FlexyNexy

My DD never liked to snack or followed dancers’ diets or trends to this date. She would have normal breakfast from cereals, pancakes, full English - whatever the appetite was that morning. School lunch at school including her favorite custard and sausage roll after school on the bus to pick up her dance gear. When it came to dance lessons she would put soup in thermos that I have left in the fridge, warmed it up and ate (drunk more likely) about 1hr before class. She did not have feeling of being peckish or hungry in between the classes and when came home at night she had family meal we have cooked for the whole family. During performances when out all day, she would start by normal breakfast, I would pack her Aladdin bento box/ pot with normal food that I have cooked for us as it kept the food warm for 4 hours. Banana, some chopped fruits into another small pot and that’s all. She would make sure that during her main break she would eat her warm meal. When she did not want warm food, she would prepare bagel, or wraps, avocado, smoothie, she liked to prepare granola mix cereals as a base, then white yoghurt and fruits on top. Oh and boiled egg with salt. She used my card when about in London in case she wanted to buy something and one small coffee shop kept appearing on my statement. Once i went around and discovered she is buying their mega large doughnuts on the way home. I guess her body craved suggar 😄 Her colleagues always wait for lunch break and try to guess what her meal is when she opens the sealed bento box and release the fragrance. Yesterday I believe it was paella and today she mentioned something about chickpea stew. No snacks for her, she never needed them as she has meals during the day that they fill her up and her Aladdin pot is traveling with her everywhere even now when young adult. Maybe to look at the meals during the day rather small snacks that they tend to eat running around?

Completely agree. I am yet to hear where are the students that finished ENBS pre-professional program. I was looking at them closely since they announced this scheme, now second year running and still nothing once they leave. Companies/ schools have to subsidise somehow their lossess.

My DD when auditioned (and got in) we did not cut her music and she would simply stop at the point when her dance ended. Then she took a small pause, got up stoped the music. I know there are trim apps where you can cut the music and fade out the volume at the end.

Thank you Anna, I have reminded her of this and of all transferable skills she has. She is brilliant young woman and I am very pround of her for being able to talk to me openly about all her struggles. This is for me the most important thing.

She is finishing in June but I told her this morning that I will come and help her pack and come back if she decides earlier. Even if early as next week. Her degree includes teaching, but I know she never wanted to teach and she would just give full stop to ballet and the environment around it. I have also suggested to maybe have ballet as recreational hobby while she is looking at other career prospects. I told her I will support every decision she takes and will be with her all the way when she needs me. It is so hard.

I thought my post would be suitable under this heading. My DD has graduated vocational school just in the middle of pandemic, secured contracts overseas but due to embassies being closed, we had to pass these opportunities. I do not know how, but she has found strength and continued to train this year in pre-professional programme/ junior company, but I think she is very tired of this cycle. She seems to be only getting into ‘companies’ which are subsidised financially by parents in exchange for dancing opportunities. She is frustrated that she is not going to be paid and feels the pressure she is giving on us. During our last call she said she fell out of love of ballet and all this hard work came to “nothing”. I want to support her, but I also do not want to feed her with encouragement to continue if this is making her depressed. Many of her peers have flown this month to join cruises, but this is not her “cup of tea”. Her mood is very down, she does not even know what she would like to do after ballet so I suggested just to come home and take little time out. We are stuck and also in a motion to set plan B.

what I wanted to say is that agents are more important than degrees and ultimately - who you know (at least in ballet). And that drama courses you can do even after you pursue academic route at any stage of your life. If it is your passion and it mean to be - it will be. I see a lot of young budding actors, giving up just because they did not get into their choice of drama schools at early age. So many actors are picked up by agents at workshops or just by that one opportunity being seen and get picked up on Spotlight platform. It's like with ballet...vocational school does not guarantee job in the company. RB has at least 2 dancers that have been casted just because of outreach programs. And it is true, sometimes you have to have the right face, voice....my neighbour taught at The Poor School before they closed and they had many adult students that had day jobs to support it, some getting the success they wanted at later mature lives. No just means - not right now.

I think for MT or Actor is more important to have good agent rather what school you went to. Client of mine at work has a son who graduated in Manchester UNI with English and Drama degree and now is A listed actor in USofA. Many would recognise him. When I spoke to his dad, he insisted that he has a solid degree before he goes to his acting. In their culture they insist to have academic degree of some sort before they follow any passions and talents. After degree from Manchester UNI he has tried to join RAF as a pilot, but then decided to pursue his passion and went to Bristol Old Vic Theatre School as an adult. What i hear when speaking with his dad, is who you know and having a good agent is important. No one asks for his degree.

I would just add that I would be very careful if a ballet teacher hires a photographer to take the audition photos for the class. I have recently seen a photographs of a child I know since it started ballet training and even with my untrained eye I saw the photos were a disaster. I was concerned as the teacher has authorised the photos as being perfect and the mum being very close friend of mine has shared them with me. Maybe the teacher had looked at the position of the child and was correctly standing, but the photographer hired for the students was standing at wrong angle and height. The kid in question has terribly disproportioned huge arms of a body builder, incredibly small head and large hips. I did not even recognised the kid. And not every teacher has time for you to play around with positions and right angles. Even in our living room I had to squat, sit on a chair, remove the chair, stand on the stool…and after taking 100 photos, my daughter could tell even without teacher that the position is correct and incorrect. I only used the teacher to demonstrate position I was not sure about. I knew she would not have time to be with me in the studio for me to play with photos.

For summer schools and other small activities where photo was required, it was done in my living room after shifting sofa around with my mobile. For application to upper school and now graduation - we had them made by a professional (Amber Hunt).

Amber Hunt did ours and would highly recommend.

Air BnB was our best option as you can negotiate better price if rented for longer period.

My DD has some custom leos and they are all from Luckyleo and Chameleon. Even 19 years old looks good in marshmallow and avocado leo 😄 And they are good quality, but only allowed to be worn on "dress down" weekend classes. I have sold her small luckyleos and they hold the price. They are all custom made so unique to each dancer. However, I would not buy novelty (nutcracket or other festive themes) leos. She has couple fun prints as she loves her younger side but the rest is custom lovely colour and fabric combination which shows off her mature side. Yo ucan choose the cut of the leo. Luckyleo have great customer service as we have ordered one which when arrived did not look that flattering and they have changed it without any issue or additional costs. Also I never separate dancewear and goes into the wash with normal clothes. Both mentioned brands without an issue.

Teacher Christmas gifts….always brings a smile on my face. My hubby is a teacher (not dance) and really appreciates nice bottle of wine. It does not mean he would drink it on his own and turns into alcoholic…it would sit in our storage until nice food is made so we can all share it. Much better than key rings, mugs, shower gels or a toaster (this always makes me laugh). Chocolates he leaves in the staff room for the ladies, but wine he always brings home. Now to the point. When it came to ballet teachers, we always gifted homemade Christmas cookies we have made and decorated. We have used Christmas themed cutters, then I bought very nice tin and personalised card that my daughter signed and wrote something nice and personal. One year we have been feeling crafty and we’ve made beautiful felt stuffed Christmas tree decorations. We tried to use stencils from ballet such as Alice, Nutcracker etc. This was also very well received by the teachers. For the females we have added it into our cookie box and for the male choreographer, we have hanged it onto bottle. The following year we have gifted personalised year planner. A5 size planner with lovely cover that said teacher’s name. It was not too expensive if ordered in advance when you get deals from companies that do personalised items. I am trying to stay away from vouchers or clothing. Voucher we used to give as a class at the end of the year where we collected money and gave it to the teacher so he/she can spend it on whatever is needed.

My DD whether it was school, even now in junior company only uses Boots or Superdrug make up. Foundation that matches her skin tone, eyeliner, mascara, blusher, lipstick, brow powder/ pencil, colour palettes (nude and mix colours)and fake lashes. Small selection of brushes (you can get nice cheap set in Boots too). Make up wipes are always handy and small cotton buds for finer details, hair gel (moco de gorila) and hair spray - strong hold. Nothing else. .

Hear Hear my dear Peanut. I did not mention the $130 audition fee, the main dancing lady that you will see on their instagram is also their admin, visa advisor and so on. The tour in Italy, Brazil - never happens. And I only mentioned here the basic $15k fee, there were other offers in their email up to jaw dropping $25k if the dancer decided to stay longer than standard "season". We did moved their contract to e-bin after reading covering email with the table breaking down the costs.

Do you have $15k spare for a short I believe 10 month season (not counting housing in NY, expenses and travel)? Does your dancer DD or DS fancy to work for free in costume department, admin or teaching associates? Would he/she likes to be forced to instagram marketing to promote them? Is your dancer prepared to use cheat and forced movements? Are you happy not to receive help with visas. If your answers are YES to all and many more, then join Ajkun Ballet Theatre. My DD made quite extensive research on this organisation after receiving Junior Artist offer. She has bombarded ex and current dancers with messages and received 85% negative feedback. I am happy to speak to anyone who wants feedback and can send my mobile number privately.

As a mother of graduate and what we are going through & making research on right now, I am so amazed how much pre-professional courses are jumping on my search feed. They are growing faster than mushrooms in local forest. More alarming for me is that a lot seems to be still virtual (zoom, we will send you materials to learn) etc. This seems to be very similar what Grand Audition is doing, just slightly different format. I will sit tight for a 1st year and see where the participants end up, same as I am watching all those pre-professional programs that many pay over 10k a year. (After 3 years of professional training at school).

My heart goes to you. My DD left home to go oversees when she was 15 (living on her own as she refused to go to the student accommodation) and I can tell you we had tears on the phone. It was not so much home sickness, but the poverty and conditions she came to. I always assured her that to leave is always an option, but she has to also realise the commitment we have made. At least until the end of the school year so it would give me enough time to look for plan B. Writing diary helped and planned video calls. I never encouraged too regular talks, but something she could look forward to. I noticed that Sundays were the worse because she did not have school. I just worry that Christmas will not help you in this situation and will add to the emotionally charged feelings he might have. When my DD came home, the hardest time was for her to leave after Christmas and New Year. Not so much summer! Follow your gut feelings, they are usually right. When he comes back for Christmas, you will not exactly what has caused this u-turn.

I have seen last week photos taken by a photographer with teacher present and the poor girl looked twice her size. I know that child personally and I was horrified what she paid for and what photos she received. So I would really go with someone where you can see their portfolio. I am always amused that parents are willing to spend money for unnecessary items such summer school t-shirt, school branded towels, tracksuits, dance bags which are realy just overpriced backpacks etc..stuff that are not needed, but are thinking twice to spend money for photography for Upper school applications where the 1st impact matters. When I knew that audition year is coming, I saved up little every month. Even if it was £10....no more Starbucks coffee with mums and sat in a car waiting for my DD with thermos and home made coffee.

I use machine and when my DD is away, she uses sharp needles and metal thimble on fingers when pushing the needle through. I could hear a lot of swearing coming out from her room when she gets new pairs while sewing them 🤣 But they do last longer than when she used Griskho. When she was at US, they used company seamstress and they did all sewing and shoe repairs for them. When she started with Gaynors, the very first pair, I went to my local dry cleaner who we use regularly, and I begged him to sew it for me.

We had them done professionally by Amber Hunt. For both upper and company auditions. She knows what to look at as ex dancer and I have budgeted for it throughout the year. I am a queen of spreadsheets and we had all positions summarised before the shoot. She included stunning profile photos and various formats. I had few quotes from other photographers that I can pass down, but my DD made final research and decided to go with Amber. We don't have regrets. I took some photos myself and some done by teacher but I have moved them to e-bin as they would not do any justice to my DD.

There is nowhere written that to make it in the ballet world, child has to do join vocational school, same goes for RB associates schemes. I know so many children, now young adults that had quality traning in small church halls and are professional dancers. I refused to be swept by the ballet wave and I always wanted for my DD to have both "normal" life and ballet world. We did not even look into auditioning for lover schools as I did not see the reason why she should...most of the kids do not receive pass to the upper schools anyway. She spent few weeks at associates and refused to go back..same as senior RB summer school she found waste of time and walked out. For her was always important the training quality rather "famed name of the school"...and I was reminded by her very often to look at the company dancers and where they came from...very little from the associated or vocational schools. Her journey taught me not to be afraid to walk out even from place that looks very good on a paper or instagram profile and go where you can really progress and see the change. She has declined upper schools, trained or a concrete floor without having fancy studios and as graduate she received various offers, but sadly visa situation decided for her to stay put for a while.

Congratulations to your DD! We need more of such news for 2021.

Yes, its only around the edges and she cuts the satin once it starts wearing away. The suede patches I mean the ones from Grishko that you glue yourself to the shoe. I would not recommend them as they got almost shiny on places where the shoe touches the floor when turning and slippery.