Sue Brett

My DD was at voc school until end of Y8, then went to a local independent school. She says she felt she only caught up properly with the academics by Y11 - the experience at vocational school had put her back that much. She gained many things from being at the vocational school, including living in an international, multi-cultural community, but a good grounding in academics was not one of them. She also lost her reading habit - the boarding and full-on social environment is not conducive to reading. However, as has been said, a really determined reader and a really bright child will thrive wherever and those children do come out with excellent results. It is the middle ground academics like her - those that need encouragement and inspiration that can flounder in the mixed-ability classes at vocational school, where the prevalent feeling is that the academics are not that important. We were attracted by the idea of small classes but they kept adding to the numbers (to keep up fee income, we thought) so that classes were 26 or so - not that small. I agree with Pups_mum - it's easy to be flattered into thinking your child has been specially selected so you must be grateful for what you are given. The vocational schools get away with a lot because of this culture. Parents feel unable to question, criticise or even approach the staff. Like the OP we got caught out by funding and the whole experience was far more expensive than we had been led to believe (the school initially gave us the figures for day fees not boarding - but only told us of this error after we had signed up). It was altogether a very expensive experience. I don't know whether it was worth it - probably not as our DD decided that a ballet career was not to be for her - but at least she had the opportunity and an experience open to very few.

Thanks amum/Cathy and triphazard for the Bristol uni info - answers my question in other thread (Adult ballet: UK cities good for dance). Bristol is edging it, my favourite too!

Thanks! Any thoughts on Bristol, anyone? xx

Hi - I am just reviving this thread to ask if anyone knows of good opportunities to take advanced/open classes in either Bristol, York or Nottingham? DD has offers from those unis. Continuing to take ballet classes (or join lively uni dance societies) might well be a consideration in her choice! Any thoughts on those cities? Many thanks

Thanks Kate_N for starting this thread in this way with such detail. Great idea and looking forward to hearing more about facilities in other UK cities where students and others can continue studying and enjoying dance.

Very interested in this discussion. Good luck AmieDancer, you have some fun and very important decisions to make! Kate_N's advice seems very well-founded and sound. I would also recommend doing an English Lit degree, esp if you love English. I did - I decided that English was not the most vocationally-useful degree and so I got myself into the best university I could. My dd is now in the same position of trying to decide which university to apply to. She's not interested in combining dance in her degree subject but having been to vocational school for a while and got to Advanced level she'd like to keep up the ballet as an interest and for social + fitness. So I'm interested in the cities that are good for dance and have noted those mentioned. Any views on other towns and cities? Had heard Bristol also good? Also know someone doing loads of dance including ballet at Warwick (good for English too!). Which others - anything in York? Can start a new thread if best?

Nice photo in The Times today too

Anyone with that diagnosis has my sympathy! My DD has scoliosis and we have been through the mill with it. One problem is that advice differs according to what area you are in and who you are talking to. She was diagnosed at 14 and her consultant wanted to put her in a brace (in their view she fell, just, on that side of the borderline in terms of curvature). We found out that other consultants in other areas (eg Edinburgh and Nottingham) would not have advised the brace, which is pretty barbaric and has to be worn 23 hours a day. The brace only prevents worsening, and does not straighten an existing curve. Bearing in mind the psychological effect that this might have had on a teenage girl, we took advice from a number of others, from Alexander technique to sports physio and even the own hospital's physio, and decided not to go with the brace. The consultant was a bit reluctant but on a second viewing, said he thought it was not too aggressive a curve, particularly as her growth appeared to be slowing. She continued with her ballet and exercises and they agreed at a six month check that the curvature had stopped worsening. A year later and they think it has actually improved. I'm sure ballet has helped, along with specific exercises. However - it was quite frightening and our experience showed that it is a common condition, esp among girls, with much probably going undiagnosed. It does seem to 'affect' ballet dancers as we came across a few others, some via this forum, with the same condition. Some people have even asked if ballet might have contributed to it. I suspect that it is more visible and more likely to get spotted in ballet-dancing girls, but I'd be interested in any views on this. On reflection it should have been caught earlier - her y7 teacher at vocational school constantly complained she had one shoulder higher than another yet did not think of referring her for physio or considering it might have had a physical cause. And Daria Klimentova is another dancer with the condition - when she retired this year she said she would continue to do pilates and yoga due to her scoliosis. Anyway, we are lucky it does not cause great pain, unlike some, (fingers crossed) and she can live with it - but will always have to manage it.

I'm glad this has been bumped as my dd will be looking at universities next year and it will be a consideration. Re Warwick Uni - a friend's dd is there and there seems to be loads of opportunities. She is dancing every day - ballet, hip hop, even bangla. She was always keen but non-vocational and her dancing has really taken off at Warwick. I think she even teaches too. So definitely a good place! Any other recommendations for Unis with thriving ballet and dance would be valued too, including in Scotland. My dd is a ballet dancer to Adv 1 but is thinking it would be a good idea to do more contemporary in her sixth form years as there might be greater opportunities to continue with dance for fitness and fun.

Sorry for the late review but I saw the production on Wednesday evening and wanted to put in a word, especially for Yaoqian Shang who danced Belle and guest dancer Yasuo Atsuji as the Salamander Prince. My initial heart-sink moment – I love to see familiar BRB dancers and did not recognise these names at all, but Yaoqian Shang was just wonderful. She must be very young. She joined the company as an Artist last year and has little on her CV, so it must have been quite special for her to be in the lead. She was sweet, light, lyrical, precise and had great charm. Her girlishness made her very good in the sister role. I thought this worked very well and loved the fight in the final scene when they brother and sister take up arms against the Kings. Yasuo was also fantastic – transforming into a silent salamander with fantastically quick movement. I enjoyed the production’s blend of that contemporary movement with the full classical pdds. I'd also mention Kit Holder as a hilarious King of the West and a truly mesmerising King of the East by William Bracewell. We also saw Lewis Turner as the Fool – quite possibly his first time in such a prominent role. I'm not sure the teasing prologue worked very well, but that is a hard act to pull off, as ‘pre-match’ entertaining for a puzzled audience. Yet he grew wonderfully into the role and his accompaniment of the ailing emperor was very touching. I am not really a fan of Britten's music 'neat' - but love to see it interpreted and there was some amazing stuff in there for the music lover, viz the trumpet fanfare played from one of the boxes in the theatre - gloriously thrilling and complex. I am surprised by the lukewarm responses to this production - it is gorgeous to look at and its Japanese/anime aesthetic would appeal very widely. All in all it was a great evening at BRB revelling yet again in their huge, infectious and joyous spirit. Couldn’t agree more with BristolBillyBob in his review of Three of A Kind. I couldn’t imagine RB carrying this production off at all – it is a true BRB piece in all its joie de vivre. And I am delighted to have seen Yaoqian Shang. She was swamped with four bouquets at the end and I am sure she is a future star. I would be very interested in what Balletco experts think and I hope many of you get the chance to see her.

Alison - the soprano on Saturday was a late change. It was due to be Anna Hovhannisyan. The part was sung by the 'other soprano', Dusic Bijelic. She was very good.

I'm looking forward to seeing this next week. A quick squint at the cast list appears to show lead females roles in short supply - only 2 out of the 10 named roles are for women. Just an observation. Happy that the production will be showcasing the male dancers but I wondered if this has left the women in the company feeling a bit short of opportunities?

wanted to put in a good word for Tetractys. Seemingly against all the odds (well all the reviews) I enjoyed it best out of all three pieces. I liked the whole concept: the idea of starting with the music, working with a visual artist (Tauba Auerbach) to bring out its geometry, and reflecting that in the dance. I thought it worked. Michael Berkeley's arrangement of the music was wonderful. Nearly all of the dancing was stunning, particularly the black and white pas de trios with Sarah Lamb. OK, the stage was a bit too dark and the costumes were puzzling, particularly the blue and white smurf-style one. But I was thinking as I watched that this is the way to show young people that ballet is cool. As opposed to Gloria, which actually seemed by contrast very dated, especially the costumes. Rhapsody was unimpeachable for a male virtuoso piece done fantastically well, but still it had that Sixties aftertaste. I’m for the current - bring on more McGregor, art and sublime music.

Thank you Frogsmum - not many screenings are there? Apologies alison. I did do search - didn't show up on all forums search but found on the News section eventually, referring to its 2012 outing at Raindance.

Why are UK dancers not entering any more, Julie?