Anna C

Good morning Suzyq, Can't help with DaDa reserve lists but welcome to the forum. :-)

Thanks Lil! With regard to student accommodation, I know that there are some smart new student "flats" right opposite Central now, but they're not cheap at over £200 per week!

I was really surprised to fid out that they do neither A'Levels nor a degree course (even a Foundation degree?) at ENBS. That must be unusual - I know at Central and Rambert it's a degree course, and am I right in thinking that Elmhurst and RBS Upper School offer A Levels?

Welcome to the forum, tutugirl. :-)

11! She was brave! :-) Think I'm lucky that dd hasn't tried DIY defuzzing yet! :-))

On a tangent, I love to think of ballerinas with less than glamorous real names.

I agree that worries about weight/body image and associated food issues are not the same thing as suffering from Anorexia or Bulimia. I do believe though that if you have a fussy eating, body conscious teenager, it's as well to just keep an eye on things to make sure that if anything serious does develop, it's spotted as quickly as possible.

The "new" syllabus is more dance based now - or so I have been told by the GCSE teacher. The written part of the exam is much smaller now than it was previously and there is now more dance. :-)

Hi Dancing10, My dd is in year 8 but is doing GCSE dance as a "twilight" course at a nearby school. We have to pay termly for it and it's not cheap, but she really wanted to do it. As she will have done the exam by the end of Year 9 I was happy to let her get it out of the way early. It is quite homework intensive though so I think if she had been taking it along with the rest of her GCSEs, I might have discouraged her. Like your dd, my dd's school doesn't offer dance as a GCSE or A Level so this was the only option. Might there be any other schools in your area which do the course after school?

Thank you Julie; I've been wondering about this for some time! I used to have very fine blonde hair on my legs as a teenager, but either shaving or (more likely) hormonal problems eventually turned it black. Several years of waxing now means it's much finer but it's still black which means that you can see it in between waxes. I've been trying to explain to my dd that her best bet is to leave things alone for now as she has very fine blonde hair, but it will be interesting to see if it stays so blonde once she starts to use cream or wax. Very glad I'm not the only one who has pondered this issue....!

Yes, that's very true Julie. I trust my dd's teacher implicitly but she sometimes has ideas of schools based on previous Directors of Dance. :-) I think the thing to do is to get as much info as possible from as many different people as possible - and *then* go with your gut feeling!

:-0 Wouldn't like to try dancing in that!

Hello follycat, welcome to the forum! All I can suggest is that you read the advice given here, look at Graduate Employment info, and speak to your dd's current teacher to see what she thinks. :-)

Thanks Spooky - that sounds very encouraging. :-)

Yes, several Vocational Students took part last time we did EYB.

I'm glad Nana Lily posted the article; it's certainly given rise to some vigorous discussion! I'd be very interested to hear about nutrition strategies at other schools like Central, RBS Upper School etc. if anyone knows.

Oh! :-(

I must admit we've had to tackle the food issue at home when my dd's blood sugar went through the floor during a long class last year and she was quite poorly for a good few hours. I liken it to asking a car to get you from London to Edinburgh on £5 worth of petrol. Luckily we've managed to find a fussy-teen-friendly eating plan which works well...maintaining her very healthy weight whilst keeping blood sugar and energy levels stable (and allowing for the odd treat). But I must admit I'm glad she's at home where we can work out any food issues before they become an issue. :-)

Goodness me. Very scary and I agree that with some children it's a case of desperately needing to control a tiny bit of their life. :-( I know there are either in-house nutritionists or nutritionists brought in to talk to Upper School students - can anyone with US experience shed any light on the schools' advice on weight and diet?

The other interesting thing to pop up about Tring is that they seem to be developing a Ballet Company made up of graduate year students (?) which sounds as if it's along the same lines as Ballet Central. It'll be interesting to see how that develops and if it improves the number of Tring students getting classical contracts.

Very intersting thoughts here. :-) Hfbrew, sorry if I have missed this, but do you know which companies those two female graduates have ended up in? Thanks.

I must say from The Place's Open Day, we thought the CAT scheme looked absolutely amazing. The only thing that stopped our dd applying is that her great love is Classical Ballet, and there are no CATs in London/S.E. which concentrate mainly on ballet. She likes Contemporary as part of her Associate Classes but wants to stay there for now. If she feels differently in a couple of years' time I will certainly encourage her to apply for a CAT scheme though.

Definitely don't panic! Back when dd was 10 she was not doing tap, GCSE, or "real" Associate Classes (by which I mean she was dancing on Saturdays at Tring's "Junior Conservatoire" which was the previous version of Tring's RAD/ISTD classes, not an equivalent to RBS/Elmhurst/Central etc.) She would have been doing ISTD Grade 3 Modern and RAD Grade 4 ballet, and had literally only just started to learn RAD Inter Foundation. She wouldn't have been dancing anywhere near as she is now. :-)

I too have been wondering about WS...guess we will just have to wait and see. Dancing daughter delighted to be seeing Nunez/Acosta, not least because they grace her lovely ROH poster of La Fille. :-)

As she's more interested in a singing/dancing career than classical ballet, then the second school sounds as if it offers a good package. I agree about attending open days, but also look at the standard and quality of teaching as well as which classes are offered. Singing lessons are a must in my opinion, if she wants to attend somewhere like Laine, as good singing lessons teach proper technique (which may help prevent or at least lessen the chance of throat problems). What are the graduate employment rates and stats on further training like at the two schools?