FlexyNexy

If I am in your shoes and going through the process again, I would look at overseas schools and have the UK one's as a practice rounds.

My DD heard back within a week (2018 auditions)

I just seen one today advertised on market place for next to nothing. I would not go for brand new. Many people are trying to get rid of them after pandemic times and they have been used very little.

From the feedback I had when speaking to my DD and summarising her audition experiences, she found Central the easiest of auditions when it came to technicality of the class and step combinations. International students do stand out and many of the mentioned schools do travel for auditions to Japan, Italy and similar. So I would push for building up to Level II Most of them are told something like when they say do 2 pirouettes, on audition do 3 comfortably. At least this what her overseas teacher always told her. When she went for ENB, the Director at that time liked and was looking at performance skills. So she had to pay more attention of face and ‘performing’ the class routine like she would be on stage. She did research of artistic directors and what they particularly liked. Tring she found the least ballet focused and her solo was “popping and locking” improvisation. They seems to like the originality. Elmhurst Director at that time said he liked “bendy” dancers. Sometimes I wished I would have boy and not girl in ballet. They are not so many and have it "easier" in my opinion. With boys - European boys can jump and have stamina so something to work on here.

Antonio is talent on it's own. When it comes to the others, shame people do not know the inside stories to base their knowledge and how they got there. I will leave it here so the feed does not get locked. Spent time at that establishment to know little too much I guess. Yonah is Cuban dancer same as the Director of the school, so if they danced together it is not based on the talent (yes they have talent), but little bit more. My DD was coached by Maina, yeah...my bank balance is still recovering.

Yes, one of the judges comes to the school and has a private audition to select them. There is much more to it, but they are all lovely and top trained dancers.

As an international student, Ellison is better choice than Bolshoi. Not because of the training or name, but graduate prospects. Lucky her! Good escape!

My DD did also Chicago (Balanchine style) and loved it equally. She was offered to come for their Christmas Nutcracker show, but it was just impossible as we live in UK and her school would not allow it. She made lovely friends, life experience and training worth my money. She met Principal dancers she always admired and followed, she was challenged by the fast American approach to teaching. The kids are very athletic with large stamina. It was like comparing school Sports day in UK with Olympics in US. She came home completely worn out. Day was long with one lunch break (at least that time). She loved Ellison the best. She also did their Pas de deux intensive. She liked also their contemporary classes, very fun and she also had a class in Alvin Ailey School just because she met a “student” in Metro train on her way to classes. He approached her as he seen her wearing intensive T-shirt and bun and asked if she would like to come. They share the ride from Queens to Manhattan daily together. She has many lovely experiences from States and is desperate to go back. Other day she seen rehearsals of The Rockettes and their summer school which she wanted to join as it looked equally fun. But I think she liked more their tracksuits and make up J There is so much happening in States and the opportunities are incredible.

My DD did and preferred USA summer schools and LOVED them all. She loved Ellison the best, SAB and San Diego were fabulous as well. Gosh she worked hard! If you are looking for quality rather (UK summer camp babysitting style), send her to USA. She stayed with host families (it worked out much cheaper and lived with locals). She had time to discover local areas, tourist hot spots and got local knowledge from home stay family that took her under their wing. She did not want to stay with the ballet girls as she wanted to experience States also without ballet. San Diego and SAB was Balanchine style but the Director liked her a lot and she coped well even if only Vaganova trained. Incomparable with UK summer schools. My DD walked out during RB SI from Covent Garden as it was not intensive enough. She does not like their style of teaching, too soft approach...

hear hear, my DD loved to be coached by Jose who prepared her for her company auditions, helped with variation choice, adaptations to show off her skills and recording of audition videos. The only negative was the distance for her to travel to his location where he taught (on some occasions she travelled to his London studio but 90% was coached outside)

I have to agree. What is different from some European boys or girls from our children? Why our kids are falling off from double pirouette and boys don't have the strength, poor jumps and wobble? Are we made differently? As a parent of nearly 20 years old child who went through British (non vocational) and overseas training it is very important to listen to both sides and experiences because vocational schools will tell you what parents wants to hear and looks good on social media. It is like researching the right secondary school for your non dance child. The best feedback you get in front of the school gates, what is coming out of them and parents standing by the gate. Not on Ofsted report for which teachers prepare days in advance before the inspectors come. Talking of boys, had the chance to see junior boys in Europe, Latin America and Caribbean and their training is far more advanced than I saw in British schools and while watching many of end of the year school programs. I am not talking talent. But the balance, core strength, technique is incomparable. I do feel that our schools are letting down their own home-grown talent by not bringing the training up to the speed it is elsewhere. The boys in Cuba for example are like ninjas. No fancy studios or equipment, concrete floor and you almost feel they are born to this world spinning. They don’t take privates, they are simply driven by solid technique, physical education, and on top driven by poverty that dance is for many the ticket and way out of the country. So, get this, bring him to fully airconditioned studio with proper floor for audition, then compare the “drive” to kid you and I have. Incomparable. Yet again this is my opinion and what I saw with my eyes and lived through with my own DD. I too have been naïve, until my own DD opened my eyes, and she has seen the level of training on her 1st ever European easter or it was summer school. But it all came with age. It was easy when she was primary age. Many opportunities, danced with companies as kid extra, did the lot. She must be around 13 when something clicked in her and realised that she would never be able to “compete” with the girls outside unless she joins them. No one is interested in your associates and small primary years productions on your CV. Neither her dancing with Mariinsky is mentioned on her CV as no one looks so far down. What is important in my opinion is what you do 15 + I have two of my daughters’ overseas teachers on my Facebook as “friends”. I sometimes post snippets of shows where my daughter danced as a throwback in her younger years and/ or share posts from other schools and their dances. I was forced to delete so many of my own home videos because the critique the teachers innocently wrote on poor technique of the dancers and mainly no strength could upset some dance mums I have as friends too and out of respect. We need to stop being blind to this fact that our children are not very well-trained comparing to dancers that you see in Europe. Upper school students are mainly international dancers trained elsewhere. Why is that? My post is not to offend our British talented kids, but maybe to start wondering as mothers/ fathers why we all pay huge fees, live in a car driving up and down UK and when it comes to upper schools, our own kids are not taken up. Why my own daughter was “forced” to leave home and seek better training elsewhere. The school my daughter was, the kids start from pre-schoolers, then they move to primary all the way to secondary, then they graduate and get straight 6 months practical in an own associated company or are distribute to second national ballet company in the country. During the 6 months, the best dancers are kept and rest will continue do teaching master degree or get jobs elsewhere or leave dance. The assessments are strict, you get warning for weight, strength, and academics…and if you do not pass end of year exams, you repeat a year. If no improvement is done, you are out. They tell you straight in the audition, if you do not get into their competition team (that does all the national and international prix etc), you will not find success in the school or the associated company. At least you know where you are from the start. They only audition nationally and if they have spots left, they take international applicants. Nationals are priority and you can feel it throughout the year. Homegrown kids are prioritised when taking part in the company productions (Nutcrackers and similar) and other festivities. They also have extra academics and international kids would only have fraction of it due to language barrier, I guess. The year my own DD auditioned; she was the only foreign girl they took on. They took about 5 international boys. The first thing they did, they striped her off tbe bad technique she was taught here. The head of year asked her if she ever danced, why her muscles are developing in wrong places, that she need to loose weight and they stood her up on scale in front of the whole class (they do not really care how they speak to you). After graduation only 2 boys were accepted to the company (mainly due to covid and company just does not have space). No girls at all. When I looked at some girls, I thought, wow, they would take spot in any EU company straight away. Well, 2 I know are soloists and barely 16. I think our schools are yet to learn a lot. No matter vocational or non.

I might be little naïve here, but being on this forum for number of years, why do I get the impression that many parents think that RB is the best what there is for their children, ultimate goal to get to JA and if assessed out, it is very traumatic not only for the child but parents? There are many success stories for children that never even touched or came close to RB. No wonder that international students are the school’s spotlight. Speaking from our experience and having trained overseas, my daughter walked out twice from their senior summer school as it was “boring”, too slow and she did not even sweat in the class. Nice to take photos by the door, wear summer school T shirt that she uses to go to bed, maybe an Instagram post to fit within “bunheads” but that’s about it. 3 days in and she refused to come back and could not even compare it to overseas classes that they truly been worth the money. Same goes for ENB. Fun while they are little, but the talk what you hear over the border even close as Europe about the training is not glowing. There are some wonderful teachers around here that give your child better technique, training and strength. But they are not under flashy names. I never seen a child come out the RB school door drenching of sweat or even red cheeks. Perfectly neat bun in and not a hair untucked when leaving the class. I never seen them doing physical preparation that really works. My very close friend and neighbour has her daughter in MA. When she is wearing the tracksuits, she does not walk, but floats around. Over the covid, her mum asked whether she could come around when my DD is practicing and learn something new. That poor girl nearly fainted at the end of the routines. No strength in the ankles, no stamina, falling off from double pirouette. She is not even in full splits. How could she have sailed from JA to MA’s? God knows! One of the well-known company dancers is God father to my daughter. He himself warned me not to even put her through their school system If I want something out of her. He himself was recruited from overseas and does not have many nice thighs to say regarding the training. Please take this assessment as good news! You are now free or this crazy circle and in a search of fantastic training for your child. Not worrying if you have the right colour of leotard on or ribbons in the hair tight in correctly.

well, to put your mind at ease...my DD was offered to study at Vaganova so they surely seen her feet before inviting her. She has declined due to her personal reasons why not to go to Russia.

You are perfectly fine with your feet! My DD is Vaganova trained too (not sure what is shoe size has to do with style of training) 168 hight with size 36 feet!!! She loves her feet and your main concern should be their strength not size. Equally your ankles. Her feet are so strong that she is finding hard shank too weak for her. Her Vaganova training had never something to do or effect on her feet size?! She also did Balanchine and Cuban mdthology with her 36 size feet and perfectly fine.

Hear hear, I am somehow glad we have turned down all schools that with their fees would bring my daughter to a debt. Graduated (overseas in a famed school), beautiful BA degree to frame in a picture and hang on a wall, only to be told to dance in the companies on a junior contract without a pay. We have agreed to do it for a year with a hope that it will change as post-pandemic mood will fade.... only to be offered at this year rounds again contracts without pay in exchange for exposure! I feel for all those young students that are going to take those places at upper schools, all those Instagram posts about success to get to famed summer schools (that are nothing valid on a CV) and only a foreign trained prodigy, heavily supported by the teacher and THE CONTACTS will take the favourite spot. I have learned so much how schools operate and how to tell that “Your kid" is not within the favourite group to graduate with contract and 25 girls out of 30 are there only to substitute the school fees. At least our school told us parents straight if you child is not selected to represent the school at competition or production within associated company within 1st year…you will not have success with them. Wish UK schools would do this too, so he kids would not be filled with dreams but have a proper reality check.

this is what we have done last year...getting offers straight after graduating...being unlucky with visas hence proper offers went out of air... accepted junior artist/ trainee for a year to try and stay in training and we now know that it leads nowhere. Wasted my money, time and my DD is setting plan B in motion. She has earned more working during covid as a hostess @ Wembley Stadium during world cup than one year in Ballet.

same boat with you and my DD. Only offers getting right now are the ones I would have to heavily subsidise. My DD refused them all as she can’t stand another year of dancing for free in exchange for "exposure".

My DD was in very similar position, received offers from various schools with deadlines practically at the start of other auditions. Some have been flexible with us and offered us extension for acepting, but on some they didn't want to hear. My DD had hard time deciding as some auditions she was attending were in July. Well after many UK schools past their deadlines. We have played gamble and declined all in UK and prayed she will receive that dreamed offer from overseas that same summer. But I lost lot of money not getting my deposit back. The hardest one to swallow for me was for Tring.

There should be an official contract. What is allowed and what not, what is offered and when payment needs to be made. My daughter left for overseas studies when she was 15 and we took a student to spare room in exchange. I cooked, washed and shopped as she would be our own daughter. She had her own space in the fridge for her own food and snacks. We would cook together and I did sometimes a school pick ups if the child finished late. Most of the conditions were agreed with the parents and then I offered help when I felt I need to step in. She had free use of the kitchen, washing machine ...but 90% of the kids ate with us. I did not charge for the meals as one plate extra is nothing for me. Breakfast was on their own to prepare. I wanted to know if she was running late etc. I even prepared lunch boxes for the younger ones. Weekends we played games, cinema nights and I allowed their ballet friends around but not sleep overs. Some needed guidance on personal hygiene and I even sewn a holes in the clothes. Quite interesting times we had.

When I hosted i always helped. The child was like my adopted daughter/ son. The child was also included in our outings during free time, or had a choice to join and my only demand was to have dinner with us at the table. This has encouraged communication, making her more welcome and as a part of the family. The same was provided for my daughter when she stayed in NY. The family gave her travel tips, often picked her up from station and was there when she needed.

How sad 😥

When my DD did Ellison, it was $4k for summer. I know other junior contracts in NY that have been asking over $12k basic (9 month contract), others ar around $8. That is just fees, most will not help with visas, accommodation and it will very likely not lead to full time employment as many companies now are even mentioning (must have green card or permit to work). My DD had offers, but sadly we had to decline as our US embassy would not cooperate.

Our Eastern border is now facing with huge queues of people trying to get in. Lots of petitions are out to find some accommodations for families arriving. Troubling times ahead, not only for our kids in Europe dancing.

My parents lived through Russian occupation of 1968 in Czechoslovakia when tanks barged into our country. Sadly we are fearing that the history is repeating. I myself lived through soviet regime in our country and wore the pioneer uniform in my primary school. Watching the videos yesterday where kids in Ukraine were practicing drills brought not very nice memories of my childhood.

I would try to speak to parents that the children since graduated from that particular school or approach parents in front of school gates. The best info I have found in circle of mums standing by the gate and waiting for their kids. Skip through the gossip and concentrate on facts you want to know. What I have learned? Do not trust school social media and good renowned name school might not be the perfect fit for the child, the taste lessons would be more intensive than they are during normal days. See where are the students now and try to find how they got there. I have learned a lot on how some kids get their places at upper schools and how the schools tend to bloat about it. Mind blowing!