Balletgirlsplease

No for mids for my Dd. And northern associates. She is fortunately not too disappointed.

No for my Dd for mids. She is not too disappointed as with starting secondary this September we were starting to wonder how she would fit everything in! Good luck to those still waiting.

Wow that's great!! I wonder if our letter will come today?

Fingers crossed. The two that went to WL are both lovely dancers. It's a lovely class there.

Just watched an episode on you tube. I have never seen such awful treatment of children by their own mothers and their teacher. Parents criticising other mothers and children infront of their kids. It is car crash though! You do want to watch more but I can't quite believe what I'm seeing! It's almost child abuse!!

To be fair most of those auditioning for WL also auditioned for mids and it was the same price whether you auditioned for both, got a call back to finals, or not or only auditioned for mids. Is your granddaughter a JA at Leeds with my Dd? Quite a few children only auditioned for mids there.

When we did JA letters the yes and nos came at the same time. I know because we had one if each arrive together! ;(

 

BGP, that's great to hear, it mirroors our experience almost exactly! There are some great, supportive teachers out there!

Thanks so much got letting me know that!! It's lovely isn't it!! I could whip my daughter out of the school and send her to a purely ballet school but I'd never get wht we get now, she'd be devastated and it would put a real downer on her dancing. And what for?? She has never mentioned being a dancer as a career so we are keeping our feet firmly on the ground. It is really easy to see how you do get an inferiority complex!!!

 

One very happy DD received a YES on Friday for the Bristol Mids. We hadn't applied for White Lodge so were very pleased to have been offered a place to train with the fantastic Ms Paisey.

Fabulous!!!!

As a teacher I have plenty of 11 year olds at grade 3 level (in terms of working for an exam) and my own ds at aged 10 had only just passed grade 2 when he got into JAS. (Subsequently went into full time training at 11 and is now professional). And my ds is not the exception- the only "big" school I've never had a pupil at is Elmhurst . (No ones actually auditioned there though!)

 

I am very wary when I hear of youngster already in "higher" grades whilst barely out of primary school as very often it means that they have only been taught the required work in a syllabus to pass an exam at a particular level thus restricting their vocabulary and all round ability to dance. Likewise I'd be concerned if the reason why a child was still working at a "lower" grade was just because the teacher wants everything to be just so and is only working on steps in that particular grade

 

Luckily most of the syllabus teachers,( like myself) that I know and work with are very aware that dance training requires so much more than just churning children throuh exams- the reason why some of our students are, on paper at least. at "lower" grades is because of a variety of reasons, the transition of old to new syllabus exams, the fact that we do big shows and also the fact that we do not start syllabus work on the next stage straight away.

 

Clara it sounds as if you have a very sensible dd and its really good that you've recognised your own very natural parental concerns- yout dd is very lucky to have a parent who will be realistic about the whole dancing journey and of course as an ex dancer yoursel you will know whether the teaching she is getting is a high standard that she is enjoying- far more important than the number of the grade she is at.

That's good to hear! My Dd's syllabus has recently changed and her class weren't ready to do her grade 2 when they were going to so they are doing it later this year. Her school also does festivals and an annual show so they get a different type of experience than exams. I had a discussion with my daughters dance teacher about her progression in ballet when she got into JA's and she has since let her join in with a grade 3 ballet class (at no charge) and really focused on her ballet in her private lesson. So her exam level isn't a true reflection of her technical ability. And her teacher who is a really good teacher in my opinion, cares about my daughter as a whole person sorting out some worries she was having about friendship groups and having her in on a Sunday for extra lessons at no charge on her day off! She also has my other daughter on a Saturday (as a 'helper') so she doesn't miss her classes which start whilst we are at my other daughters JA's. I'm not sure any other dance school would have been so supportive of us as a family and my Dd as a dancer!!!

We love our "performing arts" school and wouldn't change for the world! My dd doesn't want to do ballet for a career, maybe dance of some form or musical theatre. At the moment she wants to be a doctor. We will enjoy her dancing opportunities and life skills it teaches her as long as she is enjoying herself and it doesn't take over!

Well it was very bad in Sheffield yesterday. We had 8 inches and both passes were shut. There is no way we could've made it to Centre Pointe yesterday!

Out of interest does anyone know if the Manchester Mids class was on yesterday with the bad weather? We had 8 inches of snow in Sheffield and had to train to Leeds. If we were on mids and the weather was as it was yesterday we wouldn't have made it as both the Woodhead Pass and Snake Pass were closed. And because of the location of the Manchester class it doesn't look like getting the train would be an option. I wonder just how many we would be forced to miss because of travel and bad weather!

When I took my then 7 year old to a JA for a day at RBD Covent garden a little girl put her hand up at the question and answer session and asked if JA's did pointe. She was told 'no they don't' she proudly announced that she did. Since she wasn't a current JA and was going to audition she couldn't have been any older than 9 and certainly didn't look the standard to be doing point work. There was an audible intake of breathe when she said this but the lady handled her questions very tactfully!!

Went to our JA class in Leeds today and no one has heard anything yet about mids! Mind you we have had 8 inches of snow in Sheffield so the postman won't be delivering anyway!

Hi my dd is 11 and grade 2 in ballet but got a place as a Junior Associate last year with the Royal Ballet School which was a huge surprise to us. She is quite a way behind most of her other JA's in her year 6 class but she certainly gives it her all and loves every minute of it! I do worry that she doesn't do enough ballet or that she isn't a high enough standard but I think it doesn't really matter if they are enjoying what they do and making an improvement. There will always be someone whose dd went on pointe before anyone else and those that have done higher grades but it is getting a good grounding and correct technique that is important rather than racing through the grades. The other life skills my dd is learning are more important such as learning a skill, being disciplined to practice, accepting life's knock backs and learning that you aren't necessarily the best at something. The last thing I would want is for her to churn out the grades too quickly and her technique suffer and then the enjoyment of dancing be lost. If its true that Darcey Bussell started dancing at 13 then if its meant be that they have a career in dance they will! Does she take any other styles of dancing at the moment?

Discouraged has your DD got a place yet?

Our yes ones for JA's were exactly the same as the no's (we had one of each for sisters at the same time) so I imagine just small ones the same. They said further details to follow once accepted the place.

 

It a yes for my DD for London SA's yeah!! I am so very excited and happy for her. We really didn't expect to hear until next week!!

Brilliant!

Yes he lodged in one of those houses where the attic has about 8 kids in! Lol! He got breakfast and a pack up if I remember right. He was quite a young 16 and had never been away from home but he loved it there. He goes back and teaches there now.

And he was offered a place at Performers and Northern Ballet. But got a full scholarship from Miss Laine so the decision was easy!

 

My DD is Birmingham JA and didn't get finals for white lodge and didn't get elmhurst place either so wasn't expecting this

Well that just shows they don't have to go to finals to get a mids place!! We are waiting on Manchester but live in Sheffield. There is thick snow here so no post at all!

Yes School for stars. You do wonder if she could've waited until 16 if it meant sacrificing so much. Did she not get a bursary then?

 

That's brilliant well done to you DD Angel. Yes my ds did go to white lodge finals but children do get places if you only tick MA. Letter was addressed to me

What centre is his mids place for? I presume London?

 

Are the letters adresswd to the children or parents? I have come home to find a card from the post office to say that there is a packet adressed to my daughter that was too big for the letter box. of course I can't collect it till tomorrow, annoying 24 hour rule!

I'm pretty sure if its like the jA's that its addresses to the parent of. And it'll go through the letter box! Unless you have a really small one!! I haven't had a letter yet today and a friend waiting has had her post and it wasn't there!

We were told not to tick it if we didn't want full time training as it wouldn't affect the mids places. Obviously a large majority may have been to finals as they are the kids who are off a standard needed but we were reassured that some that go to WL finals that don't get mids and some that don't go to finals that do! Despite the rumours! Fingers crossed!!