Kate_N

I thought I'd start this thread, as there are several queries in here about places to continue reasonably advanced studies in ballet once people leave school/family home and go to university. I asked the question here after moving from a large city to a small city, and I'm sure others are in that position. So maybe we can pool experience & advice as a resource? If people don't want to give too many clues to specific studios, or give information on location which might compromise their anonymity, I hope we can respect that. I'm sure that the PM system can help there too! BIRMINGHAM It's a great city for the advanced but non-professional dancer. I'll start off by saying I used to live in Birmingham, and found the range of classes there excellent: you could do a serious dance class most days of the week just by attending DanceXchange, behind the Birmingham Hippodrome. The teachers are uniformly excellent -- often ex- or current BRB dancers. The studios are beautiful, big, good changing facilities, and very reasonable prices. I highly recommend DanceXchange. The only draw back there is the rather silly requirement (IMO) that you attend classes at only one level. Apparently, there were complaints about advanced dancers making beginners feel 'intimidated.' I tend to think that the real problem is beginner dancers in more advanced classes, and I like having more advanced dancers in class to follow! but that's just my view. The limitation on attending only one level seems to be pretty much ignored, though, particularly if you pay as you go. I think it's tougher if you want to pay for a whole term in advance. LONDON London is also the obvious place for continuing high quality dance training. My picks are Danceworks, and Central School of Ballet. I love, love, love Renato Paroni's Sunday class at Central -- it's challenging but not in terms of difficult combinations -- it's his requirements for clear and technically high-powered technique at a basic level. I always feel great after his class. Danceworks has a daily professional class, and a range of others. It's the nearest to the studios of New York (such as Steps) that I've danced at.

Oh yes, the University of Leeds has an excellent English Department. I'm not as familiar with the dance provision there, so didn't mention it. Amie, what you could do is look for good ballet training -- I"m assuming you're at Advanced level in the RAD programme? and then choose your university on that basis. Although your parents may not think that the best way to do it, in my experience, a lot of intending undergraduates often choose their preferred course for factors other than just the course itself. At least this way, your criterion of a university in a city where there's good ballet training, you'll cut down on the number of Open Days you'll need to attend!

I teach in a major university in the areas you're looking at (ie literature & performing arts). If you are really organised & dedicated, you should be able to do a full-time BA (Hons) in English, and keep up your ballet training as well. So you could do a degree, + move towards an RAD or ISTD teaching qualification as well. Privately, that is, rather than through a university. This would have some "future proofing": * a degree from a reputable University in an in-demand subject such as English means that you'll have that option; * teaching ballet is at best, a part-time job, unless you've had a really good professional dance career and can then land a job at Elmhurst or White Lodge etc (have a look at the backgrounds of teachers at those schools). * as far as I know, universities that offer Dance tend to offer contemporary rather than ballet, and frankly, most of them don't offer enough hours for a really full-time training. Most universities are not conservatoires! * a good result in your English degree, from a good university (you should be aiming for AAB to ABB) will make you a better bet for a PGCE. Entry to PGCE programmes is competitive -- teachers are not a penny a dozen any more & they need to be very well qualified. So maybe look for a good English Literature degree in a city which offers a lot of ballet options? That would help you determine a manageable range of universities to look at in terms of the vast number of English Literature degrees on offer. London is obvious, also Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow, and Edinburgh. The main universities in all those cities are amongst the best in the country. I'd be more wary of the newer universities (eg Birmingham City University, Manchester Metropolitan etc) unless you can really work your socks off for a First Class or very high 2, i final degree classification. The other thing to think about is to do your undergraduate degree part-time, and keep on training with daily ballet to get to the very high standard needed to teach properly. You could study English at Birkbeck in London, for example -- it's an excellent degree, and classes meet from 6-9pm in the evenings. Good luck!

My mother (ex-dancer & actress, now actor-trainer) is almost 80 and does between 30 & 60 minutes of Pilates + Feldenkrais + Alexander exercises every day before she starts her day. I've seen what she does: it would have my 20 year old students curling up in agony. But it's how she keeps mobile and fit to keep teaching.

Pilates is great, so is yoga -- although yoga can be quite tough, I find! Also: try to take a longish (30-40 mins) walk each day at a speed which makes you just out of breath, but still able to talk. Gets the heart rate up, and gets all the major muscle groups moving. Make sure you do that after you start back at class too! I run (I used the Couch to 5K app) as a way of keeping fit for balet. It really helps with fitness & strength I find. The Couch to 5k programme is downloadable from the NHS website (or an App store such as iTunes) and takes you in a very gentle graded series training sessions from walking to running non-stop for 20-30 minutes. It took me a couple of months to work through it, but it's now so easy to run (slowly) for 30 minutes and I feel the effects in ballet class, because I can jump without getting out of breath, and my legs are very strong, so in class I can worry about technique rather than basic strength. I know running isn't for everybody -- I really thought it wasn't for me, but it's been great over the last 2 years to build gradually in aerobic fitness -- it means ballet & contemporary class, plus PIlates, are all building on a basic level of fitness.

A reminder about this. There are all sorts of events, including participation by gallery visitors. Is anyone going? Here's a link to the events: http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/eventseries/bmw-tate-live-if-tate-modern-was-musee-de-la-danse

Oh how wonderful! Wish I still lived in the north ... All the best of British luck.

This isn't bizarre in my view -- but to be expected. The way we learn something like dance (a very complex set of skills) is through repetition, to develop proprioception: muscle memory. My advice would be to struggle through the more advanced class, after a discussion about your CURRENT limitations with your teacher. Slowly, slowly, it will start to stick. Edited to add: I'd take a bet that over say, 6 to 12 months, those current limitations will have shifted, and you'll slowlty see progress. BUt you need to have courage don't you, to go into a class where you know that half of it is *currently* beyond you? But only *currently*! Some advice I read ages ago on the other ballet site was that one way to learn is not to worry about the details, but to try to get the big overall shapes and rhythms. So in petit allegro, think about directions of travel and rhythm. And the steps will come gradually, although I know -- you'll feel like a big hot mess! Would that be an approach you could use just for now?

RachaelMarie, that's great news! I'm nowhere near that geographical area, but I know that there are always people looking for good ballet (and other dance forms) classes which welcome adult students. I've found a lovely studio in my town -- I've recently moved ito the deep deep south west, and one of the few things I missed about the city I left were very good and frequent advanced ballet classes. NBut I've now found a lovely studio, with a really excellent teacher. Not very advanced classes, but I'm getting up to speed after 2 years away from the barre, and happy to work on the basics. Not sure about the next bit, but anyway ... [mods, please remove if it's contrary to your rules here] I hang out on another ballet message board and help moderate the Adult Studejts section. And I know there are a few people there looking for classes in the area in which you're setting up your school. So I'll post a link to here, and hopefully you'll have some more students!

I first saw the RB do this, and loved it. Little did I know then that I would be so lucky as to meet Mr North and see many more of his ballets, and indeed see Troy Game several more times. It's still being performed bu the company in Germany where Mr North is director.

Thank you everyone for the welcome, and the ideas about Bristol studios. During the university term I'm generally working too many hours to do the travelling, but I will keep looking at those studios to see if they offer summer classes. Meanwhile, a colleague has just given me contact details for contemporary classes at a new studio. Did my first one tonight and it was great!

Hello all, I'm pleased to find this forum again. I was a regular reader & poster on the old Ballet.co.uk site, and so pleased to find its next version here (I also help to moderate the Ballet Talk for Dancers site, particularly the adult ballet students' sections). So it's great to find you all here! I've just moved from a ballet-class rich city (Birmingham) to the West Country. I"m starting to find a few classes here and there, but thought you people would have the inside knowledge. I'm in the cathedral county town, and can find one hour adult ballet clases, but I'm starting to want a bit more. Any suggestions?