JLAEI

That is a shame, angel. Mine can take longer to pick things up, and learn new movements which I guess could be difficult with more unset work in higher grades, but I think they have a natural aptitude for dance (as well as dyspraxia), so with a lot of effort they can usually get there.

Interesting and I have no idea whether additional needs would be supported/accepted in professional life as a dancer. But I do think that learning dance in a class setting is very beneficial. My daughters do not have an ASD (though they do have some autistic traits), but they are both dyspraxic and started doing gymnastics and dance as therapy for this - they had weak cores, and poor muscle tone. It has helped them enormously though they are doing it for fun and not as a potential profession . The gymnast is now strong and works well with her partners/team members. She has not made many friends there as she is very shy, but she is accepted and respected I think, and because she has to focus and work very hard, she has improved more than others who maybe don't "have" to work as hard. If that makes sense? The dancer also has great focus, again because she has to have, and works very hard. I've never seen her give less than her all in a class, which certainly wasn't the case for me at her age when I was dancing, though dancing came far more naturally to me. Most importantly they love it, and have so far coped well with some potentially stressful situations (exams. shows, gym comps, festivals etc). I think it would depend on the nature of the additional needs, but with the right combination of talent, luck, and application that all students need, I think it would be possible for a student to succeed professionally.

Hi, well done to your daughters. My daughters auditioned at Nottm and both got places. It was a mix, some very strong and some not so. Basic sound technique was what they were after, there were a lot there (130+). Laughing at the forced smiles, because they would have been mine! Told them to smile, but they did become forced after a while! One of mine only started dancing last year but she is quite stretched and strong from gym. I could understand why a lot got through and picked out most of scholarship girls, but I danced when I was younger. I felt sorry for the younger ones attempting full plies in the centre and arabesques, they all had a good go though.

Exactly the same when I had prolapsed disc. They looked at core strength by balancing on one leg, and flex by touching toes, both of which were great according to them, but no mine

Do agree with the comment that if you have to diet to be dancer slim, then it's not the profession for you! That's the decision I came to anyway, many moons ago. I know size is a factor in lifting, but for some of the women in big ballet that aren't that big, cant see lifts being a problem, if they know how to be "lifted". A thin dancer who doesn't "help" could be as heavy as a larger dancer who is not just a dead weight. Clearly only up to a point Can't see anyone lifting me now however much I help.

Yes you do have to be slim, and am not suggesting that at the size they are the woman in the programme could be professional at all. I wouldn't say thin though? Veering off topic but I do think that top vocational ballet schools in England tend to stick fairly rigidly to a certain aesthetic and body type, in a way they don't in other countries? Find it sad that dancers with many lovely qualities are not able to follow a ballet career. I know this has changed in last 30/40 years, people that were RBS trained 30 years perhaps wouldn't be considered now.

This programme drives me insane (and yet I still watch it). Did we have to see them buying sweets? I am fat and I don't eat takeaways/sweets/cakes all the time! I was interested in this programme as I danced when I was younger and wanted to dance professionally, but was "too fat" (when I wasn't really overweight by any normal standards). It really messed me up, and I ended up with a lot of issues around weight and yo-yo dieted, sometimes to the extreme, for a long time. Personally I don't mind being called fat, I see it as a fact and not an insult (whatever the intention that is how I take it), but I do understand how people would take offence, especially as some of the woman involved are not even "fat", just big by ballet standards as Wayne said in auditions. I take taxi4ballet's point about the double standards, but we live in a society which deems fat to be unacceptable and it is used as an insult. Saying someone is stick thin or skinny, is often seen as being a compliment, which reflects the current standards of beauty. I don't think that using robot is appropriate, or saying "real woman" to describe themselves is helpful. Women are women whatever their size. What hasn't been explored at all in this programme is how the standards of size for ballet dancers (and all dancers) has changed over the last century. Of course you have to be physically fit to do ballet, but the current acceptable size is much smaller than say 60 years ago, in dance and in society generally. Oh hello btw, I used to read this forum when my dd still danced, but found this thread through googling something about this programme!