Ruby Foo

From what my daughter told me, the Eastern European open auditions are slightly less well attended than the others, say in Paris and Barcelona. I’m sure there will still be plenty though. Does your daughter have plenty performance opportunities at the moment? Competitions? My daughter had a minuscule chance to perform and competitions were a no. It was a bubble environment. If you are just training all your life it’s helpful to get any chance to adapt ‘ the classroom ‘ into professional performance on the other side and to be challenged among your competitors at the highest level.

There is also The Movement Studio- run by Kate Menzies who is ex RB, BRB and ex Scottish Ballet. I don’t have personal experience of this gyrotonic studio ( don’t think it was around when we were there) but it looks like it would be very helpful. It’s in Glasgow too!

The Fabrice Maufrais studio in Glasgow will be a great place to start. It used to be called Penny Withers ( Penny was head of the Associate programme at Scottish Ballet) but has been recently taken over by Fabrice. It’s a fabulous gyrotonic studio run by experienced Ballet people. Fabrice ( ex English National Ballet School teacher ) was the head of pedagogy at Ballet du Quebec. Gyrotonics helps re align the body and strengthen those muscles to hold it in place. I know Scottish Ballet dancers are regulars here.

Just an opinion and not based on experience or specific knowledge, I would say this is worth going to. Theres some good companies represented here such as Hungarian. In the 2 company auditions my dd did before injury, the 2 contracts ( 1 in each) went to girls who were already in companies. My dd said they stood out a mile as being super confident and professional. Although she didn’t get a contract she learnt so much from being there. I’m sorry your school is not more helpful. It’s so expensive and bewildering when you’re completely abandoned like this. Wishing you and you dd the very best of luck. x

Mrs Moo - Arts Ed in Chiswick has a very accessible Musical theatre course. ( Hopefully I can mention this school? Moderators please delete if not) When my daughter was 10yrs and in grade 2 ( she started late too) a much older male student came to her class every week. One day she told me he was 17 in a shocked voice, as though anyone could be so old! This very, quiet unassuming guy continued to come to pretty much everything regardless of who was in the class - he was 1 of only 2 males in the school. He went to Arts Ed at 18 and BLOSSOMED. He came back to her school to do a West End workshop one weekend and boy!! He was unrecognisable! The confidence and his performance were incredible as was his dancing. Just blew me away actually. He danced professionally for a few years and is now a fitness coach.

Without doubt the chances are greater for boys starting late, than girls. Will still be a huge challenge but if he feels this is his pathway to fulfilment and he’s fully aware of the amount of hard work, then better to get started! Do you have a very good school near you that will support and offer enough training to get back to the level needed to audition? Having a decent voice will help no end. The other option or plan b might be to take adult classes at a dance center and apply for amateur musical theatre groups. Another plan b would be to join some excellent dance and musical theatre groups at university. I’ve heard some are very professional. Sometimes you can do what you love by going through a different door.

Thank you for educating me Roberta.

I don’t find it quaint at all. And finding out it happened ‘ not so long ago’ makes me even less impressed. It happened at my vocational school ( not RBS) when I first went age 10. Definitely a hark back to Establishment and their strange fascination with power/ control/ authority and social status. Thank goodness, most have now modernised and students make the choices and decisions about their own destiny, guided by approachable tutors.

Yes, sorry. I wasn’t really referring to the students in my post though. I just quoted you because it was about location. My mistake. I was referring to a new AD trying to do what I would wish for ( being present and in touch) whilst travelling between the two locations which is really unrealistic.

Travelling from White Lodge to Upper School can take anything from an hour to 2.5. hours. Since they closed the Hammersmith Bridge, the traffic around SW London is unbearable at the wrong times. Just stating the impracticalities.

This sounds very healthy Birdy and how it should be. In 5 years at RBS, (3 at WL and 2 in Upper) the AD only spoke to my daughter once - at her audition.

Thank you for these posts guys. I am definitely guilty of finding excuses not to go to the theatre - who will look after the dogs? There’s a train strike. Too expensive, where to park? etc etc. So much easier to get your child occupied for an hour in a Ballet Lesson. I am part of this problem and thank you for reminding me. What an inspiring story Roberta re the grade 3 student! Maybe accounts like these are rare but they give us hope.

I do think it’s a little more complex than how it’s portrayed here though. Sometimes students are accepted because there’s nothing more promising - very true. But some of these do surprise and go on to have fulfilling careers if they are given support and not stripped of their confidence and self esteem early on in the process.

Thank you for posting. So true, so sad.

Exactly Roberta! This is why we hope and pray for all those young people in training now that things can change! Maybe the job description will change? Exactly Peanut! Thank you! Having just one teacher the whole year round may have benefits but also has a whole spectrum of negatives which will never be discovered unless the AD is present for much of the time. Quite apart from the problem of clandestine bullying which can remain the whole year there are also problems with different style’s being taught. In 1st year upper the teacher had a very unique style she demanded. In 2nd year, the teacher asked them who had taught them that way and pared it all back.

Do you mean that being a hands on, in touch, nurturing AD would be beneath the role? A step down maybe, from travelling the world promoting the RBS and picking up talent en route? Teachers are not heads of schools. That is a very different role.

Because Roberta, when there is a huge distance between management and students, students have no relationship with management whatsoever ( except fear) and vice versa to the point that management doesn’t even know a student’s name after several years. For a head of any school this is quite unbelievable and unacceptable. To the AD then, that student ceases to be a person and becomes a number or a commodity. This is very poor management indeed! In any walk of life! A good manager makes it their job to be on the floor. To create positive relationships with all who work for them whether it be secretaries, cleaners, clients, consultants, contractors. This is the way you get the best from everyone and they teach you a great deal too! If you’re present and not too arrogant to learn. It’s a win, win situation where everyone is feeding and learning from everyone else. Everyone feels valued and ‘seen’. This is what is created when an AD teaches his/ her students. Nobody is suggesting the AD should be teaching every day but teaching is the medium for creating relationships and validates a student beyond being a monetary commodity. It is a commitment from the AD that he / she is working for the benefit of the student and is in touch with everything that is happening in his/ her school creating trust and loyalty. The AD knows his / her students well through teaching them and aids communications between staff and students. The fee paying student who are the clients are the most important. Being in touch with them is the key to success. All great leaders throughout history know this. It’s how wars were won, how Prime Ministers get elected, how the best corporations survive. When the heads of institutions remain distant and aloof from reality then trouble sets in. I’ve left the most obvious reason till last - presumably the AD has an interest in teaching his/her students? Hopefully he/she feels they can add something valuable and worthy to a student’s training? When my daughters attended their academic school in Scotland, the headmaster stood outside the school gate in his kilt every morning from 8am. He greeted every child by name as they came in ( despite being over 1000 students) and usually had something humorous or cheery to say. He appeared in the classrooms every day at some point, taught lessons and made it his job to find out how everyone was doing and feeling. The result? A school that was bonded together by him where each child felt they were part of something bigger than themselves. What a contrast to hearing a child being referred to as ‘it’ in this particular institution which I personally experienced.

You’re right Roberta. The new AD would need to be a giant in terms of a multi faceted skill set, a creative visionary etc etc etc. Despite all that, a simple saying comes to mind -‘flowers bloom best when they are tended’.

My daughter was at RBS 5 years. She was weighed at the beginning and end of every term. Surely no one takes anything the Sun prints seriously! 😳

The most important thing is that she is able to go and do her best on the day. She can only do that if she is feels happy and confident and free from pressure and stress. She sounds like she has prepared well so there’s no need to force things and keep doing them over and over unless she wants to of course. Now you can focus on being super organised from a practical point of view so there are no glitches on the day - travel timings, spare shoes/ uniform / snack and water bottle and giving her confidence at every opportunity. Putting the emphasis on having a great day out together with plenty fun along the way will relieve her of anxiety and nerves and allow her to relax and do her best. She should have a little think about why going to these particular schools would be important to her and how best to communicate her passion for dance as she will certainly be asked those questions by Tring at least. The academic tests are just a formality to reveal any serious learning difficulties that might need specific attention if a student was to attend. They have no bearing on the result. The more relaxed you can be about the whole event the more freedom she has to shine. Good Luck!

I will pm you.

So very true. I can only post here with regards to my daughters experiences because she has changed direction and because those who had power over her are no longer relevant. That’s quite a statement after years of having to watch what was happening and remain silent. The Ballet World is a small one, everyone is linked and that carries over long past school and into auditions and Companies. Everyone who knew her will easily be able to recognise her story from what I’ve written here and even though she’s left there’s still a terrible feeling of fear in every single post I’ve written accompanied by sleepless nights and anxiety. I’ve only done it because I know this topic needs to be seen and heard and discussed and changed. She was unable to speak on the Panorama programme because that was a giant step too far at this stage.

Happy Christmas to everyone who celebrates. Thank you Moderators for all you do and fellow members for your inputs.

The development of nutritionists and health teams in Vocational schools including state of the art help with injuries has been one of the most impressive improvements I’ve noticed over the years. BUT, I don’t think we should assume because of these, all the problems disappear. Issues are far more complex than that. Students will often start eating much less deliberately when the pressure of assessments are apon them. And this too happens in Grad year. Only a little while ago, my daughter was speaking to a student in Grad year who had lost a lot of weight intentionally. She told my daughter she was doing it for 1 year only. Despite the very positive messages coming from my daughters school ( one of those featured in the program) regarding diet and nutrition, she had studied the physicality of the students who had been accepted to Upper School from the years before and convinced herself the AD liked a certain look. That may well have been true to an extent. To us, taking in all the available information, we might have considered that artistry and technical prowess would also have been part of that decision. But that’s where young dancers are mentally vulnerable and hyper perfectionist. The subliminal messages are often super distorted because they are living in a pressurised, bubble environment and these are big decisions that have a big impact on their future life. That is why making it your job to know your students really well and enjoying a healthy relationship with them is super important. Not knowing your student’s names after several years, ( which is what happened to my daughter) is a case in point.

I would also like to point out that anyone is free to start a thread on Experience of Good Practice at Vocational Schools.