HowMuch!

36 minutes ago, Flamenco said:

I have seen they have changed the closing date to the 19 th , I guess we won’t hear anything until after then ? .

Have they? That’s interesting to know! I wonder if they’ve had too few applicants? 

14 minutes ago, Balletbuds80 said:

Hi. We had another view yesterday. The first must have been to test the link but they seem to have watched more this time but not the full video. Any ideas why they may not watch the whole video? If it’s the stretches at the end, I would be happier about it than skipping the exercises as she did everything better on the second time around in each each exercise (once she was in the flow). Although she is very flexible too so it’s definitely her strength. Does anyone think the stretches might be for the CAT applicants? Or possibly if it’s between multiple dancers, then they may relook at the stretches to decide between those people? 
All this second guessing 🤯 I don’t know why I do it to myself 😂

I think we can get ourselves tied up in knots with the not knowing. I’m not looking to see if ours has been watched. I think that they can see what they’re looking for quite quickly so I wouldn’t be too worried about a short viewing. 

1 hour ago, Flamenco said:

fingers crossed for your daughter , do you know what they look for in students ? .

I think that’s the million dollar question! I’m not sure to be honest. I think strength is a big thing for associates places. I don’t feel like there’s a body shape, limb length type focus as much as RBS has. Other than that I’m really not sure. They really like to see enthusiasm, difficult on a home video! 

1 minute ago, Springflower said:

Being a reserve is still such a great achievement, fingers crossed this year is your daughters year! Has she applied for both CATS and associates?

She has. I have everything crossed for her! The audition video nearly broke her spirit, but fingers crossed for a studio final if we get that far. 

2 minutes ago, Springflower said:

Yes very understandable, I always think its a shame you see few boys. 

 

It sounds like your daughter has a great chance after being a reserve previously, hopefully they can take more on this year! I'm very nervous for the email to come through, but like you I'm very doubtful we will get a yes this time 

Last year was such a horrid year. She was reserve for both Cat and associates which would ordinarily have given her a big chance of a spot coming free. But covid reduced their numbers and no spots came up.

22 minutes ago, Springflower said:

If you go on the audition page it looks like its still open, just seen they are offering a free class for boys too so maybe they are pushing for more boys to apply? 🤔

Possibly. I think there’s always a push for more boys, there’s so few compared to girls so it’s understandable. I get the sense that lots of their boys are ‘spotted’ rather than come straight through from auditions too so these events feel important. 
 

I’m filled with doubt today. My daughter was a reserve last year for CAT but I still feel doubtful she’ll get through this year. 
 

I think we’ll get recall yes/no emails either Wednesday or Thursday. Last year it was the Thursday after a Sunday prelim audition. 

2 hours ago, CRH said:

Hi , not heard anything yet . Our video had been viewed twice by last Fri . 

I wasn’t expecting anything before tomorrow, perhaps by Wednesday? 

Palpitations at every email ping today! 😂

1 hour ago, Springflower said:

Yes I think spaces available will get more limited as they get older unfortunately. We aren't holding much hope of getting a place, my daughter would have preferred a live audition. Always worth a try though!

Definitely worth a try! Hopefully the finals will all be live which will help.

1 hour ago, Streetdancer said:

I think teachers can ask for feedback on behalf of pupils - we definitely got some when Dd was a reserve.

That’s good to know. If she gets a no or reserve this year then I’ll see if we can get feedback. Thank you!

12 hours ago, Balletbuds80 said:

 Hi. I have just submitted our application for our DD. It is our first time applying for Northern Associates. Does anyone know what they look for or is that the million dollar question? 😂 The exercises looked quite difficult for her age/level but she has had a good try. Good luck everyone

I thought the 9-11 video was difficult too, especially for the 9 year olds! I guess they’re looking for body/muscle intelligence, strength, musicality etc etc. My DD has been to finals before and was a reserve last year but they don’t give feedback so I have no idea what she was ‘missing’. 

10 hours ago, CRH said:

Hi we applied for senior Associates only -video submitted around 10 days ago . Not heard anything yet . Does anyone know roughly  how many places there are ? More for juniors than seniors ? 

I’m not sure of numbers and I think there’s been a few changes since covid though and classes are smaller - there are a few AoNB associate parents on here who may know more? I get the sense that there’s fewer spots available as you go up the age groups but there will be children leaving associates for CAT and other vocational places, as well as those assessed out or left for other reasons, at key points. Sorry that’s not particularly helpful! 

4 hours ago, Springflower said:

Hi 👋, been keeping an eye on this post for awhile and just wondered if anybody who has sent their audition videos have had a reply yet? My daughters audition video has been viewed but heard nothing as of yet 😬 its my daughters first try for Northern too.

 

Good luck to everyone 

Hi Springflower, we submitted ours a while back and haven’t heard anything yet. I haven’t looked to see if it’s been watched though. I don’t think we’ll hear anything before the deadline, and maybe not until the Monday. I think the bit they’ve said about people getting results at different times might mean that we could hear anytime from the closing date until 29th March, I don’t think it’ll be before - I might just be convincing myself of that though so I don’t obsessively check my emails all week! 😂

56 minutes ago, Looloo said:

It’s a tricky one, we do have some finals scheduled, in person, across the next couple of weeks - so they are permitted. 
 

Ah! Hopefully the finals can be soon then. Fingers crossed we get to finals!!!! 

1 hour ago, Looloo said:

I have noticed that the first round of Finals is scheduled 13th March, followed by 21st March (two further dates thereafter) ... are these correct? 
 

as it does say submissions are open until 12th March too - Friday. 

I’m not sure? I would have thought they would want to wait for them to be in person. I think they were the original planned dates maybe? Surely they can’t be in person before April? Or I might be getting totally confused with all the constantly shifting lockdown info? 

Are people aware that from yesterday, households and bubbles with pupils (primary and secondary) are able to order lateral flow tests? 

They’re meant to be for the adults to test twice weekly, but I’m sure you’d be able to test your child?
 

It won’t let me copy/paste the link but info is on gov.uk website. 

Has anyone submitted their video and had a yes/no for recalls yet? I was wondering whether the bit where it said about staggered feedback was about the yes/no to recall or the result from recall? 
 

In other words should my anxious email refreshing 😆 start once I’ve submitted the application, or wait until after the 12th deadline? 
 

Good luck everyone!!! 

This is really interesting to read! My DD goes to 3 dance schools, all are aware she goes to the others, all are very happy that she does. I think the important bit is thinking about your reasons for needing other dance schools. For us it was an extra non-syllabus ballet class to supplement her grade work at her local school, plus a contemporary class that her local school can’t offer. We’re really happy with her local school, the teaching is exceptional, which means the 3 schools are complementing one another. My feelings are that if you’re adding classes in to make up for poor quality teaching then that’s where the issue lies and perhaps it’s time to move schools? It doesn’t sound like that’s the issue though? There’s lots of worry around changing dance schools, understandably so with the dance world being so small! But, you need to put your child and family first and do what’s best for you. We changed dance schools (between two local schools) a few years ago due to class time issues, it felt awkward at the time, but I’m very happy we did it!

I can’t help, but was wondering the same thing myself! I was going to look for an editing app but I have no idea where to start! 

1 hour ago, Dancingsantosisters said:

Banana is exactly the home remedy we're using !! Soooo this is the one I've been told works 🤷‍♀️... fresh garlic clove cut in half and rubbed on the verucca, then place a metal washer over the verucca- the hole in the middle needs to be big enough for the whole verucca to be seen. Then you cut a piece of banana skin the size of the washer and put that on top of the washer. Then use medical tape to tape to the foot overnight. Take off in the morning and repeat every night until its gone. My friend did this with her son and within 2 nights it was gone !! I'm praying for the same results 🤞🙏 xx

That sounds thorough! I was just going to tape a bit of banana skin to her foot. 😂 Let me know how it goes. 

Perhaps a bit weird, but I read somewhere that banana peel was meant to help get rid of them??? My DD has one which looks even worse after using bazuka, so we might give banana peel a go. 

6 hours ago, Raquelle said:

Did you find out about this? My dd is BBO grade 4 and just turned 10 so thinking the same x 

To be honest, I’d totally forgotten about this until now! But, I did look on the website info and it said it was a rough guide - check though! I’ve read so many things recently, I may have got mixed up!

1 hour ago, HopelessMummy said:

I'm not sure. I seem to remember having to put in dd's dob. You could contact them? Not sure how much actually dancing there's going to be... 

I’m actually not convinced that more online classes will go down that well with DD. I think she’s reached her limit for camera adjusting, glitchy screens and no room for big movements! 😂

I’ll give them a call and ask though. There’s no chance she’ll focus if she thinks it’s  ‘too easy’ so I don’t want to waste my money. Xxx

Are they strict about the age ranges? My 10 year old is RAD grade 4 so I’m wondering if she’d be happier doing the 11-12 group??? 

11 hours ago, Streetdancer said:

My DD is an intermediate associate and we had an email this week. The associate class sizes have had to be reduced for Sept and the timetable changed. All sessions are much shorter. There have been no reassessments of those students who didn't make it straight through the first assessment round - they are all being given places. This seems very fair, as they haven't really had a chance to work on their target areas. But it may result in fewer places for reserves. It's just really hard all round. I think NB are doing their best and I have to say they've been incredibly reasonable about fees.

It’s been such a difficult year in so many different ways. I had a chat with my DD yesterday about reserves and how she probably won’t hear anything. She was really level headed about it and is simply keen to audition for next year! No tears, no upset, no regret. She’s amazing!