invisiblecircus

The classwork being assessed during this week is the original video each candidate sent for selection to the competition. The videos are also being streamed live. The variations have also been pre-recorded and as in previous years, both the classwork and variations will be taken into account when selecing the 20 finalists. The videos of the variations will then be watched again for the final. Full details here: Competition procedures (prixdelausanne.org) It will be very different without the live performance element as obviously all the candidates will be able to do as many takes of the video as they need to show their best performance and with everyone at such a high standard maybe it will be difficult to spot that extra special something that only a live performance can bring. We can look forward to some high quality work though!

It doesn't matter that you're only starting pointe work now. I started at around your age and still made it to a top ballet school but it is crucial that you get enough good quality training now. How many hours of ballet class are you taking per week?

Very interesting to watch the video submissions from the Candidates. What a shame they won't have the experience of live coaching and workshops that they would have had if they had been able to participate live, but I'm glad they didn't cancel the event completely.

What does your daughter want to do after graduating?

Are you saying there is less focus on MT at LSC? I know LSC offer a variety of specialisms but I think MT is their strongest suit. LSC have been very successful over the years in placing graduates in musicals and I know several graduates personally who have trained there and had successful careers in MT. I'd accept LSC over Stella Mann without a doubt because of the flexibility of the course and the larger size is an advantage IMO. When you're working in the industry you're going to need contacts!

Some years the reason has been given and it has been because the candidate received an offer from another company. Other times, the reason has not been given but I assume it's for the same reason. Maybe the PDL don't want to promote the reasons, saving the spotlight for the prize recipients, but I don't know.

I'll miss you, Pictures, I always enjoy your posts. I hope you'll still pop back from time to time. All the best to your DD on the remainder of her final year and on whatever she does afterwards. It would be lovely to have some updates.

The therapeutic team are unlikely to have the kind of in-depth knowledge of the dance world to answer the questions asked in the OP.

I imagine this is something that varies widely from school to school. I don't think RBS are looking to take 4/5 new students in Y10 for example. Do Elmhurst assess out at all? What's the current situation with assessing out at WL? There was talk a while ago about not assessing out in Y7 anymore. has that been implemented now?

Companies, probably not. They'll look at her resumé and watch her dance. They'll probably also have a reference from the school where she trained so as long as she didn't have problems during that time I don't think it will be a problem for companies. Presumably, she has already completed the application forms for the upper schools she's applying to and the medical information sheets that go with them. There is usually a question about eating disorders on the forms. Did you mention her problem on there or did it develop later? If you didn't mention it on the form, whether the school will have a record of it will depend on whether you signed something to let them have access to her medical records (not sure how that works in the UK these days.) Sorry to read that your DD has been struggling with this, I wish her all the best in her recovery.

It really depends how "bad" her feet and what her other strenghts are. There is a point where feet just aren't suitable for professional ballet training, but there are also students with feet that aren't the best but can be improved with training and if the students Excel in other areas, that can put them ahead of other candidates with better feet.

Has she got an idea of which school she would like to go to if she continues with dance?

2016 winner Yu Hang is now an artist with the Royal Ballet. I've watched the final but haven't seen all of the selections yet. Like you, I was more impressed with the contemporary variations this year. Marco Masciari was superb as expected but I wish he hadn't chosen that classical variation simply because I don't like it . He danced it wonderfully though and was even better in the final in comparison to the selections. There were at least a couple of mistakes with the music this year which I haven't seen before and seemed to confuse the commentators!

I don't know if it changed it's description but when Shale Wagman won it in 2018, Deborah Bull announced it as being for "a junior category finalist who didn't win an award." There was some mumbling from officials in the background, then one of them said "...That's not exactly how we've done it, we've awarded it for exceptional artistry." I do remember wondering if they made a mistake and didn't realise it until the announcements, Shale obviously being a prize winner and not from the junior category, but it was well deserved in any case. Ava Arbuckle also won a prize so maybe the criteria was changed, but I think it made more sense to go to a non prize winner, otherwise it's just going to the highest ranked junior.

The Prize Winners are: 1. Marco Masciari (Italy) 2. Ava Arbuckle (USA) 3. João Vitor Santana (Brazil)... 4. Lin Zhang (China) 5. Chaeyeon Kang (South Korea) 6. Matei Holeleu (Romania) 7. Vitor Augusto Vaz (Brazil) 8. Yuyan Wang (China) Best Young Talent: Ava Arbuckle – (USA) Contemporary Dance Prize: Marco Masciari (Italy) Best Swiss Candidate: Matei Holeleu (Romania) Audience Favourite: Catarina Pires – (Portugal) Audience Favourite (web): Yuyan Wang – (China)

It wasn't very well promoted but there was a nice segment from Teatro alla Scala presented by Frédéric Olivieri including interviews in English with Nicoletta Manni, Marco Agostino, Martina Arduino, Nicola Del Freo and Claudio Coviello. We also get to watch Roberto Bolle and Marianela Nunez in rehearsal. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9-hGDgXMu0

Oscar Frame graduated 2 years ago. Loved watching his final exam class but this one was absolutely nervewracking! Seeing the boys practise and make mistakes in the days leading up to the exam really had me on the edge of my seat wondering if they were going to pull it off on the day or not. Really felt for Kirill, I think we all knows what it feels like to push through an illness like that but can't imagine what it must have been like to push through something with that level of physical intensity when there was so much at stake. I was very impressed with his attitude and he did not give me the impression he was generally lazy but of course we only see a snapshot here. I admire his independant spirit. These films gave a fascinating insight into the preparations, exams and auditioning process. I'm sure I'll be watching them again many times! Agree with you about Tsiskaridze, I thought his dramatic response on discovering Kirill's illness was hilarious and loved the reaction of the nurses too!

I've only ever heard RAD referred to by the initials and RADA and LAMDA as words. "Central" depends on the context. Usually Central School of Ballet because I'm in the dance field but obviously it's clear that when an actor is talking about where they trained that they mean Central School of Speech and Drama. I've never heard anyone refer to central London in general as "central" and I've lived in London. I've only every heard it referred to as "town."

Your 10 year old son dances on pointe?

Have the school issued a list of graduate destinations?

Definitely. I have also seen some shocking practices from trained teachers too though. Regarding the OP, there are some dance teachers who are funny about this. First and foremost, it is important that whatever you put your DC forward for is appropriate for him or her and that safe practices are adhered to. Your local dance teacher can be helpful in descerning whether an opportunity is suitable and could benefit your child. If the activity is going to be regular, it is courteous to speak to your current teacher if you're already involved in rehearsals for a show to ensure schedules won't clash. I do think that some teachers go over the top with this though. For many years, I have been involved with Youth dance groups and projects, predominantly contemporary based. I have had parents call me saying their child would like to audition but they first need permission from their local teacher. Fine. As far as I'm aware, no local teachers said no, so we go on with auditions and rehearsals. Then, when it came to the performance, the student tells me that the local teacher is insisting to be credited in the programme against the dancer's name. This is unreasonable in my opinion. Pictures mentioned vocational school, which is of course a different story. The schools are supposedly providing all the training a dancer needs, so it is reasonable to ensure any activity outside of that does not deter from the training they are providing. I'm afraid I have seen situations where external activities have been granted to "star" pupils and not to weaker ones who would also have benefitted because the school wanted to promote themselves by sending a top student.

I find it interesting that things have developed in this way. As mentioned above, Upper School courses used to be 2 years, then a third year was introduced as a way of giving students more performance experience. More recently, we have seen the introduction of several "pre-professional" courses, as students are graduating from the 3 years courses and still not being deemed ready to join companies. In other countries (where students often graduate upper schools at a younger age than in the UK), we have seen a shift towards "junior companies" which new graduates join before being given contracts (or not) in the main company.

In recent years, if the Royal have been interested in a dancer they have waited until they have completed the 3rd year at Upper School and not recruited from the second year. There have been a couple of occasions where a student has decided to leave after the second year to take up a contract at a different company. The third year of US was originally introduced to provide the students with valuable performance opportunites so they should be technically ready to perform after 2 years, and as you have seen, many of the young prize winners from the PDL look pretty much company ready at 15/16!

My understanding is that he was offered a full contract with ENB following the PDL, not a one year contract.

Students who don't get into the third year are not considered to have graduated from the RBS upper school. They may seek a place at a different upper school for the third year or persue another avenue. They would certainly be eligible to look for work in a company after 2 years at upper school but the RBS course is paced over 3 years so you wouldn't usually be considered company ready after just 2 years and for sure if someone is not being offered a third year they are unlikely to be successful at getting into a company given how much competition there is for contracts. That said, there have been a couple of students in recent years who have got company contracts after just 2 years, but I'm assuming they would have been offered a third year of training. Surely most students who are offered a third year, stay on. The only exceptions would be if they were offered a contract somewhere (rare), they wish to continue their training at a different school (again, quite unusual for students who are offered a third year) or they don't wish to continue in dance.