Strawberyy

I didn't see it live but it was a cut down version. The whole piece is 8 minutes long. I also thought the camera work was dreadful.

Unfortunately there are hardly any seats left apart from restricted view and/or poor legroom. A real shame I would love to go.

No not true - you don't have to even be employed to do the extra study for the honours degree. And if you have been to schools such as ENBS or Elmhurst you can get a student loan.

I think it is common in vocational schools to have to audition for the third year. Certainly with ENBS not everyone gets the third year. At ENBS if you leave after 2 years you get a National Certificate and the National Diploma after 3 years. It is possible to study for an honours degree with the Diploma via distance learning, it is a 15 month course, so maybe the same is possible for Central students if they don't get the third year.

What exactly is making it? How do you define success? Is it an Olympic Gold medal or just being picked for the GB team? I think anyone who can earn a living doing something they love is successful and also very lucky. I think this is why as parents we give them all the support we can.

My DD was lucky enough to get a DaDa back in 2005 so we just had to fund the accommodation costs. But it should be remembered that you can only get one student loan so if it is used for a ballet course like Central or London Studio Centre if you need to go to Plan B after dance college it can't be another degree. I feel for you all having to make these tough decisions.

It is possible to do a degree after the diploma which takes 15 months. Not too sure about the finance side of things but I think you can get student loan. http://www.mdx.ac.uk/bapp

I remember the talk that Miss Laine gave before the auditions. She spoke about all the auditionees being queen bees at their own dance schools but now things would be different. My DD's dance teacher had also drummed into her that she might be one of the best in her school but it was a big world out there. I sympathise with Discouraged but the ballet world is very harsh. If you think she has wasted her time now how will you feel if she does get into a ballet school but has no job at the end of the course. Will that be wasted time too? I believe the training you get at any of the 6th form vocational schools is excellent and is a good start even if it isn't a career in dance.

Some years ago we accepted a place at Laine Theatre Arts early on in the audition process and paid the £75 deposit. The ballet school offers came much later in the year so we decided to have the security of at least one place having burnt our bridges with her local school by not applying for 6th form. We lost the £75 but looked on it as a donation to their funds.

I saw Swan Lake this afternoon and was very impressed with Junor and Anais both in their debut role. As always the swans were amazing and it was heartening to see such a large audience.

On Thursday I shall be attending the graduation of my dd who has completed her BA in Dance Performance. She went to a post 16 vocational school and came out with a National Diploma in Professional Dance from Trinity College, DADA students have to do this. She then did 3/4 terms as distance learning, while working, to complete her degree. I shall be a very proud mother!