Kate_N

It\s basically going to be storage, without specialist staff, as I understand it.

Yes. I can't say too much, but there's strong pressure to "thin" out any/all archivists as some in the senior management don't see the point of libraries & archives. It looks like the plan is to focus only on the art/craft object collections, and not the archival collections & research which gives them context.

I know., @Odyssey Fo one of the leading theatrical nations in the world, it's pretty poor, isn't it? In the course of y work, I've been to many designated national theatre museums, in Spain, in Slovenia, in Finland, and many others. It's a bit of a scandal that we don't celebrate & protect our theatrical heritage.

Sadly, misogyny is everywhere, I suppose. In olden times, women getting together to talk were called witches ...

Ditto! But it also made me realise that large groups of people mixing indoors was something to avoid!!

You may have heard the Front Row programme on Thursday 4th March about the proposed restructuring of the staff areas of the V&A, which will result in the closure of the Theatre & Performance specialist section, and if followed through, will likely lead to the redundancy of expert staff in that team. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000srg7 (starts at around 18 minutes into the programme) We know the amazing exhibitions produced by that team - the Ballet Russe exhibition for a start. There's more to this than simply losing the staff and the named team - collections will no longer be developed or looked after by theatre, dance, music expert curators and archivists. You may not know it but the Theatre Collection at the V&A is THE Designated National Theatre Collection. There's a petition doing the rounds here: https://www.change.org/p/tristram-hunt-director-v-a-performing-art-heritage?recruiter=1183668119&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=share_email_responsive&recruited_by_id=7b9d6230-7b64-11eb-be93-4d8b86fe6b76 When the Theatre Museum was closed in Covent Garden, and absorbed into the V&A, they promised that they would hold and nurture the collections. You can make up your minds about how this commitment is being honoured ...

Here's a link to Dr Bromage's blog. It's a really readable guide to the science epidemiologists have been doing. https://www.erinbromage.com/post/the-risks-know-them-avoid-them

I'm not sure what you're asking. If you read the regulations, one to one outside training sessions held outdoors and socially distanced, (between 2 people not in the same household, obviously) are permitted. Gyms are likely to re-open on 12 April, but group classes unlikely to resume until after 17 May. It's all there in the regulations. Children are being treated differently to adults because there's evidence to suggest that they don't become as ill as adults if they catch C-19, although they are a vector of community transmission. I suppose it's the government's balancing of public health risks of the novel Corona virus against the public health risks of a cohort of children denied many aspects of education and socialisation for a year. Group classes were not permitted under the tiers system as it was impossible to ensure social distancing. Mixing households indoors is a really good way for the virus to spread - have a look at Erin Bromage's blogs on this. He wrote a blog very early on in the pandemic and it's still a good explanation for the layperson (he's a US-based epidemiologist).

It’s pretty clear, I should have thought. Gyms re-open, but no group classes. look at the RAD response: adult dance classes are scheduled for resumption no earlier than 17 May. if you and your coach are not in a household group, you can’t meet indoors until that date in May at the earliest. I’ve been training one to one with a PT throughout lockdown but we work outside and maintain 2m distance (usually more) all the time. It’s indoors that’s the issue for group classes and things that mix households.

What???? Gosh, MN is the epitome of middle England and an amazing place for women to speak their minds! It's also a place where many, many highly qualified women read & post; and it's multi-cultural - there's a dedicated section for Black British mums, for example. Excellent grounds for MI5 recruitment, I'd have thought ...

We were told by the national government to cease any teaching in person from early January. My Department had special permission from our university to teach our practical classes in our studios, face to face fromJanuary 2021. However, the Government law prohibits this at the moment. We're doing what we can, but safety of vulnerable students and all staff has to be paramount. As does obeying the law ...

Thanks for that clarification @Anna C

Looking at this from a university educator's point of view, and not school-specific, I wanted to ask about your daughter's general situation. Does she have BTEC or A Levels or Scottish Highers? It may be difficult to be accepted straight into any UK degree course without those higher level qualifications. It's worth checking with all the places she's auditioning. Again, this is not school-specific, but a Foundation year may be the offer instead of A Levels in order that the degree eventually achieved is a Honours degree (not just a Pass) degree). A Foundation year is still pretty standard in Fine Arts degrees.

Brava! This is so true. Focusing on the mark is putting the cart -of assessment- before the horse -of actual learning.

@meadowblytheplease ask your DS to respond to the consultation. Anyone can! They need to hear of experiences like his. I teach at a very desirable Russell Group university, and we take BTECs as a qualification into our challenging degree which is both highly academic and very practical. BTEC students sometimes need to do a bit of catching up on the written work, but their practical skills often outweigh students with A Levels in drama/performing arts etc.

I hope it's OK to post this here. I chair a national organisation for theatre/drama in UK universities. We've had it drawn to our attention that there is a Government consultation about the future of the BTEC qualification. Word on the street (or the corridors of Whitehall) is that the Government wants to close down BTECs. They see them as 'low value' qualifications. Can I urge any teachers, parents and/or students here who've had anything to do with the BTEC qualification to make their views known via the consultation? It closes on 31st January. You can access the survey here: https://consult.education.gov.uk/post-16-qualifications-review-team/review-of-post-16-qualifications-at-level-3/consultation You can fill it out as an individual, a teacher, a pupil, the representative of an organisation, a parent, and so on. There's a really good blog from an excellent organisation with which my organisation works, the Cultural Learning Alliance, with some useful ideas about the value of the BTEC and what you might say in response to consultation questions, here: https://culturallearningalliance.org.uk/review-of-post-16-qualifications-at-level-3-second-stage-consultation-closing-friday-15-january/ One of the main points which might be of concern to ballet/dance parents is that the BTEC offers a high-quality route into both vocational arts training and/or university qualifications. The Cultural Learning Alliance makes the important point that 'proposed reforms risk creating an unhelpful binary pathway between academic and technical routes that does not work for the creative industries, arts and cultural sector, in which many roles require both practical and theoretical knowledge." The Department for Education is interested in hearing from employers, students and parents as well as those working in education. Please remember that your view does count even if you are not an expert in the area. Please do respond if you can.

I loved the film. I did quite a few years of Cecchetti syllabus training and came to love the Advanced syllabus adages, even though I am rubbish at adage. The training is very dance-y - I had one teacher ask me the first time she taught me in an open class - did you have Cecchetti training? I have to say, though, that I disagree with the opinions at the beginning, although I understand where they come from. I enjoy the new athletic contemporary ballet style (eg Wayne McGregor's choreography). I think there's room for both. I adore the kind of Romantic (eg 1830s-50s) ballet of La Sylphide, for example, and there's an interesting connection there to Cecchetti and Bournonville aesthetics. We need it all!

Jan, totally feel this! I didn't book a show at my local theatre (where I used to see everything they did) because I couldn't easily book a single seat online. Theatre booking systems have ALWAYS discriminated against single seat bookings, but now it's well nigh impossible.

Maybe ... but to think of the relationship between young person, school, and parents only as a commercial one, is to distort the essential pedagogical relationship between teachers and pupils. It instrumentalises results (and I have heard statements close to: "why didn't I get top marks, I'm paying for this"). There needs to be a balance between advocating for your child, and trusting that the teachers are experts who know their jobs. And the knowledge that your child may be different at school, in class, than at home in recreation & everyday life. I don't mean misbehaviour! Just that in the teen years, education is an important aspect of a young person developing their independence and sense of self outside the family - and this can be a difficult process for parents - letting go. That doesn't mean condoning bullying, but that there is a balance needed, and acting principally on the basis as a 'customer' can interfere with the delicate processes of education, especially in the creative & performing arts, where the highest levels of excellence are aimed for, and, sadly, disappointment is almost always inevitable - even for the most accomplished!

It's worth repeating the question upthread: What do you hope to achieve through an appeal? In my line of work, students can't appeal academic judgement, only academic or administrative process. However, if they are concerned, angry, or upset about their actual mark, we encourage them to book a tutorial with us, and we listen, and go through the work and the narrative feedback explaining the actual mark. It sounds like what you actually want is the feedback (a mark isn't feedback really, or only of the crudest kind). If an appeal would get you some written comments, it might be worth doing for that reason?

@Oakley any performing art is collaborative. And knowing how to collaborate and work with others is a learned skill; it doesn't always just happen. If you don't work with other people, you lose opportunities to learn how to collaborate, and how to be creative as part of an ensemble; you lose the opportunity to learn from others.

That is an amazing post @cotes du rhone !But please don't beat yourself up - hindsight is 20:20 vision, as they say, and you as parents were doing what your children wanted at the time. And the section of your post I have quoted is really important: your DD needed to do the whole thing to get where she is now. I often find myself advising undergrads & PhD student about their futures, particularly when they haven't got what they thought they "needed" (a First class mark for example, which no-one needs) - my experience is that most of us get were we want to go, but often not by the route we expected. What's that saying? "The journey, not the arrival, matters."

For adults - There are lots of really high quality teachers & classes on Zoom now. This is - for me - the huge silver lining of this dreary year - I have been able to do some sort of ballet class 6 days a week (or more if I wanted). And I've strengthened and improved. Somehow working on my own in the kitchen, has really helped me take things back to basics, and rebuild my alignment, and I'm much stronger & freer in my movement than ever before. So this is just what I'm doing in my kitchen I currently do Christina Mittelmaier's classes on Zoom (google her name and you'll find her website). Christina is such a wonderful teacher - she demands a lot, but is so kind ^ encouraging - I never feel embarrassed at making a mistake in her class. She does around 80 minutes, a barre, and quite a bit of centre, tendus, adage, pirouettes and then petit allegro - just a bit usually warm up sautés, then a short petit allegro & sometimes a sissone combination. Hannah Frost is teaching both from home & from Pineapple Studios. Hannah is a wonderful teacher - her classes are very simple in their choreography, but technically very demanding (adage without arms in the centre really tests your placement, I can tell you!) She gives a very safe barre (no grand battement, for example), a centre with a simple adage, drilling for pirouettes, and a tendu/pirouette combination. We don't jump (for safety) but again we drill things such as lots of glissés in the centre with co-ordinated arms. The value of Hannah's class is the opportunity to take things back to basics and get it clean & correct & in one's body. I think if you email Hannah, or find her on Instagram @hannahfrostballet she'll send you class information. I also do floor barre & ballet with Nina Thilos-Mohs (you can find her on FaceBook at The Ballet Portal) - she teaches a gorgeous Zena Romnett floor barre, and also a ballet barre + centre based on Christina Bernal's training technique. It's lovely, but a bit different from a standard class. But is so so good for turnout and alignment, and Nina's classes are always choreographically interesting and get you moving. What I really really miss though, is just moving through space in big combinations! But because I don't live in London, normally I can only do these classes when I'm working in London, whereas via Zoom, I can learn from these fabulous teachers every day. I have been really impressed at the way that they'e all adapted to teaching via Zoom, and the corrections they give are way beyond anything I experience in a live class. I think other favourite teachers of adult dancers are teaching via Pineapple, and through Zoom on their own platforms (eg Karis Scarlette). Most of them seem to be on Instagram. I also think of this as a way to help freelance teachers & artists to keep going in these difficult times.

Shireenah - she was extraordinary!

It's so wonderful seeing this series again. Wouldn't it be interesting to know how the young people who participated are faring now? Has there been any follow up?