Anna C

Still wishing we could afford YDA.....:-( However! Until we win the lottery, this is dd's schedule (she's year 8): Monday: 45 mins ISTD Modern, followed by 45 mins ISTD tap Tuesday: 1 hr 15 RAD Grade 6 ballet, followed by 1 hr 30 RAD Intermediate ballet Most Wednesdays: Private ballet lesson (non-syllabus) Thursday: Twilight GCSE Dance 4 - 6pm Saturday: Associate Class (3.5 hours - ballet, pointework, Contemporary) At school she has piano and singing lessons and is in 2 choirs and a lunchtime dance club. She usually gets an average of 1-1.5 hours homework every night. I feel tired just reading this, but I would add that everything is entirely her choice!

Indeed. It's obviously worked because dd apparently has amazing core strength. Obviously a dvd isn't a substitute for a real class but Monique was great about giving me info on which exercises would be best for dd's age when we first got the dvd a couple of years ago. Now she's a teenager she can do them all, and the instructions are really clear.

Hi all, I got mine directly from Monique Richards after searching for Pilates DVDs for dancers. I came across a clip on Youtube and messaged Monique to see if it would be suitable for my dd's age. Can't get the link to work on my ipad but if you search for "Monique Richards Pilates" hopefully you'll find her. She sent our dvd from Australia but it came within a couple of weeks.

If I remember rightly, RBS do sometimes like people to come back and audition again, so if it's a "no" for a year 4 place, it's well worth auditioning again a year later. :-)

My dd has a great dvd called "Pilates for young dancers" which I can recommend for teenagers. They do have Pilates/Body Conditioning at her local school but it would mean doing Pilates, straight into Grade 6, then straight into Intermediate - think that might be a bit much on a school night! :-)

I can vouch for just how hard it is - financially and in terms of time - to try to keep up enough hours of quality ballet training to be in with a chance of getting a Vocational Place at 16, AND juggling an awful lot of homework if you have a bright child at a demanding academic school. Including a twilight GCSE dance course, my Year 8 dd is dancing 5 days a week, and having piano lessons and singing lessons. With travelling, her Associate Class takes up most of Saturday. Approaching Vocational exams, she adds in a Sunday morning ballet class. Tuesday is probably her hardest day as she has to eat a low GI dinner by 5pm, be at G6 ballet by 6pm, and doesn't get home until 9pm after Intermediate class. She's an academic high flyer and gets a LOT of homework, which takes up Friday evenings and most of Sunday. She likes to do Easter and Summer Schools, and EYB every other year. All this is entirely her choice, but she looks tired out most of the time and never really gets any time off. Her friend is a day pupil at a private Vocational school, and does have two late evenings a week, BUT once she's home, she's home - not rushing out to dance class. If she had been offered a funded ballet place at 11 we would have definitely let her try it - not that Vocational pupils work any less hard, BUT they aren't trying to fit all their dance training AND homework in after school.

Brilliant Tulip! Huge congrats to your dd! :-))

All I would say is that you can do a university degree at any time of life - but to become a professional dancer you have such a small window of opportunity in terms of time. My advice to my daughter is to get the best GCSE results she possibly can whilst keeping up her ballet training. But she's worked so hard that if she wants to apply for post 16 training, I couldn't deny her the chance. :-)

Ah, I wondered about that one! I know what you mean John, the Mail and its readers' attitudes towards disabled people are so shocking, I sometimes wonder if they are joking... :-s

Anyone know the Daily Mail one this year? They had me utterly fooled a few years ago with the joke that Tony Blair had painted 10 Downing Street's door. :-)

Gosh!

Excellent Amethyst! Well done and good luck for the waiting list. :-)

If this hasn't already been done, could I suggest starting a new thread for post-16 training and discussing Central etc. in there? Thanks. :-)

Or Freed and Dancia both sell issues. If you don't want to subscribe, you can just order an issue at a time from the DT website.

Gosh, thanks everyone....one of the girls at our local school auditioned for both; I've been wondering when people would hear. Do Rambert audition in dribs and drabs then?

Morning all! I know Central held their finals recently, and I believe Rambert are either auditioning soon or have done recently. Just wondering if anyone had heard of any results from either school yet? Thanks. :-)

I would have thought for Classical Ballet, one would ideally be finishing training by 19 or 20, but for Contemporary, I think schools are more easygoing (and almost like a bit of life experience), hence at schools like Rambert you can apply at 18. Good news for academically minded dancers who may want to stay on at their current school for A'Levels.

Welcome to the forum, Dancingdaisy3! :-)

I absolutely love Nutcracker! :-). It's just so Christmassy! (*blushes and runs away*)

Hello Happymum and welcome to the forum! I was also going to suggest the JA for the day programme. :-) Can't help with JAs but wanted to say hello.

You certainly are! :-))

I think the RB's youtube day helped in a lot of ways, and it's something I'd like to see again. That rehearsal of "Sweet Violets" was utterly riveting to me, and if I had the money spare, I certainly would go to see it, based on that rehearsal. I do think people (ballet parents in particular!) are finding money a real struggle right now. Perhaps the ballet companies are finding that the only way they can sell full priced tickets is by putting on crowd pleasers like Swan Lake. Hopefully when money worries ease a bit, people will risk spending their cash on triple bills and new works. I do think RB and even ENB should think about broadcasting more rehearsals though; to me that was a stroke of genius and should be repeated. If I find some cash down the back of the sofa I'm going to try to see Sweet Violets if it's on again next year.

Yes, my apologies, because when I think "South Coast" I tend to think Sussex/Hampshire/Dorset. As opposed to proper South West which would be a bit of a trek to London! ;-)

I'd love to see that! The chemistry between Cope and Soares was incredible. Sadly very skint at the mo. :-((

Very very encouraging news Swe, huge congrats to your dd! :-))