BlueLou

Good list! I have no direct experience of those schools, but would consider adding Laine to your list. It is an MT school, but Miss Laine has a well-known love of ballet and everyone there does a daily ballet class. They have several grads in Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures.

Good (albeit brief) article on a trans ballerina at the Kirov Academy, published yesterday in Pointe. https://www.pointemagazine.com/transgender-ballerina-jay-ledford-2584094047.html?utm_campaign=RebelMouse&socialux=facebook&share_id=3730562&utm_medium=social&utm_content=Pointe&utm_source=facebook

I’ve been where you are now Anne (see my recent thread ‘Laine or Rambert’). My daughter was offered both and chose Rambert. My head was saying Laine because on the face of it employability prospects seem better, but the end of the day I let her follow her heart to Rambert. If you look at Rambert’s webpage or Instagram - so far they have announced contracts for this years graduates at BalletBoyz, New English Ballet Theatre, TanzTheater Munster, Richard Alston Dance Company x2, and Danish Dance Theatre x2. Also, two recent (but not this year’s) graduates are in the new Matthew Bourne line-up. They also seem to have quite a few graduates who choose to pursue freelance dancing or choreography careers. As for other similar schools - Trinity Laban also offer a BA in Contemporary Dance. Good luck!

Dd has been nominated for ballet, tap and modern over the past couple of years. As I understand it, if you score 90+ the examiner may (but doesn’t have to) nominate you to attend the awards. Each section is basically half a day at The Royal College of Music in Manchester. The section is split into 2 - ‘grades’ is for those nominated for grades 4-6, and ‘performers’ is for those nominated for intermediate and advanced. There are about 80-100 dancers in each half-section. You do an hour long class on stage, which family/friends can buy tickets to watch. Then everyone performs the sequence that has been taught in groups of about 3. There is then a cut, with about 20 dancers making the final. They then have a bit more of a class and perform again. Ultimately there is a winner, runner up, and 5 or 6 ‘special commendations’. The classes are excellent and led by ‘famous names’. The tap was Jo Scanlon (of Tap Attack), can’t remember the others tbh, but they were very good! It is a great experience, I would thoroughly recommend it. Good preparation for upper school auditions too I should add that it is considered quite an honour to be nominated. The standard at the awards is very high. Congratulations!

Hello Astrid! *waves back*. I guess most of us on here felt like clueless newbies once, and I know from experience that it’s harder when you’re out in the sticks and your local dance school is maybe just a room in the village hall with a handful of children and a lovely well-intentioned teacher who is perhaps not up to date with all of the opportunities out there. I wish I’d known about this forum 6 years ago when we started on our journey - you have stumbled into the right virtual place to ask a million questions of very knowledgable and helpful old hands! I would say it’s always worth auditioning - you don’t know if you’re what they are looking for until you try. But you have to prepare your child for potential disappointment. Even the very best young dancers get their fair share of nos. The trick is to enjoy the experience and learn from it, then (if necessary) come back stronger next year. Going through the process, whether successful or not this time, is very valuable. *Controversial viewpoint alert!* Personally I think children are over-protected from failure in most primary schools - no winners or losers at sports day, that sort of thing - but that doesn’t really prepare them for the reality of life. The dance world, on the other hand, is harsh (sometimes even brutal), but most of them seem to adapt to it and I think that will ultimately add something to their character (resilience, perseverance, work-ethic ….. ) that is just as important as whatever success it brings them dance-wise. It’s usually us parents that take the nos harder than they do! Anyway, I’m waffling. And there are far more knowledgable people on here than me, so I’ll hand over the baton. Good luck!

Well that’s a tough question, and I’m sure there are lots of different answers! I’ll kick off with my attempt ………... Modern is an umbrella term covering lots of styles, but as far as exam syllabi are concerned it’s usually jazz-style (funky, lively, think of the sort of dancing they do in Musical Theatre shows). At many festivals though the Modern section incorporates jazz, lyrical and contemporary . Lyrical is more floaty! Some festivals have a separate section for it because it’s so different from jazz. It often involves dancing to ballads wearing a floaty skirted leotard. Lots of emotion, soft arms, quite balletic. Contemporary also covers a wide range of possibilities. Often it’s a bit more edgy, more isolations. It can be quite experimental. Dd would describe her favourite style as ‘lyrical contemporary’! Try searching on youtube.

Not heard of anyone not being offered an audition at all, but then I only know of 3 other applicants!

Dd applied for Sadler’s, but as she doesn’t have a term time address yet I only put down our home address and so they offered her an audition in Bradford. Several emails later (I don’t think they believed that she was actually moving to London, just that she preferred that option!) they said that the London auditions were full, so it was Bradford or nothing. We declined.

Anyone else got dc going to Rambert this September, or currently there, who wouldn’t mind me private messaging them about accommodation?

I know of a dancer who applied for Bradford and has had an invitation to audition. Dd applied for Sadler’s - no news for us yet.

Also, most of the big school’s have active Facebook pages that are good for keeping up to date with holiday courses, application deadlines etc….

Rambert prides itself on being 50/50 ballet/contemporary. Your dd sounds like she might be better suited to somewhere with a slightly greater emphasis on classical ballet and a little less contemporary - like Central or RCS. Having said that, most aspiring dancers apply to a selection of schools and only decide which one is the best fit if and when they are lucky enough to have offers to choose between! As others have said, most of the more classical schools prefer starters at 16, whereas those with more contemporary may prefer slightly older. I believe roughly 25% of Rambert’s intake were 16 last year.

I’m pretty sure that the whole country breaks up for Half Term on Friday 24th May 2019 and returns Monday 3rd June. It coincides with Bank Holiday weekend, so usually the same everywhere. There are never any GCSE or A levels during that week

That does seem reasonable of them. Unfortunately for us we have applied for Sadler’s Wells because that’s closest to where dd will be living from September, but not yet .

Surely they must keep the notes for a while, between prelims and finals and after finals at least in the case of the reserves. Having notes filed under ‘number 27’ which is cross-referenced to a separate file with actual applicant details is pretty much the same thing as having everything in one folder. I expect there are GDPR experts out there now who sell their services to help companies find and exploit loopholes and otherwise cover themselves!

Interesting point KeepDancing. Do subjective observations recorded during an audition constitute ‘personal data’? I think they should. Definition In short, right of access means data controllers are required to provide data subjects a copy of their processed personal data upon request. Article 12 introduces the concept (all emphasis added unless otherwise stated): What Shall Be Provided Article 15 outlines the right of access in greater detail. First and foremost, data subjects have the right to confirm if controllers in fact process their personal data. Should the answer be yes, subjects may then request the following: A copy of the personal data undergoing processing

I keep getting a ‘suggested post’ from Estonia International Ballet School on my Facebook page. It looks very interesting, but I’d never heard of it. Anyone any experience of this summer school? Sorry to hijack your thread JayJay - don’t think this one would be any use to you as it’s for ages 16+.

Thanks Mark. She has accepted Rambert and will be there this September. Class numbers have gone up a bit since your day - they now accept about 45, of whom 15 are boys.

I don’t think anyone would expect a detailed written report after a dance audition. Laine provide a few minutes of feedback over the phone. I’m not sure exactly what the nature of that would be, but they did say that if a candidate had failed to secure a place on the 3 year diploma course they were happy to give an indication of whether it was worth the candidate applying for the foundation year option this year or waiting another year. I would guess that they would indicate areas that required improvement. Many candidates who fail to secure a place at dance upper schools try again the following year, so all they want to know is what areas they 'scored low' in so they know what to focus on during the year ahead. I’m guessing that for many who make finals the feedback could simply be that whilst the candidate was good, others were just a bit stronger this year, which would at least provide encouragement to keep going and try again next year. Central, Rambert and RCS all conduct a physio assessment. I think they have a moral obligation to pass on any issues that the physio has picked up on that the candidate may not be aware of.

With prelims and finals, and some schools (e.g. Central and RCS) having finals that span 2 days, it is certainly costly. We figured an average of about £400 per school dd applied to (including 2 audition rounds, fees, travel, accommodation, food etc…..). I agree with MrsMoo2 - I think it’s poor form not to give a little bit of feedback to candidates, especially those that have made finals but not been offered a place. It would only take a few minutes and would be a mark of respect towards families that have invested a lot of money, time and effort. Laine have 700-800 applicants and they offer feedback over the telephone if required, so I don’t see why other schools can’t make that effort. I presume they don’t want to get into a debate - but I’m sure they could cover themselves by saying ‘in our opinion, on the basis of our expert observations during the audition …….’.

My 11 year old ds will be going to the York Scholars summer school this year. Early bird discount if you book before 1st May. https://www.yorkshireballetscholarshipcentre.com/summer-school/

A ‘yes’ for RCS for dd too. Very happy, but does rather complicate our existing dilemma ……...

RCS was the smallest final we have been to - I think only 34 dancers there. How long can it take to consider such a small number?? I know of at least 6 of those 34 that have offers from Central or Rambert that need replies by the middle of next week - and the vast majority I don’t know about, so I would assume there are quite a few more than 6. So if RCS don’t get there offers out soon I suspect a large proportion of the offers they do make will have already had to accept another offer.

Thankyou so much for this!

Nail on the head! She loves ballet and contemporary the most. She will do best in a multi-disciplinary environment. Therein lies the dilemma, and the need for brutal honesty! So do I . If the schools were similar I’d think - it doesn’t really matter which one she chooses. But they are such different options, and attractive for such different reasons. The decision is actually costing me sleep.