ParentTaxi

Could you ring LSC or similar and ask them whether they have e.g. a current student who might be willing to talk to your DD about her journey to get there? The older girls from DDs dance school who went to LSC were absolutely lovely.

Is there a 'respected 3rd party' that your DD might respect who she could talk to about this? I am a non-dance mum - I didn't dance, I knew nothing about dance until DD started. So if I say one thing, and one of her dance teachers (fortunately, it is a dance school with several teachers, even though one is clearly 'the head of the school') says another, then the dance teacher is right, because I know nothing about it.... So if I had a similar dilemma, i would be seeking out someone she respected in the dance world but who wasn't necessarily a current part of her dance school, IYSWIM? A previous pupil at the dance school who is now at dance college, for example, or a summer school teacher or an adjudicator / judge from something that she had been in, or even a school; teacher if there is one with an interest in dance. I think when it is a question of 'local rivalry' wrt to festivals etc, then i might be useful to seek out opportunities further afield - holiday courses, one off classes or a dance school further away - rather than just attending classes in a school seen to be a 'direct rival'? Perhaps a CAT that does modern / contemporary - see http://www.nationaldancecats.co.uk/ Or something like Tap Attack?

(I mean, if you look at it in reverse - if DD did, say, Grade 4 RAD this term, she would be of an appropriate age to compete at Grade 4 in an equivalent RAD competition with the same age rules as the current ISTD ones. However, that wouldn't be fair to those who were simply working through the RAD grades, as she has Grade 6 and Interfoundation awards from ISTD, and I would absolutely expect those higher ISTD grades to be taken into account to bar her from competing at Grade 4 RAD.)

One would expect them to be strict - and the application form each candidate had to fill in had age and birth date very prominently displayed across the top. I was only commenting on the (possibly flawed) logic that MT is strict, therefore Imperial Ballet must be too. Taking RAD exams into account seems to me to be absolutely obvious and fair - in fact I'm surprised that is in any way new. Only taking relatively low ISTD exams, while taking much higher RAD exams simultaneously or shortly afterwards, seems to me to be an obvious loophole for 'gaming' the Awards. The impact of age is much more subjective - any age cut off is essentially arbitrary - but specifying that exams must have been taken within the last 18 months and taking into account higher grades from other exam boards, seem to me to be 'no-brainer' ways of tightening of the rules to ensure fair competition.

Waiting, the secondary school my children attend has many fantastic dancers in genres from ballet to street (winners of national competitions etc), has an annual in-school dance competition in which large numbers take part, followed by a show of the best, dance plays a big part in the annual production etc etc. BUT no dance qualifications are offered at GCSE or A-level (it can form a small part of GCSE PE), and none of the PE teachers are dance specialists. The quality dance tuition is ALL at local extracurricular dance schools. So the 'product' and high profile in terms of dance, at that school at least, does not in any way indicate that a dance teacher is employed by the school, nor that dance qualifications are offered.

I do believe, though, that the different ISTD faculties work quite independently of one another (hence occasionally clashing dates etc). The fact that the MT faculty (I suspect with many more candidates, as while for ballet many schools will do RAD, for MT ISTD has fewer large competing boards) is very strict about rules, does not necessarily mean that other faculties will be.

Website and the rules sent to us with our application form say 'under 13 on 1st September 2015', so the oldest a competitor in the Grade 4 class could now be is 13 if the rules are interpreted literally (ie 'under 13' on that date, not '13 or under'). Perhaps there were a lot of competitors who would have fallen foul of the age rules this year so they were relaxed after the website / forms were created? One of DD's school - not dance school - contemporaries was in Grade 4, and she would either be 12 or just turned 13.

DD was there on Saturday ...

Exactly! Me too. DD has ended up doing, on average, a ballet exam a year, at the point when the school recommends it - sometimes after 2 terms in that grade, sometimes after 3, once after 4 - and is where she is. The ISTD ballet awards are a bit of a tradition at her school, with anything from 6 to 12+ people taking part in the various grades, and we go because DD is given the forms! She's not going to do ballet vocationally (I've read the 'where does it lead to' thread with interest - for DD, the other things she does very well at lead to more likely and productive places) but for her it is part of the whole 'experience of the dance world' that will have been an important part of her childhood and adolescence.

Ballettwoshoes, I don't know, because there is no Advanced Foundation in ISTD, just: - Inter foundation: Minimum age 11 - Intermediate: Minimum age 12 - Advanced 1: Minimum age 14 - Advanced 2: Minimum age 14 In DD's, reasonably serious but non-vocational, ISTD-taking dance school, taking Inter foundation at around 13 is 'normal'. Of DD's cohort, the youngest taking it recently was 12, the oldest just turned 14.

There have been a few changes of regulations this year, and it will be interesting to see if it has a noticeable effect on the age of dancers. The maximum ages have come down I think, AND the dancers have to have taken the relevant grade within the last 18 months. Previously DD has chatted with a few girls much older than her, who have taken the exams a long time previously, and now taking much higher graded classes - just perhaps not taking the exams, or maybe taking other exam awarding body exams, so as to still qualify for lower grades at the ballet awards. Not common, but definitely a few. DD's experience - of always being the youngest of those around her, though she has always been above the minimum age for taking that exam - is perhaps not typical, because she is very tall. This means that where there were three classes, she was always in the middle, tallest group, and thus the whole group has tended to be older. The ages of those at the shorter ends may have been, on average, much younger IYSWIM? DD is in the Inter Foundation / Grade 6 class - minimum age will probably be around 10-11, because although the minimum age to take Grade 6 is 9, that for Inter Foundation is 11. Youngest for other grades will be in line with youngest ages for taking the exams, given in the syllabi: 7 for Grade 3 9 for Grades 4 and 5.

I suspect that we have used up our lifetime supply of pointe shoe longevity in a single pair.... fully expecting these new ones to die soon and catastrophically (probably just as she is about to do her ballet solo at the one festival i can't go to with her...)

Taxi4ballet, I know! I have carefully written down the details of her new shoes so that we can order pairs again at a moment's notice....

Thanks all! DD dances with older and more advanced students - and her first pointe shoes have lasted an unusually long period of time - and thus I think may have missed out on some of the basic advice from teachers that she might normally have had. I'll get her to ask her private lesson teacher - also her pointe teacher - in her lesson tomorrow

Apologies, ignorant apprentice ballet mum question! DD began pointe work 2 years ago, with her first pair of pointe shoes. As she was a beginner, those shoes (Bloch Serenades, if it is relevant) were broken in gently as she went through the first gradual stages of pointe work in weekly 45 minute beginner pointe lessons. We have just bought her second pair of pointe shoes (Bloch Sonata) because her old ones, though not broken, are, as the fitter commented 'well worn'. The thing is, DD no longer just does gentle exercises on pointe - as she is now 13, her ballet solo is on pointe, she is a member of the school's senior performing group's ballet group etc and her weekly 45 minute pointe lesson is much more 'full on'. My question is, what is the best ways of breaking the shoes in under these circumstances? She wore them for the full pointe lesson this week, but because they are very stiff at the moment, found some of the exercises very hard. Does she just continue to do that (she's keeping the old ones for performances over half term)? Is there some recommended 'wear them for part of the time, then swap over' routine? Should she be doing basic pointe exercises outside the lessons to break them in??

DD (just 13) has just taken Inter foundation ISTD, along with her cohort of 13 / 14 year olds, at a serious-but-not-vocational dance school. Most of the 13 year olds, however, are working towards Grade 6 or a few lower. 3.75 hours of ballet classes per week, plus tap, modern, performance groups at 2 age ranges, solo lesson and stretching.

DD explained to me earnestly why she's so good at netball 'Well, it's just like an easy group dance. You have to know where everyone else is without looking at them, know exactly where your space is, and be able to run and stop immediately, then turn on the spot. The only new bit is the ball, and that's what keeps it interesting'

The other thing to bear in mind is that EVERYTHING that your child does is judged, not just the final performance of the enchainement. DD has always been told by her teacher that even when marking / rehearsing the enchainement for the first time, she should do so as fully as possible, with the best possible technique, rather that the 'minimal movement' shorthand marking that she might do in a normal class. If you say to your DD that it is like a very long series of the 'free work' sections that she has done in every ISTD ballet exam, she'll probably have a good idea what to expect in terms of content. In Grade 4, IME, the teacher will still do some demonstration as well as names for each step, and is also likely to stay on stage for more of the time. Last year's grade 5 was a little disconcerting as the teacher basically spoke through the steps and then pretty much disappeared while the competitors did them, then reappeared for the next enchainement! Oh, and the grade is arranged are in strict height order - basically the first number and the last number in the grade will be the shortest, then the second and the penultimate, all the way up to the tallest in the middle (DD is always one of those, although she's very young for her grade). Imagine every competitor from the entire grade ranged across the stage - the idea is that they form a perfect wave up from the shortest, to the tallest, then back again. So tell your DD not to worry if she's completely separated from friends or others from her dance school.

"34" inside leg those are loooong legs! Fab." Yes! He has no control over them whatever, nor the sizer 10.5 feet at the end of them - he's like a 15 year old baby giraffe on ice because his limbs are longer pretty much every morning, poor lamb.

(DD measuring this was almost as funny as non-DS trying to measure his own inside leg measurement. The latter I do know - it's 34 inches. Which alongside his waist measurement of 24 inches, equals 'impossible to buy trousers for')

Isn't 'girth' one of those really odd measurements that only exists for leotards / dance costumes where you have to go from shoulder under crotch and back again or some such thing-that-you-need-4-arms-for?

Yes, DD due there for the 4th time in March, having done Grade 3, Grade 4 , Grade 5 and now the Grade 6 / Inter F. classes in sequence. Which grade has your dancer been entered into? The classes (can be 1,2,3 or 4 for each grade, depending on entries) are all set free enchainements from the syllabus for their grade on stage by an experienced ISTD teacher. There will be rows of competitors on stage, with maybe 5 of 6 in a row, 5 or 6 deep. After each enchainement has been taught (by giving the steps by name, along with brief demonstration by the teacher in the lower grades), the competitors get a chance to dance it through as a group to practice, then they dance it lne by line, with each line coming to the front in turn. A new line comes to the front for each new enchainement. The class finishes by the competitors coming onto the stage in small groups to dance the set dance for their grade. This link: http://www.hudsonpicturesphoto.com/istd-senior-awards-2014.html may be helpful as some of the 'panoramic' pictures give you an idea of how it is set up. The whole thing is watched by a panel of judges. Competitors from all classes for the same grade come back to the stage and the numbers of competitors who will go through to the final are called. The final may follow immediately or within the same day, and is of exactly the same format, though some of the enchainements are occasionalkly extended for the final. Whether your child will find it 'hard' depends. It is very high intensity. The competitors have to know the terminology to pick up the enchainement quickly with minimal rehearsal or explanation (though if someone is obviously concerned, the teacher may give some additional guidance), and then dance it 'fully' with commitment and good technique. However, there is no 'solo' work, so in that sense it is 'easier;' than other competitions such as festivals, and my understanding from DD is that there is a good deal of cameraderie backstage. The venue is nice - a big theatre, decent cafe etc. Your child disappears backstage well before the class into the care of the ISTD, so there is very little opportunity for ballet-momness. I find it terrifying, but DD finds it less scary than dancing at e.g. a festival because it is more like a standard ISTD ballet class and she doesn't have to remember 'her own routine', just do what she has been instructed to do.

If you want a school that follows the Cecchetti syllabus, then the Cecchetti website has a geographical list of schools that teach it: http://www.cecchetti.co.uk/wheretolearn/regions/north_west_england.php In general, IME it is relatively common for 'good' non-vocational dance schools to offer different genres + the opportunity of performing / competing. DD dances elsewhere in the country, but both the 'good' local dance schools (teach up to 18, graduates go on to dance college at or before that age, or sometimes to to vocational schools earlier) teach ballet, tap and modern theatre; have 'competitive troupes'; teach 1:1 and duet lessons in all genres for competitions + auditions etc; put on productions in a proper theatre every 2 years; provide dancers for local professional productions such as pantomime. We fell into our school totally by accident. However, knowing a little more now, i would be looking on the timetable for a significant number of advanced classes per week (Grade 6, Interfoundation, Intermediate, Advanced 1 and Advanced 2 in ballet, as above but without Interfoundation for Tap & modern) and, if you can find it out, a high proportion of 'above Pass' exam results. As a comparison, in the 20+ termly exam sessions I have read the results f for DD's dance school, I can remember 1 Pass grade, the rest have always been Merits and Distinctions. Obviously it isn't a guarantee of quality, because it may be that children are kept back until very old in a grade to ensure good results, but it is an indicator.

I have always watched in some awe at the ISTD ballet awards (ISTD has unset enchainements for every grade from the very beginning), where the person taking the award class on stage walks on, gives a string of instructions (with increasingly minimal demonstration - Grade 3 there is a fair amount, but there seemed to be almost none by Grade 5 last year), the competitors mark it through, 'practice' [though that too is marked] and then perform the enchainements row by row on stage.... DD is completely unfazed by it, having been used to it ever since she started ballet. It's always funny to hear her and her friends discussing what they thought of enchainements set in exams or at the awards, including quite vocal 'but those steps just don't GO together very well, it would be much better in THIS order' type of comments.

Agree with Anna C - DD has always done ISTD, and that free work / response / knowledge of the syllabus part accounts for 10 marks. However, there are other aspects that may be affected by poor free work because they are assessed across the whole exam - e.g. port de bras, musicality / artistry. There are, by contrast, things she might have got marks for - e.g. knowledge of the syllabus - even if the dancing iof the free work went a bit wonky!