goodtoes

I suppose in my head I was thinking if she could do 4 ballet classes in a week, plus join the conditioning class, that would be ideal. In an ideal world that would be her 2 ISTD grade classes (up until she does her exams anyway), plus one lesson for the grade above, one private lesson (or possibly 2 if she only has one grade lesson) and the lower senior conditioning class. I would prefer to come to some arrangement which means I don't have to move her, but I need to know what I want to ask for before I go in, as I find her teacher quite intimidating and have a tendency to nod and agree with everything she says.

It does help, Chloe - it means that attending 2 grades higher isn't a completely stupid idea!

Yes, she is going to hopefully audition for them next year. I am applying for a place on one of their intensives over the summer for her, too. I think one of my concerns is that I don't really have a clear idea how much dance will really be needed to get her to where she wants to be. I do know that from Jan - March she was doing a LOT of dance (about 15 hours a week - 2 RAD classes, 1 ISTD ballet, 1 festival solo ballet and (sometimes) a private ballet, plus her tap and modern) and she made enormous progress. Since then she has dropped to 3 ballet lessons (2 RAD and 1 ISTD) and the RAD will soon vanish too... Which leaves her... kicking her heels a bit...

Really I can only find Ballet Cymru, and I think she is not old enough for them. I read they are 12+.

Uh - actually, that was quite long. What I really wanted to ask was - how much ballet do you think a child hoping to apply for Vocational School should be doing each week?

What age do ballet cymru take associates from? I read somewhere that it was Year 8 at school - is that right?

Hi. I have posted here before (and on another forum) but it sometimes feels like everything changes but nothing changes... Short story: my daughter is 11 and would like to go to vocational dance school. Her dance teacher is supportive of this, but says she feels she isn't ready yet - specifically she feels she needs to work more on flexibility and to mature emotionally a bit more. Both reasonable points. So we are hoping to look for entry in Year 9, and to spend time preparing in the year and a half before auditions for that. However, the amount of ballet my daughter does fluctuates wildly. She actually dances (temporarily) at two schools - one of which is her academic school (2 lessons a week), and one her dance school (one ballet lesson a week). She will be leaving her academic school at the end of next month, and will not be carrying on lessons with that teacher, as her dance teacher prefers girls to commit to only one teacher, but made an exception because her other lessons were in school. So she will be down to one lesson a week with her dance teacher. Now, I have mentioned this is a concern to her teacher, who has previously offered her private lessons. Which is fine (apart form the cost!) except they keep being cancelled. I think she has had about 4 lessons altogether since they officially started in January. Either her teacher is ill (she has had serious health issues recently, bless her) or the school is preparing for festivals/exams etc and my daughter's private lesson is squeezed out. Even if it ran consistently, I don't feel 2 ballet lessons a week are really enough for her to reach the standard she will need. Now, the teacher has intimated that she may (after this round of exams at the beginning of July) be allowed to join extra classes taught in the school. However, I really wanted some advice about what to ask for in general. I know the plan is that her class are taking ISTD Grade 2 in July (they are very behind - mostly due to aforementioned ill health and stuff) and will go on to Grade 3 and take that by Christmas. Presumably while this happens they will have 2 lessons a week. (As it happens daughter will take her Grade 3 RAD in June with her academic school). As far as I can gather there is no Grade class directly above them - the Grade 4's and 5's are also taking their exams this July, so will become Grade 5 and 6. This means there will not be a Grade 4 class for my daughter to join as an extra class, she will have to either join a grade which is 2 above hers or the grade below hers. The teacher has also previously said that the body conditioning type classes are "for seniors" so I have my doubts about daughter being allowed to join them either. So I guess, what I am asking is, do you think it would be helpful for her to join lessons in a grade below her current grade? Or 2 grades above? Or to push for being allowed entry into the seniors (some of whom are only 1 year older) body conditioning class. How much ballet should she be doing? I am at the stage of becoming a little "you make an effort to offer what we want or we will find someone who does" about it, not least because the teacher at the academic school runs her own ballet only school and has offered my daughter free lessons in the short term and certainly as many lessons a week as she wants in the longer term. And yet, daughter has danced with her actual dance teacher for much MUCH longer, and she is a good teacher and we do feel some loyalty to her. So I would prefer to be able to ask for something reasonable from her current dance school than move her. Congratulations if you follow all that - I am not sure I do!

Thanks, Pictures. Yes, I am in Swansea. If we did take Spooky's advice and apply for a full time place in Year 7 (whilst acknowledging the chances are minute), where could she go? We are not rich, and wouldn't be able to afford it without some sort of bursary... Otherwise, if we go and look at other teachers, I don't actually know what to look for? I know my daughter would like ballet more often than the once a week she has currently - I have been advised that lessons should be longer than she has currently too (I am told as she goes through the grades they should increase to about 2 hours) and that some sort of body conditioning is a good idea too (she does limber once a week - would she need more?). But within the lesson - I don't know enough about ballet to know a good teacher from a bad one, really...

Thank you, Chaperone. I was beginning to worry that my post was so long that nobody would have the will to plough through it! I am beginning to think that might be best for the short term. Maybe get her up to RAD Grade 3, as well as continuing where she is, and then making a decision on what comes next.

Ok, I did make a post earlier, but the more I think about this the more I think I am probably asking the wrong things. I don't know what to do about my daughter's dancing. She has been dancing since she was very small, and has just had her 11th birthday. We have had two major house moves since she started dancing, so she has had to settle into new dance classes twice in that time. For the past 3 years she has danced at a local school which has a very good reputation. As standard she does one 3 hour session a week, comprised of 45 minutes each of ballet, tap, modern and limber. In the run up to a show, festival or exams there are extra lessons on offer, so she often does a lot more than this - for example recently she has been preparing for a festival and doing about 10 and a half hours. However, this is mostly practise for specific dances. Now that the festival has finished she has dropped back down to 3 hours. Now, as I said the school do locally have a very good reputation - they often win medals and awards at festivals, and their dancers/dances do place at the All England Finals. However, the main teacher (and owner) has had a really bad run recently - she has had terrible back problems which didn't respond well to treatment, and then needed surgery. She has sadly followed this up with a bout of pneumonia. This has had a huge impact on how things are going in lessons - particularly with regards to exams and ballet. For example, talking to my daughter she has said that in the last 3 months they have tended not to do their ballet lesson, focussing instead on modern and tap (and song and dance) which were classes the children were entering in the festival. My daughter joined the school at the point of taking her Grade 1 ballet (we had to move house just as her previous school were entering her) and she is still only on ISTD grade 1. She was actually the only child in her class to do a ballet solo this year at the festival (having had a medal the previous year) and whilst she was in the same age group it was clear how very much further other competing children had progressed whilst my daughter, well, hadn't. Which isn't really that surprising if, as my daughter claims, her only ballet in the few months previous had been 6 private lessons with a stand in teacher (who, whilst I am really grateful to her for her efforts, I don't think is actually a ballet teacher. Certainly my daughter was criticised in her solo for "poor placement" - which she says the teacher never even alluded to to her, focussing instead on how she held her hands...). That said, I am reasonably confident that when the main teacher makes a recovery things will get back on an even keel. However, having bored you all rigid with the background to my conundrum, my daughter has expressed an interest in eventually trying out for a "proper" dance school. Her teacher thinks she has the ability for this, but obviously at Grade 1 ballet and Grade 2 tap and modern she is seriously behind other children her age. So it certainly won't be happening this September, but I would like to do all I can to make dance a possible future for her if that is what she wants. I have asked around on another (non dance based) forum, and it has been suggested that the main options are: 1. Enrolling her in an associate programme of some sort. The problem with this is that to start the only local programme I can find info on she will need to hold Grade 3 ballet by September - which will not happen without other action being taken in advance (her school are planning exams for March, but that will be Grade 2). 2. Taking extra lessons at her current school. When I mentioned to them that my daughter was interested in going away to study dance, they said they could make attendance at other classes open to her. Now, on the face of it, this seems ideal. However, this wouldn't happen until they have had a "timetable rethink" after Christmas, and if the timetable stays similar to it's current state, then won't be terribly helpful, as most of the ballet classes run on Saturday (which is when her current class is). If she was doing extra I think another day of the week would be better than turning Saturday into one long dance class. Now it could be that this will work out, but I don't know if I want to rely on it really - it will be another 2 or 3 months before we even see if it is a viable option, which further reduces her chances at reaching a decent standard any time soon. 3. Changing dance schools altogether. I am really reluctant to do this. The simple fact is (and I admit I am biased, etc) I have watched the dancers from the other schools who take part in festivals and the ones within decent travelling distance from us just don't seem very good... I don't like how they choreograph, I don't like the sometimes inappropriate costumes, and I don't like the way most of the mother's interact and talk about our current school. Let us just say there is a LOT of rivalry, and I am not sure I want to go there. There are obviously more schools who don't take part in festivals, but they don't really seem to offer a larger amount of ballet than the current one usually does. - so 1 lesson a week, 2 in the run up to exams. 4. Supplementing her attendance at the current school with RAD lessons at a local ballet only school (who don't do shows or festivals, so no conflicts there!) Sorry this has been so mammoth - I am really not sure where to take this. The only thing else I can think of is asking for private lessons either at her current school (which I suspect would go down like a lead balloon at the moment, what with one thing and another!) or with another ballet teacher, maybe with an aim to getting grade 3 RAD in the next 9 months...

Can you access the Cecchetti associates if you are learning the Imperial syllabus in class? I am not clear from the website... And the ballet cymru website is "undergoing maintenance. But I will keep an eye on that - thank you.

Entirely possible, pictures, since that other forum directed me here!

Hi - I don't know if anyone can help. My daughter does ISTD ballet at a dance school in Swansea. The school only offer 1 lesson a week for children doing pre vocational grades, and for various reasons my daughter (who is 11) wants to do more. So, what are my options, really, to help her, bearing in mind she is very happy at her current school and doesn't want to leave completely (she does tap and modern there too, and she loves the festivals and shows they do). Would her joining a RAD ballet school (which doesn't do festivals or shows, just exam work) be a bad idea? Are there any ballet schools which offer a more comprehensive training pre vocational grades? Are there any "extra" options she could get involved in? I know some areas have Associate schemes etc, but I don't think there is anything like that near here? Does anyone have any ideas?