Hi there! I'm new here and joined with the purpose of asking this question
I'm a male dancer, just turned 18 and am on a dance course with my local college where I study contemporary and ballet with a mixture of Jazz and more commercial dance styles, and the odd urban/street things (an all rounded course really).
I was late getting into dance, at about 15 I joined my first Ballet class and that's where my passion lies...I can get into urban and street style dance if needed for college but I much rather doing contemporary or ballet specifically. I wanted to dance all my life, but financial issues and the fact that whilst growing up the closest dance school was a 45 minute drive away held me back (that plus my father being dead set against me being 'girly' and doing *shock!* ballet!) I kept my passion by watching dance movies, and dance tutorials on Youtube and such and joining in with performing arts workshops in school.
Now my lack of training having only been dancing for about 3 years or so now leads to the fact that I'm not exactly a perfect dancer and I have a lot of flaws in my technique that I try hard to batter out of me everyday. I do work hard in comparison to my the other students in college, as I put in extra time in the studio during lunch and break hours, as well as staying behind after hours.
I've been auditioning for contemporary courses, and have successfully been accepted into a few now...however I wanted to keep my Ballet passion alive, and so took a chance and applied to Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary dance. I never thought I'd even get an audition...but I did and it's on January 27th which isn't too far off now...
It would be my absolute dream to get in, it's the type of school I've wished to be a part of since being a young kid and since finally taking control of my own life and joining dance classes, it's all I've hoped for.
But I'm starting to have doubts...for a number of reasons.
I'm not a Ballet body type, far from it. I'm short, I'm fat. Luckily I have long-ish legs which are strong, but the rest of my body is just...urgh.
I just feel like it might be a waste of the school's time, my time, my money and my self confidence, to audition for somewhere that I may not even stand a chance in. I feel like I have nothing going for me, I don't have the 'look' of a dancer and my technique is in serious need of hard training to get to the level of some of these individuals that have danced all their life.
At the same time though, would I regret not going? And dwell on it all my life?
So I come here with these questions off the top of my head:
- Do Rambert expect a certain higher level of ballet training in their boys and if so, how much?
- Do they look at body types and judge who they want according to that?
I just feel like there's no use in me auditioning somewhere where I may be laughed out the room...but perhaps it's just me overthinking and letting nerves get to me.
Thanks for reading!