hellogoodbye

Hello all, I was hoping to get some feedback from any parents who do competitions. This is something we're considering but what are the costs you encounter? For example what are your average competition fee entry costs, or costs per costume? I'm sure it varies, but an approximation/average would be much appreciated!

Can anybody recommend some good summer ballet courses for age 9 in London? DD's booked out for a few weeks so looking for something that falls on the right dates for us that will be fun as well as work on her technique. And of course something that's not £700!!!

Hi there, I wondered whether anybody could recommend any stores (online ideally) that sell great dance costumes for festivals? Affordable ones with a bit of luck!

The casting doesn't specifically say ballet but it does say kids need to be Grade 4, so we've opted for ballet. I think the Grade 4 is there to be a guideline rather than because the kids need the vocabulary. The dancing in Matilda is hard so they use the 'Grade 4' requirement to avoid seeing time-wasters who doesn't have enough dance experience. We know several girls who've been cast in Matilda ensemble who were in fact not grade 4, but they were very very small in height and got cast as the tiny ensemble member. DD is not one of the lucky small ones so I think if she really wants to give it her best shot, she'll have to meet the technical requirements to stand a chance.

Not at all. Spoke to DD and she's happy to do privates - after the comments here I'm quite pleased actually, seems like a great idea. I will post back later on to let everyone know how she's getting on. Her ballet school is one of those like you're talking about... they only enter kids for examinations if they think they're going to get distinction, otherwise they don't enter them. So maybe not the best reflection. Personally I would rather they enter DD earlier and her pass with merit so that she can at least move on and learn new things. But maybe that's me not really understanding ballet - I appreciate that the technique is so important and should be perfect. At her musical theatre school she's constantly getting nagged at for her arched back and (lack of) turn-out. The teachers always tell me to put her in ballet classes and I have to explain that she already is!! Trouble is she's more of a performer - not one to pay attention to detail!! Hopefully with privates those things can all be drilled.

You speak much sense, thank you, and this is how I will propose it to DD! She's a good performer but it's her technique that needs work. Hopefully a private will be the perfect way to sort that out as she won't be able to get away with it one-to-one! Thank you all for the prompt advice.

Thank you. It does seem like a no-brainer, I suppose my concern was whether she should be doing ballet twice a week as opposed to once a week? I don't know whether there's something to gain from re-visiting the training more often, or whether one private trumps that. It's a choice of two hours a week normal classes or 45 mins a week private. We wouldn't be able to afford to send her to a normal ballet class as well. Though she could keep doing her modern/tap once a week and musical theatre.

Hello all, just want to get some advice from the more experienced here... DD(9) is now moving onto Grade3 ballet so will be doing two classes a week. Trouble is the timings of these classes are really difficult as all her family work full-time and the classes are before 5pm on weekdays (grade 2 class was on a weekend). We might be able to make it work but the head of her ballet school has offered an alternative which is one private class each week at a more convenient time. Naturally I would imagine one private class would be more beneficial to her in terms of progress than two classes of 12-15 kids... would you agree? DD does ballet to support her musical theatre training... ballet is her least favourite style of dance. I don't think she would have the time of her life in a private class but she knows ballet is what she's got to do if she wants to do well in musical theatre. She wants to get to Grade4 so she can audition for Matilda the Musical. Do you think a private class would increase the chances of this happening sooner? If so that might convince her. It's certainly easier for me logistically.

Hi there, hopefully this is the right place to post this... I wonder if anyone knows the reason or has any suggestions for this.... I am taking dance classes at Pineapple which are great fun. Only trouble is whenever we have to do sit-ups in warmups. It doesn't hurt my stomach muscles (mainly because I don't get far enough for this to happen) but causes great pain and strain to my neck, so much so that I have to stop. Does anyone know why this might be or how to fix it?

Thanks for the advice! I think we'll leave associates for now then as DD is not a massive ballet fan - she really does it to support other styles of dance and her musical theatre, which is her real passion. Maybe when she's older.

Sorry to drag this old thread up again but I have been looking more seriously into the Ballet Associate programmes you kindly recommended to me back when this thread was active. Forgive me for my ignorance, but what is it about the associate schemes that justifies taking these on top of regular ballet classes, and the extra cost that comes with it? What is it that they do on these associate schemes that is so different? DD is 9 so I'm just wondering whether it's worth it for her now or whether it's something that has more value when she's a little older. ETA: May as well update on my original post... we are now pretty happy with the school we have found for DD (the modern/tap teacher of the chatty children was a cover teacher while the other was on maternity. The 'real' teacher is much better). DD is now moving onto Grade 3 so she's very pleased with that. Think we're finally happy to stay put!

Hello there, another question for more in-the-know dance mums! DD has been told by her dance teacher that she should be taking conditioning classes. DD is keen, but then she'd be keen to do literally anything if her dance teacher asked it of her! At 9, she doesn't much think about how far my wages will stretch! What kind of things happen in a conditioning class? If it's sit-ups etc for strengthening, I feel DD could do that at home. If someone could enlighten me that would be wonderful! Many thanks.

Thank you all for the advice! I will get reading! I would really like to know the terminology most of all so think I'll watch some videos to best help with that!

Funny question, I know. But I'm really keen to know more about dance. DD is getting so into it now and I would like to be able to have at least a little knowledge to help her along... to help point out mistake she's making (like "sickled feet" after I looked that one up!) etc. So it's not that I want to learn how to dance so much, but I would like to learn what makes a good dancer - the technique, the terminology. Partly to help DD and partly because I find it incredibly interesting. How might one go about this? I started to take classes at Pineapple with a view to that helping, but of course it's more about learning routines there then it is about learning about dance. I hope I'm making sense and would appreciate some advice!

Thanks all. DD and I will go to check some out - she'll be very excited.