invisiblecircus

No school is for everyone, maybe they received other offers that they preferred.
I personally have not heard of lots of people turning down places but I don't know anyone who has applied for this year (not sure if you were referring only to applications for this year.)
 

2 hours ago, Pas de Quatre said:

There is a table that PdL published when it first announced those selected to take part. It shows name, nationality, school and country. I will see if I can upload later. Another one shows number of entrants by country and number selected.

It only shows name, nationality, school and country of those selected to participate in the live rounds in Lausanne, it does not give those details for all those who applied. The document showing the total number of applicants only gives their nationalities and not where they trained.

Number of applicants:
nombre-de-candidats-pdl-2024-1.pdf (prixdelausanne.org)

Selected to the live rounds:
selected-candidates-2024-1.pdf (prixdelausanne.org)

1) 201 – João Pedro DOS SANTOS SILVA – Brazil
2) 415 – Martinho LIMA SANTOS – Portugal
3) 317 – Paloma LIVELLARA VIDART – Argentina
4) 106 – Crystal HUANG – United States
5) 315 – Airi KOBAYASHI – Japan
6) 411 – Jenson BLIGHT – Australia
7) 417 – Juliann FEDELE-MALARD – France
8] 302 – Natalie STEELE – United States
9) 207 – Taichi TOSHIDA – Japan

21 minutes ago, Jake said:

What lovely, inspirational words from Alessandra Ferri during her presentation. And also later from Darcey Bussell. 
A question for those who follow other ballet competitions (I’ve watched only the last few years’ PdLs) - do the male dancers generally appear to have an advantage?

No, I don't think the male dancers have an advantage. Not at this level of competition. 

I watched the final and the results but didn't note the winners because I thought it would have been published immediately but it doesn't seem to have been. 

Great to see 9 prizes being awarded, I think that's more than previous years.

15 year old Joao Pedro Dos Santos Silva won the first prize. I loved his fun performance of the variation from Harlequinade and he consistently had incredible control on his pirouettes. It'll be interesting to see which school he chooses. 

There seemed to be a bit of confusion at the end. Someone was heard saying something about two prizes and Deborah Bull's mic was still on when she was asking if she should announce it. I wonder what was going on! 

8 minutes ago, Fonty said:

 

Good heavens, I never knew that.  What exactly is a partner company?  It seems a little odd to me that one of the most prestigious schools in the world is bound by a partnership rule to have a winner in the school/company, when their existing pupils do not participate.  Does it have to be the overall winner, or just someone who has won something?  

There are a number of schools and companies who have chosen to be partners to the Prix de Lausanne. This is by mutual agreement of the school and competition, but it's the school/ company's decision to be a partner or not. 

Each prize winner gets to spend a year at the school (for the younger candidates) or company (for the older ones) of their choice from the list of partner schools/ companies. In the even that 2 prize winners choose the same school, the higher placed gets priority, but the school can decide to take both if they like (but are not obligated to.)

Whether or not the school has students participating is not connected to this. 

2 minutes ago, Fonty said:

 

I may be wrong, but my perception is that the Royal Ballet is quick enough to offer places in the Upper School for winners of these competitions.  

The Royal Ballet is a partner company and the RBS is a partner school of the Prix de Lausanne and as such, they must offer places to one student at the school and one dancer in the company for a year if any of the winners choose them as options. While they are bound by the rules of the partnership to offer only these places, they sometimes take an additional prize winner into the school if more than one has chosen the RBS and they like that candidate. Furthermore, they sometimes spot other dancers that they like and take them as well. 

Here is the list of finalists:

 

On 29/01/2024 at 23:07, SPD444 said:

Have any of the U.K.schools entered their students in this?  We seem to shy away from entering anything competitive, even ordinary schools do not have sports days anymore.

 

This year, 4 girls and 1 boy entered from the UK but were not selected to compete in the live rounds in Lausanne. I don't know anything about who these candidates are, whether they're studying at UK schools or abroad, or are private candidates. 

The RBS have previously stated that they don't enter their students for competitions because of timetabling constraints. 

I don't think schools are shying away from competing, but the structure of the British education system and the pacing of training at dance schools in the UK make it difficult to participate in competitions such as this one. 

To enter in the younger category, students must be 15 or 16 years old, so year 10 or 11 at school. Most would not want to enter in year 10 and leave school without doing GCSEs, and year 11 students are auditioning for upper schools as well as juggling GCSE's, so difficult for vocational schools to prepare for this as well. Furthermore, I imagine that vocational schools would want to "showcase" their most talented students at a competition like this if they did enter, and might not be keen to prepare them, only for them to then go off to another school!

Upper school courses in the UK are generally 3 years long starting at age 16 with the aim of having the student ready for employment at 19/ 20. In the older age category, students must be 17 or 18 to compete, meaning that they would be in their first or second years of upper school (and at the time of application would have only just started their first or second year) so may not be ready for a professional contract (which is what they're competing for) at that time. In many other countries, students complete their training at an earlier age.

On 13/01/2024 at 01:16, Sophoife said:

Thank you @Emeralds. I'm happy to defer to a Proper Expert in the matter of mixed-sex groups being alumni, but I'll stubbornly continue to use the female form for one or more females 🤭

 

Alumnae is correct for an all female group, but in the context of your post alumni is correct since DB is one of a mixed group of graduates and we assume that both male and female candidates will be considered for the role. 

While I'm fond of Darcey Bussell, I don't think she'd be the best candidate for this role.

Unrelated to the above comment, I would like to see more of a link between the upper and lower schools. This is something that has been spoken about often in the past and I believe was one of the goals of the outgoing director, but I'd like to a big change towards training the students at WL to be the kind of dancers the upper school wants. 

I always wore Capezio tights and loved them, they lasted years! 

My girls are currently using tights from Decathlon and haven't had any problems with them, they're lasting really well. I'm only replacing them once they're outgrown.

The list of  selected candidates has been announced:

selected-candidates-2024.pdf (prixdelausanne.org)

None of the 5 British entries were selected but there is a Portuguese boy who trains at English National Ballet School. 

Info on the number of candidates can be found here:

nombre-de-candidats-pdl-2024.pdf (prixdelausanne.org)

For these brands do you usually need a size up from normal street shoe size or are they true to size?

 

On 02/08/2023 at 10:09, Relevé School of Ballet said:

Absolutely fine, although there will naturally be less places available but if they have talent and potential to get work after graduating then don’t see why somewhere wouldn’t take them 

It's worth noting that some schools will take a 17 year old into the first year of their course while others will only consider them for second year or whichever year corresponds to their age. In the latter scenario it is much more difficult to gain a place due to the much smaller number of places available and the fact that the candidate would have to have somehow attained the standard of others from that school who had already received a full year of training. 

Yes, please message me!

Attending a short course is definitely the best option to start with. I think they're only for a week now (although you can attend more than one week) and while it is also possible to arrange a private audition, the short courses give you a taste of what it is like to live there. Some people find the environment very difficult because it is so intense, others love it. At my time, we had to attend for a whole month to be considered for entry which not only gave the school the possibility to observe candidates over a  longer period in class but also for them and us to see how we adapted to the environment. 

Consider also how you will handle academic work. 

I went to this school, what would you like to know?
Has your son/ daughter already been offered a place?

I assume you are talking about a local, private dance studio.

It really depends what your agreement is with them and how often you usually pay. Some schools require a notice period, others don't. 

Here it is standard to sign up for and pay for either a whole year in advance or a half year. One year, we paid for the whole year up front because it cost less than two half years and after three classes our DD got sick with pneumonia for which she was off for 4 weeks, then she had some complications which caused pain in her legs so she went back for one more lesson then couldn't continue, so we basically paid a years worth of fees for 4 lessons. 

I hope your school would be supportive in your case and carry the fees over. I understand the perspective of their costs being the same but in many cases, classes are not full to capacity so one student less would not usually make the class financially unviable to run. 

On 30/03/2023 at 18:27, Neverdancedjustamum said:

The summer intensive will be in Italian so I reckon the full time programme will most likely be. DD doesn’t speak a word of Italian but the school assured me she would be fine - not sure if she feels the same way! 

The full time programme is certainly in Italian and does not include a boarding option. 
 

I've also got no personal experience of the school but I'd advise you to think about what other options you have before deciding what's best for your child. Would you aim to continue classes after school if you don't take up the WL place? 

Quite a few posters have written about their experiences at WL on other threads if you do a search, but remember that two children/ families can have completely different experiences of a school, even if they were there at the same time, so you can't always go by what you read. I went to a different vocational school and had an incredible experience, but others who were there at the same time as me, even in the same class and dorm are still traumatised! I think much depends on the personality of the child as well. 

I have to say that in everything I've heard about WL or read about on here, I've never heard complaints about cleanliness, but if that is a concern (and it sounds as if it was on the day you went) you can ask specifically about it. It could just have been an unlucky moment. The boarding houses are what they are and you and your child have to decide whether they'd be happy living there. 

What is your ambition in dance and where are you at the moment?

Do you want to be a ballet dancer or would you prefer contemporary or commercial dance? 

How old are you and how long have you been training? How many hours per week do you train? What does "good enough in one and a half years" mean? Is that when you'd like to enter the profession or when you would hope to enter a full time training course?

None of us know what G-d wants, all we can do is put ourselves in the best situation we can to achieve our goals and work hard. 

I think they're absolutely worth it, even if you don't continue with ballet beyond that point they're an incredible experience and absolutely life changing. 

As to which ones are the best, it depends what your ambitions are and what you want from the experience. If you want to be seen, then think about who you want to be seen by. If your ambition is ABT, don't go for the Paris Opera summer school for example! If you're just going for the experience, look at what else the school is offering. Some offer extra activities, others don't. Some offer accomodation, for others you have to find your own. Summer schools both in the UK and abroad are a great way to get a feel for a school if you're thinking about full time training there. 

Years ago I did the summer school at Princess Grace Academy for a month and ended up being offered a place on the full time course so it was obviously very much worth it for me!

No personal experience of it but it's aimed at a high level. 
Are you coming from the UK? The courses rum from 3-7th July or 10-14th July so before UK schools break up for summer. 
 

On 07/02/2023 at 14:45, drdance said:

The IDTA is a bit different but in my opinion, not as rigorous, because you can be 'qualified' to enter pupils for IDTA exams in any style with a basic teaching qualification in one style (please correct me if I'm wrong). The IDTA allowed me to be a teaching member due to my qualifications with RAD and ISTD though.

I looked into IDTA qualifications quite a long while ago now so might have changed since then, but for ballet, tap and modern you needed separate teaching qualifications to teach each style but for others like theatre craft you didn't need a separate qualification (but must be qualified to teach a different style.) You could apply to be a teaching member (and thus enter students for their exams) if you're a qualified teacher of another board though as you did.

I'd be interested to know if the qualification rules have changed because it seems strange if I could qualify to teach ballet (in which I am vocationally trained) then enter students for tap at which I'm maybe grade 2 level at best!

Mollie 668, have you looked at the websites of the organisations you're most interested in? If you figure out what you'd have to do to qualify with each board, that might lead you to the most suitable option for your circumstances. They're not all the same but also not vastly different. I don't think one is more sought by parents either. As others have said, some organisations offer just ballet while others offer a variety of styles so that might influence your decision, although many schools do RAD or BBO ballet and offer other styles through different organisations. 

Here are the finalists:

101 Alecsia Maria LAZARESCU Romania 
102An SAITO Japan

103 Soohoo PARK South Korea

114 Emily SPROUT Australia

201 Keisuke MIYAZAKI Japan

204 William GYVES United States

206 Wendel VIEIRA TELES Brazil

207 Millán DE BENITO Spain

210 Fabrizzio ULLOA CORNEJO Mexico

212 Alexander MOCKRISH Sweden

309 Seehyun KIM South Korea

310Julie JOYNER United States

314 Ana Luisa NEGRÃO Brazil

317 Haruka TANABE Japan

318 Soo Min KIM South Korea

320 Sangwon PARK South Korea

406 Davide DE PONTE Italy

413 Giuseppe VENTURA Italy

414 Frederick STUCKWISCH United States

416 Kanata IJIMA Japan

421 Amaury ZANETE PÉREZ Mexico

423 Chun Hung YAN P.R. China (Hong Kong)

Nice to see some different variations this year. Millán DE BENITO and Fabrizzio ULLOA CORNEJO were fabulous in the "Flames of Paris" solo, as was Australian Henry BURGESS who didn't make the final. Mexican Fabrizzio Ulloa Cornejo a real favourite with the audience!

A few dancers unfortunalety slipped in their classical variations. I need to go back and watch the videos but I remember  either last year or the year before several dancers slipped in the same spot and I always wonder if it's caused by polish coming off the shoes of the jury or the announcer.

Two of my DD's have decided to focus more on music while continuing with dance. Does anyone know if there is a forum similar to this one but for music?
Sorry for posting here instead of the "Not Dance" forum but I seem to recall a couple of posters mentioning that they also have children at music schools and I don't know if everyone looks at the other forum. 

5 minutes ago, sunrise81 said:

Just our of curiosity....how much does it cost to enter PdL? 

175 Swiss francs (a little over £150) to participate in the video selection round.
200 Swiss francs (around £180) if you're selected to compete in the Lausanne.

Obviously the biggest cost is travel and accomodation, the former varying widely depending on where you're travelling from. Then there is the cost of coaching for the competition.