Mumofthree

Again thank you for your replies. Agree with the above and will bide time waiting until he is ready. I sadly also agree with the comments about pressure on girls. My DD is also far too aware if her weight. She's far from fat but she's muscly and does have a naturally curvy body that when she slouches she looks bigger than she is. She had a sickness bug last week and lost 2lb and she was delighted. I was mortified! Kids this young dancers or not shouldn't even be vaguely concerned with these matters. ?

Thank you so much for your comments. Sadly at my sons age there arnt many boys that dance. 2 a fair bit younger than him and none then until grade 4+ we are kind of restricted looking elsewhere at the moment as my daughter is thriving where she is and the teaching is super. He'll continue with freestyle for now and I just hope that he soon hits that magic age where he is less concerned with what other people think. Hubby/daddy would be very supportive of him doing ballet but I will make sure he sees other male role models who can inspire him to dance too xx

My teeny tiny boy is 5 on Tuesday. He's obsessed with ballet (thanks to older sister also obsessed). His body is new and young but it's clear to see he's got a good body for dance. He role plays at being a ballet star like Polunin or Acosta, his sister is his teacher in the games. He dances beautifully for his teeny tiny Age. But he won't attend class (he does street dance and freestyle and his teacher begs him to do ballet but he won't). He's so sadly been indoctrinated to think boys do football and girls do ballet. How do we get over this? At what age do these stereotypes go out the window ? Mums of boy dancers fill me with hope? Xx

Thank you so much for your comments very helpful. I will wait and see what happens at the final audition in April and if she gets through I'll drop a few messages for your advice xx thanks

My daughter has literally just Turned 7 and is progressing (well admittedly) through rad grade 1 so she's I would imagine One of the least experienced dancers auditioned. We are delighted however she has been called back for finals on April 2nd. Her dance teacher however is skeptics about the project and seems to think virtually all who audition will be cast as it's in her opinion an easy way to gain the termly fees and whilst DD is so young it might not be worth our money. Does anyone know what the cast/audition ratio is? Is it worth the time and money for such a newbie dancer? Xx

Ok so I'm speaking hyperthetically but what if DD was offered a place in vocational training in year 7 but didn't get funding (via the audition process) but me and DH could stretch and pull money from equity etc to pay for first year would DD get the opportunity to apply for funding in year 8? Or even for those families on a high income say above 90k where they are not eligible for funding, what protects their DC's place if their income drops and they can't afford it any more? Is there individual insurance that can support this. This probably won't be relavent to me but I'm just intrigued at how it all works X

Indeed. There will be several posters whose DC have gone through the auditions process and finally succeeded in gaining a big 4 place before 16. So there's always hope amongst the complicated funding processes and I sincerely believe, having come out the other side that every school does its best to be fair and to use their limited budgets for their children as best they can. You'll rarely read on here from those that didn't succeed for the simple reason that they, and their children, have probably moved on to pastures new.

 

However, during those pre16 years my DD was never offered a place. Got a finals wait list place at Elmhurst, un-funded at Tring, bursary offer we couldn't afford at Hammond so you may think that my DD came out scarred and battle worn. She didn't! She's a strong, dedicated and focused person but one that's also realistic and not at all bitter which are huge and important lessons to learn in life.

 

Children are very tough and if allowed to push towards their dreams, albeit with boundaries (too expensive, too far away) will bounce back and will be better for it.

 

Finally, the funding situation changes regularly and none of us can predict what will be in place by next year, let alone 3 or 4 years down the road so my advice would be to just go with the flow and enjoy your DC's dancing.

 

PS. My DD is now in a 6th form vocational ballet school and very happy. That's all we can ask. ((-:

thanks so much for this, I agree, and I guess im going to just have to sit back and be patient for some years and see what will be will be. I am grateful that I have learnt from posts such as yours that even if she doesn't get on JA schemes or get vocational placement in year 7 it doesn't mean its the end of the road. I think this is what I initially thought which was part of the reason I wanted to 'plan ahead' to get the ball rolling and get her in as best condition to apply for the JA schemes, and yes we will still apply next year but I wont let it cause heartbreak if no places are offered as I have learnt from this forum that a 'yes' is far more often than not preceded by a lot of 'no's'. I think its a bumpier journey than I had anticipated but one perhaps filled with more opportunities and choices than I realised.  

Blimey it's all so complicated. As said earlier if if was a bit more transparent we'd all understand if a bit better.

I should perhaps have added into my first post that it is great that there is this government funding for dance training. I guess my main thrust was that there does appear to be inconsistencies & a somewhat 'cloak & dagger' approach to info/decisions etc. It only appears 'simple' when looking at RBS as all places can potentially be funded. This lack of upfront knowledge does make it hard to manage family & DC expectations - maybe fewer would audition which would be bad as talent may be missed who may just have got that funding (& cynically - sorry! - schools would make less money from the audition fees charged)

I certainly hope all with the fire in their belly & the passion to follow their dreams carry on & try for those places this year. And as the saying goes....if at first you don't succeed, then try, try again!

I agree with you peanut68 - I think to some extent schools probably shouldn't even charge for the auditions but again if there was more transparency with funding then yes maybe fewer would apply and yes maybe some talented dancers would slip the net - but surely this is the case in absolutely any profession where talent is concerned, there's inevitable going to be academic kids who don't end up in academic professions for similar reasons - but I don't see the point in auditioning if you cant afford to follow through with the training and I guess that's why I posted in the first place, I know its impossible to get a finite answer but I would love to be able to sit there with a calculate and say 'yes we'll be able to afford it lets go for it' or 'no this is not possible lets get off this train before any heartbreak'.

  again to some extent my daughter is 6 nearly 7 - she's teeny compared to many and I'm the first to admit so so so many things may change her path/talent/mind but I would like to put a vague plan for the future, we will able to apply for JA schemes next year as shell be 8 next feb so could start a year in sept, but what's the point if we cant afford to continue on that path. yes shell get the training, yes she'll enjoy it but in reality whats the end result? going back to comprehensive school and her talent ends up wasted.

yeah you see i guess everyones financial situation is individual and I do have friends who have a greater household income but as they have significantly greater mortgages/debt/other children they don't have the same disposable income as we do which is why I feel fortunate that we are able to afford to send our children to so many classes and activities. I really am so grateful for that because I know many families just cant even afford that. I'm also fortunate in the respect that yes our household income is 'low' compared to most but its because I only work 18hrs a week (currently on maternity leave) and I do that so that we don't have to pay for childcare, and so that I'm around for my kids and I'm able to take them to classes and activities and generally give them the best life we know how. If I worked full time our wages would increase significantly but then I simply wouldn't have the time to be taking them to lessons so I don't think you can compare one person to the next in that way.

  I do feel however the funding process could be more transparent though. it is confusing and for people like me that want to plan for the future id like to be able to say yes or no whether we can afford for my DD to go to vocational training in the future and then id know how much time and effort and money to put into her dancing in these early years. I know its not as simple as this but it would be nice to say 'ok yes my DD meets 'x' criteria in terms of ability and talent and so this means we will be eligible for 'x' amount of funding. that way at least people know where they stand rather than sending their kids through the stress of auditions and setting them on this path only to even be offered a place and not be able to afford it. I cannot imagine the heartbreak of this. if it was me auditioning I would rather be told I was poor and didn't meet the level of talent required rather than be told here yes have a place and then not be able to afford it. I think DH and I would end up being on of those couples who ends up remorgaging the house rather than tell our DD she cant go because we cant afford it but then again I do fully appreciate not everyone has that equity in their property either.

Thank you yes I do agree. She just lives for dancing. This said she's academic too so you are all very right, who knows how the future will play out. She does do LAMDA and street dance (more so because her younger brother is too timid to do it without her) - she was doing recreational gymnastics but got quite bored with that. The classes where over full and she spent 80% of the class time queuing for her turn to go on the equipment. I think I'm just going to chill this year whilst on maternity leave and try not to over plan and try and over think the future and when I'm back at work finances will be a touch easier and she'll be edging towards being 8 so we'll be in a better position of seeing where her heart lies in things.

Yeah the funding process I guess is fair and I suppose it's just a shame there isn't more funding abailible especially when kids are deemed talented enough to make it through final auditions but then not get the funding.

I'll certainly keep using this forum. None of her school friends dance so they all think I'm perhaps a bit nuts stretching myself but then only we know how much she loves her dancing currently. I guess at this stage it is just dreaming but then if we didn't dream we'd never have anything to strive for xx

Lema - you see the situation your in is the one that concerns me most, her being offered a place then not funding and we simply wouldn't be able to afford it so she'd have to miss out or like you reapply. You'd think they would work the funding on to those that 'need' it most as the priority over the talent level, it seems this way you might have parents who are very affluent and would be able to afford standard fees Being offered funded places. I understand their contributions are higher but it makes me sad when lower income families have to miss out.

Does anyone know figures about how many kids are accepted onto the courses versus how many are offered funding?

Thanks Lisa and taxi for ballet. Xx

Thanks. Feel a bit more relaxed now having spoken to you guys. We will chill out for a year and will look at JA next January (she will turn 8 next february) thanks

Thank you yes I will. I'm grateful to have found this forum as a means of seeking some impartial advice and support xx

They don't run Pilates at her dance academy but her teacher suggested it. She is exceptionally flexible (it comes from me as I have quite extensive hyper mobility syndrome) but with that utter flexibility comes some instability and her teacher suggested Pilates as a means of gaining a little more strength and control as she gets older and longer limbed. I'm in my postpartum period after giving birth and have been going to Pilates (as I did previously) but I've been going in the day but she wanted to join me if I found an evening class.

Thank you so much for your replies ladies, that's helped put it into perspective. Its so hard thinking about what 'might' happen so far down the line and I'm well aware that although she may show talent now her peers may 'overtake her' in the coming years. I think part of my concern is that I'm on maternity leave with our third baby so currently money is mega tight and I don't want to fritter it away on something that might be pointless in the long term anyway. I'm aware that perhaps the way we handle things now could change her outlook on it for the future. Thank you xx

Hi all, I'm new to this so please excuse me if I'm overlooking something. My daughter is only 6 but she is ballet obsessed and proving talented at it so we will be applying for junior associate schemes next year for when she turns 8. We can afford the junior associate schemes but my concern is we wouldn't be able to afford standard fees if she was lucky enough to progress into full time vocational training most likely at Elmhurst (if possible) and I'm confused about who's eligible for what funding. Our household income is relatively low at around £33k per year. Looking on websites Seems we'd be eligible for funding (I fully appreciate this is only if she was lucky enough to get through auditions) but I'm confused about bursarys and DaDa eligibility etc etc. I know my question is well advanced considering her age currently but she is wanting to do extra ballet lessons and start Pilates to build up further skill and strength in preparation. So I guess what I'm saying is is it worth us putting all the extra money and time Into her dancing with a view of a future in it if we arnt going to be able to afford vocational training in the future. Thank you for any help xx