Advanced Foundation (optional) Advanced 1 Advanced 2 Solo Seal Award To take Advanced 1, you must have passed Intermediate. To take Adv. 2 you must have passed Adv. 1. It used to be that "recreational" dancers took the Graded exams while dancers with professional aspirations took Vocational exams. Nowadays many dancers take both. At our school you have to be invited to join the Vocational classes. For my dd this happened when she had taken her Grade 4 but she worked on Inter Foundation for almost 2 years before taking the exam. There are minimum age limits for taking the exams. Historically, I think the Vocational marking has always been a little tougher than the Graded exams. Hope that helps!

Thank you Lil! :-) x

Oh, that's a relief Klaris, thank you! :-) xx

No it doesn't! xx

Thanks! Yes, I'm actually laying down in the car today outside rehearsals. Have book, painkillers, packed lunch and ipad! :-)

Phew! Distinction for G6 for my dd. Job done - onwards and upwards! :-)

Several months after your successful audition you have casting day and press photos, which is 4 hours or so, if I remember rightly. Then a couple of months after that, rehearsals start, approximately 66 hours. These have been a combination of 4 weekends plus half term for a termtime production, or Weds - Sun inclusive for 2 weeks for summer holiday productions. Then in the week of the performances you have a 4-5 hour technical rehearsal at the theatre; next day is dress rehearsal followed by an evening performance, then Saturday is a matinee then an evening performance. Then Sunday - sleep! :-)

That's great news Tulip. One of the questions I always want to know is how many students in each class? And also the age range of the summer school, so thank you for answering both questions! :-)

Am I right in thinking that there is no pointework in LCB's production?

Thanks Fiz! :-) Pointytoes, we drive about an hour and a half each way when EYB come to Aylesbury which is our nearest venue. :-)

It's highly antiseptic angela, so I wipe it on dd's dodgy big toenails to prevent infection. Plus it hardens the skin; my mum used to wipe it on the palms of my hands to try to prevent sailing blisters. :-)

Lemongirl, my advice is not to ask what anyone else got, it's a sure path to troublesome musings in the head of one party or the other! :-) It doesn't matter what anyone else got. Exams are just a snapshot of the candidate on one day. I doubt that any application form will ever want to know the percentage your dd got on her Grade 3 exam; she would just say "distinction". My dd got around 78% for her Grade 1 and was just delighted with her distinction! She can't even remember her actual percentages now anyway. Any marks your dd lost should simply be a target to improve upon next time, so think of them as positives to work on, not negatives. In my experience, ballet children are extra self-critical, and this is fine up to a point. But your dd should be very proud of her distinction, and hopefully, when the dust settles, she will be. Could you explain how she feels to teacher, and ask teacher to praise your dd's hard work and the distinction?

Great news taxi! Very well done to your dd. :-)

Nothing wrong with 78! I always tell my dd that no matter what the mark, if she can say in good conscience that she did her best, I will be immensely proud of her. She on the other hand is immensely self-critical. She's always been reasonably pleased with a Distinction, but whatever mark she gets, she always feels that she could have done better. Oddly, the only mark she's ever been really happy with was the Merit she got for her Inter Foundation - she said she felt so deathly ill that she was amazed to have passed, let alone got a Merit. Funny lot, these ballet children! :-)

By the way, I have edited the title topic to include "and footcare questions"! :-)

My dd didn't used to use tape until she had been doing a lot of pointework and developed a nasty blister on the outside of one little toe. Once it had healed we wiped that toe with surgical spirit but in her old pointe shoes it was clearly a friction spot so she started to tape it. At EYB she's been wearing her newer shoes with only Ouch Pouch pro pads - the ones with gel only on the top. She's had a few red areas on her feet but no blisters yet....I am keeping on with the surgical spirit and she has toetape in her bag just in case. She's saying though that after a long session en pointe that her big toes are hurting on the ends - more like pressure than blister pain. Any ideas what she can do to relieve this (if anything!?). Her shoes fit fine and she's not sinking into them....

Hi, Yes, videora should give you an option to convert to mp4 which, as twinkletoes says, would be viewable on an ipad as soon as it is on itunes. I watch many videos on my ipad! :-)

I don't see any problem with this. Can't contribute personally as dd doing EYB instead of a summer school this year, but it would certainly be very useful! :-)

Luckily we usually get an email or phone call. :-)