Clara

Wowzers Theodore!! What an amazing talent he must be! A massive well done to him, but yes you must really miss him. Is he enjoying it all?

Thank you all for the fab feedback as always! I feel a bit odd because although dd has happily been cruising along on her path achieving and doing well in the various different dance opportunities that have been available to her, I have always viewed her separately to the children who are currently on the major dance journeys (Not that I ever doubted this is somewhere she would want to be.........eventually!) I just wasn't prepared for it right now! I really enjoy reading about all of the other dc's successes and feel for those who don't quite make where they are aiming for at first......But to think of dd as one of these children is a bit nerve wracking! In truth I don't know if she's ready yet. She's a lovely little dancer.....but at the top of those who will be auditioning.......Then no, she is probably a long way off. She would absolutely love to audition for White Lodge and Elmhurst as ballet is her first love, but I don't know whether to deter her or just let her go for the experience?! I might sound like I'm being harsh but I have assisted my own dancer teacher for nearly 20 years and although have no claims to be an expert I do have some knowledge of the ballet world and whilst I do totally believe that dd is truly gifted in some aspects, she definitely has other areas that need a lot of work too. She is also keen to audition for Tring but hasn't really said anything when I mentioned Hammond. For those with experience, is the dance course at Hammond purely dance or does involve other elements of performing arts? She would be mortified if she had to sing solo at an audition as it definitely isn't her strength! She takes classes in modern, tap, contemporary, musical theatre dance and creative dance on top of ballet lessons. I have emailed her ballet teacher (Not the one I am assistant to!) to ask for some advice (I rarely get to see her in person as I'm always at work whenever she has to be dropped off or picked up from lessons) Also, has anyone who has let their children audition for vocational schools noticed any difference in them if not successful? I would hate to see dd lose her love and passion for dance.....or even her dream. I have explained that no at this age doesn't mean it will be no in 2 or 3 years or even 5 when she finishes high school. (She will be applying for a year 7 place) As an aside, at NYB this year she was significantly behind her peers grade wise but she didn't seem in the slightest bit put off by this and I did also wonder then whether she'd feel inadequate in any way but she absolutely loved the whole experience! As you can probably tell, I'm the pessimist/realist and she is thankfully the optimist with a head full of dreams reaching the sky!

Hi everyone, just after a little advice......Dd has always been fairly solid in her thinking that she would audition for schools at 16 or possibly year 9 for entry in year 10. However, after an opening evening at high school last weekend where she appeared visibly upset and again last night when we had tears at bed time she has revealed to me that she only wants to go to a normal high school because of her friends but she would really like to try for a full time vocational place instead as she feels she would enjoy it so much more and is worried that by auditioning later the children who started younger will already be so much further ahead than her! Gulp! I wasn't quite expecting that, neither do I really expect her to be offered a place but I want to give her the opportunity if that is where her heart truly is! So my question is, have I missed all of the open days for 2014 entry?! Or in fact any of the application deadlines for auditions?! Also can anyone tell me their views and opinions on any of the schools that take from year 7? Just to note, ballet is primarily her focus but she also loves modern, contemporary and creative dance + the small amount of jazz she experienced at summer school. Many thanks in advance!

My Mum, dd and I watched the performance at the Theatre Royal last night and we all thoroughly enjoyed it! I loved the Fezziwigs party scene and thought the ghost number was really effective! I think dd was quite pleased to see the contemporary influence in this particular number even though a classical company, as she has recently started our local CAT scheme where contemporary is very prominent yet she aspires to be a ballet dancer still, so I think she now feels as though she has an extra string to her bow! I also loved the way they moved around the set (the ghosts unfolding from the balcony and the slide looked like a lot of fun!)

I am obviously not fully awake this morning and my eyes are not yet functioning properly......As I was scanning through the posts I was highly intrigued as to what 'Drunken Donuts Woe' was all about!!

I will certainly let you know C4D! We decided it was a good option for us as we wouldn't be able to commit to a weekly associate scheme financially (if dd was even good enough to get into one!) So the monthly Chantry Dance associate scheme seemed like a perfect option for us and will hopefully compliment the CAT scheme dd has just started too!

My dd is starting Chantry Dance Company's associate programme later this month which she's very excited about, so fantastic to read such a lovely review! From the correspondence I have had with Rae I know that this will be an amazing experience and opportunity for her but your review has just further confirmed that!

Thank you all for the wonderful recommendations! I'm really torn between RB and BRB now! Brilliant tip thanks Kitschqueen_1, but I'll be in performances myself from the beginning of Dec though to the 22nd so unfortunately I don't think I'll be able to make the most of that fantastic offer!! Will hopefully book in the next few days and will keep you posted when I have made a decision! Although it sounds like we'll be in for a treat with either of those two! I may even take along my own dance teacher as her Birthday/Christmas present! Will be a fabulous day out I'm sure whichever I decide on!

Thank you all for the replies, I was thinking the Royal Ballet's version as it would be nice to either combine Christmas shopping before Christmas or sale shopping afterwards in London!.......But then the Bullring is fab for shopping too.....so we're spoilt for choice!! Sounds like I might have to make a decision fairly quickly though if I want to get tickets! I've just been explaining the story to dd and showed her a couple of snippets on YouTube, but I had to turn it off as she was getting too engrossed and I don't want to spoil it all before she sees it on stage!

I’m hoping I am posting this one in the right place…..I am desperate to take dd to see the Nutcracker in either December or January. She has been to 3 big West End musicals but amazingly has never seen a ballet which is her first love! (I know that’s quite terrible when she’s an aspiring dancer!!) We live in the East of England so I’m basically after suggestions and recommendations if any of you know which companies are performing it and where?! We will happily travel a couple of hours if needed.

No Regattah, she didn't call! I'm not sure whether I'll hear anything from her now that tonight is the last night! She knows she'll have 101 questions about what she's been up to on the car journey home tomorrow!

No phone call again tonight, so I've still only heard from her the once! I guess she's just having a lovely time and I'm missing her much more than she's missing me!!

Thank you so much for offering phones balletmum16 and Regattah! Last time she borrowed a mobile from one of the girls in her dorm so hopefully she would ask again if she really needed to talk to me. I’ll wait and see if she contacts me tonight, then maybe if she doesn’t Regattah I could PM you her name and dorm and your dd could do some spy work just to see if she’s happy (which I’m sure she is!) She would probably be embarrassed if she thought I was sending the forces in to check up on her! She has been away from me a few nights at a time before but never as long as this! Well done to your daughter on receiving a commendation on Thursday night too balletmum16, that’s brilliant! Even though dd hasn’t got her phone it’s nice to hear from people on here who are having a little more contact; I feel more in touch that way! I was going to chaperone but my license has expired, and although I had good intentions of getting it renewed in time I haven’t got around to it. Hopefully I will next year if she successfully auditions again! I’ll also have my 3 year old in tow and my husband can’t stay with us for the entire time in Guildford as he has to head back home on Friday to shoot a wedding on the Saturday. Ecarte I agree that the whole NYB experience is an amazing one. It’s certainly the best thing I ever did with my dancing in my youth, so I’m hoping dd will enjoy it equally as much and will come home having made new friends and will have had a wonderful experience! I wonder if any of our children are in the same dorm or whether any of us met last Sunday?!

I'm so disappointed I didn't get to go and watch. Being new and young dd didn't feel confident enough to enter herself this year and we don't live locally, but I'm sure she will have been inspired watching all of the other amazingly talented dancers! Has anyone heard much from their children? I complied with the request not to send in a mobile but felt awful for dd when we got there and everyone in her dorm had taken theirs! She did borrow a phone to call me on Wednesday night but that's all I've heard from her so I'm taking that as a good sign! I'm very much looking forward to watching next weekend!

I just read this entire thread and it's really interesting! I took my Cecchetti elementary exam many years ago and was quite disappointed with my pass-plus result! A friend of mine failed the exam a few months prior to me taking mine and was entered again a few months later gaining a commended! I could never understand how it was possible to go from a fail to a commended in a matter of months! DD's ballet results range from high 80's to high 90's which I find amazing. I keep telling her to be prepared for lower results as she progresses through to higher grades but at the moment I think she is just fortunate enough to be one of those children unfazed by the exam process. She almost goes into them as though she is going on stage to perform for someone rather than to be examined! It obviously works for her at the moment! As a ballet teaching assistant at my old school I am always really interested in the exam results. It's interesting to see which children rise to the occasion and which ones sometimes unexpectedly seem to crumble. We have just received an incredible set of exam results for our last set of exams with some children obtaining distinctions who I honestly though would be low merits, so you never can tell!

I just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who has offered advice, shared their experiences and shown support and encouragement since joining this forum! It really is fantastic to have so many people who understand the journey of a dancer….Or if not understand; emphasise with us parents during the highs and lows! It is lovely reading about all of your wonderful dancing children and their experiences. This forum has been helpful to me in so many ways since joining, so I just wanted to say hooray for Balletco! I hope to put a face to some of your names in the future! Some of our paths are undoubtedly set to cross at some point! x

Thanks all! A couple of others have also mentioned Inter Foundation so I am going to ask her ballet teacher about this as a possibility and I will also email Dance East explaining the situation to see what they suggest! Fingers crossed we manage to sort something out before September! x

Thanks Katymac......She currently has modern and tap on a Tuesday.....I think it will be a tricky one to juggle, but I'll keep on researching and asking around!

Hi all, I’m after a bit of advice, especially from those of you who live in the East of England. Dd has had an amazing year dance wise and is on a real high at the moment having secured some fantastic opportunities through auditions and to top the year off has just received 3 really lovely exam results in ballet and modern. However, along with the successes…..we are now facing a few potential problems and difficult decisions. One of her auditions was for the DanceEast CAT scheme at Dance East and she was ecstatic to be offered a place starting in September. Unfortunately I have recently found out her mid-week class with them will clash with her Grade 4 ISTD ballet lesson. It states in the student handbook that dancers are not allowed to miss their classes in order to attend another dance class. I have already emailed her ballet teacher to let her know about the clash of classes and I had also mentioned it prior to receiving the audition result. I did ask in the email whether there were any other options available including private tuition. I know from the timetabling there is no other grade 4 lesson on an alternative night and another parent who has a daughter at the older end of the school has told me that they will not consider any requests for private lessons. I feel totally torn about what to do. DD is desperate to be a part of the programme at DanceEast and I also feel that if I were to suggest not taking her place in favour of her ballet class she would possibly resent the ballet eventually. On the flip side she adores ballet and is so looking forward to learning the grade 4 work following her grade 3 exam. At the moment if you ask her what she wants to do with her dancing she will say she wants to be a professional ballet dancer. So after my essay of a post I guess my question is if anyone can recommend a good school teaching grade 4 on a night other than a Wednesday or of a teacher who has a good reputation who may consider offering private lessons to students with potential? I’m not ruling out working with the school she is currently with to reach a solution, but based on the experiences of others in a similar situation I would say it is looking unlikely that there will be anything available other than the existing lesson. Obviously I do not expect anyone to discuss particular schools or teachers on this post but if anyone with knowledge could private message me I would greatly appreciate it! Or if you would prefer I am happy to give out my email address in a PM!

Thank you celb and Tulte! She has had an exceptional few months bless her and is on top of the world at the moment! A massive well done to your daughter too Tulte! I am a ballet teaching assistant at my old dance school and we have a couple of students who have been with the academy for 4 or 5 years and I have always been impressed with what fantastic opportunities have been available to them; so I’m sure they will all have an amazing time at the academy!

Thank you for your comments! Jazzpaws, apparently we don't find out until mid-July when the tutors have met to discuss levelling. She will only be 11 in September so I would think level 1. At least I'm hoping so as we also found out last night she's been offered an associates place with Chantry Dance Company once a month at Sadlers Wells theatre in London which is on a Sunday, so it would be an amazing opportunity for her to be able to do that even if it was only for a year or two until her academy training changes to a Sunday! X

Thank you Katymac, I'm sure she will. She was absolutely full of beans after the open day and auditions! She just can't wait to get started!

DD got in and is ecstatic! She's very much looking forward to starting with the academy in September!

Hi Lilac, I had similar worries about my dd, although she is younger at 10. There may be some replies from my post on a similar topic worth reading in relation to your own concerns! http://www.balletcoforum.com/index.php?/topic/3309-inferiority-complex/ I think sometimes we worry too much as Mum's but it's hard not when you see and hear of children who are so advanced for their age!

Stage 2 audition complete........Now it's a 2 week wait for the result! Dd really enjoyed today and was full of energy when she came out! Fingers crossed!