MummytoIzzy

The Teacher has just said to do one exam as the ballet academy are not in favour of doing more at one time. Makes sense completely. She has said how well Izzy is doing which is lovely to know. I should be pleased she has good feet then thank you Valentina. She gets them from her Granny not me 😆. She has good arches and instep. Also delicate small feet. Mine although I have a high arch don’t have a good instep and I have big feet Must be so hard to have inflexible feet but I imagine other forms of dance it’s not so important?

Just curious to know. My daughter has been told she has good feet at her previous and current ballet school. the ballet teacher yesterday said to another child how good her feet were looking and had she been working on them. They looked more flexible. Is this something all children have to do in ballet and if so an tips of exercises or is this just a genetic thing that everyone has different feet I hope that makes sense. Another question: RAD exams coming up in June and my daughter has not done them before. She is already set to do RAD grade 1 and is doing well with being put in a grade 2 class also. She’s not set yet to do an exam. Do you find some children can do the grade 2 exam without studying for a year or is this preferable? Thank you.

Thank you for letting me know I will add myself to the mailing list

I love it! It makes me smile and I think it’s a wonderful feel good dance programme i am enjoying ‘The greatest dancer’ on BBC too.

My daughter would love these if I could send post and a donation? Thank you

That sounds fantastic thank you. I will look out for the RBS JA days. I’m glad your dd is following her dream and enjoying what she loves

Yes her new school. I have been given more information and spoken to them. Going to go for it. Izzy is very keen. Very excited for her. They said she has a lot of natural talent and musicality etc so excited to see how she progresses. Very proud of her to be given the opportunity.

Izzy is really enjoying her new ballet school. She is doing grade 1 and grade 2 and has been invited to a pre associate programme. Thanks for all your help. It’s amazing being at a larger ballet school and the teacher is fantastic as are the other pupils.

I have been asked if my daughter would be interested in this programme. She previously did a term of ballet at another ballet school. I was not happy with the school so moved her. She has been at the new school (very well regarded) for 3 weeks and is really enjoying it. I have been told this is a programme for children that may be suitable to audition for the Royal Ballet school associates. Any advice would be appreciated. My daughter is 7 and a half and does really love ballet but as I say has only been doing it for 6 months. Thank you in advance.

Totally agree and these were my concerns with her being in the wrong group. Also the not having enough numbers did not seem like an appropriate reason for Izzy to not be in the right grade group for her. She should not have to just fit in. The instructor said to see how she felt and if she did not like it she could carry on in the group she is in and just not do the exams. I feel changing schools is definetly the right decision. Thanks so so much for your help and advice.

I have found a ballet school that have offered a trial lesson when they go back mid January at grade 1. They are a large established school and do shows etc. The teacher is on the RAD site and it says they won dance school winner of the year. Hopefully this will be a good fit. I agree it’s a big difference in age and she does need structure. I was looking through the door at one point in the primary lesson and one of the girls wasn’t listening to the teacher and was doing the ‘floss’ dance. Izzy will really enjoy the grade 1 class I feel I just feel awful she has had a bad start in her ballet journey but thankfully it’s a short blip.

She is in year 3 at school. I agree that the grade 2 is not the correct level. This was in fact something I brought up with the teacher at the beginning when I queried payment. I paid and expected change as it said RAD grade 1 and the difference to the grade 2 was £5 and she said at that point it was now a grade 2 class. I did at the time say that Izzy had no experience and this seemed a lot to take in and she assured me she could ‘catch up’ and it would be ok. It became apparent to me that it was to much and I feel also to the teacher. I appreciate the comments and feel I will be looking at changing to another school in the new year. Thankfully my daughter physically is very strong she does swimming and trampolining and I don’t feel doing ballet as this level has been detrimental other than being confusing to her to change schools and levels through no fault of her own. Let’s hope that it goes better with the change of school. Colman in answer to the age question the other Children in the primary class were 6 so not that different in age just a year and a half younger as they were in year 1. Thank you

My daughter started at a school in September. It had been the intention to start at grade 1 but the ballet school put her in at grade 2. I wasn’t aware of this until the class had started. She has struggled with the technique side due to not studying ballet before. The school is very small as does not have a grade 1. The instructor suggested she tried primary ballet which she did yesterday but my daughter did not seem to enjoy this and seemed very much a step backwards as she has enjoyed doing the positions etc and grasped this. My question is at this age would the grade one be most appropriate? They did have a stand in teacher and they said that she was at grade 1 level. I do feel let down by the school as my daughter is so keen to do ballet and I feel this has been a false start being put in at a high level to start with and now being put down to fit in with the school. She is very confused. Thank you and I hope this isn’t as jumbled as I suspect it sounds. I just want her to enjoy ballet but to also follow the correct process. Not being a ballerina myself I feel a little in the dark.