SissonneDoublee

I was just about to say exactly this! Especially with a first pair. She is likely to underestimate how much breaking in they need. I also second getting her to do the ribbon sewing, even if it needs a bit of a retouch... my 11 year old DD is so proud of having done her own, without much in the way of sewing experience before that!

The lessons are in Covent Garden, in Floral St, so there’s your first bit of good news! I think in CG you can request if you prefer 32 weeks or 26. My DD did 32 weeks at a different centre and loved it. It was a big commitment, time-wise and financially, but was worth it in every way. I think the 26 week class is a completely separate group, so you wouldn’t be missing weeks as such, but I know that my DD progressed massively on 32 weeks, and I wonder if this had been reduced to every other week the benefit may have been less. Hopefully someone from the CG centre will be able to advise if it is possible to move to the more frequent group as your DD gets closer to MA/ full time auditioning in Year 6, in order to give her the best chance... it is, as you say tough competition at that stage. JAs was a fantastic experience for my DD, and she (and I) made friends for life there, as well as finding her path in life. Dance is tough, and ballet maybe even more so, but it is so much a part of her that she wouldn’t have been able to bear NOT to!

Congratulations! Fingers crossed for you. Elmhurst is a lovely, lovely school.

My DD didn’t wear her leotard, but did wear the tracksuit. Her JA teacher advised us to wear a flattering, simple leotard and a waist elastic. The students wear a tank-style leotard (not strappy), so we used this to guide us.

I think it must be soon, we did application photos along with lower school ones last year, so must have been October-ish. Elmhurst is a lovely summer school. I can’t recommend it highly enough.

MA1 is Year 7s and maybe 8s as well (DD had a place but didn’t take it up) and is on a Saturday afternoon (from 2:45pm) in Covent Garden.

The forms we have filled in have required photos of specific dance positions, rather than headshots. We have always booked a private lesson with DD’s ballet teacher to take the photos under supervision to make sure the technique is spot on in each pic.

All England Dance and all the qualifying festivals associated do prohibit pointe work before 13 years of age. If only more teachers and parents took heed of this outside the festival context. While preparatory work is fine before this, it seems like a sensible rule of thumb for more extended dancing on pointe.

Pasta salad worked well for DD, plus plenty of snacks and a packed lunch too! The rehearsal days are long, and they burn a lot of calories.

It also comes in black, which is the one we went for. It is huge! Easily big enough to fit everything in.

A lot of the girls in DDs JA class have the RB bag from the Opera House shop. They are not cheap, but very sturdy and big enough to carry the towel, folder, water bottle, shoes, etc etc and still have space for the tracksuit when they take it off! It has a good selection of pockets too.

The PTA have beautiful logo-ed RBS towels, so you might want to hold off buying a new one especially for JAs, as if your DC is anything like mine you will slowly accumulate everything that exists with a RBS logo!

Missed the deadline for Year 4 (so much more clueless back then!), a ‘no’ for Year 5, offered and alternative centre for Year 6 (best year ever... made lovely friends and a real turning point dance-wise) full time at Elmhurst for Year 7. A ‘no’ is definitely a ‘not yet’. If your child wants to keep trying, and is not devastated by a negative result, then it is well worth not giving up!

I have an almost unused (probably 30 minutes wear in total, maybe less) character skirt and an unworn JA white leotard (size 1... I bought the wrong size and hand-washed it but it was never worn). The skirt is 58.5cm waist, 63cm long, and was made by the official RBS dressmaker. £40 for both, please.

RAD lessons are included in MDS funding at some schools.

An associate scheme would prepare your DD very thoroughly for vocational auditions, especially for the school they are affiliated to. RBS and Elmhurst both have associates in Birmingham. You may well find that it would be time very well spent, even if it causes your DD to miss classes at her regular studio. There is no need to be in Grade 6 by then, they are looking for a very solid basic technique, which may be compromised by rushing through the grades.

Congratulations to your DD! We are just north of Brighton... with such a distance, every weekend would be too much, but with a bit of lift sharing we might be able to manage more frequently than just exeats and holidays. I do agree about needing to be there for some weekends to establish friendships, though.

A Year 7 place for DD.

Thank you! I’m just working out how to send you a PM.

Hi, DD has just been offered a Year 7 place to start at Elmhurst in September, which is very exciting! The logistics of having a child boarding in the Midlands when we are based in the South East are really scaring me though! Are there any other families from the South East that lift share at weekends? At 11 years old I can’t imagine only bringing DD home for exeat weekends!

We have a yes! An A4 envelope just dropped through the door. Excited, and a bit in shock!

That would be quite quick for a postal result, but it would be lovely to know so soon! Was the audition on a Wednesday last year?

Good luck everyone!

Could it be Dance Sport levels ie novice etc?

A lot of application forms for vocational training ask for the most recent exam results, and although the audition is certainly the decider, a strong exam result, along with other good CV items to make a dancer stand out, might be a factor in securing the attention of the panel.