Peanut68

And another area to look at is how the MDS/DaDa money is being spent. Are the taxpayers getting value for money & ROI? Also to know how it is potentially used as a bargaining chip to get/lose students in schools - again, speaking from my family’s own personal experience here.

I was rather intrigued to see the added role of CEO….& this last year does seem to have seen a huge uplift in the seemingly ‘commercial’ side & exploits of RBS - merchandise widely advertised for sale (beyond just by PTA at open days etc as used to be more the norm) plus added online pay to view courses, added non selective day courses, added sign up to teach opportunities such as affiliate program….all money earners…. No bad thing to subsidise UK dancer (well…???) training….If this aids the taxpayer from being relied so heavily upon or plugs shortfall of philanthropic gifts that todays times bring or means less reliance on taking overseas sponsorship aimed at championing specific country students…. No, wait, I think that also is a more recent add on….hmmm 🤔 I personally feel that any educational establishment in the arts such as dance should have 2 separate leads - one for Artistic management & one for ‘running the business’ elements. Perhaps this duel role is partly to blame for reports of (& personal experience of) facts that the AD rarely is seen at UK auditions for the school & for seemingly to not be as personally in tune with (like knowing names of) their students? I once worked for a business membership body that was a registered charity which then had a whole new separate arm called ‘xxx Enterprises’. So, whilst the members all felt cosy that we were a charity & all for their benefit, trust me the ‘Enterprises’ side was very much run along purely commercial money-making lines (with salaries & performance related pay in line with purely commercial ventures). So, yes, profits no doubt were then solely for the ‘charity’ but the Enterprises ‘wrapper’ as I saw it then allowed for much more money to be siphoned off into salaries & business costs (offices etc). Not necessarily a bad thing may one deduce but it could very much angle individuals focus (I speak as one from a sales team so yes, I confess my main goal was in getting my very generous commission from every achieved sales target! And having the wholesome link to the ‘charity’ & it’s roots/connections/kudos did make selling services (often ones available from the purely commercial sector too) that much ‘easier’ in my personal opinion & from my personal experience. I did note a few years ago now that the RAD all of a sudden has RAD Enterprises alongside the charity membership & education body which seemed to take over many of what I guess are the purely money-making things such as merchandise/book sales etc. to make clear I have no personal experience of RAD beyond that of student/parent/ & (expired) membership.

A second series - yes pkease! Surely it’s a no brainier… with Darcey at the helm!

Quite a few wishing our own hubbies could be so amazingly thoughtful & generous with effort/time/funds too! Hero Husband of the Year to you! Very well deserved x

How refreshing to hear of a true 'Open' Audition where you can rock up & give it a go! Sadly rather an expensive & long journey to get there for UK dancers of course....!

I have only ever referred to experiences of my own, my dancing offspring & our family. Where I may have used ambiguous terminology this was only intended to protect offspring & to not name names as they would not wish that. As Ruby Foo states for her offspring - step too far at this point though one maybe that will be taken in the future.

Exactly this. Plus the ace card of schools to not continue funding. Pupils are very much aware of this & are even advised by school employees that this could be an outcome of a situation. This is fact from personal experience.

I am sure I am perhaps not the only person who on this thread or others have had comments blocked as they appeared to not adhere to rules… however, it is very difficult to share personal experiences of offspring when details of those very experiences could identify them explicitly - particularly as there could be elements of abuse and teacher/school bad practise unique to their ‘story’ that their dancing peers of parents or indeed the teachers/schools themselves could recognise & thus know who’s parent is ‘speaking out’. And this in turn is a great example of the air of fear that can follow one even after leaving a school. Perhaps if said offspring had left the whole ballet world behind I would be emboldened to speak up with precise details as I know them to be factual but there is still that shameful fear that those who said they could ‘make them’ & open doors to a career could still - as the unsaid but very much omnipresent subtext at the time implied - break them. So, for the sake of not jeopardising their potential career I have attempted to keep unidentifiable but it does not mean my comments are any less true, any less worthy of sharing. I feel sad that I’m unable to join openly those who can ‘stand up & be counted’ & even more sad that on a ‘safe space’ forum like this I am still unable to share anonymously. (I find it difficult to understand how if one states it’s from a true personal direct experience it is not permissible… surely if names of schools/individuals are withheld then nothing litigious befalls the forum?) Silence is the enemy of justice but my experience of whistle blowing ended with the old adage of ‘shoot the messenger’ And again here I sadly feel silenced & perhaps others may likewise feel unable to share. And this perpetuates the problem & perhaps hides the true volume of experiences that would be shared? I applaud those brave individuals openly sharing with names & details that can be fact checked…. I note mostly they seem to be talking post leaving the industry….I’d be interested how many more could echo their stories from their own experiences but who don’t because they are still within the dance world & thus feel it safer to stay silent.

Ha - back in their day, my dancer wouldn’t audition for Rambert as they felt they didn’t look contemporary enough!! But as they say you have to be in it to win it so congrats to your DD on getting out there & also for already having 2 fantastic offers - great achievement! (Only heard good things about both places but no direct experience to offer insights but I’m sure others on here will)

Can I ask if you assess if the post can be reinstated? ie. fact check with the poster? Am interested to know - thank you

I don’t have personal dance experience myself (younger offspring have….high quality teaching, great facilities) Were I local to there I’d definitely give them a go as get the feeling lessons will be high quality & cater to all levels - good luck! Think they also do adult performances (of dance…. That sounded like it could be misinterpreted 😱😂)

Vyne Academy in Berkhamsted offer lots of adult opportunities & Berko is on the train line that goes to Euston https://vynearts.co.uk/dance/

I guess I do suffer with poor connection often (always when I have something I really want to watch!) A price for rural living!

Thank you! Is there any footage of this to watch out there?

I used it to watch the livestream of Fonteyn comp & it constantly froze or buffered so I missed big chunks - very stop/start. I was only watching on the ‘free to view’ basis not subscribed (so that might have meant I got inferior service) but it made me wary to use again & even more wary to pay….

I guess I rather niaively imagined a better than home use camcorder plonked on a cushion in the best seat in the house ha ha… guess it is rather more complex just as you so accurately explain! Also, I’d be wary of too much being filmed for fear a whole trench of audience may gradually disappear from theatres or newcomers never arrive

Slightly off topic - my apologies - but I’m interested to know the ‘copyright’ associated with ballets (the choreography, the music, the dramaturg & staging etc) and anything associated in gaining the rights to use a certain ballet or piece of music or story…? How does one find out about this type of stuff?

That should have read as seeing the RB screening (as am pretty sure there will be a live transmission of SL from the ROH) Does ENB ever get filmed & screened or streamed too?

Ah yes - good idea! I too will take advantage of opportunity to still see EB via cinema screening (nor really am ‘in stead of ROH ticket purchase’ - more an additional sale)

How many Nutcracker versions does ENB ‘rotate’ & which are they? I recall seeing photos/clips years ago of a version (maybe ENB?) where the land of sweets had images of a dancer leaping out of a giant fridge…. But have never seen again or worked out what/where/who company was etc…. Or was I having my own sugar-rush dream???

Is it heading further South at all?

Well that’s decided me….I’ll give RB’s SL a miss in favour of seeing this! (sorry RB..)

Rather laughable isn’t it I say ‘shortage’…. One thought of course is that the shortage refers to filling male dance positions not of course sex discrimination would prevent stating that & so by opening up to gain enough male dancers actually also opens the door to hiring international female identifying also. And I guess who can blame a director for taking the best on offer…& let’s face it, international training seems to create more advanced & with very polished solo presentation skills (often gained through doing the comp route) And it’s this high standard & skilful solos that come across well in videos to get selected to audition…. So again, some are disadvantaged as don’t have opportunity to train in same manner (& it could be deemed illegal here as we expect academic education far longer than seems ok for some overseas training). I do also wonder though how well a dancer with supersonic skills dancing principal level solos at comps can ever settle into being just 3rd from left, back row of corps de ballet in the classics for maybe years on end?

Think you need to place this post in main doing dance thread…. Look at CAT scheme based at Northern Ballet in Leeds plus I think Chantry Dance in Grantham