Piccolo

My dd was at the younger Elmhurst SS. I managed to glean a bit of information from her. She's not very forthcoming with the 'what did you do in school today?' sort of questions though... As a lover of ballet, she's always been adamant that she wouldn't want to learn other dance styles. However, Jazz, Flamenco and Contempory (?) were all on the curriculum and she seems to have come away very inspired by them all. She especially enjoyed the Jazz class and the Jazz teacher, and has demonstrated a bit of what she learnt! She said that in her ballet group the other girls knew straight away what they were supposed to be doing when directions were given, and it took her longer to work it out. IMHO it didn't show on stage and I was quite taken aback with the amount she seemed to have learnt in 3 days. She liked what she described as the 'expressive and free' style of ballet at Elmhurst. Interesting comment I thought, from a child who sometimes needs encouragement to 'perform'. Evening entertainment included a demo and talk from two BRB dancers. I'm sure she enjoyed it but I've heard more about the child she watched doing the ice bucket challenge!

Taxi4ballet, thanks., Interesting to hear how your daughter responded to the extra level. The difficult challenge aspect of ballet seems to be all part of the enjoyment. Dd seems to thrive on it.

Yes you're absolutely right in all you say IMHO. I just needed to run things by people on here. There's a lot I don't know and how do you know unless you ask? Re graded class, I will have a chat with Dd's teacher. Dd is fortunate to have excellent teachers. I'm sure things will work out.

Thanks all for your insights - really helpful. So dd would technically be able to do her voc exam in this half of the year. That would be the ideal scenario for dd. Like most schools though, I suppose, there is only one exam entry per year and ours is next summer. By the sound of it, dd is older than the average age for her graded class, which maybe explains why she gets a bit bored and will try and get out of doing it sometimes. She likes to miss the odd week and dip back in to it when things have progressed. This worries me a bit. If the exam is not until next summer, will it still be holding her attention? I'm not sure...

Vocational and Grade. Thanks!

I'd be grateful to know what peoples thoughts are on this... According to RAD regulations (on their website) there are minimum age requirements for their exams. However, hearing through word of mouth, it seems that quite a few children have been entered successfully for exams despite being a year or so younger than the required age. Is that an old policy? Is it better to wait until your child is the right age? Maybe there are reasons for this. Or is it better to keep moving forwards?

Yes try again! Her teacher sees her potential. Go with you gut instinct and what you feel drawn to doing to support your dd. People thought my dd would get a 'no' second time round, but I felt compelled to help her. She auditioned again and the wait began. Then one day I had a chat with dd about being more realistic in her expectations. Two days later her 'yes' letter arrived. Of course I was told off by dd for not believing in her! :-)

Really sorry to here that children described above are getting into voc school, taking it for granted, and spoiling it for others. Haven't you got to have a beautiful spirit to move people when you dance? Without that I can imagine I would probably 'glaze over' if I had to watch them dance. There are plenty of talented and lovely dancers out there who would relish the chance of going to voc school and who, although young, act with integrity and kindness too. Mumontherun, Maybe the girls need to be referred back to the schools anti bullying policy.

Children do drop out of the JA programme... In our year 6 class, 2 children have left. Unfortunately, the wait list only applies until October, so if a child leaves after October, it's too late to join the class. However, at that time it's not long until you can reapply. From what we've experienced and noticed, if a child has the facility for classical ballet, having the determination to try again often leads to a 'yes' when applying to JA 's again. One child in our class was accepted from the wait list in to our current year 6 class when a year 5 child decided to leave before the start of year 6. Congratulations to all those with a yes! For those with a no or wait list, I would digest the advice in DrDances' earlier post. Priceless!

There are lots of talented dancers chasing few associate places (see RBS annual report). At our centre, only one year 6 JA has been offered an MA place. Not surprising though, as there are 3 JA centres in the south, but only one MA centre (Bath). As others have said though, RBS is not the only route to a dance career. BTW on the subject of ears... Can't resist commenting that The RB corps de ballet all have identical small neat ears. However, some principal dancers are more 'individual'. Eg. Zenaida Yanowsky, the stunning Queen of Hearts in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Still hope for my 'non corps de ballet eared daughter'!

You have to have a love of travel as a Welsh dancer. Can be done on the cheap with the Mega Bus apparently...

Oops... It's not a logo... I meant 'coat of arms'!

Having experienced opening a 'no' letter two years ago (ordinary paper, black and white RBS logo) and then a 'yes' letter last year (beautiful watermarked paper with RBS logo in colour) that I could pick up and hold and read over and over... I really hope you get the news you want on the posh paper! Now or next time.

Sorry... Trying to quote the above post from BD19. BD19, can I ask you (dare I ask you ;-) ) does this apply for girls also? Is it ok to be tall?

Take your phone with the pics on it to somewhere like Asda and they will give you as much help as you need. I find they like to help/teach us technophobes!

I took Dd's pics in the local dance studio. She had bare legs and bare feet. It did the trick! I think a hard floor would probably show off the arch of the foot better (although what do I know?!). Good luck!

Hi Fusster, that's fantastic news! Dd will be so pleased! No news on MA's but I've done the maths. We'd need a miracle. All is not lost though ;-) !

It's a yes for Dd for SS 11-13 yr old course! Very happy for her. This must be our 'something good around the next corner' that people talk about on this forum. I've been hoping it was true

SWL for my DD :-( Grateful for the amazing opportunity she's had to do JA's though. Maybe time to broaden our horizon in other ways. We're certainly going to have more time on our hands on Saturdays! Congrats to the yeses and chins up and shoulders back the no's :-) xx

I have also asked DD if she wants to take her dancing less seriously, but she enjoys all her classes and loving the new challenge of inter foundation and pointe work. At some point though she will have to choose between her two hobbies as the class times will clash as she gets more involved. She knows this and it's up to her what she chooses. At the moment though she says she is going to give up the other hobby when she becomes a teenager. I don't believe though that what she sometimes wants or chooses is what's best for her...eg unlimited Nickelodeon TV, unlimited computer gaming instead of reading, etc, so I'll keep on with the parental guidance thing, probably failing miserably at times, but nobody's perfect ????

When DD was 4, she said that she wanted to give up ballet. I told her teacher, who told me 'she must never give up!'. I did as I was told and kept taking her and it turned out that it was the noisy class and shouting that she hadn't liked, not the ballet. She got used to the noise! When she was 6 she asked to give up because her best friend was giving up. Since she was doing well with ballet and had been enjoying it, and her friend was a budding artist, I pointed out that as she got older she would end up having different interests to her friends and they would eventually choose different paths anyway, so important to think about the things that she enjoyed doing and to pursue them. (This said with my own deep regrets in mind at giving up hobbies as a child 'just because I could'). Since then , DD has made good progress with her dancing, and enjoys the friendships she has now with like minded people. I will always encourage her to continue vocationally or as a hobby as I can see it is good for her well being. Whatever she does in life though, there'll be no escaping hard work and crying won't help! ????

Up until recently, DD has danced fearlessly in class, for exams and with the local ballet school on stages that made me feel dizzy, looking out on to an empty auditorium at rehearsals. Recently though, DD mentioned that she was afraid to put her heart into auditions, in case they don't want her. DD reached one final, and then a few events led to a drop in confidence. She had a good luck card signed by all the girls in her local class, and suddenly it became a big deal. Having been rejected as an Associate with this particular school, at the final, she looked around at all the girls in the school's Associate tracksuit and said, 'What is the point in me being here? They won't want me. They'll choose their associates'. During the audition, the leotard that she told me was 'the most comfortable she had ever worn', was slipping down. She said that, being in the last group of girls in the class, she had to wait a long time for her turn to dance, and started thinking too much. On the way home, she said 'It wasn't my day'. So frustrating and difficult to be strong and positive for her at the moment :-(

Really enjoying reading about all these amazing achievements. Well, we have one final to look forward to next week at Elmhurst. Sewing, hoping and dreaming... Just had a thought that all of you successful White Lodgers will be watching your DC in Nutcracker at ROH before the year is over. How amazing! ????

Hi Happymum and thanks! DD was 8, nearly 9, and fairly new to the RAD Grade 3 syllabus when she started Cecchetti classes. There were definitely more than 30 children in the class with one teacher. They were split into 2 groups for bar work because bar space was limited, and sometimes split into 4 or so groups (depending on who was teaching) to dance. DD says that it didn't matter because she didn't have to wait long for her group's turn to dance though!