drdance

CSB have just posted the link on Facebook http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-24309704

Very pleased for you that this all worked out - and thanks for letting us all know too! :-)

MIDAS will be running an international residential summer intensive this year. The details are being finalised but it will probably be towards the end of the holidays.

On a slightly different tangent I would like to add my experience as as member of staff at a residential programme - I worked for several summers at an intensive in the USA where kids would either stay for 4 weeks or 8 weeks. They were NOT allowed to phone home unless in extreme cases. Nor were they allowed internet access or mobile phones. This was to enable the kids to fully immerse themselves in the experience and to forget about home. Now this may seem callous however they were allowed to write and parents sent 'care packages' (that we had to search for junk food! - you'd be amazed how much parents tried to smuggle in through the mail, and in very creative ways!). The most extreme cases of homesickness were allowed to call home but most contact went through directors in the office who passed very minimal messages on. After 2 weeks there was a visiting day, where most parents drove up, collected their kids and then they all ended up at the local mall and the kids met up with their camp friends immediately! The kids coped with this system much better than the parents. The staff at boarding schools and residential courses have dealt with this year upon year upon year and know the best ways to combat it. Keeping kids busy and distracted is usually the tried and tested method. Those parents who insist on calling every day etc end up disturbing the efforts of the staff and like JulieW mentioned, it reminds them of what they are missing and prolongs the agony. Be guided by your son, and be guided by the school staff. And while you're missing him horribly, try to distract yourself too! I hope things improve for you both.

Pictures - CAMHS is a great resource for extreme behavioural or emotional issues but this doesnt sound like a CAMHS type issue. Funding shortages really cause problems don't they? I feel for you, it must be quite worrying but its good to know people are helping, and you've got others to talk to. I'm sure you've heard this but try not to worry as he will pick up on this anxiety and associate it with food etc. It sounds like he's eating quite well - milkshakes are great anyway so try those but if he knows he's being given 'protein shakes' or 'build up' or anything like that he might get worked up about it too. Good luck with it all. I teach a lot of kids with various ranges of ASD in school (science) and while it can be a challenge, if it's managed effectively these kids can do so well and really fly.

Pictures: if you're really concerned take him to a doctor or a nurse at your local gp surgery. They will be the best people to advise.

Personally I would only take nutritional advice from an expert, in the same way that I would take advice about injuries, prevention, rehabilitation and/or treatment from an expert. I think that the field of nutrition is so complex and so influenced by psychological factors that many people misinterpret information, mis-hear or mis-read things, pass them on, believe fads, rumours etc. Dancers are NOTORIOUS for this! Being people who tend to verge towards the obsessive personality types anyway, I feel this is an area that dancers get very faddy about and start to follow all sorts of weird and strange advice! Supplements are just that - they are to supplement the diet however there's nothing better than the real thing. Doctors and nutritionists largely all agree on the idea of a 'healthy diet' because it is just that! It is the best for everyone - a balanced diet with plenty of fruit and veg. Low GI foods/complex carbohydrates are vital for keeping up energy and avoiding fatigue (which we all know leads to poor performance and injury). Lean protein in the form of meat and fish are necessary to maintain strength, and allow repair of microtrauma caused every day and every class and fibre is essential for keeping everything moving along... Every meal should contain a carbohydrate element - I get sick of hearing of people and their 'grilled meat/fish and leafy green vegetables' meals. This is a quick route to fatigue. Dancers tend to obsess about protein - I imagine it's come from something to do with strength and repair. But if the body doesn't get enough energy, it can't do anything with all that protein - in fact if you're not eating enough energy it will break protein down into an energy source, but one that is much less efficient, and leads to a build up of ketones (also known as keto acids). This can be deadly in serious cases. In less serious cases, it causes bad breath that smells like pear drops! Creatine supplementation has limited scientific evidence supporting it. I did a study on it during my university years, which I admit were a few ago now, so it may have changed. IADMS has a good nutrition fact sheet, and I'm fairly sure Dance UK have similar.

I would enquire at the new school - and make it clear that it is only an enquiry - before then politely giving notice at the current one. That should be sufficient. Teachers have no right to say which school you can and can't move to, in the same way that Tesco has no right to say "I won't let you shop at Sainsburys"! Furthermore, if two teachers are in 'cahoots' about this and won't accept a pupil from the others, they're both as bad as each other; Go elsewhere and both will be missing out on a student who may be very talented (and not to mention the income!).

Lovely news! Thank you for sharing :-)

In any other walk of life CPD is required - indeed in most professions it is sought by the individual. Take teaching in a secondary school - everyone always has a focus of their teaching that they want to improve, and targets are set every year. It irritates me that so many people think that the RAD/ISTD/IDTA etc put on CPD courses to make money - you can learn so much from attending courses! No-one is ever a perfect teacher, despite wonderful exam results, or students winning competitions, or getting into schools and colleges. You're not perfect when you're young and fresh out of training, and you're not perfect when you've had years of experience. I love to learn from other teachers - I just wish I had more time and more opportunities to do so.

I loved it. I havent gotten around to watching the whole thing yet but so far enjoyed how they've gone in the same direction as with Inter F and Inter. It's great to see the RAD moving with the times and creating challenging new syllabi BUT I get sick of saying that the RAD syllabi are EXAMINATION SYLLABI not training syllabi! They are designed to be taught using unset enchainement to introduce each individual step of vocabulary and then to build up to the examination settings when the students are strong enough and exam ready. The whole point of the more choreographed exercises, I imagine, is to 'force' teachers into teaching this way as the RAD have always intended.

I LOVED that parody site! Brilliant!

Anjuli I totally agree with you - Students can learn so much from each other, a 'good' turner can inspire a struggling turner, and can give tips that the teacher may not have thought of or shared with the class, and teaching others is the most effective way of learning; so in giving each other tips and advice, the students will be more able to analyse and try things to self-correct their own work.

Good luck to everyone - this did make me chuckle though, as 'back in the old days' of the 'executant examinations' of Pre-Elementary, Elementary, Intermediate and Advanced most people expected to fail or scrape through! I remember a girl who was a couple of years younger than me who was a super talented dancer, always won everything at festivals, she danced at the All England finals all the time, went to Tring sixth form and won the jazz and contemporary cups in the year she left, and has worked in the West End - anyway she got 'pass' (the lowest mark out of pass, pass plus, commended, highly commended and honours) for both pre-ele and elem exams, and I remember her being so gutted with only getting a pass in pre-ele after "getting honours all through the grades" (and being so successful in festivals etc). It was quite a different ball game then, so when the marking system changed to numbers, and became much fairer and transparent, (circa 2002ish) and I prepared my first ever entrant for Intermediate (the old Elementary syllabus) we all warned her how hard RAD majors were to do well in - needless to say she got 75 and a Distinction! We were all bowled over!

If your teacher is concerned she/he can use the RAD results enquiry service and get a class report if there are a lot that appear on the low side. But while it is annoying and upsetting, it's best to try not to get too disheartened and to focus on moving onwards and upwards. Did your teacher give you a copy of your report? You can see the marking criteria on the RAD website or your teacher should have a copy so you'll be able to see which areas you did well on and which you perhaps need to focus a bit more on. It could be that everyones free movement, or everyone's character sections were low, so maybe the examiner is trying to suggest a bit more work is done on accuracy in character, or attention to the criteria with free movement (just examples but I was trained by a Grades examiner and she was very hot on character and free movement not being neglected or over-classical in it's performance)

As a youngster I had teachers (plural, at different schools) who tended to say negative things, especially in the run up to competitions or shows, when their emotions and frustrations were allowed to come into their coaching/teaching. How many times do you hear teachers bellowing something like "for goodness sake's, this looks terrible/messy/sloppy, and come on now, why don't you SMILE!!!!" - How easy is it to smile when someone is yelling at you?!?! I totally agree with this. To the point where I am fiercely passionate about it! But I stand by a point I've made in the past, that unless the teachers who are training the elite, professional ballet dancers adopt a more healthy way of teaching, the next generation will be taught in the same way. While our schools still have teachers who have the "it worked for me so this is how I'll teach too" approach and people who say "get used to people being mean to you, and working until your toes bleed through your shoes, and every joint is swollen, and you're too exhausted to remember the last instruction/correction you just got given, because that's what the profession is like", NOTHING will change.

Hi - I don't know where you are based but MIDAS training system covers dance skills used in jazz/modern/contemporary such as pirouettes and leaps.

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I took classes at Peridance center a few years ago, they were great. Also 890 Broadway (ABT studios) had open ballet classes and in my opinion these two places were much better than the ram-packed classes at places like Broadway Dance Center.

NL you are so right. It seems that right now we are at an impasse between schools trusting teachers who have been through the system, and "it worked for them, so why should they teach any differently?" and taking a perceived risk and trusting teachers who are the preachers, and know that what they preach makes sense.

I find it so hard to put into words why I love to dance. It's a lot to do with feeling different dynamics, expressing music, emotions, styles etc. I'm not a naturally expressive person but when I dance my face comes alive, my whole body expresses the style or character of the music be it gentle, lyrical, melancholy, sassy, powerful etc I also like ballet particularly because it is hard! While you can never be perfect at anything, ballet technique is so codified that there is always something to work at, even attending a basic class can be a thorough workout if you use it to focus on a certain thing. Finally, there's that wonderful feeling of moving through space! Again, I can't put it into words very eloquently but it doesn't matter if its ballet, jazz, lyrical, contemporary, musical theatre etc etc even just putting my arms out and spinning! I don't care what I look like but the feeling of filling space, moving and travelling is exhilarating. I could get really contemporary-ish/ science-y and talk about 'playing' with the different forces eg the driving force from your body working with or against gravity/weight , and resistance, and how it feels going with or against momentum... But I won't ;-)

LtD I can't imagine how hard it must be :-( Hopefully one day things might change but until then all those very talented DC's are fortunate to have the support, encouragement and guidance of the wonderful parents on here!

This is what makes me the most sad about ballet... When will those working in vocational schools and with dancers realise how damaging this can be? It might result in success for a minority, who then become the next generation of dancers and teachers. And because this method worked for them, this is the basis of their own teaching/coaching style. But what about all those young dancers (who are at a vulnerable stage in the development of their own identity) who become demotivated, lose confidence, suffer a loss of self-esteem etc etc? I suspect that for every dancer that succeeds having had this type of day-to-day negativity, there are many more who did not succeed, having been affected in some way.

I personally think that Fiz summed it up very well. You worked very hard because you wanted this teacher to see you worked hard, and you improved but you said yourself that you didn't really enjoy it all that much. You are lucky that you didn't get too disheartened, to the point of giving up, or becoming disillusioned. There are a lot of teachers that think that if you tell a class they aren't working hard enough then they'll work harder. But if they are already working their hardest, what more can they give? It is very frustrating to feel like you can't do any more, and only ever seem to get criticism. Think how much more encouraged you'd be if all your hard work was recognised, every so often? Personal feedback is so important - every member of a class needs to know that they count, and the best way for a teacher to let them know that they matter, is to give each participant some kind of personal comment during the class. I always try to mention everyone at least once. As a teacher you will always be watching everyone in the class, but unless you are acknowledged personally, it can feel as though you're working and working and getting very little recognition, which can be very disheartening. Add to that a teacher who tells you you're not working hard enough and I'd be screaming inside! Not great for developing confidence, self esteem and motivation in young dancers!

Balletteacher - please feel free to PM me and I can discuss with you more the type of work we do with MIDAS, as your approach sounds like it comes from a similar place. In a nutshell, what we do is take ideas from the training of youngsters, largely in aesthetic sports (eg rhythmic gymnastics, ice skating etc) including psychological elements such as goal setting, motivation etc. We also do a lot with the younger children in terms of music (having a live pianist can help!). With this age group it is so hard to find a balance between making the training demanding enough to have a physiological effect, but also to make it engaging enough that they want to work hard and love to participate.