Medora

@Raquelle I feel for you. I’m really upset when I read online comments on this topic as the assumption is often that all forms of private education is a complete luxury which you are lucky to be able to afford in the first place. So many people make huge sacrifices to make things work and the thought of having to throw it all away halfway through, making it all somewhat worthless, is awful

Once you’re in anything at an elite level you’ll probably never get out of it without heartbreak… you give so much of yourself in the process. Whether you lose, by quitting or not reaching your goal, or win, it’s emotionally exhausting in some way. Some Olympic medalists deal with severe depression after their success, it’s hard to move on once you got everything you ever worked for. Like Alexander the Great who wept once he had no worlds left to conquer point being that life after ballet needs to be carefully considered

Is the vat on sports and other activities too? We just got my son’s invoice for hockey next year and they added 20%, saying it was due to the new legislation. I’m so confused

Labour have also made it clear that boarding schools will have to charge vat on ‘closely related boarding services’ and will make sure that there is no ‘value shifting’ - I know some boarding schools discussed moving some costs to the boarding side to keep the tuition cost and hence vat lower but no such luck They also state that vat is chargeable to extra curriculars such as performing arts and sports clubs…

My children’s school said something about how the vat is charged to the parents and not the school, so no deductions can be made by the schools. Anyone know anything further about this?

Such a cliché isn’t it! Nothing worse than us failed athletes, always going on about what could have been… I’m taking care to avoid that scenario for my children

I left an elite sport at age 17, it had been my entire life and identity up until that point. I didn’t leave on my own terms, circumstances sort of pushed me out, and it haunted me for probably a decade, maybe longer. I’ve been talking to lots of athletes about this and if all comes down to why and how you leave: if it’s on your own terms, and you feel that you got what you wanted out of it in terms of milestones reached or experiences, and you feel ready for a new adventure, then it’s the right decision. sounds like your son is expressing something along these lines so I’d talk to him, to make sure he doesn’t leave anything on the table so to speak. Anecdotally a good gauge of whether it’s the right decision is if you still want to enjoy the activity in question as a spectator or on a hobby level. For me, I still can’t watch that particular sport on tv

I feel for you. We are in a similar position. Making big changes to our future plans

The new ROH logo is awful.

MartaPe, Did you receive your offer recently? Just trying to work out whether the waitlist has closed (it probably has)

Thanks - I did hear about the waitlist moving in May but I haven’t heard of anything coming up since. Anyone else?

Has the waitlist moved at all in recent days or weeks?

Yes please invisiblecircus! - how many hours/week and what’s the split between contemporary and ballet? - housing? - do they teach in Italian only? - if this was for upper school, how do they do academics? - how easy/hard would you say it is to get a place? Compared to John cranko, princesse Grace for example? Thanks in advance!

I heard that all the mid associates were automatically moved up to senior associates, can someone confirm?

Hi, did you end up going last year? Would love to hear about it. If anyone has looked into the full time training option I would love to hear about that too.

The acceptance letter said they’d had a record number of applicants with a one in five success rate.

As a layperson I have to say this resonates with me, looking back I feel that anything more serious we did before the age of 8 was rather pointless and maybe even counterproductive. Before that age I’d just focus on fun classes, to nurture musicality and a love of dance, and maybe ‘cross train’ with a bit of gymnastics for strength.

(Maybe that’s just the US dates)

I read somewhere that all semi final dates will be released on 1 July.

Most sold. Only the pink leotard is still available

Grishko warm ups sold

Bosaddo heat retaining warm up trousers/Trash bags in the sold out colour ‘Milk’ Cost £89 new 8-10 years (similar in length to Bullet Pointe trash bags in XS so lasted my daughter until she turned 12) 76cm long (legs) 31cm waist across (has drawstring so is adjustable) £35 incl 2nd class signed for postage

Lilac 9502, soft Meryl, size 14 White 9502 soft Meryl, size 14 Rodo (pink) 9502, Lycra, size 0 Turquoise 9502, soft Meryl, size 14 £35 each including postage (2nd class signed for) All of the above are barely used as my daughter wears a uniform these days. Only used a handful of times each as the size was never quite right for her. Baby blue knitted Grishko unitard warmups, suits ages 10-12. Approx 125cm from top of leotard. Leg length approx 75cm. Only used a handful of times £35 including postage (2nd class signed for)

We had a very British week for our daughter when she was 10, maybe they take more UK dancers in the younger years?