balletla

I can't find the thread about what schools are looking for. I know it was locked but has it now been removed altogether?

Unfortunately for most ADs, physique and dance ability are all part of the same equation and are not talked about as two separate things as they are on the forum.

Also worth reminding ourselves that physique is more than just proportions and body shape, it also includes things such as flexibility and turnout etc. Some of these things could change with time and some won't.

Sorry but where did this thread suddenly jump into the throws of very tall ballet dancers? Where did that come from it's very 'left field'. The OP didn't intend this. Maybe 'dancemad' you should start a different thread on 'tall dancers' interesting to maybe specify what yiu consider to be 'tall'

I agree, Sarahw. :-)

It would be beneficial to get back onto the original topic of schools abroad, though, and not get into a lengthy discussion trying to second guess what physique/torso length/height schools may or may not be looking for.

Thanks everyone.

That's why I started a new topic about what schools are looking for

"All the schools are looking for different things" is a much and often repeated phrase on this forum, but are they really? Surely all the schools are looking for brilliant dancers with perfect physiques designed for ballet? However, as there are only usually a few students in each year who can live up to such an ideal, a series of 'compromises' have to be made, so for example, a school may take someone with slightly less flexibility than they would like or slightly flatter feet, or they may take someone with a more ideal physique but less musicality in the hope that they can improve it - it doesn't mean that's what they are looking for! Everything is a series of trade-offs.

Sometimes, where people are successful at one school and not another, it could be for a host of reasons e.g. different students perform differently on different days or different people see different things in students at different times. My DD auditioned for a vocational school one year and didn't get in. She auditioned again 6 months later and they offered her a place on the spot. Same school, same assessors, same student, different day.

It's a lot easier for boys to get scholarships or part scholarships than girls. Juilliard is a modern dance school with a very strong ballet element but it is 18+ and also it's one of the Top 10 hardest universities higher education schools to get into in the world. I read an online article and apparently the number of places available each year to the number of students auditioning make it harder to get in to than Oxford or Harvard.

 

I've done summer schools in New York and stayed in dorms which belong to NYU and also one summer I stayed in a room in an apartment belonging to this woman who smoked like a chimney. she literally had candy dishes everywhere with cigarettes stacked in them. That was really grim.

 

US schools are very expensive and there's a lot more competition to get those few places from US students as the country is so vast. The best schools are in the big cities NY mainly and you really don't want to send a 14 year old there to live alone. There's a big difference too between doing summer school and full time.

BD19 Interested to know which summer schools you did and what age you were and how beneficial you found them? My DD would love to do an American summer school, but they always seem to clash with English term dates and end of term performances and I don't think vocational schools are sympathetic to letting their students out early.

Just turn up at the gate and buy a ticket to get in. There are normally 3 very similar performances which take place on the lawn at roughly hourly intervals and seating is limited and unallocated. Most people end up standing. The performance only moves indoors if there is rain and then ticket allocation is a bit haphazard and involves queuing.

Balletqs - not sure how long ago you were there but would be doubtful that any old teachers are still around as most have left or retired in recent years.

I would caution against citing specific named dancers as examples and saying that they are 'healthy'. You may think that they look 'healthy' but in actual fact you have no idea as to whether they are or not, or whether they are dealing with any issues.

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However I am pleased to see that nearly all Vocational schools now have cap sleeve or vest top leotards available as part of the uniform, which allows a bra to be worn.

However, bras are not allowed to be worn - something that I keep having discussions with my DD about as I think all the girls should be wearing sports bras in their day to day classes. Even if relatively small up top, it can still stretch the ligaments and may cause issues in later years. She is adamant that they are not allowed to wear bras of any description and some of the girls are quite well developed!

Does anyone know if the summer school is still happening this year? Can't find any references to it and she seems to advertising private tuition now.

Yes, what a pain it is that the auditions in London are on bank holiday weekend! The only long weekend home from school so we decided that DS is going to audition in York in a few weeks time. First time he has applied to YBSS. Only ever heard good things. Good luck to those at the scholarship auditions this weekend. Leave some for those trying in York

I agree Beljul. Having auditions on the middle day of a Bank Hol week-end is really difficult for those away at school who are usually planning to come home and already have long journeys on the Saturday and Monday without a trip to London on the Sunday. It is also difficult for those who plan week-ends away to visit family on long week-ends.

I know a few people have raised this with YBSS and they seem to have responded by putting on the additional York audition, which unfortunately is not doable for us either, so we won't be auditioning this year again

Julie, the accommodation is made for sharing so the £15k a year is split between two. Probably not bad for London to be fair.

DD has friends living in Student Castle this year who go to Central. It is lovely but quite pricey.

Yes I remember that. I think the Friends of Richmond Park objected as they said it would disturb the wildlife, so Richmond council wouldn't grant them a wedding licence.

Yes but like many areas of funding, the government has not increased the actual amount of MDS funding to schools for 4 years - it has remained flat at 2010 rates, and therefore so have the fees and the parent contribution. If the school put the fees up, the MDS funding would not go up and parents would have to pay the difference on top of what they already contribute and nobody could afford it.

Good point Pictures. I don't think MDS funding has increased for about 4 years but costs have continued to rise e.g. food, electricity, staff wages etc, so I guess it has all come to crunch time. Also, they have very little opportunity to take on extra students as some schools have done as space is so limited.

Must be so difficult though as I don't think any of these schools are awash with spare staff and the work will still need to be done. I always think it must be difficult to run RBS as one school since there are two completely separate sites a long way apart. It won't be efficient for staff to be travelling between the two sites, getting stuck in London traffic etc.

Heard that there are big changes taking place at White Lodge and that the ballet principal/head of ballet has been made redundant as of yesterday and won't be replaced. Have also heard that a lot of other staff are leaving, both ballet and academic and all of the pastoral care staff as well. Feel sorry for the parents/children there at the moment who must be feeling very unsettled at the scale of these changes.

It is quite common for students of Asian origin to become more 'curvy' when they come to the UK to train at first, due to the change in diet i.e. more sugar, more processed food etc. If they are able to cook their own meals that usually helps

Oh gosh, I did do a search and didn't see it. Mods - maybe this post should be combined with the other one that Happymum started?

Thanks for your reply HP. My DD is a lot older than yours (1st year 6th form) and didn't go to the scholarship audition last year because it was Bank Holiday weekend and we had plans. I see it is on Bank Hol weekender again this year - not very convenient for a lot of people I suspect.

Just a question about timing. It says the application and £100 deposit has to be in by 1st May but scholarship audition is on 4th May. What if you can't afford to go without a scholarship? Can you just apply for the scholarship bit or do you have to apply for a full place first?

Seems like there's lots of love for the Russian Pointes? What is it that makes them so good?

Thanks Julie - can't believe that all placings/awards were boys and not a single girl. Quite unusual.

Who were the judges - was it the same 3 as last week-end?

Afab, I wasn't disagreeing with your opinion by the way. Everyone's experience is different and valid. It's just that my DD's experience was a positive one and so thought I'd post as no one else had and wanted to give Zachorovitti an alternative view in case her DD gets offered a place.

As for the class size, it seemed to be pretty much similar everywhere else that she went.

Just to give another view; my DD has done several different well known summer schools over the last few years and feels that she has had the best teaching at RBS summer schools and that her classical ballet technique improved the most after these summer schools. She also felt they were a bit more serious than some of the others, where there was sometimes more emphasis on having fun.

Also agree that you can't beat the opportunity to spend a week at White Lodge if you get the chance!

Just a reminder that many schools were not represented at all e.g. Elmhurst, Tring and many others. Also ENBS for example does not have a year 10 or 11 from which to select students to enter. So the success of the RBS students is within quite a small selection of other schools.

Also a reminder that this competition is only open to British students or those who have trained in the UK for at least 3 years. That rules out quite a few students from all the schools.

But your post IS related to anyone specifically, Ribbons, and that is the Year 10 boy. How would you feel if someone was questioning your child's place in a competition? Cross, I should think. I know I would be.

 

Of course Ballet is subjective and sometimes in any competition the judges see things we don't pick up on, or have differing opinions about what they are looking for - so do school selection panels, choreographers and ADs! That's Ballet, like it or don't.

 

But in harking on about the fact that one boy got finals and another didn't, and why, do you think you're going to change anything? All you'll do is upset people.

 

It's no different than someone complaining that Kenneth MacMillan chose a very young Darcey Bussell to create a ballet on, when there were many other older and more experienced existing Principals he could have used. He liked what he saw - just as the Judges obviously liked what they saw at YBDY.

My post was NOT related to any specific year 10 boy. I did not even know that a year 10 boy had got through when I wrote the original post - all I knew was a year 6.2 who everyone thinks is amazing, did not get selected for semis. My post asking how a year 10 could get selected over a 6.2 was generic as it happens every year several times and there are several examples, not limited to one person. It was NOT aimed at anyone specifically! It was a post about criteria for judging the competition and the example of year 10 vs. 6.2 was just an EXAMPLE. If you like you can substitute it for yr10 girl and 6.2 girl - I don't know if that is a real example or not either?

I have NEVER suggested that someone does not deserve their place and yet again, I repeat that I am interested in the basis of judging these types of competition - mainly to help those who don't get through understand. I am NOT complaining either - merely seeking to understand the basis of the judging.