balletla

Are there any restrictions on children from vocational schools auditioning, or is open to anyone?

Tulip, I have seen a few girls lose weight for the 16+ audition rounds, only to put it all back on again and more in their first year of 6th form. This is usually made worse by the fact that they are away from home for the first time and fending for themselves on the food front, as well as going out 'socialising'.

Lots of teenage girls to through 'disordered eating' phases, especially those that put pressure on themselves to succeed. It's less about losing weight and more about being in control. And how many women are permanently 'on a diet'? It also doesn't help that due to our fast food/processed food culture, more than half of the country is now classed as 'overweight' which has the effect of making overweight look normal. My DD is slim and a very healthy weight, but compared to the majority of her friends, she looks tiny - unfortunately most of them are overweight but look 'normal'.

Nina, Please don't take this the wrong way, but the content of your two posts above have already been remarked on by previous posters in Posts 195 and 210. Maybe worth reading previous posts before posting?

Also if you look at the 'Dancer of the Month' interview with Akane Takada from RB, I think it tells you all you need to know. She says that they wear pointe shoes at a very early age in Japan even when they are not dancing but it doesn't seem to have hurt her feet. She won her first competition at age 9 dancing on pointe. She also says that Japanese people like to enter competitions and and are trained to do all the flashy technical things, rather than interpretation. At 15 she got a scholarship to study at the Bolshoi Academy and then she won an apprentice prize at Prix de Lausanne for RB and was later given a contract. Very good insight into the approach to training in Japan and why they seem so technically advanced compared to our homegrown girls. It is also something that stands out at RBS summer schools - how technically advanced the girls are from not only Japan but all the far Eastern countries.

@aileen and anjuli - just to let you know that my post was removed completely so don't feel too bad about your slight reprimand!

I wouldn't know but I would guess that most students auditioning for ballet for 16+ training would audition for Upper School as well as all the others. I am only familiar with what has happened over the last few years due to friends children being involved (not my own) and I think it is only the odd one from SAs or another vocational school that gets offered a place but most come from white lodge and the rest from overseas.

There aren't generally any British students that come in from outside - only the odd one each year, not enough to provide a comparison.

I also meant to say that some of the reason for the lack of confidence of the British students is that the overseas students are often more technically advanced than them. This goes back to earlier discussions about the system of training in the UK. It is considered safe compared to some of the other countries around the world but then when comparing students of the same age, often the overseas students look far more advanced because they have had a tougher training regime from a young age (probably with more casualties along the way than in this country). Also, it seems that RBS are not as willing to work with their students as other schools and are very quick to assess out. Every year there is usually at least one student assessed out from year 7 which seems incredible given the tremendous life upheaval for that child & family and then someone is deciding you're not going to make it after only 5 months training given that assessments are in February following Septemeber entry. Doesn't say much about the audition process.

Isn't some of it about our British culture? We are a very self-deprecating lot and generally not enamoured with what we perceive to be showing off. Aren't we told from being young that "it's not the winning, it's the taking part that counts"? Also I love the comment from the poster on the Observer article who says "frankly I'm tired of six o'clock leg extensions. Giselle's Act II solo is becoming interminable, as the bars of music are swallowed up by her "arabesque time" etc." This seems to be a common refrain amongst many of the ballet going community. Where are their opportunities to feed this back? If this were a commercial company, they would put a lot of work into finding out what their customers want. Sounds like the ADs are to blame for being taken with the 'showiness' and acrobatics.

Fabulous programme. i've been hooked all day. Liam Scarlett and Wayne McGregor pieces are amazing! Is this the future of ballet? Well done RB.

I know a couple of years ago there was a bit of an upset at JAs because of couple of them that fully expected to get into White Lodge didn't get in and were offered places at Elmhurst. They wanted to do MAs from Elmhurst as it was just down the road, so that they could keep being seen by RBS with a view to auditioning the next year, but were told by the JA teacher that they weren't allowed to do that. I don't know if Elmhurst would have let them, but I would think it unlikely. I was told that Mr Kelly wouldn't let the students do YBDY but I would love to know if that is true or not.

Well not sure if this is a one-off or a sign of changing times but I heard on the grapevine (can't vouch for the info and it may be wrong ) that most of year 11 at RBS have been offered a place at upper school this year so not much room left for overseas students. Although some of those will already be from elsewhere presumably.

Great news kiwimum! That's amazing! There must be something in the water at your house. I did post on the other thread to ask how your DD got on with her achilles and ENBS audition. Hope that was OK too.

Hi Kiwimum, Just wondering how dd got on at ENBS? Hopefully she managed to do something? Best wishes, R x

Spanner - have I missed something? Are you now a moderator? I notice it says 'staff' and you have 2 stars under your name!?

Sadly children do get overlooked at auditions for all sorts of reasons. If the panel is spending time assessing and marking children who have no intention of taking up an offered place, it is unfair on the other children and yes, one of them could miss out.

I have never come across anyone who chose Elmhurst over White Lodge. Even if they wanted to, the peer pressure to accept White Lodge is too great. I think auditioning at both places is more about the kudos of saying that you had a choice. I also don't buy the argument of "being seen" incase things don't work out at WL. It makes no difference, you just go to the final audition with everyone else and they pick on the day. Loads of people get offered places who haven't "been seen" before. They will know you are coming from WL as an assessed out person anyway and all the connotations that go with that, good or bad. Being seen at a year 7 audition a year or two or three before will make no difference.

Why would anyone go to the Elmhurst final and waste everyone's time if they had already decided to take an offer from White Lodge? This is one of the reasons why White Lodge do their final first and get their results out first.

That is such bad luck Kiwimum. I often wonder what the 6th form vocational schools do in this situation. I only know of someone whose dd was very ill at her Elmhurst final audition with a viral bug and asked for the chance to re-audition but was refused and didn't get a place. She then went on to get a place at RBS. This was for lower school though.

Thanks for posting Bluebird. Wow, seems very 'boy heavy' this year!

Good Luck. Think it's no more than a week normally.

Awww never mind Sniffymum - still a great achievement to get to the finals.I know of a few girls who auditioned every year but didn't get in till year 10 so there's always hope. One of them even turned down an offer at Elmhurst for year 9 because she was so determined to get into White Lodge. This was a few years ago though.

Anyone know who the finalists are for YBDY following today's semi-final competition? Edited to say, sorry I think I put this in the wrong place - it should have gone in 'What's happening' but I can't change it now

Do we take it that your DD was successful at White Lodge balletmadmom?