Kanangra

Sounds like you have nothing to worry about! Good luck with the new school!

But this is exactly what the problem is. We are not talking about "fat", but kids who are being turned away because they have muscles or boobs. A friend of my DD is a brilliant dancer - lovely (and highly awarded in scholarship competitions etc) performer, high 90s in her vocational exams, awarded her solo seal - but can't get a school to take her because she has muscles and boobs (she would be maybe a B cup at most). She is very slender and has beautiful lines but schools will not look at her. People have tried to get her in their companies and junior companies (but she couldn't accept because she was too young, or the associated school knocked her back). She looks no different from some of the dancers in the Australian Ballet so it is not just about lines. This is just one example.

The reference might be a character reference too - for effort and behaviour.

Oh that's a shame. Still, good to get to the final round.

What a great initiative!

That's very interesting. Not knowing about the charges, I ordered a Leo from Lucky Leo in the US to be sent to my DD in the UK earlier this year and they ended up slapping VAT and a handling fee on it. By that time though she was back in Australia due to covid. It was a saga of waiting for it to be returned to sender and then LuckyLeo sent it to us here.

Yes that's right, there are some fantastic full time schools here. Entry to ABS can be very political too, I believe.

@DD Driverwas your daughter successful? My daughter's dance teacher used to do the videos and send them off herself. This was for entry to schools in Europe and the UK, and was standard for kids auditioning from Australia. I think she used a GoPro.

@DD Driver I was going to point out the same thing - our dancers in the Australian Ballet are a range of shapes. Professional dancers surely need to have strength and stamina to succeed in their career.

That's good news - hope he is feeling better soon and you all stay covid free. It is hard being so far away but at least we have a friend in London who is looking out for her and has organised some groceries and medication for her.

I think everyone was lulled into a false sense of security by the numbers getting so low.

Hope it is just a cold @Pups_mum. My DD got her test back and it is definitely positive.

Check out a website called The Ballet Blog - it is run by a physiotherapist called Lisa Howell who is a bit of a guru in dance physiotherapy. (She also has a range of books.) You might find something there to help too.

Thank you so much! She is still waiting on test results but as 4 of her household have tested positive she is expecting one too. Says it feels like a cold.

Sally-Anne, does your DD do strengthening/flexibiilty exercises to help her feet? My DD struggled with her feet (narrow and bony) and we went through quite a few shoes. She also physiotheraphy sessions to help. (Eventually she ended up in Gaynor Minden and after she went full time her feet improved exponentially.) Bloch seems to have the biggest range of shoes. In Australia most dancers seem to start off in a Bloch shoe, and then move on to other brands like Grishko or Gaynor. I've heard Freed of London is a good style too, not very widely available here but I'm sure it is there! Good luck to your DD with her pointe shoe journey!

I think you've hit the nail on the head here! Reminds me of when my daughter was in our state RAD competition - there were of course a few other girls she knew there - she was floored when one of the girls got through to the finals "mum, you should have seen how many mistakes she made" and others hadn't. Of course the girl who made all the mistakes was super skinny and had the ballet-ideal figure, while other girls who were better at the actual dancing got cut. But you are right - it was a skinny competition.

My daughter was considering deferring her second year in the assumption that things would be normal again next year, but she is now back studying her contemporary degree and it looks like she has covid (still waiting on the test result but one of her housemates tested positive yesterday and she has symptoms so it's pretty likely). While I think the idea of a fees discount is attractive, I also think it could turn out to be a positive - a lot of schools and students are responding by finding new ways of being creative. So while they are missing out on some things, there are new opportunities opening up.

This has been such an interesting discussion to read! Why should having boobs mean you are the "wrong shape for ballet"? I've seen girls who were beautiful dancers, in terms of artistry, performance quality and technique, who were overlooked for selection into schools in favour of other dancers who were far less enjoyable to watch but who had the "right" body. I know of one girl who came back to the studio after a few weeks of a really serious illness, the first comment from the teacher was "omg you look amazing!" - the poor thing was skeletal. It seems as though certain characteristics (thinness, banana feet) are increasingly almost fetishised at the expense of actual talent in movement or performance.

International (non-EU) student fees are not too bad - less than 5000 euros.

Derin's Mum, was she chosen? My DD was a Gaynor Girl 2018-19.

There is this in Geneva too. https://limprimerie.ch/en/bjg-en/curiculum

Yes they love it.

Hi Pieple My daughter auditioned for P.A.R.T.S. last year and was lucky to make it to their finals. They only do an intake every 3 years so next intake is not for another 2 years. As far as the process goes, they chose about 180 kids for their finals week and then cut that in half for the last day, and from that 90 chose 45. Have you considered Codarts in Rotterdam? not French but a very good contemporary school. Also SEAD in Salzburg looks good. DD was invited to finals at SEAD but the timing didn't fit with the rest of our travels so she ended up at NSCD. Hope this helps and good luck to your DD!

I read somewhere on this forum that the director was formerly director of Dutch National Academy and had split from them to form European School of Ballet. A few girls from Australia have gone there, including one I know whose mother went with her and is being employed (I believe) to look after kids in accommodation (like a dorm mum) (I might be wrong about her role). The girls who have gone have been very good dancers and very slim.

I can only share our experience...My DD started dancing aged 3 at a local school which had classes in all styles and we too were a family who helped out. I even danced there too in their adult tap class. When she was about the same age as your DD, she realised she wasn't getting quite enough from the first school and started doing extra ballet classes somewhere elsel. Her original teacher was OK with it, but not thrilled. The second school was more ballet focused and was also a lot stricter. This continued for about 3 years and we eventually realised that the first school was never going to offer her what she needed - they were mainly recreational and she didn't get enough focus on technique. Although we did consider moving to the other school they only offered ballet, and DD wanted other styles too. So after months of agonising she moved to a different dance school which offered multiple styles AND was vocationally focused. They also had an exclusivity policy that students only danced there, so DD had to give up her extra ballet classes(there was more than enough ballet at the new school anyway). Last year she graduated from the third school and is now studying a contemporary dance BA in the UK. This would never have been possible for her if she had stayed at the first school! Even though it was hard to leave, we never regretted it and wished we had done it years before. So my advice to you is to look carefully at what the schools are offering her - and don't be afraid to look at other options too. Applying for associate programs is a great idea and that will also give you and your DD an idea of what she should be doing.