dancefanatic

My Dd's JA/MA teacher is a fan of the Carla Arabesque Leo, although with the straps shortens & some of the front ruching removed. Beautifully high legged which helps make those with the long legs short bodies have incredibly long legs & those that don't look longer legged. She hated the children to wear their associate Leos as she suits the panel know who they are already.

Schools are odd. My DD got a Y6 JA place and, because a younger child failed to get a Y5 place, my DD's achievement wasn't acknowledged publicly within the school at all in case the other girl was upset by it. Now I understand that but was upset on my child's behalf that nothing was made of her success. Still feel that way now as her dance teacher also has never publicly congratulated her on any of her achievements but shouts out about other girls (my DD is her only former student who made it to a vocational school & got got an IDTA Ballet Theatre Awards nomination, as well as MAs, finals at WL & Elmhurst etc, not that I'm at all bitter about it). My DD doesncare as she's where she wants to be & is loving it!! Just make the most of her achievements yourself as you have every right to be proud of her. And we'll all join in too!

Also, the vocational schools tend to offer 2 hours ballet Monday through to Friday, plus an additional 2 hours dance Monday to Thursday (this will include pointe, tap, contemporary, jazz etc). My DD goes to Elmhurst who offer a further 1.5 to 2 hours RAD class on a Saturday. Nothing on a Sunday. And Friday afternoons they have 2 hours enrichment instead of dance were they have a number of things offered over the course of a term from makeup, nutrition, circus skills, swiming and other more normal PE options. As others have said, it really is important to ensure your DD has rest time as well as time to do homework and catch up with her friends to do more normal teenager activities. It really is more about quality of teaching rather than quantity. Good luck to your DD, she sounds very determined which can only be a good thing.

Re Bath JAs, it depends which group your child is in. If Yr4-5 (JA1 from memory) then usually always morning sessions. The Y6/JA2 class is a mix as depends if they are after the younger JA class or before the MA class. My DD was Y6 JA a few years ago and it was clear which session was which. I recall she started mostly doing the morning session. Hope this helps

Firstly, congrats to your daughter. Secondly, once a JA with RBS, your daughter will remain one until the end of Year 6. She will be offered the opportunity to apply and audition for White Lodge and Mid Associates in the January of her Y6 year. My DD only did Y6 as we didn't know of the scheme before and she was lucky enough to get Mids too. Once in Mids, they have an annual assessment and have to pass this in order to get another year's training. She was successful at her first MA assessment but she left halfway through the first term to go to vocational school. She absolutely loved being both a JA and MA with the Royal and, as you can probably gather, made the most amazing progress. She went to the Bath centre and absolutely loves the teacher she had there.

My DD did EYB last October. She is quite diddy for her age and was cast as Lady Songbird and the White Cat. Lovely roles although maybe not on stage as much as others but she loved them and thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience. Other girls we knew were Guests, Friends and Monsters. In fact the Monsters also danced as jewels in the second act to they had lovely tutu costumes too. In fact most of the cast had two roles and therefore two costumes, other than the Friends & Guests. So no matter the role, your DD bound to have at least one pretty costume!!

Farawaydancer I am well aware of that which is why I said "potentially"!! We all know there are never any guarantees but having been the other side last year, I would have found it comforting to know whether there was bed space to make the audition worthwhile. I now know there were potential bed spaces for Y8 girls last year but none were awarded following the March finals. My DD got her offer in Sept after summer school etc, completely out of the blue.

DancingShoes that's fantastic & yes potentially there are spaces as my DD is in that year group. I know she'll be delighted to here this news, being the last to join the year. Good luck to everyone next week.

I know!! It really struck me st the time too and I've obviously never forgotten him (just his name annoyingly). If anyone else took class on a Saturday morning in the early to mid 90's who also remembers him? He was a lovely dancer too...

Some years ago at Dance Attic I had a male teacher - we were an advanced adult ballet class. He was amazing and also a fab pianist and accompanied us too, standing up whilst his feet/legs did the barre exercises, hands played and his eyes watched. I recall he was Chinese but sadly don't remember his name. I loved his classes.

I did ask the school last October and was told No, the only way was to use School feed plan. And not having much notice of the place, we couldn't start saving in advance either. We chose to swallow the interest for the convenience really. Good luck and hope you get a different response now the school had a new finance director!!

Happy mum, we use this method and it is so much easier knowing our monthly expenditure. Fees are worked out monthly with school sending a copy of the invoice to the plan people each term. We get a copy for info really.

Someone said they seem to still have awards available and it's a case of if not used, they get granted a smaller pot next year which could be disastrous on a number of levels I guess. I also know there may be spaces for Y9 for example as there's always flux in the year groups for any number of reasons. So don't panic, they're not taking away places already offered and accepted.

It can happen. My DD was a finalist two years in a row plus attended SS both years. She didn't get an offer from finals but was invited up for an assessment the September of the second year and started at the school shortly after. She absolutely loves it there. I don't know how usual her experience is but do know first hand that such offers can be made. So never give up but mostly enjoy all experiences you get AcurariaBallerina.

My DD is going to week 2 for the first time, having done Elmhurst's junior SS the last two years. Think she's really looking forward to a whole week plus hear such good things about OPES!!

Many thanks everyone, I will explore these. I know Swindon Dance as a parent as my elder DD used to dance there and had come across the Ballet in small Spaced so lovely to hear some feedback on it. Now to pluck up the courage to call up & go!

I've done a quick search but my search terms haven't brought anything back plus searing Google is proving fairly fruitless! Some of you know me as a dance mum but probably don't know that, like some of you, I am also a thwarted ballerina! It's a long story but mostly had parents who don't believe in careers on the stage so I was only allowed the bare minimum of ballet classes as a child and no encouragement. Needless to say, I did what I could and took ballet classes until I was 28, latterly at Dance Attic in Fulham when my love for Lindy Hop took over. Anyway, I haven't danced for approx 15 years and keep looking for adult ballet classes near where I now live without much success (both my hubby and DDs want me to get back to dancing, particularly my eldest who is now at vocational school). Do any of you know of any suitable classes in the Oxfordshire/Wiltshire area - I live in Faringdon, Oxfordshire which lies between Oxford and Swindon. I have to admit I don't want to drive miles and unfortunately my younger DD's dance school in Swindon doesn't offer adult ballet classes, only tap. I also don't know what level I should be looking at, having gone up through the old RAD syllabus, leaving school at 17.5 in Elementary and then doing open classes at Surrey University, Laines and Bagshot before moving to London in my 20's. Since having the girls, my fitness and suppleness have gone down the river really but that's not a reason to not try again!

Thank you, yes I have and have put up my items too. Just seems quite quiet on there at the moment.

Will anyone have any Elmhurst Year 9 uniform for sale at the end of this term? Looking for A blue formal t-shirt (Y9) and Y9 leotards. My daughter is quite small still so probably looking for C3 (think that's the larger of the child sizes?) as opposed to a small adult. I will have available Year 8 leotards and a pink formal t-shirt (for Years 7 and 8) plus a Small Child's formal jacket/blazer, available at the end of this summer term. I will need to check the sizing of the leotards but I think they be C2 - they're up at school with my DD who is currently wearing them.

I have a pair of new and unworn Bloch Aspiration pointes, bought as a spare pair for my DD when she first went to vocational school last year and she found the shoes compressed her feet too much. They are darned plus have ribbons and elastics sewn on. Size 4 D. They cost me approx £34 before adding the cost of new ribbons and elastic. Please make me an offer although the minimum I would like is £25 (excluding p&p).

That is a good question and one I can't answer, despite having an academic child at one of these two schools (Elmhurst). I know they are given two different levels in their Maths classes but my DD doesn't find the top level challenging enough and has spoken to her teacher about it. But she has told me that one of the boys in her class is very good at maths and they seem to be pushing each other on which is helping. The children have regular assessments in all academic classes and seem to maintain a good standard, or at least my DD's marks have continued to be high. We do have concerns that she may slip back academically but she does continue to push herself and asks questions constantly to help improve her knowledge so we are happy with her progress so far. She is in Y8 and did Y7 at our local state school which has an excellent reputation. And I don't think she's alone in that from what I hear, most children do well with their academics, even though they do fewer subjects. Hope this helps a little.

Pictures, are you anywhere near one of the CAT centres? I know most of them are for Contemporary Dance, other than Leeds being the only ballet scheme, but they still have to do a measure of ballet within the course. I only know a bit about my local one in Swindon who offer both the Contemporary scheme and the Urban one. The auditions for the Contemporary scheme are coming up and is for children aged 11 to 18 although, in our experience, it's only boys that get in at 11. But that wouldn't be an issue for your daughter. They do 5 hours class every Saturday which includes an hour at least of ballet plus another additional ballet class during the week.

CeliB what truly fantastic news. I eventually watched the graduation class with my DD on Sunday and we both thought your son was excellent and, in our opinion, outshone his fellow class mates throughout. Like the others, I can't wait to hear which he picks and what a hard decision it will be. Huge congratulations to your DS x

It certainly can happen but with the large number of children who attend the various summer schools, including WL and Elmhurst, compared to the very small number of places actually available, I wouldn't go thinking that a WL SS place will definitely mean a future career. There are so many permutations out there and not one single guarantee. You need to remember that not all Y7 entrants to either WL or Elmhurst (or indeed Tring and Hammond) will necessarily stay all the way through the Lower schools, let alone get into an upper school and then graduate straight into a company. My DD is one of those offered a place from a SS but she had auditioned and got through to finals two years in a row first before being offered her place. The only advice I can offer, given to us from her associates teacher, is to continue putting your DC in front of those audiences you think may help them achieve their dreams, knowing that this may not happen in the way you originally thought. As others have said, there really are many roads to travel to Rome and just try to enjoy the view on your journey, whichever route it may take you.

Piccolo, that's fantastic news and I did add a post yesterday to pass on congratulations but saw this morning it had gone up and has disappeared into the ether somewhere! I told my DD last night (she's now back home today) and she is absolutely delighted for your DD and has asked me to pass on her congratulations to your daughter. Fantastic achievement and well deserved, she works so very hard.