Anna C

Is it really only half? :-( I suppose if you did the first two years successfully you would have your Foundation Degree (it's the same at Rambert, I believe). Do people join Central for the third year, or is Ballet Central only made up of a proportion of the students that have passed 1st and 2nd year?

Oh yes, I forgot about rugby and trampolining! Thankfully there is no cheerleading at dd's school!

And at Tring and Hammond there are such a relatively small number of funded places to give that there are undoubtedly equally talented children who don't get funding.

Physio has banned dd from hockey, football, running and hurdles. Daughter quite delighted as hurdling hurt her achilles last summer. She swims like a fish though, very graceful and travels a long distance on a very economical stroke, so she's always pleased when it's swimming at school. :-)

How lovely! They made the studio look gorgeous. Hope Dame Antoinette had a lovely time. :-) Edited to add have I missed an announcement from the RAD about who the next President will be? Or has none been made yet?

Dd and I saw Ballet Central at the ROH's Linbury Theatre last year. So impressed with the standard of performance and the evening was made all the more exciting by the fact that Dame Monica was watching and walked right past us! We're easily pleased. :-))

No, I was shocked the first time I heard about it too. :-((

Oh, that's such a shame! The one my dd has is like this: http://shop.sodanca.ca/collections/european-fit/products/e-8082 You might still get So Danca at Dancia or online from Porselli, mind you.

It is most definitely NOT mandatory to wear the regulation Freed leotards for RAD exams, even those Vocational exams at HQ (thank goodness!) The new Freed Alice C were massive and baggy on my dd and the other cut (Freed Jane?) with the waist elasticy straps felt way too low cut under the arms and around to the back. DD just felt so uncomfortable in it. Hence trying on about 20 different plain black camisole leotards! :-) Edited to add that the latest exam specification merely states "sleeveless leotard - black or royal blue".

And the seat selection and photo previews work on ipad! :-)

My brain, my soul and my heart would all love to take up ballet. Shame the body's having none of it! ;-)

I think last time we went to the RAH (John Barry Memorial Concert) we had Tesco Clubcard reward vouchers for Prezzo so booked a table at the little Prezzo in Kensington High Street and had a slow walk afterwards to the RAH.

It's a lovely theatre (we go there every year for the Panto) but EYB has become so popular that I think they'd have to do at least 4 performances there to fit in all the people who wanted to see it. Aylesbury is such a big theatre that they can sell out 3 performances there; it's quite substantially bigger than the Gordon Craig. It would be fantastic if they would return to Stevenage but I'm pretty sure that Aylesbury has replaced it.

I have a feeling they may have replaced Stevenage and Dunstable with Aylesbury as the theatre there is so much bigger - 1500 seats or thereabouts - and they filled it for 3 performances of Nutcracker. I wonder if they've outgrown the Gordon Craig at Stevenage.

I bought dd's So Danca leo in Dancia Drury Lane - they have a fab range of plain leotards there and we settled on the So Danca one after trying on about 20 different ones! They do seem to come up small (it's the only brand that she's a medium in) but it's lovely quality and looked really nice for her Inter Foundation exam. :-)

And me! :-)

That's precisely why some teachers believe that girls should work in soft blocks for 6 months or so prior to starting pointework. Pointe shoes are even thicker underfoot than full sole ballet shoes because you're resisting against the shank plus the leather sole. I know we've discussed this before but dd's ballet physio says that for girls like her who need to strengthen the feet, splitsoles are no good and that she should be working in at least full soles and preferably soft blocks. Fascinating to see all the differing opinions about shoes. :-)

Thanks Aurora. :-)

Yes, I've heard about that. Just glad I haven't been in the room when Miss Rist has said it!

I'd seriously hope that schools DON'T look at parents as an indication of how a child will develop - apart from the fact that I take after my paternal Aunt and Grandmother (so there would have been no point looking at my parents to see how I'd have developed), I'm overweight because of my back and neck injuries (exercising is somewhat difficult) and either in a wheelchair or on crutches. My spinal injuries aren't hereditary though and I'd hate any schools to look at me and think that could give them any indication of how my dd may turn out! :-(

We went with a So Danca black leo for Inter Foundation as neither of the RAD regulation styles fitted her properly. Fortunately the RAD allow other styles of plain leotard!

Sorry Swe, I added a bit while you were typing that! :-) x

Hi Swe, My dd was suffering from this and one day she came out of Associates having not eaten enough during the day, absolutely exhausted, white as a sheet, feeling sick and looking almost like a diabetic on the verge of hypoglycaemia. Lots of blood tests etc later, the doctor decided she wasn't eating enough for the amount of dancing she does, and her blood sugar was indeed dropping really quite low. We changed her cereal to porridge, her white bread sandwiches to plain tortilla wraps (lower GI), and make her eat an apple or banana plus a low-ish sugar cereal bar, plus have a quick drink before class, and it's made a huge difference. She still gets up as early and works as hard but she no longer falls asleep on the train home now. It might be well worth looking at giving your dd lower GI food and snacks in a bid to keep her blood sugar steadier for longer and give her sustained fuel for dancing. It's helped her stamina too as she no longer gets as out of breath. Hope that helps. :-) Edited to say that by lowish-sugar I don't mean things with sweeteners in, I mean something that's mostly oats, some cereal, and dried fruit. My dd likes the Jordans Frusli bars. As Anjuli says though, it's worth getting a GP check to rule out anaemia, diabetes etc. Once you know whether it is purely a matter of getting the nutrition right, there is a very good book called "Nutrition for the dancer" by Zerlina Mastin. Dd's teacher lent it to us and there is a section on young dancers.

I'd be surprised if many people applied for year 11 places unless they were very unhappy with their current school. I would think it far too disruptive to GCSE studies. Better to wait for 6th form entry - unless of course you were literally just auditioning for the experience with no intention of taking a place.

Do you think core strength could have anything to do with it also? I have trouble lifting my left leg full stop, and it's nothing to do with leg strength, but because both my abdominal and back muscles have been cut through during many surgeries so my core strength isn't very good on the left. I watched my dd doing developpes this evening and her core muscles seemed to be working just has hard as her legs, so that must also play a part?