Juliet

Some fresh blood is healthy......but that seems like an awful lot of leavers....and from different ranks....interesting.

Ha ha BillyElliott........several bottles of gin trust me!!! ???

Hello. My daughter has just graduated from RBS and was at Pimlico for one term when it newly opened last year. The students tend to bus in....I'm not sure how long it takes.....probs about 20 minutes. It's a massive house and is shared by first and second years....boys and girls. You do share rooms.... There may be the odd single room. To start with students did their own cooking but because there weren't many cookers I think they brought in catering to make it easier for students. But yes you have the option of popping over to the ROH and eating in their canteen which is great because it's great healthy food and not too expensive.....and you get to share the lifts with your idols! it is supervised there..... You have house parents....I'm not sure how many. Yes there are laundry facilities. When you have done your 2 years at Pimlico you will be more than ready to move to Jebson house in Covent Garden where the house is separated into individual flats where you look after yourself but have 2 or 3 houseparents keeping an eye out...... Led by the fabulous Julie Dunn.... Who remembers that these are teenagers who occasionally need to let their hair down!! ?

CeliB......I live 10 minutes from you....I'm sure we could swap some interesting tales!?

Thankyou RuthE. Actually interestingly enough...whilst your sleuthing may have given you the correct student it isn't quite as simple as that as admin at RBS is not always fab and there is another student who always has an asterisk by her name and has never been an associate in her life!! On this occasion though I think you are correct. It is a shame though that our beautiful graduate year is so under used this year and after 8 years we had hoped to see them in a lot more! Ah well...onwards and upwards!

Well done to her Mnemo. Tell her to absorb everything and make the most of every day because it goes so quickly. But most of all......stay strong! ?

Thank you. It's not been an easy ride trust me. But we are thrilled with the outcome.

Hello. I rarely post on here but I did post my daughters (hopefully) inspiring storey a few years ago. She auditioned twice for JAs and wasn't accepted either time. When the time came to audition for White Lodge (and she said she wanted to) she got through to finals and was then put on a small waiting list. Unbelievably a place did become available and she's been at RBS for 8 years. She's in graduate year...about to graduate next week and has secured a full contract in a top company in Germany. Hope that gives you inspiration. ?

Hi. If you pm me coz I don't know how to I may be able to help because my daughter is one of the models.

Only four students went to Japan. Let me just say that as a parent of an upper school DC it is very disappointing when their piece does not get shown on main house stage. My DC was in a lovely piece at Opera Holland Park....so thankfully we got to see it there. There are some stunning dancers who did not get to dance at OH. It is a real shame.

Nobody is saying that RBS selection is so right. They make mistakes. They know that. I have known students audition for 3or 4 years and not be successful and then finally get a place. As i have said before ...what goes in at 11 can completely change in 5 years. When you get offered a place at WL it is made clear that you are there on a yearly basis and will stay there so long as you make suitable progress, behave yourself etc etc. I feel that everyone goes in with their eyes wide open. Of course it's terribly upsetting when it doesn't work out but no promises are ever made. And let's be honest.....you have choice as to whether you want to audition or not. Nobody makes you. RBS is not perfect .....far from it. There are many things about the school that are very frustrating when you're actually going through the system. But I do think it's unfair to blame their method of choosing students when absolutely no one can predict how a child will progress or whether their body shape will be suitable enough for ballet.

Hello... Back again. Just been to see Superman versus Batman. There still seems to be a lot being said about physique. Of course a pleasant body shape is important. At the end of the day ballet is moving art and dancers need to be pleasing to watch. At the age that children (particularly girls) enter ballet school they are fairly bambi like as most have not hit puberty until quite a few years later. As they progress through the school shapes do change, the majority still maintain a nice muscular lean body. But there are those who possibly due to genetics develop a shape that is perhaps more suitable to other dance genres such as contemporary etc. Royal Ballet School do say that they are training students for companies all over the world. And all of those companies are looking for something different. As someone mentioned BRB they do generally take slightly shorter dancers than RB. Therefore when my daughter and her peers are auditioning for jobs next year I would say that it's a good thing that we have variation in body shapes in our year or they'd all be fighting for the same company. Waiting mum. You said your daughter has a more muscular physique....well she probably has a wonderful jump as well as other attributes. You will see over the next five plus years how she and her peers all change shape. There is no guarantee with any of this. And I really don't think that RBS set out to be ruthless but they do have to justify why every single child is there as up to a certain point everyone there is entitled to some government funding. I loved the RBS promo video and was very proud when I spotted my daughter in it. But did cringe a little when the little girl said about everyone being the best. No offence to her or her parents, she was just being a bit over exuberant. There are amazing dancers at the other schools and RBS do make mistakes in their choices either way. I'm sure they would admit that themselves. I hope there is nothing in my post that has caused any offence because none was meant.

I very rarely post on the forum but occasionally have a little peek to see what is going on. Thank you Primrose for your post....couldn't have said all that better. As a parent of a DD in second year RBS upper school I feel that I just need to clarify that in my daughters year there are many different shapes and sizes.....some are very tall with...yes....long legs and many are much shorter with not so long legs. They all have their special bits that they excell in. Some are brilliant at jumps and turns,some are more suited to slower more lyrical movements. Each has there own charm.....but really all quite unique. The same can be said of the boys as well...different shapes and sizes. My daughter also auditioned twice for JAs and didn't get offered a place either time. Things change and children progress at different rates. After not being offered a JA place we were delighted when she gained entry into WL. But it has been very tough and gets tougher every year. Next year she will be in graduate year....and that thought scares the hell out of me. It will be like starting all over again with the audition process only this time for a job. And contrary to what people may think and what the little girl says on the promo video.....the students there do not think they are the best far from it. They are never allowed to have that attitude....they would be brought straight back down to earth believe me. There are ideals for the perfect ballet body but very few students actually have that and if they do...they get snapped up. But believe me RBS is not made up of clones.

Sorry Lisa Think we posted at the same time!

Hi Wildflowers. My daughter is a fan of Freeds and she has special orders of which I order 5 pairs every few weeks as they take a little while to be made. They are lovely but she gets through a pair a week sometimes more. Freed actually do a pointe shoe hardener in a little tube thing. Also the other thing you can use is Shellac which I have ordered through Dance Direct before. I don't know if it still exists but there used to be a floor polish called Clear and some people used that to harden their shoes. Bloch are more expensive but they do actually last longer.

Congratulations Waiting mum!! .....and so the journey begins. Enjoy this moment..... You deserve to crack open a bottle!!

When my daughter auditioned, six years ago now (but feels like yesterday) she was also one of the 'call back kids' and yes it does extend a very lovely but stressful day. The letters were sent the following week....unbeknown to us because ours had gone missing!! It wasn't until the Saturday after the audition at our london junior ballet class that we heard of people getting their yes or no letters. As it was a Saturday there was nothing I could do. So, Monday morning I plucked up courage to phone the school to be told they would send another letter. I said but what if that goes missing too. Eventually they agreed to email me.... Which took 2 hours to come through. Can you imagine what the waiting was like. Anyway finally the email came through and she had been put on the waiting list. A further phone call told me that there were 4 on the list. After another 4 or 5 weeks I received a phone call saying a place had become available!! I think many gin and tonics were consumed in that 5 week wait! Happily she is in first year upper school and loving every minute. I do sympathise with the nervous waiting...... But it really is just the start. Good luck to you all.

Hello. Actually I know for a fact that there are 5 being taken onto the AJYD

I met my daughter yesterday in Covent Garden after her first week at Upper School. She is loving being independent and travelling in each day on the tube,she seemed so confident and happy and I thought how lovely being in the hub of things at such a young age....I think she's really going to grow up this next year! She's really enjoying being at Wolf house and fending for herself although I don't know how long this novelty will last! They have broken them in very gently this week with only an hours ballet class each day and I think she's keen to get going.....probably next week will be more full on. They were lucky enough to watch Lauren Cuthbertson and Vadim Muntagirov rehearsing Manon in one of the studios......I confess to being jealous of this!! Today she is meeting her two sisters for breakfast in CG.....one lives up there and the other is modelling for LFW.....and then older daughter and DD are off to the butterfly exhibition at one of the museums. My husband and I will be gardening today!

Yes hubby just been on phone to check what we actually get for our money and your quite right about the buses but DD will be mostly tubing so I think we're ok with what we've got! Phew!

So it wasn't for tube travel then Mel? Was it the zip Oyster card you applied for?

Ha!ha! So funny that this post should be on here as hubby applied for DDs Oyster card yesterday and yes the laptop nearly went out the window several times!! We did put our home address on it though and eventually it went through and we've had confirmation to say that it will be sent to this address.....just hope we've done it correctly! DD blissfully unaware of how stressful it all was as off on another summer school!

Thanks guys. I will continue to post for as long as I have something helpful to say! Xx

Ok.....Here I go......I am a newbie and have been following Ballet co for a while waiting for the right moment to post something. Hope it will be inspiring. My DD auditioned for JAs for year 4 and 5 and basically it was a no both times. We then had a late audition for LJB and she got a place and it opened her eyes to so many things that were lacking at her local dance school....posture, technique etc etc. At the age of 10 after reading all of the Royal ballet school diaries series she decided she really wanted to audition for WL. Although her local ballet teacher didn't feel there was much point in it, I didn't feel at that age I should squash her dreams. So she auditioned and happily got through to the finals! We were so excited to get a day at White Lodge! Did she get offered a place.......no. She got offered a waiting list place! Again we were so excited. After a month we had a phone call to say a place had become available .....we couldn't believe it! ........Long storey short.....after 5 years.....and it hasn't all been easy trust me......injuries, home sickness etc etc ....she has gained a place at upper school and will be starting in September .......she was a finalist in ybdy( the last one!) Basically what I think I'm saying is......don't worry too much about the whole JA thing......children develop at different rates and you never know what's around the corner! Good Luck to you all! Xx