leotardmum

can i ask colour and is 12 A a child size age 12 or adult siZe 12 looking for degas to fit 12 yr old child x

keen to try degas leotard for average size 12 year old child, no idea on sizing so thought 2nd hand maybe best ? ideally pale colour x

DD attended RBS white lodge easter week 2018 and now a summer week 2019 aswell and also easter week in hong kong done totally loved it very well organised not one complaint i have to say from her or myself met loads of lovely new dancers, always made to feel welcome in class, encouraged and DD says teachers all just gorgeous ! x

we are due to sit grade 5 today on 2 rad classes a week this year and exam intensive 5 day course over last holiday block ..... this is minimum to be allowed to sit exams plus girls expected to do few privates prior......... some girls will divert into grade 6+ for next year and some will go into vocational to do IF (we are RAD ) and then onto intermediate where it looks like a lots of teens drop out due to more classes / school pressures and pointe work expectations which isnt for every student these days ..... RAD provides graded route which is great to keep kids dancing into teen years . nearly all ballet girls at our school do contemporary class weekly and jazz and our teachers encourage the jazz - i think its great fun and does help with keeping them free i think as ballet can really cause some to become technical machines these days .... every school can offer different things to different kids who have diffferent aspirations/needs but a good school if they have the capacity should be able to offer both paths ideally yep i note intermediate for any rad teaching cert is needed i think ? our school offers 2 extra classes a week of open work to selected kids aswell - my DD does this aswell as weekly privates - we are in a big school with lots on offer and a timetable that puts classes back to back so kids go from one lesson to another making it easier for pick ups and drop offs and sos carpooling when needed lol

capezio hanami - canvas or MDM canvas or bloch canvas pro elastic or performa all popular in my kids class now over leather shoes i note , all split soles x

yep-we did the Hong Kong one this easter spreading wings around world , they did some stuff in usa last year i think aswell and coming to Australia aswell

my daughter was boarding last year ( then year 6 at school ) and had great time-kept busy and from what here only down time was meal times and moving between classes, lots of social at night and made great buddies and had a total blast-going again this year in week 2 boarding again and so excited again, i didnt hear anything negative about the week from her and to be honest barely heard from her during the week apart from a few texts lol

anyone got a child in week 2 at summer school white lodge in few weeks ? x

yes - just seen an announcement on a dance schools FB site for one child - great news!

yes iam one for encouraging joy and happiness as what better way to spend a few hours dancing and not doing homework or emptying the dishwasher i tell my child lol i always tell my child that we have literally 'paid' to have that time in front of them / same at competitions we have paid for that 3 minutes on stage so regardless how it goes please go and have a blast - if it all goes wrong just roll round on the stage for the 3 minutes i tell her ( obv this is a joke ! ) its your time to shine and remember the person choosing or judging may like you one day and not the next or be looking for certain things that maybe we didnt show or dont have/cant have ( body shape awareness can be tricky as they reach puberty and start to change ) and to just bring home at least one learning point from the class/audition/competition that she can take into the next one or into school lessons...... thanking the teachers and pianist is also very important at the end of an audition/open class if its possible ..... we have some comps that are 'open classes' first before you are 'selected' to do your solo here that are great prep for auditions in learning etiquette and confidence building/learning to cope with not getting thro ...and a new leaotard/hair flower can always take the sting out of rejection in the younger ones ( as does a chocolate treat afterwards i find ) x

RBS attends Asian Grand Prix and scholarships are given out there from them ( no idea how many ) - big competition over here covering many countries incl Australia and NZ on yearly basis with finals in Hong Kong In August - just for interest wrt which comps RBS are present at/named at seeing they dont do YAGP at present .....

i tell my daughter to always think of an audition as an open class rather than a test , we have adopted an approach of give it a go as nothing to lose ( nobody will die or get sick and your teacher will never chuck you out or not welcome you back just because you didnt get in or get the best grade etc ) and you may actually gain something ....if you get it then great but if not it can either be a lightbulb moment of ?is this path the right one for my child or am i flocking something to death/pushing my child wrongly and should i redirect my childs energies somewhere else or just chill out and enjoy her dancing for pleasure rather than seeing it as a career .... ? are we needing to improve something ie flexibility or posture that we may have actually spotted but ignored or had said to us over time ..... ? just bad luck and better dancers present on that day ...... we 'failed' an audition and went back the year after realising flexibility really needing improving, she worked really hard and went back with splits in all ways so went in feeling more confident ....rightly or wrongly splits may not have been the issue but we knew they got tested so knowing she could do them that year just helped her confidence overall ...she now knows tho that for her body she needs to work at her flexibility and its helped her in many ways realising that things dont happen without effort lol Every school looking for something different - and thats not even touching on the touchy subject of weight /height/leg and body ratios lol

cheers x

what is year 14 ? is this aged 18+ years uni/diploma stage?

intrigued from other side of world in australia to see how it all goes ..... as you know australia is 'totally' into dance comps and kids from here attending the asian dance comp market i noted more and more so hearing of ones in UK is interesting .... good luck! x

interesting reading , so few spaces and so many hopefuls ! xx

how many children turn up for preliminary regional auditions for RBS ? and how many do they take forward roughly to finals in London? Just wondering how big it all is regionally and how tough it is to actually get thro' to London finals and how many they take to London - to prep a childs expectations...... and my own of course.... just at that stage where we need to make decisions on how serious this all is but realistically get an idea about chances at same time DD is year 7 has anyone gone back several times before getting thro to finals or giving up? she is desperate for a 'full time' place at a school but i suspect chances are slim and want to try and open her mind to other ways of continuing her dancing if unable to gain full time place as a teen etc ..... struggling mum with hopeful expectations and reality x

we are an ex Newcastle upon Tyne family living here in oz so Hong Kong not too far away from us .....we did white lodge last year which was fab so intrigued to see/hear how or if courses differ much , i suspect it will be mainly ozzies and locals but you never know ! x

A long shot knowing most people on here are UK based but just wondering if anyone here going to RBS Hong Kong spring intensive with there dancers next week ? xx

for exams and comps we match tights and shoes which can be fun at times , for class its anything that's in the drawer iam afraid. We like energetics classic convertible tight with a gusset but just found bloch tights which she says feel really nice on and match her class ballet flats .....

the easy access to home schooling here in australia and 'normality' of it at times from age 11 for dancers probably makes it easier over here for them to access competitions possibly, each city has at least a few schools offering 'full time training ' from age 11 ...obv they do home schooling but the hours they put in on ballet and contemporary and competition work is substantially more compared to the girls doing after school dance in the same city and they put in more hours than i found in uk ..... plus the access we have to competitions here is enormous so preparation starts young . Cant wait to watch this covertly at work this week ! x

is this a lyrical or contemporary piece? have to understand lyrics first before you can do choreo or put in emotions i feel i watch my daughter dance lyrical etc and lots of other 10-11 year olds in competition and when you see them 'hit' the right emotion in their face/body/hands/speed of movement its just a joy , sometimes they overact at this age and some have no idea as suspect they dont understand the song , some kids get emotional connection straight away but others have to 'learn' emotion .... an interesting topic and as a mum i find this interesting to look for in the kids age/experience and nerves can all effect 'emotion' on the day aswell watch yourself in the mirror - video yourself - ask someone non dance to listen to the track and tell u how they feel- listen to the track and verbalise how it makes you feel to someone or just dance freely to it and see how you move around ..... ask your teacher why she picked this song and what the story is ps i know nothing about choreo and solo putting together but love watching the process with my daughter as so very clever BUT i note there is always a narrative with the solo given from the teacher i find to help the kids get into it x

Just seen this on FB and website now up and wonder if anyone looking at this for next year? x

will be 12 - year 7 when we go , never been to hong kong so looking forward to a good sightsee!

We got a place for Hong Kong ! yay! we had white lodge this year and it was an amazing experience for my daughter - family trip coming up!x