Pointe-less

I've just dropped her a quick message and she said that when her dd got offered a place in year 8 the letter did say that audition dates for MDS recall audition would be sent out upon receipt of registration fee.....so maybe they have changed their offer letter and removed the mention of funding recall?? I would call the school and ask. Hope this helps

My friends dd has been offered a place for a higher year and she received no info on MDS either but had assumed that it was because the older ones don't get recalled to funding audition, but maybe they don't give info to anyone before receiving the deposit and financial statement??

Congratulations to your dd mummy twinkle toes, if you don't mind me asking what year is your dd applying for?

Hmm this us getting confusing ????

Maybe the principal got her numbers mixed up then?? Could be very misleading/confusing for those at the audition yesterday!!

......unless the error is mine and I've misheard the figures?? Was anybody at the audition yesterday that could confirm??

Hammond audition were told yesterday by the principle that cut off was £250k for MDS unlike Dada which she said was £90k.

It wasn't just for year 7's, My friends dd auditioned today and they tell me there was a mix of years 7,8,9 and 10 boys and girls. Good luck to all ????

How lovely!, Well done ROH staff you have revived my faith in humanity, people do still care about one another after all!

I have no idea what she said and I doubt very much that she was singled out for having a northern accent however the issue around fee paying schools, vocational schools is not so much about class but I do feel is certainly affected by money. Generally a child that lives in a more affluent family situation gets an advantage from the get go, which then does give them greater advantages later on. A struggling family is less likey to be able to afford to send their children to dance classes. Children from more affluent back grounds are more likely to get "good quality" dance training on a more regular basis so regardless of any natural ability will have more opportunity to have the training needed to achieve a higher standard than their less well off peers, less well off families are not as likely to encourage their children to audition at vocational school because of the cost as well as because this may not be something that they feel, rightly or wrongly, is open to them. The dance school my DD attends is very good but you pay higher rates than other dance schools. Private lessons are incredibly expensive regardless of how excellent the teaching is. Since my daughter has been dancing Ive watched several children go down the vocational route, not one of them came from a low income family, all of them had several scheduled ballet lessons a week and in some cases two or three hours of private lessons. I know there are exceptions to this and occasionally you will get a child that has amazing natural ability and will be offered bursary's etc but this is not the majority experience. I dont agree with Cherly (even though I havent actually read what she has said verbatim) and i know there are always exceptions to the rule but I do think that much of the arts, ballet especially, is an elitist activity and by definition excludes certain groups in society. Take for example the recent EYB Cindarella dreams, the advert said, "open to children of all abilitys from around the midlands" or something like that, the reality was, it was open to all children from around the midlands who's parents could afford the £500 plus fee. To me that clearly says that on the whole ballet is more of a middle class vocation. Anyway, sorry for going off topic and I might sound like it but Im not ranting I would be really interested in your views on this as I do sometimes think (not necessarily on this forum) but as a topic this can sometimes be a bit of an Elephant in the corner.

Definitely the elephant in the room!! But I couldn't agree more!! I have posted on the forum before with regards to a friend of mine who's dd had made finals and even got offered an unfunded place but never managed to snag an mds, she is from a low income family and they really struggle to afford her dance lessons, she doesn't have privates, can't afford to take exams and paying for auditions with travel and overnight accommodations often leaves them short and my friend feels that it is their lack of income which has held her dd back. I believe I may have even wrote before that she once told me that the whole ballet system is still favourable to those with more money as you have to be pretty special to secure a mds so unless you are a naturally gifted dancer then in reality you need to be able to afford good quality lessons and as much training as possible to reach a level worthy of gaining funding which just isn't at all achievable on a low income, so instantly you are a disadvantage if your parents have low incomes. Obviously this isn't always the case but based on people we both know with mds places it also isn't too far from the truth either. And all that is not to say that children from low income families can't gain mds places and im sure they do, but she believes that low income families are at a disadvantage. Oh and another thing she mentioned was after dd being offered a place at Hammond she had to pay something like £150 deposit to accept her place at the funding audition, which she felt was totally unreasonable as she was applying for funding because she couldn't afford the fees and so to be expected to find £150 at such short notice was ridiculous, something else that might put low income families off auditioning in the first place!

Staying with the theme of exaggeration, I wonder if anyone has noticed some dance schools exaggerating their own teaching ie dance teachers calling themselves experts, specialists, calling their classes master classes etc. Ive seen this a lot lately and with some of the teachers I don't know what their credentials are, but I am aware of a few and whilst I'm sure they are great teachers in their own right I do find them giving them selves titles like this very strange not to mention being very economical with the truth. In any other profession you have to have specific experience and credentials to call yourself a specialist but it seems in dance that anyone can claim this. Has anyone else noticed this or am I just a mean, cynical dance Mummy?

And here was me thinking I was the only one to notice the "masterclass" epidemic

I don't think festival or exam marks hold much weight in terms of truly rating a child's potential. I have a friend who's daughter consistently scored high 70's to low 80's in her exams and low to mid 80's at festivals, and was often beaten by her friends scoring high 80's to low 90's, yet she had multiply vocational school offers for both year 7 and 8 with funding auditions and a bursary offer whilst none of said friends got a single offer!! Don't ask me why or how but they obviously liked my friends dd, so after that I realised that vocational schools obviously just want what they want and that's not necessarily a high scoring festival/exam dancer?!

I don't think the MDS is strictly for Classical ballet anymore as I'm sure when I last read the requirements on the MDS website it says " dance" where it used to say "classical ballet" happy to be corrected though .

Usually everyone who attends finals will be offered a bursary if not successful in bagging an MDS.

Oh ok that's interesting to know thank you Hairbelles!

Another question, sorry!! But does anyone know what the older years do whilst year 7&8 are doing the NVR test on audition day? As on website it only says the test is for the year 7&8 so that would leave an hour for the year 9&10's with nothing tI do? Thanks

I was told that they are given scores for each part of their audition, both at prelims & the funding final. There are some children who perform better at prelims than finals & vice versa. I don't know if the different sections are weighted differently though. I would guess that the ballet class has a higher weighting but that is just a guess.

 

A list is then made from the highest to the lowest aggregated scores & MDS are given out like that.

This makes sense, so the highest overall scores get the MDS, but maybe not so good for someone who scored really high in one area but not so high in others? There is so much to take in when it comes to vocational schools and auditions haha

Oh how naive of me but I didn't know that MDS was based on Classical!! Based on this can I ask what solo have people's DC done?? Is ballet the way to go?? My DD is just a hobby dancer but with having a few friends and family apply for the big 4 year in year out it has made her consider whether she should take things more serious!!

Hello Pointe-less,

It's not too bad..

I think the MDS is quite generous really. It does cover slightly different things at each of the four schools.

I have found additional costs have been:

Pocket money, as they need to buy more for themselves than they would if they lived at home. For instance they may run out of toiletries, need fruit/snacks/batteries/stuff to decorate room at halloween, Christmas ect, all sorts you wouldn’t think of.

Cost of travelling to pick them up/ trains I hadn’t really thought too much about this before DD went but when you add it up ekkk.

Days off work to pick them up/parents eve/performances ( I have used a lot of holiday up doing this or had to take slight salary sacrifice some months) This is probably the biggest extra for me

Set up costs, bedding, school uniform which I think is very reasonable/ boarding clothes/ extra hair-dryer etc/ ( Although once initial shop had been done not so bad to top up)

Postage - they forget all sorts and NEED? XYZ so in the post it goes. I know all the rates of postage! Some parents send nice things to their children - I am not great at this - will try harder.

We ran out of our allocated ballet equipment budget. You may be Ok if you are a boy. But with pointe shoes we couldn’t stick to it. It is nice to have that though!

Taxis if they need early class or doctors

Mobile phone contract with data ( she would of had a very basic one if she was at home but they have only just got wifi in the boarding house and it is unreliable, so this was needed.

Very modest amount for trips from the boarding house

Birthday and Christmas presents for other children

Optional trips ie France.

Optional extra classes, music theory, extra instrument

Rad exams and health insurance is included with MDS as is one music lesson, there is an excess though.

I have probably forgotten some things, I am sure others will add. I have however saved lots of money on ballet lessons! I put that towards the petrol.

Wow snape that is a great help thank you, can I ask what year your dd is in? Also when do they start pointe and do you know what sort of level they need to be for a year 9 entry? Are they still looking for potential or is it more ability by then? Thank you again for your reply!!

Not sure if this has already been covered in a different thread or not but I was wondering if anyone could shed some light onto additional costs when accepting an MDS funded place at The Hammond? I don't mean the parental contribution as I understand that this is personal to ones circumstances, but anything and everything else that anyone can think of would be a great help to try and shed some light on the true cost of having a child at vocational school! Thank you

Only Y7 and Y8 go to funding. They review Y9 and 10 on video. My dd was applying for Y10 and we felt there was no chance but she got MDS so it does happen....

Thank you sarahw and congratulations to your dd, what an achievement!!

Does anyone have any idea on what the likelihood of a funded year 9 place at The Hammond is like, also been told that year 9's don't get invited to funding audition, is this true? And if so does anyone know why that is?

Sorry if a daft question but how/when do you use these foam rollers?

The girl I know who attended the scheme used to travel weekly from Stoke on Trent on the train. There were sometimes workshops in the holidays too.

Thanks pictures

My dd did Birmingham CAT a few years ago - it was all day Sundays , inc a ballet class which was often taken by artists from BRB. The cost was covered by MDS and there were several performance opportunities.

What sort of performance opportunities did your dd get to take part in lildancer96 if you don't mind me asking and how did your daughter get on there? Did she enjoy the classes? Thanks

Thank you for the replies everyone, and pictures I had noticed on the DanceXchange website that it said the scheme was on Sunday's, and that is what made me wonder about hours, I can't see them getting in 15/16 hours like BlueLous dc does if they only attend one day a week?!

No I haven't thank you Anna C I shall have a read now xx

Hello all, I know there are other threads here and there with info on about the schemes but I'm posting to ask for as much info as possible on anything and everything to do with these schemes as I don't know anything about them at all really, an before googling I wanted to seek advice from people who may have first hand experience! I just want to know everything really, especially for the contemporary at the Birmingham centre, what hours are involved, are the classes held in the same place each week, do all the different age groups train together, what exactly do they do? What are the performance opportunities like, costs involved, is everyone funded or do you audition for funding as with vocational schools, do you have to reaudition every year? Just basically anything you wish you had known before starting. I know there's a lot to take in there lol but thank you for any advice offered