annaliesey

oops I didn't watch that closely ... eek!

I don't know how but I stumbled on this programme on BBC today about a little girl going to a dance class for the first time and not liking the teacher shouting. http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01dlx22/woolly-and-tig-series-1-3-the-dance-class Do ballet/dance teachers really have that much of a reputation for shouting? haha But seriously, I thought the programme was really sweet so thought I would share

Hmm, looks like it goes grades 1,2,3,4,5,6 and Intermediate, Adv 1, Adv2. (So Intermediate is the lowest vocational grade with no foundation grade as a pre-requisite). Taken from IDTA website.... Graded qualifications Ballet, Tap, Modern Jazz, Theatre Craft, Ballroom, Latin, Classical Sequence and Freestyle Grade QCF Level QCF Award/Certificate/Diploma QCF credits 1 1 Award 7 2 1 Award 7 3 1 Award 7 4 2 Award 10 5 2 Award 10 6 (Ballet only) 3 Certificate 13 Vocational graded qualifications Ballet, Tap, Modern Jazz, Theatre Craft Grade QCF Level QCF Award/Certificate/Diploma QCF credits Intermediate 3 Certificate 28 Advanced 1 4 Certificate 33 Advanced 2 4 Diploma 38 Attainment bands for all the above examinations are Unsuccessful, Pass, Merit and Distinction.

I would have thought that any recognised syllabus (and I mean with CDET and Ofqual) would have a syllabus that gradually builds through the grades for a reason so there would not likely be a gap between grade 2/3 and Intermediate. I don't know much about IDTA but there's a good table on their website http://staging.idta.co.uk/members-hub/qualifications/ofqual-dcells-qcf/ I've heard of classes in small schools being referred to as "level 1" "level 2" etc where actually the teacher is teaching several grades combined because of financial constraints and low pupil numbers (ie; it would not be financially viable to hire out a venue and pay a salary based on two students for 45 mins or whatever). But the term "Intermediate" in syllabus whether IDTA, ISTD, RAD, etc usually refers to the first level of serious/professional level ballet that you hear people refer to as 'the vocational grades' so I would imagine a pretty big jump from grade 2 of any syllabus. Having said that, some schools don't bother with the voluntary grades of Intermediate Foundation and just go straight into Intermediate with a view that the students will be in that grade for quite a long time. I think the recommended study hours are available online for other professional bodies but I couldn't see anything for IDTA but might be worth a look or a phone call. It could also be that in a small school joining a pointe class doesn't mean going out and buying pointe shoes all of a sudden but rather learning point steps in preparation for being put on pointe. Certainly clarify that with the teacher and if she/he suggests your DD actually going on pointe now then run away!! I have to say, as an aside, I saw an advert for an organisation (can't remember who) offering "IDTA Teacher Training" in 1 1/2 days or 2 days recently on facebook and thought to myself that that seemed crazy and ridiculously fast-track to actually teach someone how to be a qualified dance teacher in 2 days! It certainly put IDTA down on my mental list as a parent of syllabus and teachers to be wary of as I cannot see how anyone can become a qualified teacher in a weekend. Even though the advert said there was some coursework, it really didn't come across to me as being as credible as a teacher who goes through dance teacher training with one of the other organisations. Sorry but this is just based on a personal view that this gave me that perhaps it's seen as a quick and easy route to being a qualified ballet teacher for some people out there. Good luck

I'm after people's opinions on doing pointe work on less than ideal floors, particularly wooden/slippery/parquee type flooring. Lots of our good dance teachers locally all use church halls, school halls, community centres and have been running for donkeys years with a good track record as as far as I can make out, no injuries from slipping. However, recently a couple of people who I respect, have commented on me allowing my DD to do pointe work on a less than ideal floor. To the extent that I should move her to a different dance school as that is how strongly they felt. Now, I have sat back and thought about this and actually I don't want to take the risk of her slipping over, so I have decided to move her pointe classes to a different venue that isn't on a slippery floor. I'm interested in how much of a big deal this is for people on this forum as my real life friends all have opinions that vary considerably. Most say, I'm over-reacting. Thank you

I say go for it! As other's have said the risky part is not placing and the impact that can have on confidence so it's definitely worth a mum-to-dd talk about judges (and I've even had to say that sometimes they don't know much about ballet, or sometimes they aren't even watching haha). I think the biggest benefit is the extra training and the 1:2:1 time with a ballet teacher who will be training with a different outlook. They can benefit so much from training with a teacher who wants everything perfect in their eyes before they put their student out on stage representing their school. It's a different focus completely where for exams for example a teacher might have a whole exam group to consider and there can be an element of "it's good enough" rather than striving for perfection. And I would definitely go for a solo rather than a group at this age given the choice, and my reasons being that it's not as much pressure in a solo than a group. If your DD goes wrong or freezes in a solo then it's not like having a guilty feeling of letting a group down and if one person's timing or movement is out in a group it's much more noticeable than in a solo. In a solo she can rehearse over and over and be really confident before she goes on stage, whereas with a group that rehearsal time can be restricted by availability and maybe costs to others when it involves studio hire. I think if you don't over-do it with excessive competition focus, get drawn into the mama-drama, you would really enjoy it Children get so much out of developing their performance skills and confidence and this filters through into classroom work. Finding competitions or festivals that give good feedback can be really useful for your DD and her teacher too. You should probably be able to find lots of videos on youtube to watch for various american style competitions (Starpower and Destination Dance both have ballet categories) where videos are allowed/purchased and reading the youtube comments can be interesting too. For first time competing I would also look for a "levelled competition" that has levels for novice, or advanced competitiors so it's not too daunting. Good luck

I just want to say thank you for posting that! My DD refuses to audition and is insistent she is not the right body shape. She tells me she knows and she's the one that has seen / knows of girls that have been accepted and she doesn't look like them. In her words she says she doesn't have flat (or even nearly flat) turn out, swaybacks, or banana feet! Her various teachers have all tried to encourage her and that her physique is "in the range" of what they will be looking for and actually last week one teacher said exactly what you have said that "hard work and determination goes a long way" (she does have that in spades as a lot of them do). So my dilemma is whether to give her a gentle shove in that direction to just try again and keep trying alongside all the other things she does that she is perfectly happy with I might just see if I can get her to try for MA first though. To other parents, and MrsSri, it's really tough isn't it? This whole physique business

If you feel you are just genuinely going to do it for the sake of it then save your money! If however, your DD does want to do it but is putting on a front because she knows it's a financial strain, (both the audition rounds and the possibility of going away) then maybe just have a chat with her about what other options might be alongside MA and plans for future years. She might be putting on a brave face so I wouldn't assume she isn't passionate or hungry for it or it's not for her Good luck with whatever you decide

Hi just to say sorry about the comment I made about EYB as its unrelated to your question. I was sat somewhere yesterday with bad wifi and forum was loading in bits, I hadn't realised your DD was auditioning now

Good luck to your DD Tropicmama I can't give you advice as DD didn't audition at that age but enjoy the experience Look out for things such as English Youth Ballet for when she turns 8 as my DD loved it so much at that age

Just to add to the mix .. I found our local council had a "parent partnership" team which worked alongside the admissions team. They have been very good at mediating issues for us. DD's school has just had its ofsted results and yet again was inadequate. Safeguarding was a big issue. I'm afraid that when it comes to emails I have run out of political correctness and courtesy now and find that a bit of frankness in terms of what the issues are and what you want to get out of a situation go a long way! It's worth talking to the local council attendance person too before attendance is referred as an issue by the school. In our case DD's attendance was recorded incorrectly when it should have been 97% so I kept my own records and have asked for every mistake to be corrected.

Can I just say, and I mean this in the nicest way, to be careful of this. Sometimes people (other dancers or parents or teachers) can give this impression but it's not always a true picture.

Oh dear Cara, sounds like she's feeling the strain a little. I didn't know overtraining was a thing until DD's CAT scheme referred to it. When I mentioned to DD's old dance teachers they basically said it didn't exist in the context of young dancers and only related to older dancers referring to pain/injury/stress/burnout/rejection kind of scenarios. I know since then how wrong they were! I've come to realise our DC's need relaxation, interests and more social stuff outside of dance. My DD and I refer to it as "little girl time". For us, last year, my DD said she missed just dancing for fun. She said that she just felt all her dancing was either not good enough, or being judged and talked about by others, and just that the love of it was overshadowed by the correctedness and technicality of it all. She was struggling with tinnitus too so I don't think that helped. Everyone around just thought she was really confident but she had actually hit a real low with dance. Friends turned out to be a bit tricky too. I let her drop some regular classes and looked for pay-as-you-go that we could do as and when. She just needed a bit of time watching Netflix, baking cakes, and messing about with hair and make up Looking back on it now I can appreciate the pressure she was under at the old dance school as everything was a competition and too many people were ready to take her down a peg or two! (They were their actual words!) I'm not suggesting it's like that at your dance school but there might be things going on that are adding some pressure somewhere along the line. I knew my DD was getting back to her normal self when she started relaxing and doing daft dances on music.ly without caring what people thought but looking back, she did need about 3 months with lesser dance commitments. Your DD's mark is fantastic! Maybe there is a bit of relief too at getting a good mark and just wanting to take a bit of a breather before the next grade. Maybe her knee pain is getting her down too. Good luck

I've just paid for a ticket for Rosina Andrews Pirouette surgery in London on 30th Dec as thought it would make a nice pressie and something to look forward to in the holidays

Goodness, what an interesting bunch of experiences and perspectives. So useful to have other DD's parents to consult The Progress 8 was a new one on me, I had completely not understood that properly at all. I'm now looking into BTEC's too. I think from what everyone has said the 9 GCSE's seems to be a good standard to aim for with quality not quantity. As far as options go, I think it's going to be tricky considering that all of the arty subjects will likely be in one column so a choice between music, drama, art, PE, food & nutrition or textiles when I'm pretty sure DD will want to do more of those that the non-arty subjects.

That's really interesting. I was just trying to understand the width element as my dd went from having quite a narrow grisko from Dancia to a wider shoe at Freed. The explanation was about supporting her foot well but giving room for her metatarsals to work more apparently Damned if I understand it all

sorry, I know I contributed to de-railing this thread with talk of heating engineer DBS's etc (still a bit bemused really but hey ho). I've another question for people who have been through the school system and successfully managed to balance things out.... My son did 13 GCSE's. It was at a time when 'English Baccalaureate' was fashionable. He did maths, english, sciences, a language, a humanities, and then a bunch of other subjects including Drama, RE, ICT etc. Anyway, I'm thinking ahead for DD (currently year 8). I can't imagine that she would benefit from doing as many GCSE's. Can anyone advise on what choices we might have so that we lessen the amount of non-core subjects. My view is that she can pick some of these up later on in life if she wishes but I don't want to over-burden her during her GCSE years. I'd really like her to focus on maths, english, a science, and then she would probably choose from PE, Drama, Art, Textiles, Food & Nutrition, oh and trampolining! Is there a minimum they need to take at school does anyone know?

oh you have gas engineers too Dancingshoes. I have one (my hubby) and he too is DBS but has no intention of ever being left alone with children (or pets). We mostly work for consumers / people in their own homes and you would be surprised at the people who just say they are going to pop out to the shop and can "little johnny" stay with him. His answer is always No, take your children with you or I'll go and come back when you return. It's just generally surprising how people can be in their own homes!

I thought the DBS was only required where children or vulnerable adults would be left unsupervised by that person?

I wonder what age group the author had in mind when writing this and also wonder if they were referring to the once-a-week student or everyone. For young children, they don't have much influence over being on time. I used to see children being made to plank for being late and felt sorry for them as it was the parents responsibility to get then there on time. I genuinely don't see that excluding or belittling or humiliating a child for lateness is appropriate especially if they are young and clearly do not travel to classes independently. I also think that for a large part, the sense of social belonging in a group is important. Children are quick to learn that nobody likes a kiss-ass and that's more likely to lead to problems. Also agree with the person who mentioned exploitation by teachers unfortunately I think the author could have made their point without going to extremes

Sounds like rubbish to me people who hire premises usually take on that risk don't they?

Hope your dd is enjoying elmhurst Toomuch and I agree with others about finding tap & modern elsewhere So many parents struggle with the whole loyalty thing and really we shouldn't should we. Good luck with the shopping list too

Congrats that's lovely

I'd be hurt too. What a shame. Hope you can raise with the school for them to consider for future children

... And I think she got a distinction