amum/Cathy

11 minutes ago, Fiz said:

I don’t think it is. I know the writer a little and I don’t think she would do that. She’s Scottish herself and has probably set the story in the country so she can describe it accurately. She’s an ex dancer herself. 

Thanks Fiz. That’s reassuring. 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CGDL86ST?th=1&psc=1&geniuslink=true
 

I came across this via a tweet from the author. Not out yet but on the surface it’s sensationalising the awful Ballet West Scotland saga…

I realise I’ve not been on here for ages, so apologies if this has been highlighted before.

7 hours ago, Margate said:

@amum/Cathy

 

Hello, thanks for sharing! I would say my ballet is somewhere between intermediate and advanced. Since I began dancing considerably late I take a range of levelled classes although now I am better at picking up ballet terminology my ballet has began to improve fast enough that I can keep up with an advanced classes in introspect to just a few years ago. I also take pointe classes. 
 

There is lots to consider, my decision for LCDS has to be submitted by Thursday so I’m really now trying to weigh everything out. May I ask what made your son specifically chose Laban and where he trained before? 
 

Thank you again for taking the time to comment ☺️
 

 

Hi Margate, Good luck with your decision. My son was unusual in that he went to university to do a humanities degree (having completed his ballet etc exams  while at a normal school) but danced intensively in his spare time, then did the postgraduate diploma at Laban, and then successfully auditioned for the Masters. One or two people from the dance societies at his university (Warwick) had successfully gone down this route.

Congratulations Margate! You don’t mention what level your ballet is already at. I’ll echo Pas de Quatre and meadowblythe; my son did the Masters in dance performance at Laban and had to traipse from Greenwich into the centre of London for any extra classes at his level (he had Advanced 1&2 ballet). Professional level classes were daytime and clashed with Laban classes so he was limited to the weekends. In the end he found a convenient Intermediate class with a sympathetic teacher who would give him extra teaching during the class so he was working at a higher level.

On 16/09/2020 at 23:34, alison said:

Sounds only too familiar.  (What's an immunologist? )

Alison it's a consultant physician specialising in immunological diseases and disorders. They are generally looking to rule out autoimmune disease (eg thyroid or lupus) when patients are referred with a potential diagnosis of CFS/ME, but also infections (such as Lyme disease if there's a possibility of tick exposure). The GPs should be doing an autoimmune screen blood test anyway but the immunologist may consider rarer ones. 

7 hours ago, Jane said:

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/09/evidence-builds-covid-19-can-damage-heart-doctors-are-racing-understand-it  
 

It was this article I read. The Bart’s team do a lot of research into cardiac muscle damage at the best of times so hopefully will get funding/support to carry on their work into covid damage 

Thanks for the article Jane.

6 hours ago, alison said:

 

Lucky them, if they recovered.  Many don't, hence my concern  

Alison the ones who recovered relatively quickly were the ones who were picked up straight away, as soon their post viral fatigue period was ended and they still had symptoms they were referred to the Immunologist and started working with a key worker. Those who were shunted around from doctor to doctor without anyone properly taking responsibility for getting them investigated and diagnosed did less well. The longer they had the symptoms before getting the help they needed the longer it took to see improvement, basically. 

1 hour ago, Jane said:

I think it’s worth remembering that dancers and athletes must learn to listen to their bodies following any illness and not bow to any pressure from teachers to return to training if they don’t feel 100%
 

One of the reports I’ve read regarding myocarditis (from Bart’s research) comments that although they had tested x number of covid +ve patients for myocarditis they have never done a similar study with influenza patients so don’t know how it compares. Any infection can cause myocarditis and the symptoms can vary from tiredness to stage 4 heart failure. 
 

Whilst my Dd was at vocational school I used to pay for her to have the flu jab. Although it was no guarantee she wouldn’t get flu I would hope she’d be lucky and therefore avoid any complications. 

Completely agree about the flu jab. I've always paid for my dcs too. That's interesting about not knowing how prevalent myocarditis is for influenza. In fact we have no idea for chronic fatigue syndrome patients either I suspect. Cardiac investigations weren't on the protocol for diagnosing CFS when I worked with CFS patients.  Probably only those with POTS ( Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome) got those investigations, and then it was some years down the line.

2 hours ago, alison said:

"If a person rests while they are ill and during recovery, most of the time the inflammation recedes and the heart muscle heals on its own. But strenuous activity while the heart is weakened can cause swelling in the legs, dizziness, shortness of breath, and—in serious cases—irregular heartbeat, cardiac arrest, and sudden death."

 

I cannot stress enough the importance of taking things easy and listening to your body while recovering from COVID-19.  We seem to have lost sight of the concept of convalescence after serious illness - a friend had pneumonia about a decade ago, and was off work convalescing for months afterwards - and expect to be as right as rain after a few weeks, and that's not always the case.  Not only is there a possible risk of myocarditis (although I have no idea how common it is), but there is also quite a serious risk (it may be as high as 1 in 5, if I'm recalling the stats correctly) of developing a post-viral syndrome which at the very least appears to have a lot in common with, and may actually be, myalgic encephalomyelitis (M.E.)/chronic fatigue syndrome (which, believe me, you do not want to develop), and which frequently seems to be triggered or worsened by people trying to return to exercise too fast (Google on Paul Garner, British Medical Journal and Covid "long haul"/"long tail", for example).  Even with a "mild" dose of Covid (and some of those "mild" cases seem to turn out to be some of the worst, longer-term), it would be sensible to return to exercise gently and cautiously (and "exercise" might just be a walk round the block at first, not going out for a short jog - and "pushing through" the fatigue could be disastrous) and rowing back on it if you get any adverse after-effects, even a day or two later.

 

NOT intended as medical advice as such - and I'm sure not what Cathy wants to hear - but this is a summary of what I've picked up from cases of patients who have been thus affected.  Of course, they do say that young people generally seem to recover better/get less ill with Covid, but there are exceptions.

Alison I agree completely with everything you have said here. Thanks for posting. I worked in General Practice with CFS sufferers for about 10 years - often seeing them through from first presentation until recovery. That warning to "rest when you are ill and allow recovery time" is one I gave often to patients attending with acute viral illnesses. Often those who go on to suffer CFS are those working flat out physically and mentally, who are too impatient or driven to slow down and follow that advice. I'm scared for our dc dancers. I wish I knew the colleges/schools were watching out for it and insisting students were aware of the issue. 

This is an easier article to read about the study of athletes on a US student sport scheme who had MRIs of their heart done. https://edition.cnn.com/2020/09/14/health/covid-heart-inflammation-athletes-study/index.html

Is anyone else worrying about their dancing dcs not allowing for recovery time if they get COVI-19? I haven’t really looked into the incidence of myocarditis yet but I came across this article this morning. https://www.wired.com/story/if-youve-just-had-covid-exercise-might-not-be-good-for-you/ talking about myocarditis in athletes. Are any of the vocational schools/colleges monitoring or warning their students? After a summer of zoom classes with ds home where I could keep an eye on him, he’s now back to Trinity Laban where I have to trust he’ll be sensible. 

Trinity Laban are screening this year's Transitions Dance Company (their postgrad student MA/MFA company) production online from tomorrow for a week if anyone is interested; https://www.trinitylaban.ac.uk/news/transitions-dc-presents-their-first-ever-dance-film

DOI my ds will be in this company next year!

Thanks bridiem and bangorboy. He’s got limited space at the moment as we’ve put him in the guest room which has its own bathroom and outside door, just to make sure he hasn’t brought the CV from London. We’ll let him into the main house on Tuesday when he will be able to swing his legs a little more freely. Maybe no grand jetes though 🤣

Ds home from Trinity Laban, which stopped classes on Monday (he’s on the Graduate Dance Diploma). Luckily they’d finished the auditions and recalls for the MA inDance Performance/Transitions Dance Company and he’s on it for September regardless of what happens this summer. But who knows what will be happening come the autumn. I feel sorry for this year’s Transitions’ dancers as they trained last autumn and started their company tour only recently - which they must now be missing. He’s trying to find online classes to keep himself going. Apparently there was an ENB one this morning? 

We've crossed paths so often on here and notapushymum and mumsnet and yet never met! Wishing your dd good luck in her career Pictures. It's been so helpful reading your posts over the years. Thank you. 

I’ve just come on here and found some of my posts about ds have been tagged. He did a humanities degree but lots of student dance at Warwick University. He’s now on the Graduate diploma course at Trinity Laban (self funded but with a partial award) and is going to try auditioning for the Masters course, which involves touring with the student company, which should be eligible for a postgraduate student loan, we believe. One of his tutors at the college followed the same route. Hope that’s helpful as an update for his pathway via a “non dance” academic degree. A fellow student and friend from Warwick now teaches occasional classes at Pineapple studios, amongst other things, although she had considerably more training pre university than ds. 

Thank you so much Pups_mum 🙏❤️ I hope your dd is getting on okay. Was just thinking recently about them doing EYB together!

5 hours ago, balletbean said:

Hi. Have you looked at Pineapple Studios. I know of one ‘guest’ teacher that uses the studios to hold classes in various genres. 

Has performed professionally but now moved into teaching. 

Happy to talk via pm if required   

Thanks balletbean. He's done a few classes there this term I think (and intermittently over the past year) but hasn't done any tap there. I think he said the tap classes he'd noticed were mostly weekday evenings, but I could be misremembering. I'll get him to check their timetable and get back to you if he has a query about the guest teacher. Thanks for the suggestion. 

Can anyone suggest a good tap class in Central/South London please? Ds wants to keep up his tap while studying Contemporary Dance (1 year Graduate Diploma) at Trinity Laban. He’s roughly Adv1/Adv2 standard and has Friday afternoons or anytime Saturdays/Sundays. A syllabus class would be ideal as he wants to teach eventually but any recommendations welcome. Thanks for the help. 

Congratulations to you and dd for making it through to this point Pups_mum. What a lot of hard work and commitment it has been for both of you. And thank you for all the help and friendship you gave me and ds during that time. Wishing you both all the best for the future. 

Please may I join you all in saying how sorry I am to hear this. I’m very grateful for all the years he put into the moderating of this forum, and his kindness as he did so. 

7 hours ago, Jan McNulty said:

 

You were!!  I know it was BRB but I can't remember which production.  It was lovely meeting up with you all and it's been a joy hearing about your children's progress since then!

Oh thank you Janet! Xx

Thanks Janet, I'll pass it on. He'll remember meeting you at the Lowry! I can't remember what we were seeing though 🙄. Think we were with pups mum and her dd.

Just popping back on here to say I have one very happy ds! He has been offered a place on the TL graduate diploma course, subject to a 2.1 in his degree. Thank you to everyone who posted advice or good wishes. Xx

23 hours ago, Tulip said:

You could actually do a years full time training and then start auditioning for professional jobs, you never know unless you try?

Congratulations NHenry. Hope you find the finance. My son is hoping to do what Tulip suggests - if he can get onto the Trinity Laban graduate diploma course (see thread here. He will be 21 but I think this course takes people with a mixture of backgrounds and ages. Good luck with your dance training and finding the funds.

16 hours ago, Trinity Laban said:

Hi Cathy,

 

Nice to hear your son is thinking of TL. I just wanted to flag we have a taster day for the graduate diploma coming up next Friday (and another one on the 11th June if that's a bit soon!) There will be a couple of classes and a chance to meet the programme leaders and have a chat about the course. You can sign up here: https://www.trinitylaban.ac.uk/study/open-days/dance-open-days

 

From what you've said it does sound like quite a good fit- lots of the students on the course use it as a chance to hone their dance skills before applying for Masters degrees or auditioning for companies.

 

You can always email contact@trinitylaban.ac.uk if you want any more info.

 

Thanks

 

Hannah

Trinity Laban

 

 

Hi Hannah

Thank you very much for posting about this. I'll certainly pass it on. Best wishes, Cathy