ZooZoo

My last post made it seem as if I was only wishing good luck to Spax - I didn't mean it to come over that way - I most sincerely hope that all the helpful lovely users on here have good news for their children. I think WL said at the audition that they have one or two extra places higher up the school, so I hope that is a way for new children to join rather than having to take anyone else's place.

I wish your son good luck Spax. Whilst I know that there are other children out there who would love to get a place at RBS, it does seem very harsh that some children might be assessed out after less than 2 terms. Does their class work not matter? Is it all on one audition class? That is terrifying.

Very exciting Pirouette - that is amazing news to share - and especially for a girl where the competition is particularly tough to get as far as your daughter has done. You must be very proud:)

Ah thanks Flit and Pups. Improv/Impromptu sounds interesting. I think he would like that actually. But he probably would not stick to the genre exactly. We are just doing auditions at the mo and I wish they would just stick some music on and watch them dance to it. He would love that!

This question probably reveals my ignorance about all things ballet/dance related but does it matter what steps you dance? My son does modern and ballet and gets taught certain steps eg. pas de chat etc. Even in modern the steps seem to be a formula. When he dances at home he blends everything into a ballet/modern/whirling/ athletic sort of mix-up. Sometimes I think he'd love to do a festival with his own choreography. However, is this bonkers? Does it have to be set steps? Puts me in mind of Strictly Ballroom when the lead wants to dance at the Pan Pacific and Does His Own Steps, much to the horror of all on-lookers!

Trouble is, BillyElliot that he went to the WL summer school and missed us all a lot (was homesick) so he is worried he would be the same again I think. Maybe they served mushroom pasta!

Hi Billy and thank you for your good wishes (and everyone else too). We are happy to have got this far and I had no expectations of him ever getting so far really. I know nothing about ballet so although for years people have been telling me that he is "quite good" at ballet, it was impossible for me to know - quite good- likely to get good marks in the exams then, or quite good - might get into the RBS then. I think we would honestly all be thrilled and happy if he got to be an MA at the end of all this but even that is not certain is it? Either way, I think my DS will honestly not mind either way as he is happy and proud of himself having got so far. I suppose if his friend gets in somewhere and he doesn't, he will certainly miss his friend though..... For my part, I have not truly thought about what it would be like if he does get an offer. We would all miss him here. I haven't thought about it because I don't see the point about worrying about choices you might never have to make..... But I guess now that it is becoming more of a possibility that he might get an offer from somewhere, I will have to think about that a bit more.....

Hi Legseleven We went to Tring yesterday. DS said he enjoyed it. I think there were about 7 boys for the dance course that day, some of which he knew from JAs. He said the other boys were friendly and they seemed to support each other, which was nice. The thing he liked least was the lunch. He chose what he thought was sausage pasta and it turned out to be mushroom pasta! I think he tried to pick the tiny bits of mushroom out without success! Apart from that he said it was a good day! I was quite surprised that there are sometimes only one or two boys on the dance course there each year. I had expected it to be more for some reason.

Our letter from the London finals arrived yesterday. Opening it, I had the same sick feeling in my stomach that I had when opening my exam results 30 odd years ago or when doing the pregnancy test to see if my IVF had worked (it did eventually, but lots of times it didn't). I had absolutely convinced myself it would be no, as I know the competition for WL finals is so tough. However, to our delight it is a yes. I know how lucky this is. My son now has finals for WL and Elmhurst, as does the other boy at his dance school, his best dancing friend. Quite an achievement for the dance school to get two boys so far, all credit to them. We went to Tring today and had a good day. I probably saw you MVOBE, but I wasn't sure who you were. Is your son F's friend (glasses?).

I agree aileen. People are very kind on this forum and it's probably not easy to congratulate someone else if your own child has been disappointed this time round. We are waiting for our RB letter and I am pretty sure it will be a no and to be honest I will congratulate others, then, with a tinge of jealousy because I will be a little sad for him. But other people's success/failure does not make my son a better or worse dancer does it? The better they all are collectively, the better for British ballet in the long term...

Congratulations to her Vonrothbart. Is that from the London audition? I am thinking of stalking the street to see if the postman is there!!!!

Congrats Dance Momma - was this for Manchester too? We are waiting for London - don't think postman is coming at all today..............

Huge congratulations to you and your DD abitwornout. That must be a lovely feeling. Did you audition in London or Manchester?

I am sorry to hear your news TMT but as you say, focus on the positives and move forward with your other choices! Why do you think London results will be out tomorrow - feeling very nervous now and will have to stalk the postman!

Congratulations MVOBE - that's great news after the earlier disappointment. We are still waiting for RBS results, but yesterday heard DS has a yes to finals at Elmhurst. So we are very happy here! Tring on Thur next week....... I wonder how many boys they invite back for finals at Elmhurst - anyone have any recent experience? Zoo

And also, I forgot to say, I have heard on here of children not getting through to finals who were offered MA - so that is always a possibility too (if he went for that too!). Zoo x

MVOBE - I, too, was concerned about the singing part for Hammond. They seem happy for the singing to be done in a group if your child does not want to sing on their own and I understand that the singing part has no bearing on whether they are accepted for a dance place there. They also sound very friendly and lovely when you ring them, so I would urge you to give it a go if your son is keen. I am sorry to hear he got a no for WL. I expect that you will be commiserating with me on the same subject shortly! However, there are many people here who have got no to WL and yes from other schools. It's just about finding the right school and the right time for your child. Hard as it is, I think we have to trust the WL admission process. There is no point them taking children who are lovely dancers but who, for whatever reason, are just not suited to train in classical ballet, perhaps because they will be too tall or too short or too anything - who knows!

Did I read on another thread that someone has been told that the results for Elmhurst on 22nd are coming by email tomorrow or Friday (or maybe it's that they are coming by MAIL tomorrow or Friday). I am not going to get much work done tomorrow stalking the threads. I am out all day and not back home till late - torture!

I am sorry to read the Nos on the forum. Will post more later but these letters re WL aren't from the London audition are they? They can't have processed those so quickly can they?!

Hi again MVOBE - the MDS is paid on a sliding scale and depends on your salary so in theory it is affordable. However, some things make it less affordable or more affordable depending on your circumstances. They don't take account of how big your mortgage is for example. That means, with MDS you pay the same if you earn, say, £40,000 with no mortgage or £40,000 with a big mortgage. We have lots of other children - The MDS gives an allowance of £2,000 or so off salaries for them, but the reality is that they cost more than that each year of course! Hence my lottery joke!

HI again MVOBE - yes - he auditioned for WL on Sunday. I think we will have at least a two week wait now. I have feeling that they send out the results from earlier auditions first though. I agree with what you say - it would be WONDERFUL and really enough just to get to finals.....but there are lots of boys all wanting the same I guess.....I am a bit of a fatalist really. What will come will come etc. I sometimes joke, though, that getting to one of the vocational schools is like winning the lottery AND YOU THEN PAY FOR YOUR PRIZE! Even with a MDS, it would be hard for us...

Hi MVOBE - my son was at Elmhurst on 22nd - the one that started at 9am! We have not heard yet. However, by my calculations of when the other letters came out for earlier auditions, it should be this Friday or Saturday! Good Luck to your son! It seemed to us from what they said that they had 15 boys on 22nd and that was a "big day" for boys, so I reckon they had about 40 boys max audition for Elmhurst this year. From what I could glean from RB, however, they had over 100! We were very impressed with Elmhurst - it seemed like a lovely school.

Hi Bou and welcome! And congratulations on succeeding with the first step of the process (being recommended by your dance teacher). It's only one audition for JAs - there will be a list of dates on the RBS website. You can choose the audition centre nearest to where you live. The classes are generally on a Saturday every week or fortnight. As I recall we auditioned in March and heard by July. If accepted, you join in September. Auditioning is exciting but there are lots of girls in particular who all want to be a JA. What you have to remember (as I keep telling MYSELF) is that the Royal Ballet in particular has a very specific body type in mind for what they want. My son dances at his local school with the most lovely little dancer you can watch - she floats and springs and has true X factor. However, she is not very tall for her age, and more muscle than slim, and was not picked to be a JA. It's about what you look like more than how you can dance, in many ways....... But the audition process is FUN and your daughter may be EXACTLY what they are looking for - so go for it!

Huge congratulations to your daughter Pas De Chat- it must be such a lovely feeling to get a YES

We are also waiting for a letter now having had an audition yesterday. They told us two weeks approx to wait. Does everyone get a letter roughly the same time I wonder or will they start sending out the letter from the earlier auditions sooner?? It looked like there were lots of talented boys yesterday so I am not too hopeful. I think some of the boys must have been auditioning for years 8/9 or above - either that or they were very tall 11 year olds!