drdance

It's so great to see Elmhurst publicising this so much. I know from having meetings with him that Robert Parker is very keen to implement more S&C in the school but as usual it's all down to funding. What has been wonderful for Nico's work is that it has been so warmly received by the students, and I'm sure that Jade's success story will help support those of us who advocate for safe strength and conditioning training for dancers!

Hi everyone, just a quick note to say that there are still spaces available on the summer course this year which runs from Mon 21st Aug to Friday 25th Aug at mac Birmingham. Each day will include a ballet class and an element of body conditioning (but the specifics will vary daily). There will be additional sessions in pointe, repertoire, turns/leaps, contemporary, lyrical and jazz. It is open to any young dancer aged 10 or over. To book visit https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/midas-summer-classes-tickets-34793365894 Cost: 1-2 days: £75 per day 3-4 days: £65 per day 5 days: £50 per day

You can use a free program such as Audacity to speed up or slow down music fairly easily now. I would suggest you choose to perform in the manner that you are most comfortable. If you're more comfortable in flat shoes, do it on flat. If you feel confident enough to perform en pointe, then go for that option. I'm sure it will be fabulous either way, and your schoolmates, teachers etc will be impressed just as much if you're in flatties.

Oh, and talking of gymnastics and ballet (albeit rhythmic gymnastics) - have a quick search for an Australian dancer /athlete named Audrey Freeman. Recent YAGP finalist and training with Australian national RG team!

Well - these two points are connected! Strengthening muscles does NOT cause them to be tight. In fact this is a myth and quite the opposite can be true. Many times weak muscles are the tight ones, because they struggle to contract and relax as efficiently, and get 'stuck' in a contracted state. Therefore, strengthening muscles can cause increases in flexibility - as seen in the 'stronger gymnasts' having better leaps. With this point though, there is also an element of being able to use what you've got i.e. It doesn't matter if you can do the splits if your legs / hips aren't strong enough to get them into the positions without the floor/barre/hand keeping them there.

Yes that looks pretty tough to me - these are more likely to be used for extreme stretching rather than strengthening. I don't think that they are appropriate for children to use unless in a class delivered by a strength & conditioning coach.

It is understood now that stretching reduces the explosive power output of a muscle so it is counterproductive to stretch before requiring muscles to produce power. As for the actual physiology of stretching to increase flexibility I would need to go and do some more reading on the topic! It is true that training strength pushes a muscle to capacity and then damage, and the damage repair is what causes the increase in strength so I'm not sure how this relates to flexibility....but I can get back to you!!

Regarding menstruation, or lack of menstruation, this is a symptom of a body in starvation mode. Essentially, the female body needs a certain level of nutrition (including fat) in order to make the hormone oestrogen. This is the hormone that controls periods but also has implications for growth and bone density (which is why elderly women, who no longer make oestrogen, are more likely to have bone breaks). If a female has a very low body fat percentage then the body tries to save energy and stops making this hormone, leading to periods becoming irregular (dismenorrhea) or stopping completely (amenorrhea). Bones and ligaments are more at risk of injury and some orthopaedic doctors link scoliosis in females (post puberty) to amenorrhea too.

Any young dancer needs a good balance of carbohydrate, protein, fruit and vegetables and some fats. Carbohydrate is needed to give you enough energy to complete your training. Protein will help your muscles to stay/get strong and will help recovery and reduce injury. Fruit and vegetables provide essential vitamins and minerals which keep you healthy and allow you to keep up with your training, as well as fibre for digestive health. Fat is essential for brain and nerve function; nerves connect your muscles to your brain so you need this to dance. Eating the correct balance of nutrients will help you to train and perform. If you are worried about keeping lean, then avoid sugary or fatty foods. Dancers need to eat like athletes - so if you're stuck, look up what they eat. Eating more wont make you taller, but NOT eating enough will definitely affect how well you grow.

The transferability between different syllabi at intermediate level is a fairly recent development and isn't shouted about so it could be that the teacher simply doesn't know - it used to be that one had to take inter RAD to do the Advanced 1 and 2 exams.

Don't get too hung up on needing to see a dance specialist physio as you don't actually have a dance related injury so it doesn't need any specialist knowledge. Any physio would be able to assess whether you truly have a leg length difference but ultimately, even if you do, it's not something that can be treated, you just need to learn to work with it. Also, if you don't mind me asking, how old are you? As you've said you've stopped growing but just got your first pair of pointe shoes which leads me to think that perhaps a career as a ballet dancer is not your ultimate goal here? (I apologise if I've mis-concluded). If I am correct, and pointe work is not a career requirement then if you do have a leg length difference, or indeed a foot-length difference that makes pointe work painful or very difficult, it might be worth weighing up whether it is worth pursuing. I'm sorry if this seems harsh, but I've seen lots of people attempt pointe work "for fun" when physiologically unsuited to it (through no fault of their own) and suffer unnecessary pain, injury and frustration.

@Moomin Not yet as I'm still securing the staff for the different days - keep an eye on FB / website etc for more details but bear in mind that the more people that book in, the more guest teachers I can afford to bring in!

Depends where you are in the country and whether you can travel but MIDAS summer course would suit your DD; more information on www.midas-dance.org.uk Summer course page

I had a quick read - just heading out teaching but will look more thoroughly later

The ISTD modern theatre syllabus does include elements of Graham, Cunningham and Limon styles (just not called that)

I've just seen an interesting infographic on Facebook from the American National Strength and Conditioning Association and it got me thinking whether this would apply to those young dancers who are advised to focus on ballet alone, or another dance form, at the expense of participation in other sports or activities. I'd like to hear from parents of DC's who have gone onto successful careers and what the balance of their DC's training was. NB I am not making any judgements about dance training, merely considering whether this research could apply to dance training.

I completely agree with this. At age 10 the body is SO vulnerable to damage, yet children and teenagers feel invincible. It is our job, as the parents, teachers and coaches ie the adults that look after them to remember that they are not invincible, they are not the finished article and nor should they be. This is something that untrained 'teachers' or coaches often forget and one of the reasons why comments like this should be completely ignored. Students can learn an awful lot from working with professional dancers, or recently retired dancers, however one must always remember that they do not have the same depth of knowledge in terms of child development (both physiologically and psychologically) as someone who has devoted their career to teaching.

It is possible to get an extremely thorough, written report from the RAD if you would like. It does cost another £40 or so as it requires a fair amount of leg work from the exams department, but I did it for two of my candidates last year and was extremely detailed. The RAD exam criteria are published and, I feel, explain the marking system well. It does take a bit of reading on the teachers behalf, but I feel that as a teacher it is my job to know this criteria inside out, so that I can fully prepare the dancers for exams and explain the different sections of the reports once they come through. It is very clear as to which exercises relate to which section of the report, and I can explain to my kids where they lost/gained marks. The trouble with individual comments is that they can be misinterpreted, and can create more confusion. Imagine having a comment that seemed very positive and low marks, or vice versa. Also, RAD exam marks are checked and moderated for any bias and adjusted accordingly (often up, not just down) and if the examiner had put comments on every single report this moderating would take even longer than it does now. As for video-recording examinations, there's no end of red tape here, including consent, safeguarding issues, security of the recordings in storage etc etc etc Anyway - the grievance procedure of which the OP writes is not the same as the examinations complaints/feedback procedure.

I've just posted the booking info for MIDAS summer classes which will be held at MAC Birmingham this year in the week of August 21-25th. For more info please visit www.midas-dance.org.uk or our Facebook page. Thanks

Hi everyone - I've just put up the details regarding a week of summer classes at mac Birmingham, hosted by MIDAS. The information can be found on our Facebook page and website.

RAD is recognised internationally, for ballet. It is seen as one of the most trustworthy, in my opinion, for training both teachers and students. Check whether the examining board you are interested is accredited to CDET or the UK QCA - this will tell you whether the standards are rigourous enough for the qualifications to be recognised within a national framework of qualifications. Ultimately, you can be a good teacher and train/register/teach with any of the societies/boards, but a bad teacher will struggle to qualify with some of them.

That just about sums it up! Thank you

Yet when you're a good teacher, who knows how to analyse the movement, who knows how hard it can be to perform and who has studied child development but haven't danced professionally, you're not regarded in as high esteem.

Gosh how stressful for you. Children can be so mean but they're also under a lot of stress these days (let's not forget it's the hideous SAT's week). All I can say is keep talking. Even if it gets tough and painful and challenging for you all, keep talking. Children keep so many of their worries inside and a simple misunderstanding can cause so much upset if not dealt with. I hope that your DD bounces back from this and starts to enjoy her dancing again xxxxx

It's certainly possible - your local dance school should be able to offer your DD plenty of classes and depending on what type of course she wants to audition for at 18, the type of class might not be so crucial. Also don't forget associate schemes, additional programmes etc can be great to supplement after school classes. Don't forget that vocationally trained students are used to working long hours so while it'll be hard, I'm sure your DD would rise to the challenge!