joyofdance

Thank you. Yes the possibility of the degree/PGCE is something she is considering in the long term. Because she is doing a 2 yr B tec she isn't doing A levels so will have to get them under her belt first. That is something she needs to give more thought to as the B tec won't give her enough points for Uni. Looking at the information online about the DDE, you can do this in modern, tap, ballet etc. Do you know if this means you can do it in several genres at once or does each one have to be done separately and at different times?

Good morning. Would anyone be able to offer any advice or information re the following please. My daughter is a bit of an all round dancer with a good to above average standard in several genres. She is currently in her first yr of a B tec dance diploma at college. She has lost a lot of enthusiasm for the performance side of dance so is reconsidering her previous plans of going on to do a dance degree. She (and we) are also reluctant re the degree route as it is a lot of money to pay out for a degree in something that gives limited options in the long term. At the moment she thinks she may be better suited to teaching dance in a dance school setting rather than an academic setting. She finds the theory work on the B tec very easy so could easily manage additional study alongside this. I have looked in to the Diploma in Dance Education which seems like a good start as it seems you can do it at weekends and in the evenings so she could continue her college course. Does anyone know anything about the DDE and have any personal experience or advice that they could give please. Would the DDE be a good starting point or would another route be advisable. At the minute she has ideas of possibly owning her own dance school in the long term. Thank you in advance.

There are lots of FB sites called things like Dance Festivals and Competitions. They are advertising quite a few now.

My daughter didn't start doing contemporary dance until 14/15 (UK) I see a lot of insta kids age 7,8,9 doing quite emotive contemporary routines and to be honest it just doesn't look right. Mind you I don't like to see that age group doing Sassy Jazz either.

I hate to say it but in my experience its pretty much across the board. There are obviously a few schools that wouldn't do this but a lot do. The parent's buying presents etc is something that I have always found really cringey and distasteful. Sadly with some schools money talks and private lessons are costly so dance schools don't want to lose the income. Also they are usually the kids that attend multiple classes and who's parents give favours in other ways. Its hard when yiu see it and know you cant compete financially but that type of bribery has a shelf life. I've always told my daughter that if she is good enough and has any talent then it will become apparent later on down the line when she is attending auditions. Those auditioning won't care or even know how much money Mummy and Daddy have ploughed in to private lessons or how many presents/favours they have bought. They will either be good enough or not.

Where does it say that the advert is pre Covid?

Lots of people have been saying that it is an old campaign however I have been searching and so far it appears to be a fairly recent one. Certainly post Covid 19. Does anyone have official information of it being a 2019 campaign? Regardless of it being a wider campaign its understandable that those in the arts are angry and clearly that has hit home as that particular picture has now been withdrawn. As someone with a daughter who has recently started to train at a full time dance college, I am happy for her to continue as the way things are going there will be job shortages in every industry. She may as well do what she loves while she is young. There is plenty of time to worry about the future.

I watched it with my daughter and agree it made sickening viewing. It appears from the testimonies that the parents were also groomed by this organisation in to thinking that their methods and policies were acceptable. Combine that with the parents desire to have an Olympic gymnast in the family and it makes for some very distorted thinking. The sad thing is that its shocking but not shocking as more and more we see parents prepared to put their children at risk and potentially sacrifice their children for fame,exposure etc. Whilst parents are hungry for success via their children this will continue to happen.

My daughter was with Tap Attack from a junior to Seniors up until last year. As far as I am aware they are not interested in grades. The audition is based around ability. Her first audition involved a group class and then a short solo piece that they were asked to pre prepare and perform on the day. She enjoyed her time with them and only chose not to re audition last year because of clashes with other associate schemes.

I knew someone who did a cruise contract for a few years, had an amazing time, travelled the world and saved £30,000. That is a fantastic achievement in my view. Ignore this woman, she is clearly bitter about something.

Definitely agree. This is a great forum and the moderators do a fab job.

Probably not a popular opinion but academics can be done at any age whereas dance has a shelf life. My nearly 16 yr old is going to dance college rather than doing her A levels. If she decides to continue the dance route at 18 I will support her. I was in my mid twenties when I did my academic degree and for me it was the right thing to do and I have had a good career since. Everyone is different but my feeling is that life is too short to have regrets. 😁

Exactly drdance. I have seen similar behaviour on fb. Some of them behave like school bully's and are incredibly unprofessional. The problem is a lot of them know the hold they have over the parents so they don't actually care.

Calling the teachers out publicly wouldn't go down well and very likely be counter productive. A lot of the parents know about unsafe practice but either don't want to.stop it because they are too hungry for their child's 5 minutes of fame or would be too frightened to go against the school culture because of potential reprisals. Also Busymum I agree. Teachers already have near slanging matches and one up manship posts on fb and those with a similar culture (often the high profile popular schools) would just gang up on the people challenging such practice. I just don't think certain schools are going listen. They are making lots of money and gaining in popularity so they don't have a vested interest in listening. I fear it will take the serious injury of a child before people wake up to the current trends in unsafe practice.

She does have a very experienced and lovely ballet teacher Max. We have learnt a lot during our dancing journey and not all of it is good but one thing we have learnt and experienced over the years is that comparing yourself to others is pointless and soul destroying. My daughter is 15 and when she was around 8 there were girls in her dance school who totally out shone her. Now however she is out shining some of them. Every child develops at different times and we just need to let them have their own journey.

Don't worry about what marks the others are getting especially at this age. Dance is so much more than a percentage mark of an exam. There is a lot that seems unfair in dance. Some children get far more opportunities and training due to their families being better off financially. Some have private lesson after private lesson and some go to stage school. Also good exam results don't necessarily equate to "better dancer" . My daughters ballet teacher doesn't teach exam work as she says that she would rather teach children how to dance than teach them a syllabus to enable them to pass an exam. My daughter doesn't do exams, rarely has a private lesson, doesn't go to all the big events/workshops etc and she is still a very talented dancer who keeps up easily and at times is much better than the kids who get all of the opportunities. To be honest and I say this with respect (and a little bit of humour) lose the idea that things should be fair when it comes to dance because in my experience it is o e of the most unfair environments I have ever encountered.

The criticism gets worse when your child decides to stay close to home and attend a local dance college. Apparently London is the only place to be according to some. For us my nearly 16 yr old leaving home and attending a "prestigious" dance school/college is not something either she or we want. She hasn't auditioned anywhere else because she simply doesn't want to attend any other establishment. People can sometimes even criticise that decision. Not every child is ready to leave home at 16. Maybe she will at 18, time will tell. She may not even want to dance at 18. The point is, she is doing what she wants to do and is very excited for next year. For me, that is enough. I am happy that she is happy so I ignore any negative comments or other peoples well intended advice.

Hi and welcome. Just a suggestion, you don't necessarily have to rely on the well known providers of associate schemes. Some of the lesser known schemes and ballet schools provide excellent training and often successfully prepare children for full time vocational school. Depending on where you live I would recommend Nicholsons School of ballet (Annette Nicholson) in Birmingham and Warwickshire school of dance (Dr Emily Twittchet)Emily is a member of this forum. Both offer excellent top class teaching in ballet and I believe both have an associates scheme.

Sorry to hear that your child had to experience this. It is such a shame that our children have to experience this type of behaviour from adults. I have seen this and worse several times at non vocational dance schools, I have witnessed it aimed at my daughter and many others. As an educator, parent and generally decent human being, it does not sit well with me. I have heard other dance parents describe it as "discipline" and allow it to happen because "that is what dance training is like" . It is toxic, bullying behaviour and not acceptable under any circumstances. The dilemma of confronting it with the risk of making things worse for your child is not something that we as parents and paying customers should have to worry about, but sadly we do.

Mine wears pink under, black.over. personally I think the black tights over a black leotard looks odd but it seems to be the done thing.

I couldn't agree with you more. I saw a face book dance competition recently that required you to send in a photograph of your child dancing. The idea was that the best dancer would win. If it had said best photograph I could understand but it specifically said something along the lines of, vote for the best dancer. How on earth can you tell how good a dancer is by a photograph. Quite a few people did point that out fortunately.

Nicholsons school in Birmingham has a once a fortnight Sunday associates. Annette Nicholson is a wonderful teacher and she has lots of students move on to vocational school. I believe she still does a bit of teaching at Elmhurst.

Is your decision re a college course based on being in a particular area of the country or are you happy to move. I see you were at DMU. There are dance courses at Leicester college and a dance college called Addict in Leicester. I don't know much about the specifics of their courses but if you still live close to Leicester/midlands it might be worth having an informal chat with them.

Hi Aixsta I agree with a lot of what has been said, especially the idea of pulling on your own experiences. My daughter has an instrumental lyrical dance so no lyrics to relate to. The music itself is very beautiful and moving so I encouraged her to create a dialogue/story using her personal experience. It really helps her to convey the emotion needed. I also agree with the comments about the body and the flow of movement being as important as the face when conveying emotion so encouraged her to use expression with her body. She has always placed in the top 2 with the dance and her written critiques have noted how well she conveys the emotion of the music so it does seem to work. By the way I love the song you have been given.

Thank you Clara. If she decides to audition I will definitely come back to you to pick your brains.