anondancer_15

It sounds as though anon may need to do a lot of supplementation of dance to maintain fitness and develop for auditioning after? Could be expensive?

what do you mean by this?

if i were to audition unsuccessfully a second time, i would continue my degree where i am and maybe re-evaluate my career choices and go into something more community based or on a smaller scale as suggested above. i don't think there's anything wrong with that, i think that uni and this course is really good for opening minds to other dance careers which i'm very happy to consider and look into if i don't get into vocational (or even if i do) as of course my eventual goal is to work in the industry even if it's not performance based work! 

I agree Kate but if anondancer_15 is unfortunately not accepted to vocational training then she needs to think carefully what her 2nd choice is.

 

I get the impression she may have fallen into the dance degree a bit but it isn't necessarily an automatic second choice for someone who wanted a vocational training. ...

 

It has been discussed extensively how different a dance degree is to vocational training.

what is a second choice for someone who wanted vocational training? 

that is exactly me, i only applied for uni because my school pushed it like it was the only option after a levels, and my dance teachers pushed it as a back up to not getting into vocational training and as an alternative way to still receive regular technique training etc. to me university is a second best, it was something to fall back on. 

Maybe instead of using the money to reaudition at this stage perhaps spend the money on extra classes, associate courses, workshops and holiday courses for the next year and reapply after two years as somebody suggested above? Rather than worry about what you are missing at a vocational school try to focus on what your current course can offer you ( often "the grass seems greener elsewhere" but it may seem like it and then not actually be the case). Plus a degree opens many doors and there are some fantastic MAs on offer (I know because I have been researching for DD!)

 

Be careful of giving something concrete up for some "chance", I would think very carefully about taking that step!

DRSC

thanks for this advice, i'm trying to think about every option possible hence i came over here to hear all of your lovely opinions and i'm certainly not going to rush into making any decisions! thank you all  

Very tricky. Did you get any feedback at all on why you didn't get finals, anondancer? Would you be able to analyse your audition performance compared to the other candidates; i.e. were you all at the same level, did you all have similar physique? I know the advice is always to concentrate on your own dancing and not get drawn into looking at the other dancers, but we're all human and I'm sure everyone looks at the "competition" from time to time.

 

If you can look back objectively and find any reasons why other dancers may have got finals, is there anything that you have changed or improved upon in the last year that gives you confidence that you'd get finals this year? That's sometimes difficult to pinpoint, so could you perhaps have a private lesson with your former teacher and ask her for her honest opinion?

 

For the price of travelling to an audition and the audition fee, it might be worth getting a second opinion on your chances of getting finals this time, or whether it would be better to wait until you've completed two years then apply for a completion year elsewhere.

i hadn't thought about going for a completion year elsewhere tbh! 

in terms of how i felt the auditions went last year, i didn't feel that my ability was miles below everyone else's, i genuinely felt like pretty much everyone was at the same level but obviously there are multiple audition dates for each place and i only know what i saw in my groups, i also don't know who got through out of the people i was with. i think this year i've just gained more performance experience, more technique classes etc and supposedly gaining a place on a uni course and completing a year of that looks better? i think my physique needs some work tbh but again is probably slightly improved since this time last year just through the amount of dance work i was doing! 

on another note, one of my teachers gave a bit of a speech today as we've had quite a few people drop out of the course already, and that kind of gave me motivation to stick it out here and see if it's just a case of getting used to working in a different way to what i was doing before i came here. the course here is supposed to be one of the best in the country and i did pick here over the other uni courses i was offered a place on. but at the same time i obviously don't want to force myself to stay here because i feel obliged to when i'm paying so much money to be here, there's no point if it's not going to get me to where i want to be by the end of it.

How many hours of actual dance training are you getting each day?

i have a 1.5 hour technique class monday-thursday. these are lead by a different teacher every day and therefore vary in style and intensity. on fridays i have a 3 hour 'choreography' workshop which isn't really involving that much movement at the moment to be honest, though i am assuming that eventually we will be making choreography in that session and will therefore become more active

What do you have to lose by trying again? Assuming you can afford it. You may regret it if you don't try again and it needs to be sooner rather than later I would think.

 

Just my opinion....

i can afford it at a push if i think of it as more workshops and a learning experience to get something out of either way but it's not exactly cheap! on one hand i'd regret it if i don't try again but if i try again and fail again i'll be even less motivated to come back here i think? or more determined to make more out of this course? i'm not sure!

all opinions welcome:') 

Anon_dancer 15 it's very tricky. Where did you apply for vocational last year and how did you get on?

i did london contemporary, laban, northern and london studio centre. if i were to do it again i'd probably leave out london studio centre - i absolutely loved them all and the auditions kinda confirmed for me that that's what i wanted to do and that's where i wanted to go and spend 3 years. i didn't even get any recalls though :/ i spoke to my dance teacher about it at the time and she was adamant i should just go to uni and then reapply. kind of wish i'd deferred uni and took a gap year, reapplied this year and failing that then gone to uni.....

it's so so so hard 

bringing this back again, a few weeks in now! only one more week until we have a week 'off' (no classes but still things to be getting on with but a chance to go back home for a few days etc)

i'm now getting more of a feel for the course, i've got more to be doing with free time when not in practical classes or lectures (probably should be doing some reading right now but this forum is very distracting) but i'm still not entirely convinced. i'm still thinking about reapplying and i really don't know whether to just let it go and stick it out here or to start looking at audition dates. 

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh

this is the one i have and i love it, though you may be able to find cheaper than this, if you just search 'foam roller' on amazon quite a selection come up! https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00PR7DCIS?psc=1 

i would also recommend trigger point pilates.

i believe you can also get them in tkmaxx  

i completely forgot this was happening so thank you for posting, there goes my plans to be productive for the rest of the day!

this looks like such a good course, hope it is still running in the future as i would definitely consider this  

this sounds amazing, can't make these dates though or afford it at the moment unfortunately! will there be any more in the future? also i am 18 and just started my first year of a dance course at uni, are these workshops still be beneficial to me? 

this sounds so good why do i have to be such a poor student 

Yes finally worked that out re Laban! Then the others seem to belong to UCAS dance and drama conservatoire. With DD also wanting to apply to Bird who seem to use the general UCAS form, it means an awful lot of individual applications and especially personal statements! Taking a huge chunk of our time at present. Just got London Contemporary and London Studio Centre completed. Constantly aware of most applications being open, and trying to ensure an audition place!

i remember it all so well, insane how much time it takes up! generally you can have one personal statement draft and then slightly edit it depending on what each place wants! good luck with it all. 

I hope you enjoy Graham's classes. I personally think he's amazing and his wife is lovely!

i'm going to jazz and ballet on a free trial so i'm excited to try them out:') and he's said i can go along to the associates as well but not sure i'll be able to make that or not yet, let alone afford it if i got a place!

well i joined the university leisure centre yesterday so can swim, go to the well equipped gym and attend as many fitness classes as i please, which i'm sure will whip me into shape. i've also contacted all the local dance schools and trying a number of classes this week to see if any of them are worth attending regularly, just got to hope i get my student loan through soon! 

the studios are available to book (not sure if there's any specific rules about that though) and we get an extra 20-30mins in the space before/after our classes that aren't included in the 'formal' taught part of the class, so that will be useful as well. 

i kinda just feel that the classes i was doing in my free time before i started here, so for the last 2-3 years in particular, were just of such a high standard and quality and gave me so many opportunities, i was so lucky with all the teachers i came in contact with, that anything even marginally less than that seems a bit average!

so this week i'm going to dupont, graham fletcher's classes at studio 79 and the grace school of dance... have also emailed addict! hopefully at one of these will be worth my time/money :') thank you all for the help!

Finding the UCAS conservatoires system confusing, grateful if anyone could clarify! My understanding is that Laban, Northern Contemporary, London Contemporary and Rambert are all part of it? Yet London and Rambert definitely seem to have their own direct applications, Laban use the Conservatoire application and Northern doesn't say at present? London Studio Centre then seem to be totally separate from all this!

Thanks

Out of the above, Laban is the only one you apply through UCAS conservatoires for, the others all have their own applications which are easily found on their websites. London Studio Centre also has it's own application process on their website, they are like a halfway house between a conservatoire and university. Hope this helps!

my son is at addict dance academy in leicester which is connected to teh uni, he specialises in commercial and goes to loads of classes of an eveing too, what type of dance are you looking for he may well know of a few good places or know people who do

I'll give addict a search! I guess I'm mainly looking for ballet and contemporary however I love a bit of jazz and am really open to trying new styles so anything really! If there's one place that offers everything that's a bonus

I saw this school in Leicester recommended on another forum, it looks fantastic and they do adult classes

http://www.dupontdance.com/Dupont_Dance/home.html

 

My daughter is in her second year at DMU, she loves Leicester. Hope you're enjoying uni so far.

I'm giving dupont a call tomorrow as have been recommended them on a number of occassions now! 

is your daughter studying dance here too?

There may be a local dance school who would like an extra assistant in the class to help with the little ones in the afternoons. It would give you some experience of helping to teach, always a good thing to have another string to your bow.

This would be perfect, I've done lots of that back at home so already have experience doing it, any ideas how I'd go about finding them?

Thank you I will look into all of those

my email is laurenhollieash@outlook.com if you could send me photos of whatever you have left please

Hi, I've just started uni in Leicester and just wondered if anyone knew the area and knew of any dance opportunities; drop in classes, associates, performance opportunities, youth dance companies, adult companies (I'm 18 so kinda can get into both atm), training schemes etc... 

Anything in or around the centre of Leicester would be wonderful, or even close by such as Nottingham as I know that's only one stop on the train!

Thanks

I applied last year to the place, laban, northern, london studio centre, and universities - middlesex, edge hill, de montfort and manchester college! if you have any questions about the process or my experience at all then PM me i'd be happy to help answer anything