Anna C

Wow, thank you so much Anjuli. Can you tell me more about jumping? My dd sometimes gets excessively out of breath during jumping - not so much petit allegro but even then in soubresauts and changements she wants to jump so high that she sometimes tenses her upper body and even her face. The physio mentioned trying to expand the ribs as you jump but I didn't really understand - does that make sense?

That is EXACTLY what dd's highly experienced dance physio says. :-)

How fabulous! :-))

Excellent news! :-)

As are my dd's! :-)) Excellent day though, despite the aching muscles!

I wonder if a Welsh Grandfather from Camarthenshire counts as a "close association"? :-)

There used to be one bursary for a Tring Associate (when TPA were called Junior Conservatoire) who auditioned successfully for the Dance Course, but that was 3 years ago. With the advent of CBA, (which is much more akin to "real" Associates than the Junior Conservatoire was) this may have changed or gone. Mr Anderson told us about it at the Open Day a few years ago when dd was still dancing at Tring.

Welcome to the forum, Evianwater23! :-)

I was always a bit of a sceptic until we met that lady. I'll never forget her.

We had a special experience - actually the lady in question could well have been a teacher. We were watching a ballet in the ROH's Linbury Theatre, just dd and I and a lot of strangers. DD had - for reasons I won't go into here - lost all confidence in her dancing and was doubting that she would ever go any further in ballet. In the interval, a very elderly Japanese lady who was sitting next to dd turned to her and asked if she did ballet. DD nodded. This old lady said, out of the blue, "You are a beautiful tall girl. You will make good ballerina. You have a dream, you must stick to it. But if you want to laugh, you must laugh. If you want to cry, then cry. If you want to be alone, be alone. But you have feelings, and you must share them. You must show your feelings. You will dance." Then the show started again and we couldn't find the lady afterwards, but everything she had said rang so many bells with me as dd loves ballet so so much but she's always kept it inside. She regained her confidence after that though, and carried on. To this day, I have no idea who that lady was; a teacher? A former dancer? But some sort of mindreader, for sure. :-)

No, I see what you're saying, but firstly I am following a dance physio's advice (and what would be the point of paying to see her if I'm going to ignore her advice?), secondly, a lot of the girls who pound around our rabbit-holey school field DO get twisted ankles, and dd's ankles are SO hypermobile that I don't want her to risk a sprain. I must have sprained the same ankle at least twice or three times a year as a teenager and each sprain made the ankle weaker. Ballet classes, exams, holiday courses etc cost a heck of a lot of money! Our school seems to suffer more than its fair share of PE related accidents, and the thought of children working their socks off for a Vocational exam, for example, then getting walloped with a hockey stick, spraining an ankle doing high jump, or injuring an achilles hurdling is not appealing. Of course you can't protect them against everything, but at the same time, why take unnecessary risks if they can be avoided?

I absolutely sympathise, veryskint! :-)

You're probably there by now! :-). Hope you're having a truly special evening. You should be very very proud. xx

I saw "Stomp" again this afternoon, and couldn't help thinking that both "Stomp" and "Fille" should be prescribed on the NHS. :-)

Congratulations to your son, mariejen7! And welcome to the forum. :-)

Love it! :-) Makes me glad Aylesbury has such a big new theatre! :-)

No, not heard of that before. If schools say they won't even enter into correspondence about auditions, I can't imagine they'd be open to appeals. What grounds would you think there would be for appeal? Illness on the audition day, or simply appealing against a no?

Absolutely, taxi4ballet. But these can be inherited from anyone in the family, not necessarily from parents. I'm extremely short sighted yet neither of my parents are. I also have an acute musical ear, yet neither of my parents do. My sister-in-law is a redhead yet apparently that came from about 5 generations back! :-) So children can have many traits not inherited from parents or even grandparents. Far better to thoroughly examine a child, screen, and watch, than to look at parents as that could be extremely misleading.

I get lots of emails from ENB and ENO advertising their forthcoming productions. I agree that the Ballet Buddies scheme is more suited to younger children. I did buy my dd membership (online!) over a year ago. We didn't make as much use out of it as we might, but partly because many of the activities are on a Saturday morning so clashed with Associates. We did however get to watch Company Class and have a backstage tour, both of which were fascinating. I only paid £20 for the year as we're outside the M25. Speaking of missing a trick, I always think the ROH could easily do a ballet-buddies/Junior Friends type scheme.

Speaking of cheerleading, one of the girls in dd's ballet school broke her leg very badly in several places being dropped from a throw in cheerleading. This was during a session at her Junior School! I wouldn't let dd touch it with a bargepole now but fortunately her school doesn't do it. The PE dept were also much more understanding when they found out how much dancing dd does and her ambitions for the future.

I agree LB. Full time dance and studying for a degree is probably plenty to keep Rambert and Central students busy! :-) My mum did 2 A'levels in her late 60s, getting A's for both. You can do A'Levels any time. :-)

The physio has banned dd from "hurling herself around a field full of rabbit holes, while wearing football boots" (which rules out hockey, orienteering - done at a sprint at dd's school! - rugby etc. on the basis that sticking very hypermobile ankles into a pair of football boots and pounding around on uneven ground is not going to do them any good. Ditto hurdling etc. and anything too high impact. Dance, swimming etc. is all fine and like Elliepops' dd, my dd's P.E. teacher is always astonished when anything involving core stability/strength, balance, grace or flexibility is involved. Fortunately, school now lets her do homework in the library instead of getting changed and watching 2 out of 3 PE lessons a week, which given that she dances 5 days a week has been a Godsend. Win win!

You're right Kiwimum, and I know many people are very happy with the school, the teaching, and quite rightly so. I do feel however that teachers and Directors of Dance need to be careful what they say, particularly where children are concerned. It may be that someone means something for the kindest of reasons, or to lighten the mood, or to help ease disappointment. But when it's something that may be misinterpreted as insensitive or even offensive, if it accidentally makes people uncomfortable, or puts someone off, then maybe it should be reconsidered. Many parents and children have obviously heard that speech over the years and enough people have been concerned about it that perhaps it should be reconsidered. Kind motives behind it are obviously not quite evident enough, unfortunately. I always remember Mr Kelly at Elmhurst and how lovely he is to children and parents auditioning. He pointed out how few places there are compared to people auditioning, but he said how well ALL the children had done and thanked us for taking the time and effort to bring them. He didn't need to say any more than that.

And if you talk to a ballet physio, they will tell you that a high arched foot is not a requirement for a career in classical ballet. As long as the foot is flexible and strong enough, a nice strong but straighter foot is just as good - and less prone to injury, apparently. My dd was really worried that she doesn't have particularly high arches - the physio says that she has lovely feet which are just like Agnes Oakes. :-)

Rambert School's advert in Dancing Times also mentions a Foundation degree and BA Hons - could this mean that you also have to re-audition there after your 2nd year?