swanprincess

Good for you, David!

gosh, Taximom, that's a lot of shoes!! x

Aww, Webfoot, I had a similar humiliating experience a few months ago (that is actually quite funny now I think about it!) It was my first session at a fairly prestigious Youth Ballet Company, and we had the pleasure of being taught by a BRB dancer. We learnt a piece of repertoire, in which I was given a small section as a duet. Part of this involved a simple couru en diagnale. And, as luck would have it, when the other teachers and the other group came into the studio to watch my group's work, I managed to trip over my own feet, going with a marvellous *Thud* onto my derierre. Whoopsie...

hope you have a fab time, miss.pointe! i help teach an Inter-foundation class, and it's so fun, and really satisfying to see the students progress!! As they are quite young (only about 9-10) they look so cute and tiny! Fiz, I use a purple Bunheads theraband (i think different colours are different strengths), and I just spend around 1/2 hour a day pointing and flexing my feet, circling my ankles en dedans & en dehors, then 'writing' the letters of the alphabet, in lower then upper case. I'm not sure wether those excercises are specifically good for strengthening feet, but my ankles and calves feel like they've had a good workout! You mentioned that the theraband didn't seem to offer much resistance- perhaps you could try (when sitting with your legs stretched out in front of you, the band looped around your foot, holding one end of it in either hand) bringing your elbows in closer to your body, thus pulling harder on the band and shortening it slightly? Sorry, I know that's about as clear as mud!! Before I started pointe, i found that lots of slow rises to demi pointe, on both feet and on alternate feet were very effective at strengthening my calves and ankles. Oh, and the idea of Therabands is to provide more resistance, as a demi pointe shoe would Good luck with your Pointe lessons, have fun choosing your shoes! x

gosh, that must mean utterly Perfect photos are required then! will be asking my teacher for help with that one i think ;-) x

thankyou Primrose, thats very interesting: i had assumed that Royal would look for very high grades/exam results, because they get so many applicants! and the Elmhurst one sounds lovely- a few of my friends were accepted this year, so i will probably apply there for next year too :-) x

well done, Dancersmum's dds!! its a fab achievement! xxx

Jellybeans, i do Intermediate RAD and IDTA, and also attend a youth ballet where we have an hour class before 2 hours rehearsal. the classes there are quite challenging, probably about Adv. foundation level, as they are a lot harder than my Intermediate class! (with steps such as full plies in 1st and 5th in the centre, promenades in Arabesque, triple pirouettes, and occasionally fouettes turns.) hope that makes it a bit clearer! (and if i was to start Advanced, now i think about it, i would probably do adv. foundation for a while) x

how does that work, then?? surely taking a non residential place would be impossible unless you lived close to the school? x

hmm yes it is hard to decide wether to risk £20 on an ss application!! you do Adv 1 though dont you- maybe that woild be enough? its hard to know what they look for think i might ask my ballet teacher if i can join advanced 1, but because its quite a small school theres only 2 other girls at that level- who are 18 & 19!!! but yes it would be utterly Awesome to spend 2 weeks in Covent Garden... x

looking forward to starting grade 6 work now x

aww, thankyou drdance and Hfbrew, that really helps i do feel as if i've progressed A Lot in the past year, but i also attend a youth ballet company, and it seems like the other students there who are my age do far higher grades, such as Advanced 1 or grade 7... also, 'Merit' for grade 5 won't look particularly outstanding on summer school applications etc, but oh well!! well done to all dd's who have passed their exams! (am beginning to quite like my Merit, i guess 71 is a fairly reasonable mark-and it's made me even more determined to get Distinction in my next exam!!!)

thanks anyway, BallerinaX good luck for your Vocational school in September- have fun! xx

aww, well done to your dd, Spanner! just found out that one of my friends passed her grade 6 with Distinction too- makes my Merit seem even more feeble x

oh *WOW*, BallerinaX, i wish i could be taught by Darcey!! when you say you're year 11, do you mean starting year 12 next academic year (ie in September?) if i was lucky enough to get in next year i think an Advanced 2 level class would definitely be far too hard!! (im going in to year 10 this year, so would be year 11 next year) do you have any idea of how many applicants they have/ how many places were available? And were the British girls mostly at vocational school,or RBS associates? Sorry for all the questions, just trying to plan ahead with regards to next summer!! (Would pm you, but i havent worked out how to yet, lol!) x

has anyone on here, or their dd, attended the RBS Covent Garden ss? i will be old enough to apply next year but am interested to know what grade/standard was required, as the £20 application fee is a lot of money, and not really worth it if i am below whatever grade they expect!!! xx

drdance, it was RAD grade 5

aww thankyou Dancing10, that means a lot :-D xxx

wow!! will have to show my dad this forum when i want to send off my application for EYB Oxford- thats about a 1 hour 45 mins car journey, which will take A Lot of pursuading lol. ;-)

just found out i passed my exam with Merit (71) am fairly pleased but really really annoyed i was only a few marks off a Distinction!! :-\

whoops, meant well done to Taxi's dd, obviously- although well done to Taxi too, for keeping sane throughout the whole crazy process of the exam!! (think i drove my poor Mum a bit mad with my recent exam, lol!!) ;-)

wow, well done, Taxi!! aww, Lemongirl, your dd has done really well to get a Distinction! but i know how you feel with the friend thing- i had a dance show on the day when i recieved the devastating 'No' letter from RBS SA's- and my best friend had just got SWL for Mids!! so it might be best to not ask the friend just yet... and at least your dd has the pride of knowing she worked hard for her distinction- big hugs to her from all of us! xxx

yes, it is! thanks Lil think we might not find out our results until the new term in September tho xxx

oh yes dancing10 and tulte, i think i know who you mean- they were both lovely, and very talented! it was certainly a wonderful thing for ENB to do for me- those shoes will be cherished forever!!! I was also very lucky to get an absolutely gorgeous pair of Minden pointes, from Dancia in Covent Garden, as a birthday present from my mum!!! and thankyou lildancer xx Edited to correct spelling errors- not quite awake yet

thanks Amber just seen on the RAD website that the target date for the exam results for my region is August 13th!!! eeek glad your dd had a good time as a Cygnet- that dance is lovely x