BlueLou
-
Posts
373 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Everything posted by BlueLou
-
No! Don’t worry at all! It’s just one person’s opinion on one day. Lots of very good and experienced festival dancers (who aspire to careers in dance) don’t place sometimes - maybe because they didn’t nail their routine as well as usual, maybe because the other dancers were just fab, maybe because the adjudicator just didn’t like the routine or thought it was too simple - who knows! But definitely not a thing to worry about. Festivals are just for fun - it’s the training you do day in day out that will determine whether you can make a professional one day
-
Haha - unless there are two in our area, the Avatar you saw would have been my dd! Who wouldn’t want to paint their daughter blue at 8am on a Sunday morning?? It’s a nightmare when they have another section an hour later though! She’s changed it now to Marilyn Monroe.
-
My favourite ever character was The Grinch, which was done brilliantly by a girl of about 13/14. Also seen Cat in the Hat done very well. Tricky make-up efforts for you though! Personally, I don’t like characters that take too much explaining - you know the ones with a title like ‘girl arrives at a train statin on a stormy day only to find …… blah blah blah’.
-
I don’t know how many places they offer (guessing 25 ish??), but I got the impression from a recent Q&A session at the end of an open day that if anything they preferred 16 year olds. They seemed to be suggesting that there was more they could do with them at that age, as opposed to older applicants who were ‘already set’ (my words, not theirs!). They did, however, stress that applications were very welcome from ‘older' dancers too! Edited to add ………… The answer given at the Q&A may have been influenced by the fact that the questioner was female. Quite possibly the age thing is less of an issue for boys. Just noticed your ‘name’ Ballet4Boyz!
-
I have no experience of All England festivals, but this experience may be along similar lines! Dd won a regional junior modern championship a couple of years ago and duly qualified for the IDTA Champion of Champions event in Blackpool. We were the only ones from our dance school, but decided to go along for the experience. Never again. It seemed like a fabulous day for those from the huge dance schools, who arrived in coaches and wearing t-shirts specially printed to mark the occasion, but we felt very lonely and like we didn’t really fit in. All of the changing rooms had been taken over by the big groups, and dd ended up getting changed in a toilet cubicle. Her £20 Bloch leotard and standard stage make-up also seemed woefully inadequate. It was all very glitzy and we both felt way out of our comfort zone. We’ll be sticking with the local friendlies from now on Having said all that - All England may be very different.
-
Well this looks exciting! Lovely new premises, to include accommodation, hoping to be ready for the start of the 2018/2019 academic year. http://www.standard.co.uk/goingout/arts/central-school-of-ballet-set-to-move-centre-stage-to-the-south-bank-a3494916.html
-
1st years are not necessarily level 1 - depends on age and level when they enter the scheme. 10/11 year olds would be level 1 though I think. Dd says there are about 15 currently in level 1.
-
Out of idle curiosity, why does he object to video applications? I absolutely agree re photos as they don’t actually show applicant’s dancing, just striking a pose, but I thought the video was a move in the right direction from YBSS.
- 277 replies
-
- 1
-
-
- Holiday Courses
- 2017
- (and 3 more)
-
Yes my dd absolutely loved it! We were there Saturday and Sunday. She didn’t enter the competition this year, but was ‘scouted' by London Studio Centre after a class (basically singled out and given a pack which gets her discounted summer school, free audition etc …..), and also singled out after a Kimberley Wyatt commercial class (told she could ‘definitely work professionally’, which is nice!). We avoided the RAD ballet classes as dd already does so much ballet we thought it would be nice to do dance styles she doesn’t get to do as much. The 7 classes she did were all fabulous - 2 commercial (Urdang and Kimberley Wyatt), tap, contemporary with Lukas McFarlane, lyrical contemporary, contemporary ballet with Chantry, Musical Theatre with Italia Conti. Some of the main stage performances were jaw-droppingly fantastic. Bought 3 lovely new leotards too! All in all an excellent experience and will definitely go back next year.
- 15 replies
-
- 10
-
-
Well here we are, and it's busy! Great atmosphere though. Dd in her element ????
-
Also on the world’s longest waiting list …………… again………… Ballet West for us I think
- 331 replies
-
- 3
-
-
- Holiday Courses
- Summer School
- (and 1 more)
-
Academy of Northern Ballet (Leeds) - Easter course
BlueLou replied to Ballet4Boyz's topic in Doing Dance
Not sure who is teaching contemporary at the Easter course this year, but Andile (one of the other contemporary teachers at Northern) is one of dd’s favourite people on the planet! His classes seem very full on and they all come out exhausted -
Academy of Northern Ballet (Leeds) - Easter course
BlueLou replied to Ballet4Boyz's topic in Doing Dance
Yes, times roughly 9.30/10 to 4.30/5, but exact timetable not usually known until a few days before (and even then subject to minor changes). It’s mostly ballet, younger students do some jazz whilst older students (roughly age 14+) do some contemporary. There may also be some Pilates. Class sizes vary, but 15-20 is typical. This will be dd’s 3rd Easter course and she has always enjoyed it and felt it to be very worthwhile. -
We’re just at the research stage - dd will apply for upper schools next year. You have to look at tuition costs, accommodation costs, and what sort of student finance you can access. If you are not lucky enough to get a dada or other financial assistance from a school, then Central and Rambert are the cheapest tuition fees as they are degrees and fee capped at about £9000, which you can get a student loan to cover. By comparison, tuition fees at Covent Garden are around £18000 and you can’t apply for a student loan. However, I think Liberty Living type student accommodation near Central costs around £13000 a year, compared to about £10000 a year boarding fees at Covent Garden. Ballet West is also around £9000 a year, but I believe you can only get a student loan to cover £6000 of that. The accommodation there is much cheaper, around £5000 I think. Then there are several other schools which seem to be well-regarded but are not quite so prestigious or expensive - such as KS Dance in Warrington or Chantry in Grantham. What you need is a good spreadsheet!
-
What I’ve never quite got my head around is the piffling amount they deduct from your gross income for additional children - about £2000 a year. Anyone know the rationale behind this? Are they implying that the rest of the family should be prepared to live on baked beans so that we can support dd?
-
A couple of thousand applicants - 5 photos per applicant - I doubt that they spend long pondering each photo! Just imagine the thousands of man hours that are collectively spent taking all of those photos, the number of developpe shots binned and re-taken, the worrying we do over tiny details …………. and they probably average no more than a second per photo looking at most of them
- 331 replies
-
- 1
-
-
- Holiday Courses
- Summer School
- (and 1 more)
-
I would contact Hammond. They may well consider allowing your daughter, especially as she would be non-residential. Worth asking anyway!
-
Yes, we hear it a lot and I always think ‘and your point is ……….?’ because most of the dancers in the competition will have just finished one of their routines that week. That’s the nature of preparing comp routines - when you compete in 6 or 7 sections it’s a constant cycle of finishing and starting routines, so one is bound to be brand new, and that’s the same for everyone.
-
Got to be careful telling people about your ‘chiton’
-
I think the ‘problem' is that, as a country, by and large we choose to give all children a full and balanced education up to the age of 16. This means that many talented UK dancers have simply had less training than their counterparts in other countries. I believe that this should be taken into account by the ‘big’ upper schools when selecting, because given the chance the UK dancers may well prove to be just as good, if not better, at age 19. That’s not to say that I think UK should be shown undue favouritism, just that the amount of training they have had to date (because of our cultural desire for a broad education) should be considered.
-
Dd’s Greek props include a big piece of voile, a clothes rail, tinsel and a bag of feathers. It is actually a very pretty dance - I like it! But the adjudicators, on the whole, are fairly critical of technical shortfalls about which we know woefully little. Having said that, last time out it won the section, largely because apparently we were all in the same boat of ignorance - a score of 83 doesn’t usually win a section when you’re 14! The adjudicator said lots of ‘stuff’ to them all when they were lined up on stage, they all smiled, we’re none the wiser.
-
How does anyone judge National sections?!!! Do adjudicators actually know what all those dances are meant to look like? Everything from a traditional Slovakian Wedding Dance to a Bulgarian Ribbon Dance …… are some of them just made up by dance teachers or are they all recognised traditional National dances?? It’s nice if you get an Irish or a Scottish routine to watch, but other than that, I’m completely lost.
-
Yes, agree with the above that adjudicators rankings are very subjective and marks variable. Sometimes it wouldn’t surprise me if 2 different adjudicators watching the same section would award a completely different top 3 with a mark difference of 5 marks. My dd has had marks ranging from 87 to 92 for her current modern routine and it always looks the same to me! Also, some dancers have more challenging choreography. This may not necessarily go in their favour. Some adjudicators seem to prefer a less challenging routine nailed perfectly, others like to see a more challenging routine with maybe the odd shortcoming. Ballet for 13/14 year olds is particularly difficult to second guess the adjudication, with some girls just starting en pointe, and others doing a lovely routine in flats. Personally, especially with younger dancers, I like to see them look like they are really enjoying themselves (but I’m not an adjudicator, I’ve just sat through a lot of festivals!). Just enjoy the ride
-
I can see why you called yourself ‘Gowiththeflow’
-
Dd also puts an insole in, and sometimes wears thin trainer socks with them.
