Dippycat

Thank you everyone for taking the time to reply - lots of good advice and food for thought xx

9 minutes ago, Peony said:

Would doing physiotherapy as a first degree and then a specialised masters  give her more options in terms of employment if she wants to work with injured dancers? I think most of them are qualified physios? Certainly a lot of physios have a background in dance or sport so she would meet like minded people on the course

Thank you - It’s one to consider but without science A levels it might be difficult. The dance science degrees have daily technique classes alongside the science classes which is an appeal as she could keep up her dance training. 

My daughter is currently in year 12 and contemplating what to study at university. She has been a keen dancer since age 2 and is currently studying for RAD advanced foundation alongside grades 8 in tap and jazz. 
Her A levels include dance and PE and she’s considering a degree in dance science as she would like to maybe work with injured dancers but also feels that an understanding of dance science would be valuable if she later trained as a dance teacher. However there are only 3 institutions offering an dance science undergraduate degree so she is debating whether to do a more general dance degree first then potentially a masters in dance science / sports therapy. Or would she be best doing an general sports science degree first? 
She would love to follow her love of dance into a career in the industry whilst keeping her options open / having a back up. Does anyone have any advice as to the best way into a career in dance science/rehab? 

On 04/05/2019 at 13:17, LinMM said:

Well I won't go on too much about this as it has been a bugbear of mine for the last five or six years now and nothing has changed in that time!

As Moomin says if you are any larger than a size 14 it's not going to be a good outcome( I usually say something much stronger but perhaps not on the Forum) 

If you are taller ....say over 5ft 6ins .....AND have a fuller figure ....OR a larger frame ( I have both) as well ...you won't get a nice fitting leotard in the UK is my experience! Some taller people who still have small frames may be okay but my experience is that the leotards press down on the shoulders and feel restrictive .....or are very low cut at the back so look horrible( in my view) if you need to wear a bra underneath etc. 

Ive totally given up bothering to wear one for normal class attendance but when have had to have a leotard for performing.....especially in a more unusual colour ....have had to send to the USA for it to get a truely comfortable size. These have been great and in a really nice material I think Dance Direct may be able to get things in from the USA as well.

I seem to remember the Capezio shop in London also got me in a larger leotard for a show once but had to order in especially etc.

 

I have never yet found an off the shelf leotard that fits in any ballet shop in London at any rate and have tried them all! 

To be fair to most ballet shops they are not catering for an adult customer which is why most are in such small sizes......though in recent years there has been more of a surge in older adults involved in ballet so there is definitely a niche in the market there for somebody!

Ive found Capezio shop to be the best generally for adult wear......they also sell a range of "nude" coloured bras with transparent straps etc to fit separately into leotards if you don't find the inbuilt ones supportive enough. 

 

I wear a lot of Uniglo tops for class both short and full sleeve so have the leotard effect but of course not much use if you taking an exam.

You can have them Taylor made to fit your exact size but this is a very expensive route! WearMoi used to offer this service but I last used them about six years ago now so not sure if still do.

 

Well rant over .....but everybody is slightly different so here's hoping you find a make you really like. 

On 04/05/2019 at 13:17, LinMM said:

Can I ask which shops in the USA you have used? My daughter is a UK size 10 but 6ft tall with a long body and leotard shopping is a nightmare!!

 

 

 

 

On 19/04/2019 at 16:39, Littleone said:

Hi Dippycat - my daughter took Biology , Dance , PE and Psychology at AS level and is continuing with all except biology to A2 . She has offers from Urdang and LIPA and is still waiting to hear from Performers . 

Best of luck with your decisions !😀

Little one - well done to your daughter on her offers. My daughter is thinking of doing dance and PE at A level so it’s good to hear of students getting great offers. X

On 17/04/2019 at 08:59, Littleone said:

Hi Dance Mom .. it is a tricky decision . For what it’s worth , my daughter at 16 had a place at Hammond on their diploma but decided she wanted to stay at her local school and do A levels . She has continued at her local dance school , had a few singing lessons to prepare her audition solo and taken some masterclasses in a dance genre she had no experience in ( commercial ) and has degree offers this year. Assuming she passed her A levels she will have these to fall back on in the future should the whole dance thing not work out ! I would say go with your daughter’s gut feel ! 😀 Best of luck x

That’s encouraging to hear - would you mind me asking what A levels she chose and where she’s hoping to study? It’s so hard to know what to do for the best! X

40 minutes ago, Anna C said:

Is she 6ft?  Female Classical Ballet dancer at 6ft would be unlikely because any PDD partner would have to be 6’4” and over, really.  😕 

 

Other dance styles are not so strict in terms of height.  I know a beautiful tall dancer who is now a ShowGirl/Show Dancer and gets to travel all over Europe to work.  

 

I had a quick look at Sports Science degrees and both Exeter and Bath (no. 1 and 2 respectively in Sports Science) ask for Biology (or Chemistry) with Maths/PE/Psychology.  Both also ask for a B or above in Maths GCSE and two science GCSEs.

 

Nothing at all to stop you contacting them (or asking your school careers officer) whether they would accept A Level Dance instead of PE as Dance would probably be beneficial if your dd was considering the RAD BA in Ballet or Dance Education.  

Yes - 6ft exactly! She has beautiful long lines though!!

Ballet is her first love but she does train in tap, jazz, contemporary, commercial, Irish and MT so does have other styles to fall back on. 

She has looked at the RAD degree and even emailed them - they will also accept BTEC dance which is useful to know. 

Trinity Laban are offering a new degree in dance science which may appeal too.

Decisions/decisions ! Thank you everyone for some really useful info/food for thought xx

Thank you for the A level suggestions - some good ideas. My daughter struggles with heavily essay type courses. She currently does GCSE dance and really enjoys that especially the choreographic and technical analysis. So that will be a definite for A level if she goes down that route. She does well in science, geography and art too.

She’s seen a couple of dance science degree courses so that could be a possibility for the future too. 

As an aside - how likely would it be that her height (6ft) would be a significant barrier to getting work as a dancer in the future? I don’t want to squash her dreams but need to open her eyes to reality as this may influence her choices after GCSE.  Many thanks x

Some really helpful advice here - I'm glad I stumbled upon this thread as I have been searching too for some information on choosing BTEC or A Levels. My daughter is in Year 10 at present so just starting to think about her options post GCSE.  At the moment she's leaning towards the A level route - Dance/PE and one other.  Does anyone have any advice on which A levels to choose? She's conscious she needs a back up if applying at 18 to Uni/Dance college doesn't work out and after a recent minor injury is quite interested in sports science or dance teaching.  She's worried if she did a BTEC then all her eggs are in one basket even though she would love to dance all day!

She's doing GCSE dance at the moment, has just passed her RAD intermediate and trains in a wide variety of styles (grade 6 )including MT.  Her dream would be somewhere like NBS but she is also trying to be realistic - and at 6ft tall she knows she will have a disadvantage height wise.