Ruby Foo

It is unfathomable to me how any teacher thinks that making a student cry in class is beneficial in achieving the desired gaol of bringing the best of their potential, let alone a teacher at a renowned institution. Yet I know this happened plenty times in my dc’s class ( sometimes daily)and was ignored by the teacher. This was last year. The student is crying because the teacher has made them feel so hopeless, humiliated and powerless. It certainly does only scratch the surface of a very complex and entwined set of issues which have been left to fester for years due to a culture of fear. Another 10 series like this and we may be starting to touch on the issues. With due respect to your point of view, as a ex dancer, teacher and parent of an ( now ex dancer) this is not how we feel. And surely that’s the point, that students and dancers should feel they are able to communicate and work as a partnership with the school.

This is all so our experience. When it became clear that verbal abuse in class was taking place on a daily basis, my dc, though admitting she wasn’t sure she could take it anymore, begged and begged us not to speak out because it was well known what happened to those who challenged the system. Incidentally none of this related to body shaming and in her experience the school’s education and guidance on nutrition was extremely healthy and helpful.

This is the same for us. We could not assist with this program as my dc simply cannot talk about what she refers to as ‘total trauma’. At 18, after a year of bullying in upper school and being told her body was not suitable for ballet ( nothing to do with weight issues) and finally being the only girl to be assessed out in 2nd year she is beginning again - taking A levels and planning a new life.

My daughter wasn’t too young. She was in her first year in RBS Upper School when she was told by her teacher that she had a ‘very difficult body for Classical Ballet’ due to her hips. She had previously been at WL for 3 years. The Upper School physio spoke to me and agreed that her hips were very difficult. Later that same year she injured her hip (large labrel tear) and wasn’t given enough rest. We now know, through speaking to a top consultant she needed at least 3 months rest to have any chance of recovery. In 2nd year Upper School she danced through the pain and fell behind. I was told by her teacher to teach her at home. She was assessed out in 2nd year leaving with 1 A level and no degree which she had worked on for 2 years. She has now given up dancing as her labral tear enlarged during 2nd year (3d mri done privately, not at school) She was not physically assessed from WL to Upper School other than in class.

This is very good advice although it’s difficult to find the exact statistics with students arriving and leaving on a termly/ yearly basis. In our own experience, at least 8 girls from my dds year at WL / Upper School have given up dance completely. I can’t say why except to say some were through injury or health type issues. As the training progresses the pressure also increases. It’s a pyramid which becomes extremely, extremely narrow at the top, ( understatement).For those of you just starting out, I can’t stress this enough. I say this so that you can become more creative and open minded as you go along and enjoy just one day at a time. Some important questions dancers need to ask themselves are ‘Am I a performer?’ In the general sense of that word? If Ballet can not happen for me then do I still want to be a performer? Because if the answer is yes, then it’s important to nurture other performance skills and styles alongside the Ballet training. I believe if you did these as a child and reached a reasonable level in them then you will be able to fall back on them at some point even if you haven’t studied them recently. Contemporary will be super important for the latter part alongside Classical training. Secondly, do I love Ballet for ballet’s sake? And not because I’m at a certain establishment which teaches a certain style in a certain way and has all the trappings that benefit a student. Ballet can be served many ways and can be a very different experience depending on where you are in the world. It can be quite a shock to find this out if you been in one arena all your training life. The employment prospects in Classical Ballet at present are very bleak indeed. Companies are just not taking dancers now and with the difficulties that Brexit has brought regarding visas it’s not looking good for the future. There are very VERY FEW vocational schools in the world good enough to produce classical dancers good enough to get one of those (very rare) jobs.

If you already have a good relationship then you’re in a great place and moving apart just means making every effort to sustain it from a distance. Basically you will need to open every door possible for her to communicate with you, express her thoughts and feelings and know she can rely on you, practically and emotionally, even though you’re not right there. Top tips would be to take her out at every opportunity, not necessarily coming home but a day out for shared experiences and chat. Especially if that chat involves other things than dance! Ask plenty direct questions when she has time to chat giving her an opportunity to tell you about things she may have forgotten during the day. It’s very tiring at boarding school, not just the dance but just being in the same place all the time. Draining. So remembering to ask about friends, food, favourite teachers, what moods they were in, the houseparents, what she’s looking forward to etc helps to jog her memory and validates her as a person. At the same time remembering to tell her all about home, funny things the pets/ siblings did etc. will help to keep the bond. A wee parcel etc is really nice to receive if you can’t manage to see her. I think one of the problems is that coming home for a short time can result in all the nice sides of relationships because everyone wants it to be a happy time. Obviously, a relationship is dealing with the tricky aspects too, in which negotiating through these, give life skills. So when she comes home keep things as natural as possible.

If it’s okay to pm you?

Great post! ‘Ballet is the long game’.

A nice bright duvet cover and own pillow. Not sure if this is an intensive in a vocational school but some of the dorms can seem a bit gloomy and dull without the usual students decoration. Also a Tupperware full of snacks (healthy and chocolate?)some sliders and fluffy blanket to snuggle in the evenings.

Not sure which part of London you are in but we had great treatment from the podiatrist at the Fairlee pharmacy in Battersea. The pharmacy has a treatment centre downstairs with sports massage, physio etc. The podiatrist had treated dancers before and did an excellent job. We booked an hour session.

Fabulous news, well done 👍

In UK, it’s probably Central or Conservatoire. I’m not sure about Elmhurst. In my experience, not many yr 11’s audition. I think possibly lower down the school it’s more a considered option.

As far as I know, there is nothing published for WL yr 11 destinations. I stand to be corrected. Above are purely examples of destinations for previous years graduates.

Whoops! Forgot to mention CSB - Central.

RBS yr 11 students have gone to destinations such as NBA, ESB, Joffrey, NBS Canada, Boston Ballet School, Rambert, San Francisco Ballet School, ENB, Kings, Masters of Ballet, Basle Ballettschule to name but a few. Some have returned to their home countries Australia/ Brazil etc to continue training. Some do private training.

Thank you. Thank you for this. We try to be a voice for the welfare of our children and our students but we are silenced. Silenced by fear of retribution by the powerful.

Dutch National and European School of ballet in Amsterdam are both infiltrated with British dancers and I’ve never heard of the language being an issue. Both excellent schools. Princess Grace in Monaco. No issue with language there as mostly international students. Without a dual citizenship some European school’s cannot accept students for more than 3 months. This did apply to ESB who did not have university status but may have changed.

So pleased 👍

We used to have excellent experiences in the Dance Shop, albeit a while ago. Good selection of shoes and ex dancer experience. Lots of time and care given for fitting plus good tips for beginners.

Denzil Bailey comes highly recommended. He does classes at a few places including Danceworks, Pineapple and Central

It’s important to state that you cannot train to be a dance teacher online. There are some modules of the written work which can be done online for sure and most of the training has become more flexible and accessible, but you will need to be in a studio with a teacher for most of the time. You will also need to be fully present with students as you practice and progress through your training. For fully qualified teachers, then progression through online courses is possible. As you rightly point out, ISTD will give you easy access to other styles of dance should you wish. I would consider all three societies and see which offers you the flexibility you need.

Totally depressing and horrifying. The lack of slow, gentle, layering of technique replaced with force and brazen pushing, produces something vulgar, lacking in depth and strength and detail. In my opinion, this can never be replaced later, no matter that this particular dancer has a career in ballet now. The inappropriateness of dancing roles without the understanding or maturity to do them credit makes a mockery of ballet.

Hammond, I believe, works in exactly the same way. The number of MDS awards varies from year to year and can be awarded to any year group. For example, one year (Tring) 3 MDS awards were given to yr 8’s. The most I’ve heard of in one year was 10 awards.

When you are given an MDS at Tring, you are told how long it will last. Usually to the end of yr 11 and a very few through until graduation 18 +. Most students don’t have to re apply every year. Some students went paying full fees and then applied for a MDS after a year of training. Not sure if that still happens.

I very highly recommend Julie Young Dance Studios in Perth. Again maybe too far for you?