PrincessandtheFrog

I wish when I was younger I wouldn't have been so obsessed over body shape and just worked on improving what I could rather than get upset. I also wish I would have stretched more and did strengthening exercises everyday when I was little.

Katymac - as you seem to be the original 'Spreadsheet Queen' maybe you should produce some software to flog to us less organized ballet parents! A Ballet App perhaps where all summer school/audition info etc can be uploaded from one site/cloud (am trying to get with the times here.....  )

If someone on here wins the lottery they could create that app

Don't forget to think about your nutrition... If you're getting a bit breathless I'm wondering if you could be a bit anaemic. Might be worth getting some red meat into your diet, to see if it makes a difference - unless you're vegetarian!

I'm a crazy meat eater, I think I eat way too much!

Thank you everyone for all the tips they are very helpful . For long term the cross and aerobic training will definitely be beneficial. I think before when I was dancing I probably forgot to breathe but Kate_N's tip about planning when to breathe in the dance really helped me not forget to breathe.

Edited for spelling

Thank you Anna C and Kate_N, I tried the tips out in class and they worked because I wasn't as out of breath and I didn't die!

People my age (teenager) who are phone obsessed and define you by your phone and when you are with people but instead of talking to you they just have their head in their phones snap chatting or texting someone else and you think to yourself that they could do that any other time but they can't spend time with real life people all the time.

Makes me feel lonely.....

Next week I've got a performance exam where at one part I have to perform a petit allegro followed by a really long grand allegro then followed by a solo which has lots of big jumps. However after the grand allegro I get really out of breath and I feel I don't perform my solo as well as I could. I notice that out of me and my classmates, I'm the only one who's really out of breath after the grand allegro but I do jump quite high. The ironic thing is that I play the trumpet so I shouldn't be as out of breath. I'm also a bit worried as when you're in exam conditions the nerves make you not breathe as well.

Does anyone have any tips on breathing and stamina?

I have hyper mobile feet and it did delay me walking and when I was little I couldn't even jump down from things because it felt like I was crushing and breaking my feet when I landed as I was in so much pain. However it doesn't hurt as much now. I think that could have been after starting pointe work and the pre-pointe exercises as I think that strengthened my feet up a lot. When I was younger I did see a podiatrists as my ankles rolled in lots but in my opinion the podiatrist didn't do that much, only making me wear expensive orthotics which I didn't think benefited me.

With the foot support personally I'm not sure because a friend who used to go to gymnastics wore a ankle support and it actually made the ankle worse in the long run as it weakened it lots.

My DD has very thick slightly wavy hair which she has 'thinned' regularly at the hairdresser. She has most success with a ballet bun if she has just washed her hair and it is still damp. Otherwise she dampens her hair with a water spray. She also uses a very fine comb (sometimes a nit comb for the wispy bits around her hair line) and lots of gel. She can only use the longest strong hair pins which she ordered from her hairdresser. She bends one side of the pin halfway back on itself, sort of like the tail on a lower case u so that the pin doesn't fall out.

Thanks I shall try this as I have really thick heavy hair and its unmanageable even when it is cut short

In the audition letter it said to wear a leotard but not purple, I always wondered why but I thought it was just the lighting

Should I remove it?

I'm not in any of the pictures, phew!

Yeah I realized that pointe work was easy on Friday and Saturday then on Sunday we were suddenly hit with a load of pointe work.

I made a list of Some of the Many Restaurants in one of the leisure parks:

Chiquitos

Franky and Benny's

Nando s

Coast to Coast

An Italian place which I can't remember the name of

A Thai and Indian place which again I don't remember the name but I haven't been there

And the usual KFC and McDonalds

Hi, I'm a guest and I'm often in a black leotard with a pink elasticated waist belt or sometimes a black skirt. I'm still aching! For me, Saturday was the most painful because I was in pointe shoes for over 5 hours and I couldn't even get up on pointe at the end of the day! I don't know if all the dancing is catching up with me because I was really hungry today, I think I need to eat more because I had a moment when I was really dizzy and my legs were about to give way today but I was alright after I had a hot meal for lunch followed by a big baguette.

Bit off topic but is it just me when you buy a big meal and when you finish it, join the queue and buy another big meal, the dinner ladies at school always give weird looks at you because I always feel awkward buying a hot meal, baguette and maybe a bread roll when I'm starving because it feels like they think you are greedy! (I don't always do this, only when I am starving and got lots of dancing after school!)

I went to talk to my dd's teacher for a private chat about her chances and I am so glad I did. Her teacher is a lovely person who had known my dd since she was five. She loves children and is wonderful with them. However she told me that she was going to talk about my dd with RB eyes. Oh my gosh! Long waisted was where she started and it went downhill from there. She ended up by saying that she didn't even think the RB would take the best dancer in the school. If my dd had heard any of that, it would have destroyed her. I never did tell her exactly what had been said, just that her teacher didn't rate her chances much. "Oh, all right, I'll do drama instead then". I didn't think she really cared that much but we went to see the Moscow City Ballet in March. We absolutely loved it but on our way back to the car park, my ex dd (by now ten years older) said in a small voice "I do wish I been good enough to be a professional dancer". Sometimes ballet breaks my heart.

Aw that's so sad! I wish there was a way of telling if you have the right body and how much chance you've got of succeeding even if your body isn't 'perfect' or there were measurements you could go by to know wether you should go down the ballet path like how long your legs should be etc. unfortunately it's not as straight forward as that.

* not fiddle of a solo I meant middle! I forgot how to edit posts. Arrrgggghhh!!!!

Are you starting vocational school in September? If so,then you obviously have what they are looking for and the fact you are,in your words,behind,is of no concern to the School,or they wouldn`t have offered you a place.!

 

Oh I don't go to a vocational school, I just go to 2 local dance schools. I wish I was at a vocational school though! One can dream...

Uh oh! I'm starting year 9 in September and only just did my Grade 4 exams a few weeks ago. I'm so behind! Luckily one of my teachers is letting me stay after my normal class for the intermediate class.

I now go to two dance schools, one is ISTD and one is Russian. In my last ISTD exam which I got my results back, I think about a year ago, I got a merit with 79 marks (although I did trip up and had a coughing fit in the fiddle of a solo Lol ) however in my most recent Russian ballet exam I got 91 marks and got distinction. There was also a medal exam in the Russian ballet which was just a couple of months before my grade exam where every one in the class got eighty something however in my ISTD class when we have exams we all get in the sixties or seventies and distinctions are rare. It could be the people in my class or the teaching or the exam board. Although still awaiting the results for the ISTD exam which I did a week after the Russian exam but to compare wouldn't be accurate because I was ill on the day of the ISTD exam and the examiner was a bit funny. Hope who ever is reading this is still following its a bit confusing! Well done for your DD getting a distinction Primaballerina1!

Hi everyone I've got a question about GCSE Dance,

So it is a while away but in January I got to choose my options and I was wondering what are the benefits of having a dance GCSE. I'm confused because you would need a science degree to become a doctor so you can get into university but for dance I thought that it would be more of an audition for entry instead. I'm just a little confused on what a dance gcse could lead on to or do you have to have it for certain dance courses?

If anyone could enlighten me that would be very helpful! Many thanks.

I'm super happy and really surprised!!:') I was 42 wearing a light blue leotard:') what number were you??

I was no. 6 and I was wearing a black leotard which crosses at the back and a pink elastic waist band

Thank you for this website it has really helped me!

I got an email today offering me a place!! I really didn't expect it tbh, but im really excited!! <3

Congratulations! You must be really happy! Hopefully I'll see you on casting day What number were you at the audition because I might have seen you

I was a bit nervous because I am quite a low grade as I haven't even done my grade 4 exam yet and if I was younger by a month I could have been in the junior audition. It turned out alright though!