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BlueLou

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  1. BlueLou
    If a determined dancer like you gets onto a good associate programme (like you have with Moorland), even if the class is only for a couple of hours a week you can then go away and practise practise practise the exercises from the class for as many hours as you choose on top of that. So I would say - soak up everything you can during those associate classes and work on it at home. Then fit in as many holiday intensives as you can - there are loads of good ones out there. Good Luck
  2. BlueLou
    It is the responsibility of the parent to ask to see a private tutor’s DBS and references, and then take a view on whether they want them to work with their child. I think it’s a bit of a loophole when it comes to private arrangements. I would have thought the same loophole would apply to dance classes not affiliated to an organisation (like RAD or ISTD).
  3. BlueLou
    So if you have ‘substantial access to children in a contact heavy environment’ you are legally obliged to be DBS checked? I am just curious because I know that private tutors in other areas (e.g. music or maths) do not legally require a DBS, although most do get it. Obviously that isn’t a ‘contact heavy’ situation, but it is often one-to-one.
  4. BlueLou
    Do you actually have to have one? I thought it was ‘good for business’ to show that you had been police checked, but not actually a legal requirement.
  5. BlueLou
    This may be a quirk of where I live, but I think there is a gap in the market for non-syllabus dance, especially for teenagers. It seems that there are a lot of 12/13 year olds who give up because they don’t want to do grades and exams any more, but they would still love to dance. If I was advising a local friend who wanted to start up a dance business I would say to run classes like jazz, contemporary, commercial, ballet and tap for ages 11-15 and 16+. I might even be tempted to join in myself
  6. BlueLou
    Dd has done several Easter and Summer intensives at Northern Ballet as she was an Associate there for 3 years before joining the CAT programme there last year. All of the CAT scheme dancers are at the summer intensive, plus many dancers from voc schools both in Britain and further afield (there were quite a few Italians last year!). Dd loves the intensives there. It’s very friendly and welcoming and the facilities are fabulous. They do ballet, contemporary, rep, and Pilates. Class sizes are approx 15-20 (I think!). Any other questions - feel free to PM me. We have never done Ballet West but it received good reviews on here last year. We were attracted by the fact that she could do 2 weeks residential there, and it does look lovely!
  7. BlueLou
    So, where is everyone going this year, apart from RBS and YBSS? Dd (15) is at Northern Ballet in Leeds and Ballet West in Scotland (weeks 2 and 3). Really would have loved to have done Central and/or Rambert as these are her 1st choice schools for applications this Autumn, but dates/accomodation/logistics proved too challenging for us!
  8. BlueLou
    Dd used to have a very nice salsa tap routine to ‘Let’s Get Loud’. You can show off your syncopated rhythms too! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1G2YUEHvdE
  9. BlueLou
    Photos and videos taken by parents whilst children are performing are a definite no at the comps we go to in West/North Yorkshire, although some people still manage to do it! Sometimes people take photos in the foyer (or on the stage during breaks), and sometimes there is an official photographer/dvd person who takes photos/dvds that you can buy. Ballet, tap, modern, character, song & dance, Greek, acro, National, lyrical, and vocal sections all feature at our comps and are all performed individually. Typically at the comps we go to there are 15 to 30 dancers in a section and adjudication is at the end of every section. The only time I’ve ever seen children all perform together is for impromptu/improv sections, when they all have to dance to a piece of previously unheard music. I believe ballroom, Latin, and freestyle competitions do involve collective performances though. There are also duet, trio and group sections at our comps, which obviously do involve performing together on stage.
  10. BlueLou
    10 year old ds here, only been dancing for 6 months. I didn’t even know specialised boys underwear existed! Just when I think I’ve gained a decent bank of knowledge for dd, ds starts dancing and it’s a whole new ball game (if you’ll excuse the pun). Any other surprises in store for us??
  11. BlueLou
    Places are allocated solely on video application. The audition is just for those who wish to be considered for a scholarship, which is based solely on ability and not means-tested. They don’t tell you if you have secured a place before you show up for the scholarship audition though, so it could be a complete waste of time!
  12. BlueLou
    It does seem odd that they don’t offer places before the scholarship auditions. It’s a huge waste of time and money for some people traipsing off to scholarship auditions when they aren’t even going to get offered a place let alone a scholarship. As you say, they must know the yeses from the videos, so why not tell the nos before the the scholarship audition and save them the extra time and expense?
  13. BlueLou
    Also worth looking at Renaissance Arts Scholars in Leeds - roughly fortnightly on a Sunday, and it’s not too late to apply for this September. http://renaissancearts.co.uk/scholars/
  14. BlueLou
    I assumed that most students who attend are already at vocational dance schools.
  15. BlueLou
    I know it has been discussed in previous threads, but I highly recommend Zerlina Mastin’s book for encouraging young dancers to eat healthily. https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/cka/Nutrition-Dancer-Zerlina-Mastin/1852731354/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1493029532&sr=8-7&keywords=diet+dancer
  16. BlueLou
    I was aware that you had a successful ds, but didn’t know these details - so not bored of hearing! Very interesting, and nice to know
  17. BlueLou
    My ds also danced with and because of his sister a lot at home, but resisted dance classes for a long time. I couldn’t even tell you why, as there has never been any suspicion of bullying of any kind. The ‘for girls’ thing was in his head, but not sure how it got there. When he was 8 he started a performing arts group (where they do some musical theatre dancing) because there were other boys there. 9 was the magic age when he was mature enough to realise for himself that he didn’t like football and he’d much rather be in dance classes even if he was the only boy! That was last September. He started with a 45 minute tap class as that was the only class with another boy in it. By Christmas he had added on ballet and commercial, and now says ballet is his favourite. All of his friends think it’s interesting and unusual, but he hasn’t experienced any negativity so far
  18. BlueLou
    I stand corrected on my ‘why is this newsworthy?’ remark! Obviously it is as it has got lots of people interested and talking about it. My first thought when I saw the story was, as you said yourself, ‘why would it matter anyway’ that you were trans, and therefore at first I just thought - so another person took IF ballet, big deal. I’m glad that you didn’t get any special consideration, and fully understand why this would be important to you, as it makes your achievement ‘authentic’. I apologise for implying that you appeared to have been given special consideration - the footage shown obviously didn’t do you justice. Congratulations!
  19. BlueLou
    I struggled to see why this story was newsworthy. I can’t recall any other ‘first transgeneder person to ………’ stories, so why report this? Just because it’s ballet? And if that was correctly reported as IF, surely she was given special consideration, which seems a little patronising.
  20. BlueLou
    I think most would get a student loan to cover the fees. These don’t have to be paid back until you are earning above a certain amount, and then the amount you pay back each month is on a sliding scale depending on income. After a certain period (20 years?), they right it off. Dancers might as well get a full fee loan as chances are (sadly) they will the never have to repay it in full.
  21. BlueLou
    Just think that the adjudicator needs to be able to see her face, and facial expressions, clearly. We have been to festivals where the adjudicator is a long way away, up in a balcony at the back of the hall. So this is no time to be overly subtle and tasteful - be bold! I always think a bit of sparkle looks good
  22. BlueLou
    Can I add to that, or maximum?
  23. BlueLou
    On a bit of a tangent - you say your daughter is only 8 and several grades behind in tap. In my (limited) experience, for most children (and of course there are exceptions), they shouldn’t even start tap until they are about 8. Before that they seem to lack some essential skill - co-ordination, limb-control, musicality, timing?? - and just stamp about making an awful racket. Similarly, most children don’t start learning to play a musical instrument until they are about 8. They can play around and make noises, and maybe they will find that fun, but they are not really dancing (or playing an instrument).
  24. BlueLou
    I would agree with the suggestions above to look at Ballet West. They had 2 finalists (out of 5) in the ballet section of BBC young dancer, and they were great ambassadors for the school. The female dancer in particular was fabulous. My dd is spending 2 weeks there this summer with a view to it being one of the schools she applies to for 2018 entry.
  25. BlueLou
    I don’t know much about either Laine or Urdang, but I have to say that the Urdang performance we saw at Move It was an absolute showstopper. Every single dancer was amazing - so huge congrats to your ds for earning a place with them
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