oliviaT

Thanks Karen. This is one we could look into further. Her strength is Jazz / musical theatre style dance. But singing is not her thing at all. Although following some good advice on here last year she is now having a weekly singing lesson.

Hello I’m looking for a list of fully funded (through student finance) dance degree courses. Unfortunately we have now had to rule out courses with a dada so this is limiting the options. Also we are probably ruling out the partially funded degree courses at this stage. Looking for dance courses not classical ballet - but specialist dance colleges rather than a university based degree with fewer contact hours. So far we have Bird Performers Urdang Addict Possibly Wilkes (I think they are waiting for approval for their degree course) Preston’s Lipa If anyone has any other suggestions we would really like to hear about them so we can start thinking about next years auditions. Also interested in any first hand information about the audition process for any of these. Thank you x

Yes unfortunately it can be unfair. I’m not self employed but I was offered extra hours at work for 4 months last year and it took our income into the next bracket. I explained this wasn’t my usual income but was still advised I had to put it on the form. My daughter didn’t accept her place in the end so I didn’t get as far as challenging it.

Thanks very much - I have shown her your reply.

Thank you. Well done to your daughter, a fantastic achievement. I do have a few questions if you don’t mind? Could you tell me a bit about the standard your daughter was at for her auditions? Did she feel out of her depth at any of them? They are all well known and respected schools - did she have any back up schools. Where did she get offers? Anything tips she would pass on? Thanks very much x

Thank you. Good luck to you and your daughter too x

Sorry not to be clear, yes she definitely does want a dance based course but one that also offers some degree of musical theatre / singing. She did a few auditions last year so we’ve got some understanding of finances. If she was to choose a diploma course unfortunately it would rule out London colleges whereas a degree would open up more options (it would have to be one that offers student finance for the full fees). She is one of the youngest in her year group so last year she auditioned at age 15 to diploma courses. She got one offer with funding, one without funding and one no. But these were probably what you might class as the less competitive of the accredited level 6 courses. It’s very hard to know what is realistic to achieve 2 years later and I think this is what she is struggling with. There is little point spending a lot of money on auditions that aren’t right for her x

Thanks everyone. I’ll pass all this on to her x I think she wants to try to find some people in a similar position to herself really. The last couple of years have been a bit confusing for her and still are to some extent. She’s in year 12, strengths are ballet (but not to ballet school standard) and musical theatre style jazz, weaknesses are singing and commercial. She’s done her intermediate exams and is at a good 6th form college along with two associate classes a week. Also having one private singing lesson a week. She’s trying to narrow down choices for degree / diploma (degree is better financially) which would fit her strengths, work on her weaknesses but also be a realistic choice. Long term aim is to teach (dance school not high school) but ideally with a short time performing first if possible. She’s more than happy for this to be in hotels / cruises etc and only wants to do this for a couple of years for the travelling and experience.

Thank you Jan

Hi I hope this is allowed and apologies if not. My daughter has been recommended the not a pushy mum forum to ask a musical theatre question. She has tried but failed to register with a few different email addresses and has tried to contact an administrator twice with no reply. Does anyone on here also use this forum who could tell us which email addresses are allowed! Thank you in advance for any help

Does she like getting dance tickets for Christmas? One off things in Yorkshire that I can think of - ‘Can you dance’ in Sheffield or Louie Spence workshops in Leeds and Sheffield. Or going to watch northern ballet’s Cinderella in Leeds? Renaissance arts do master classes throughout the year but I’m not sure what ages they are for. Renaissance arts scholars is ballet and jazz associates. I think it’s from age 11 so you could look at it for next year? The audition slots do get fully booked so if it’s of interest then look into it early.

Crown point retail park is 5 minutes drive away even in rush hour and parking is free. It’s a while since I’ve been but I think you can only park for a set amount of time. There are a few shops and a Costa.

If a child / minor is assessed as Fraser (gillick) competent then yes they do have a right to make their own choices and expect their information to remain confidential. However it’s not as straight forward as that. I would worry about a school that simply refused to communicate with parents without even considering the child’s wishes (ie a blanket policy rather than looking at the individual). As a nurse working with teenagers I will often ask for permission to discuss an issue with a parent. More often than not the teenager is happy for this to happen. Fraser competency does not exclude the school from speaking to parents. It means that each student should be treated as an individual to consider what the student wishes to happen. Even over the age of 18 the student can give permission for information to be shared with their parents. It shouldn’t be completely black and white.

Central Leeds to central Manchester on the train is very easy and will only take around 1 hour. The trains run frequently and there are no changes. Distance is roughly 75 - 80 km

That sounds like a good idea. I’ll suggest that to her, thanks

Yes from 2 out of the 3 although not in detail. She has limited singing and commercial experience so needs to address that. Jazz is her strength. Physio / flexibility assessments were good. Needs to work on her self confidence.

Thank you for your honesty. She’s very lucky to have good quality training locally. Based on the auditions she did this year I think she has shown she has some potential but I don’t think she was at the right standard for her first choice colleges. We shall see how things go over the next 12 to 18 months

Hi Thank you, that is reassuring to read. I’m not too concerned about her being too old. We’ve been told the same as you have said - that 18 can have its advantages. I’m glad to hear this was your daughter’s experience. I’m more wondering about whether the improvements she needs to make in the next 12 to 18 months are realistic. I know it’s a case of she won’t know until she tries but I’m interested to hear about other people’s experience of this x

Hello I’m interested to hear from anybody who auditioned at 16 but then decided to apply again at 18 (dance/MT not specifically ballet). My daughter applied for 3 level 6 courses this year. For her to do a level 6 diploma we couldn’t afford London accommodation so she applied to reputable colleges but more northern / midlands based. To give you an idea of her standard her results were: 1 no 1 yes with funding 1 yes without funding After a lot of thought she decided these were not quite right for her. Her aim now is to apply again but for a London /southern based degree course at 18. I know that nobody can say for sure whether this is realistic. But has anyone been in this position before? Any tips or thoughts on whether this is achievable? Xx

Hi yes level 6 diploma rather than actual degree. I wonder where they would stand from a children’s safeguarding point of view on this? It’s not something that would have even crossed my mind if I hadn’t read this.

This is very interesting as one of the colleges my daughter applied for have sent 2 copies of every letter - 1 addressed to me and 1 to her - stating the reason that she is under 18 and so they have an obligation to keep parents up to date. Maybe this is open to interpretation and varies from place to place?

Hi, thanks for this. My understanding is that a lot of universities don’t accept ucas points from dance exams? Are you aware of some that do? If she had 3 at grade 6 and 3 at intermediate that would be a lot of points if they are accepted!

She would probably board which of course is a concern for me but not so much for her! The level 3 course has a very good track record of students going on to degree level study at some excellent colleges which is reassuring for both of us.

Thank you. I’ve discussed it with a couple of people but she wouldn’t like me going into too much detail publicly x

This is where I have been getting confused. And in which case it would be more sensible to apply for a level 6 with dada funding based on our personal circumstances. That would be very helpful if you can post it when you get back. Thanks very much