Ruby Foo

Thanks for sharing this balletbean. A little chink of hope and joy amongst the trauma.

It is extremely rare for students to be assessed out. It does happen occasionally, but I think it's usually because a student hasn't been able to attend classes for whatever reason, maybe illness or injury or discipline issues, rather than they are not meeting the standards generally. Cant remember how we heard, but I think it was a couple of lines in an email. Nothing detailed.

Can you tell me please approximate age of your daughter?

Exactly my thoughts too balletbean. It is reduction of a beautiful, quality solo (which requires maturity and depth) to a collection of cold steps, rehearsed to death. It doesn't impress me one bit, no matter how impressive the steps are presented.

Couldn't agree more. As they are not generally taking in more students for 3rd year, then why not keep all of them and let them get their degree.

Some students are assessed out after 2 years and therefore do not go on to obtain the full degree. They are not usually replaced for the third year.

Since starting the 3 yr degree course, RBS don't accept anyone new in 3rd year.

It sounds like you are doing your research 👍and I'm sure if you continue, you'll find more places worldwide who will take someone exceptionally talented at 18. And more dancers who did it! You sound as though you are taking your current tuition seriously too by checking your teacher's credentials.

If you were exceptional enough, (phenomenal world class dancer) to be accepted by a renowned ballet school at 18, then you would probably be on track to find a career in dance. I personally don't know any top schools who take ballet dancers at 18.

I can understand your concerns about moving across the world to train but realistically I think going away to vocational training at 18 is unusual for someone who wants to pursue a classical ballet career. There are students who have already reached a professional standard, who want to 'finish' or 'polish' at a certain school or with a certain renowned teacher, for their last year, who may go at 18 for that purpose. But they would have already attained a professional standard and be looking for that something extra. For contemporary, however, it would be perfectly acceptable to be thinking of starting somewhere at 18. Places like Rambert, Alvin Ailey, London Contemporary etc all prefer mature students who have reached a very high standard of dance. You don't mention your age, but if you are worried about living abroad at 16 then you could try for schools that offer accommodation as part of the package. You would be living in accommodation as part of the school, with houseparents to keep an eye on you and your food provided. Places like RBS, Elmhurst, SAB, etc There are lots and lots of international ballet students here in the UK training from 16, some who don't speak a word of English, so plenty of support from others in same position. There are other schools like ENB, NBS, Central School,and European schools where you stay in student accommodation independently from the school but sharing with your fellow students. You usually shop and cook your own food in accommodation like this. If you don't have a Guardian in your country of choice then the schools will help you. A Guardian is helpful for halfterm holidays or to stay in the event of illness. You could look at some other posts on this forum about the pluses and minuses of waiting until 16 to start full time training. It will be about the quality and quantity of training you can find where you are right now, plus the financial means.

Living in Scotland, our nearest Center was Newcastle ( Dundee was not an option in those days). A round trip 250 miles and much more for those living in the North of Scotland. We have fond memories of those early morning train trips!

This must be very distressing for you to watch Flexy Nexy. One of my daughters has been trying to get her friend back to Turkey on a repatriation flight for the last 2 days. It's proving impossible. The friend is very, very frightened. Sad that some things never seem to change 😢

Uniforms are usually linked to a particular exam board. Teachers adopt the uniform of the exam board to save parents money in paying for the regulation uniform at exam time. It also gives the classes a nice disciplined feel which is extremely important in dance. If students are turning up in their own choice of uniform then there should still be emphasis on tidy hair, shoes, and rules on when leg warmers, leggings, sweat tops are allowed. Basically, the discipline of dance training is mirrored in everything.

Just to add and, as others have said, no one has it all. An RBS associate teacher once described it as a Rubik's cube, you just hope to cover as much of each side as possible and have as much fun as possible!

In my experience, RBS take a wide range of physiques both for JAs and vocational. The rule for long legs and short torso, longish neck and good feet probably stands true but its interesting to see the many variants of this. There is so much more to take into account. The way you move, how you interpret the music, your natural musical phrasing, your natural sense of line, sense of performance, how you tell a story, flexibility (for ease of movement), turn out (for technique), your ability to pick up sequences of steps, focus and concentration, natural sense of turning, balance, natural ballon, etc Its all about ' natural' gifts that can't be taught from a physio or a teacher although they will certainly be able to help in some areas. It sounds complicated but an experienced teacher can tell these things from steps as simple as skipping, gallops, jumping.

Well said! Too many well meaning parents are totally sucked in by exams in the UK.

With regards to the level of training, gr1 and 2 sound perfect!

Good feet would generally mean feet that are flexible and strong so they will give a nice atheistic look to the lines and will also be suitable for pointe work. In general terms, feet that have a nice arch and instep and are reasonably flexible. People often refer to ' banana feet ' in ballet. Certainly lots of ballet dancers do have very flexible and bendy feet but it's not as straightforward as it sounds because truly beautiful, bendy feet are very, very difficult to work with and need lots of work to strengthen. As do the legs and pelvis in order that everything is supporting. Lots of dancers don't have those very bendy feet, but have reasonable arches and insteps and then work on strength and flexibility. What is more tricky is very flat feet with little arch or instep and little flexiblity. This is because it will very tricky in the future to get right over the block en pointe. All types of feet can be worked on with specific exercises given by a qualified teacher or dance physio. I have experience of Junior Associates taking all 3 types of feet but for fully vocational, reasonably good feet would be required.

Banana on whole grain toast with a drizzle of honey.... if she has time and if she likes bananas, which many people don't.

I think this is one of the most difficult tasks for a parent who has no experience in dance. When I was looking for a really good local school for my Dd, it was really easy because I was an ex dancer/ teacher. The school we chose would have been a surprise to many people I guess. There were plenty large and prolific schools who won competitions and boasted exam results but the one we chose was tiny and out in the styx. We were new to the area so we were coming in blind. The teacher was a well qualified RAD teacher but she had very few classes and nothing other than ballet. She did exams but no competitions or anything else. The advert was the first thing to catch my attention because the pictures showed dancers who were technically correct in placement and nothing showy or 'wowing' in nature. There was a quiet attention to detail from the start. From my own training, I could look through the window, and be happy that this teacher knows her stuff. The care with which she demonstrated the exercises and spent time correcting the students was healthy. The students paid attention, were disciplined but having fun. All this proved to be correct allowing my child to pursue dance more seriously later down the line. But if you don't have that inside knowledge? Firstly look at the teachers qualifications and research. Does the teacher have other past experience that might widen his/ hers experience in teaching or dance? What does the teacher do to keep in contact with other teachers/ new ideas/ courses? How many children in a class? Can the teacher really get round to give every child corrections? And are these corrections followed up diligently week after week after week followed by praise when achieved? Usually your child can tell you if they've been asked to work on something they need to improve. Does the teacher let you watch one class from time to time and if so, is the class well organised? Positive? Disciplined in that the teacher grabs the students attention and makes the most of the studio time by working through the syllabus or free work, stopping to make corrections and having some joyful moments too? Attention to the uniform and hair and shoes tidy? Does the teacher give a little feedback to parents from time to time? Does the teacher help with extra strength or conditioning exercises where needed and is she/ he keen to stress the safety of doing exercises at home? Do a few pupils from the school go on to do associate classes? Usually the school will post these successes on social media.There are quite a few associates about now but reading this forum should clue you up. When it's exam time, does the teacher take great care to make sure the students are well prepared? Pay attention to every little detail...the steps, presentation, confidence, music, shoes, leotards, hair, smiles? These are just a few ideas / guidelines that might help but that's all they can do. I'm sure other people have other ideas. For example, I have had the most incredible ballet teachers ( for older students) that sat on a chair for the whole class and never demonstrated a thing! Applying for a good associate class will tell you if your child has potential and some correct technical ability (younger students will be potential only) and the classes themselves will tell you if they are mirroring their own classes at home and are on track.

Even though your Dd doesn't know what lies ahead and what choices she will make, Ballet underpins most forms of dance ( excluding tap). So focusing on VERY HIGH QUALITY ballet lessons at this stage would be an investment for the future, whatever style may attract her down the line. As others have said, it's definitely quality over quantity plus her enjoyment and joy of dance. Don't stop the jazz ( for example) if this is the genre she loves! Maybe try out for some good associates lessons if you can. You can get financial assistance with most of these. Try always to keep the balance between upping the ballet classes with 'real life stuff' like friends outside of ballet, parties, other hobbies, walking the dog. Easy to say but not so easy to do! Ballet can become an obsession and a solitary focus and, at the end of the day, while it's nice to have a goal and a dream, very, very few people will get to the top of that perilous pyramid. So it's more important to be a well rounded, healthy individual.

Personally, I think that it’s so important that people in positions of power, when dealing with young people ( especially adolescents) need very clear/ sensitive communication. The choice of words are SO important. It may not be the news you want to hear but if you ‘understand’ the motives and it’s delivered sensitively, then you can learn and move on. The idea of making students curious and reflective about why they didn’t win this time round would be preferable to crushing all self esteem. Resilience is not about grinning and bearing it, but continuing to learn knowing that ultimately your self worth can only be measured by you and not by others.

Happy days! Very well done to your daughter!

Some nice bamboo leggings would be nice and free and soft. There’s loads of nice ribbed stretch leggings too in all the fashion shops in pretty balletic colours. Seems to be the trend. I feel the same when I wear proper sports leggings to go for a run, simply no go. Too restrictive. I’ve taken to wearing my daughter’s black warm up pants which are nice and free. Agree with Peanut68 that you can’t go wrong with opaque black footless tights, in a large size so plenty stretch.

It’s definitely possible but it really depends on the level of training you can find locally. Will your current teacher be able to provide enough QUALITY hours of training in the future. By yr 10 in the top ballet schools the training becomes very intense and almost semi professional. Will your daughter be training with other students who are like minded and of a similar standard or will she be able to access a few summer intensives and or associates to gauge how she’s getting along? If your current teacher has other pupils who have achieved gaining places in vocational schools then that will give you confidence. Will you have the finances and the time to support all the extra training, some one to one lessons, plus some lessons in different genres? Contemporary? Jazz? Character? These will generally be part of the course in full time training plus body conditioning/ Pilates and specific help with any weaknesses from a physio, from yr 10. The challenge is to combine all the hours of academics and extra homework towards gcse plus the travelling and training without your daughter feeling under tremendous pressure. That’s not to say full time vocational students don’t feel stress and pressure, because they do! One of the advantages of staying at home is being able to de stress, with a bath and good food, pets/tv and your own bed! There are at least 3 British students ( British trained) at RBS upper school who were not at lower vocational, and others on this forum who have done it, so it’s possible, but not easy. An amazing teacher, plus the financial means to access some other high quality training, plus a family environment that allows for all this would be key. But that mix will be very different and individual for everyone.