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Lived in a small village with limited opportunities for children but with a weekly baby ballet class in the village hall. So DD - and half her Pre-school group - spent an hour a week from the age of 3 skipping about and pretending to be princesses. We moved when she was 4.5, to a large town. Each child was allowed to choose 1 thing rthat was a priority for me to find for them in our new home. 'Dancing' was DD's. Knowing NOTHING about the dance world, I followed the advice of a mum I met in the park, that there was 'some sort of dance school just by the car park off the local shopping street, some of the other girls starting in reception go there'. Little did I know that I could probably not have picked a more 'serious' dance school within the town had I tried. Roll forward about 18 months, and DD was asked to join the group of girls preparing for festival troupes, and took up MT, then tap. Festival solos followed aged about 7, and after a while Idid have to accept that my DD - who I had never seen as 'a ballet girl', being of a very average body size and shape - was really quite good at this dance stuff. At just turned 15, she's a decent non-vocational student, taking Adv 1 or 2 in all 3 dance disciplines. Not planning to take the vocational route - she is an excellent 'class' dancer, and competes very successfully in groups, but as a soloist or in a 'competition / audition class' shrinks somewhat into herself, lacking that 'wow' factor that is as much character as dance ability - but it will always have been a really key part of her growing up.

Just to say that when I was in Dancewell (dance shop in Bristol) recently with DD, they had a lot of posters up advertising all sorts of classes, including adult ones. Depending on where you are in Gloucestershire, Bristol might be reasonably accessible to you, and if so, popping into Dancewell and having a browse (and a chat with the staff) may be helpful in identifying classes. They are also LOVELY should you ever need to buy shoes or any other pieces of ballet equipment

DD is only a non-vocational student, so we may be entirely wrong...but I start with new shoes, cut nothing, steam nothing, but work a series of horseshoe-shaped loops of chain stitch from the edge of the sole, round the top of the platform, and back again. Once the full area between platform and sole is full (it's narrower than the platform) I end up with more of a spiral centred on the platform itself. There isn't any satin visible between the rows, and I use a straight needle. I can do a pair including ribbons in an evening, though I have to say my speed has increased and I've done sewing all my life (I made my own clothes from early teenage, and still make many of DD's costumes - don't do Lycra stuff, though, as until recently i used a 1950s sewing machine that only really did straight stitching) It is very very sturdy, and DD likes it! Nearest picture to what it ends up looking like is a cross between the end of the shoe looking like this http://www.infobarrel.com/Media/Pointe_Shoe_Darning(though my chain stitch is smaller and closer together) and the ones shown here (though I use chain stitch not blanket stitch) http://doasido.weebly.com/blog/how-i-darn-pointe-shoes

Progress at 1 grade per year, almost exactly - DD took 4 terms over a couple of grades, but compensated with Grade 5 2 terms after grade 4 and Interfoundation the term after grade 6. She's just done Intermediate at 14.

I have never come across an ISTD school doing Class examinations (the equivalent name from the other ISTD syllabus). Here - decent quality ISTD Imperial ballet school - everyone does Grades on 1 class per week up to I think Grade 2 or 3, when they start doing both their own grade and the one above to up it to 2 hours per week, then 3 a coupld of grades later (2 of the same grade then 1 above)

I was going to say that Cecchetti ISTD is not the same as Imperial ballet ISTD (which is what i was referring to). If the Friday class is Imperial ballet ISTD, then it may be the free exercises, as I said.

Just a query, based on the comments on working memory. Are her other lessons also ISTD grades? Or another board / exam type? I ask because the requirements for ISTD grades focus very much more on free work, given by the teacher, rather than repetitive set exercises (I'm not saying that those don't exist, just that they aren't the whole focus). As ISTD grade class would therefore put much greater strain on a child's working memory than e.g. an RAD class at the same level (after the exercises have been taught in the latter). It might also be that she can dance the step / enchainement after she has seen others do it, which is why she initially thinks she can't do it and then does it well? On age - the minimum age to take ISTD Grade 1 is 6, so at a fairly normal progression of a grade a year, finishing grade 2 and moving into grade 3 at 7 is 'normal, but on the youngest limit'.

Do you know the dance school that the bullying boys go t? I would be very inclined to get in touch with that school - either yourself, or your DD's current dance teacher to discuss it, and ask that either the whole class, or the boys in question, could be talked to. The feet thing can hopefully be put right by some factual information, but the weight thing is MUCH more insidious, and needs to be dealt with head on quite early. If DD's dance school head got a call to say that anyone associated with her school had said anything of the sort to another dancer, she would go absolutely ballistic, and rightly so. Could your DD's current dance teacher maybe also do some gentle teaching and confidence building, maybe getting an older pupil who is on pointe to do a class demo or something, going through looking at what her feet have to be able to do, padding, what pointe shoes are like, doing some exercises etc?

Just wondering if it would be worth posting the following, because it would give an indication of what a typical 'going on to dance college at 18' dancer at a good quality local school would do at that age. The normal point for students to leave DD's non-vocational dance school if going on to dance college is at 18. They go on to places like LSC, Laine's, Birds, Performers - so decent all round 18+ colleges. Pure ballet is rare, they are generally all-rounders, but most get into most places they apply to, so are at a decent standard. DD is mostly in the same classes as those leaving this year, so just to give an indication of what they would be doing: In a normal week: 3x ballet classes, each of 1-1.25 hours, + 45 mins pointe class. 1.5 hours of performing groups 1 hour of MT 1 hour of Tap 1 hour of Urban / Body conditioning 1 hour of singing, plus a 30 minute private singing lesson. 30 minute 1:1 private dancelesson Plus a 45 minute -1 hour coaching class for any exams being taken that term They all do 3 academic A-levels at decent local schools, and IME tend to get very good grades, so can balance dance at a suitable level to dance at 18+ and a-level; studies with that type of time commitment. There would be various performances and competitions etc that would build up the hours at different points in the year, but as far as I know in recent years none have done associate-type schemes in ballet.

I will confess to rubbing gently with an almost-dry cloth squirted with stain removing laundry spray (Vanish, Oxy, that type of stuff) then wiping off again with a very slightly damp cloth. It has been successful both on satin ballet shoes and on pointe shoes. Calamining both satins and pointe shoes for performances is normal for DD's non-vocational dance school, and i have found that stain removal followed by a liberal dose of calamine is pretty effective.

Locally, the swap from socks to tights seems to occur much earlier than 12 - for festivals, probably around 8ish unless the girls are very small. Having a tall, early to develop DD, I know she was very relieved to move to tights for everything as, whatever the actual reality of the case, she FELT much more decent, and was thus much more confident, in tights rather than socks.

If you are anywhere near Bristol, would recommend Dancewell http://www.pointeshoe.com/shop/index.php?main_page=page&id=4 I posted some time back about a lovely pointe shoe fitting we had for DD there, and I would genuinely recommend it in terms of having lots and lots of different options and a fitter willing to spend as long as it takes to find the right one. No appointments needed, though i imagine that they get quite busy at weekends.

Glad it went so well! Congratulations to your DD DD was happy with how she did - didn't get through to the finals, but only 1 girl from her school did (usually quite a few do) so she didn't feel singled out.

Danceroo, looking at pictures of previous years might be helpful, in terms of seeing how it is arranged: http://www.hudsonpicturesphoto.com/senior-ballet-awards-2016-menu.html Dancers are ordered on the stage by number (which relates to their height), and are then given a series of free work steps by the class teacher. After a run through or two (the amount of practice reduces as they go up the grades), each line of dancers will dance the exercise through, run round to the back of their line and then the next line will dance it. When all lines have danced that exercise, the teacher will give another exercise. At he end of the class, the dancers will dance the set variation for that grade in groups of 3. In the lower grades, the teacher will stay on stage and may help those who find it very hard by giving e.g. additional verbal prompts. At higher levels, they leave the stage immediately after the practice. Once all classes from that grade have danced, the dancers come back on stage in a semicircle, often with another grade, and the dancers through to the final will be announced. The final is exactly the same as the main class, and usually the exercises are exactly the same too. Winners etc are then announced. IME, quickness in picking up exercises, technical proficiency and performance are all part of the judgement for going through to the final. The Hawth Theatre itself is very nice - the dancers go through to the backstage area well before the class, but there is a cafe, seating areas etc for breaks and for those accompanying dancers.

Thanks! DD is in the Grade 6 / InterFoundation awards tomorrow.

As we're off on our annual trip to the delights of Crawley tomorrow morning, I thought I'd post a 'Good Luck' message to anyone else participating this weekend, especially if they're doing it for the first time

We're at an 'embroider or else' dance school - so I am slightly envious of the suede toe cap option rather than the endless loops of chain stitch!

Primrose - but was the axe essentially cardboard, covered in aluminium foil and string, handed in from stage left???

'An axe for my brother' remains my favourite ever national dance - not DD's, but one I have seen at a festival we attended....

Amos, your poor DD! DD suffered regularly from migraine aged 10-11 - she had her first one at a dance festival and insisted on still taking her part in a large group dance despite acute visual disturbance (walls bulging in from her peripheral vision, narrowing what she can actually see to a very small area). I was afraid she'd fall off the stage.. The GP we saw was very emphatic that she should balance food, drink and exercise better, and we have found that really keeping an eye on regular meals and drinks made a difference. She then had a long gap, but had another one recently and lost all sight on one side for a significant period, which was scary for all concerned.

Audacity (free download) is easy to cut music with. It's a bit of a pain because you have to add on another bit of software to export the result as an MP3 file, but I'm no tech genius and have found it fairly easy to e.g. match sound patterns at splice points so that it doesn't 'jump' and that the beat remains constant. i only do music for DD to choreograph to, though - never had to do a ballet piece - so I don't envy you at all.

I used www.listentoyoutube.com/ Ran the virus check afterwards, all seems well.

(Meant to say that I use a Youtube to MP3 converter, found by Google search. You just drop the URL of the Youtube video into the box and it converts it into a downloadable MP3. I then use Audacity to edit if needed, before burning onto a CD) I do only do it if I can't find a purchasable or directly downloadable version anywhere.

Can confirm that this is very very easy, even for technophobes! The thing that worries me about it is copyright - if the music is purchased from iTunes or Amazon or wherever, then there is at least a trail that says ' I have bought this music'. Simply 'taking' it from Youtube seems to me to be more dubious! Anyone have any clue about the ins and outs of this?

I was coming back on to make similar points to Harwel, Pups_mum and Balletbean - that the lack of Adv 2 on a current timetable doesn't mean that it wouldn't be taught if there was a need by a student or students in the school at the time. It may happen in private lessons, it may happen only in some years, it may happen under another name (so it may be part of an overall 'senior ballet class') but I suspect many teachers would offer it if there was a need. So if you can't find a school that 'overtly advertises' Adv 2 on its timetable, it may well be worth trying a call to schools that are otherwise suitable to see if they would offer it if needed.