BalletBoyMumma

Just now, Lara Eschler said:

I was wondering about that too.

My DS was called back in apparently (with another DC). To repeat stretches already done and to do some little jumps. DS initially felt he’d got something wrong but they reassured them both and said it was just because they’d missed watching those two doing those particular exercises while in the group. 

6 minutes ago, The red shoes said:

Another day gone of wasted anxiety 

Yep. I think we all prematurely got our hopes up based on previous years. Probably two weeks as they said it would be - Thursday or Friday maybe? 

3 minutes ago, Weloveballet said:

aww yes it would be easy for disappointment for them (not in them) to be noticeable. My daughter just says she will be able to tell if I’ve read it or not. I imagine she means if in the small chance it’s good news she will be able to tell by my face. Either way though I keep saying to her the achievement is making it there. I’ve had her audition number framed with some pictures from the day and it’s displayed with her dance area. So hope she knows how proud I am of her whatever the outcome 😀

Aww. That sounds so lovely! I might have to pinch that idea. It is such an incredible achievement to make it to finals. 
 

I just said to DS ‘It would have been nice if you got to keep your audition number’ and he said ‘I DID!!! I just forgot to tell you.’ He has both. They were still in his bag after all this time. 🤭😅 

1 minute ago, Lara Eschler said:

They said two weeks to the parents and to the children on audition day. I trust they will deliver. 

They did. And they are still within. I hope so!

It’s our own faults for overanalysing previous years results time frames and getting our hopes up. 😂 

1 minute ago, Bunny said:

Yes, that’s exactly what she told me on audition day. Give RBS an email while you’re at it Lara, see if they give us a clue! 😂 x

I was going to ask if anyone is brave enough to ask RBS (I’m not 🤣) 

Hopefully we’ll finally find out today though - day 11 today post-boys final, aren’t we? 😫Everytime I get an email notification for this board too, I get really anxious incase someone has had their result through. 😬😅

3 minutes ago, The red shoes said:

My ds saw two physios ... it wasn’t a machine as such just a little strap round lower leg to measure angles of inward and outward rotation. 

Yes, I was about to say this too. Apparently it wasn’t a machine as such (that makes it sound grand or overcomplicated), just a little handheld device and they may not have even realised as they’d have been lying flat on their front for the manoeuvre so wouldn’t have seen it (DS said he saw because he witnessed the DC in the physio before him have it done). That said, it might have just been put on those where natural turnout potential wasn’t obvious by just looking or the other assessments that came before it (would explain a lot for my DS as his isn’t anywhere near flat but again, no idea really).

We’ll never know their reasoning. And we are relying on 10/11yr olds to give a detailed description of events so even if they all had the same done, it’ll still sound different in many ways. Try not to worry - I say that as a fellow worrier though. 

18 minutes ago, Bunny said:

At least by this time next week we should know one way or another! 🙏 (Hoping it’s by this time tomorrow!)

I hope so too. The unknown is really stressful.
DS keeps asking too even though we’d geared him up for a no even before he went in to audition. He had far too much of a good time I think. 😁 (thank you to everyone who made it wonderful - the fellow auditionees and the WL staff - all brilliant!). 

2 minutes ago, Lara Eschler said:

Yes, ds was also given hamstring stretches by the same teacher but he never mentioned anyone else coming to the studio. At the WlL audition he said when he was face down on the physio table he was  almost falling asleep, so who knows what he can remember, lol.  He has hyperextended elbows and hypermobile wrists and thumbs. I  don't think that would confer any advantage in ballet and the line of the arm in the arabesque can look very weird if he fully extends the elbow). 

Regarding the lifting the toe assessment, could that also be to look at the arch of the foot (i.e. to exclude flat feet)?

Yes, DS is vague on who was present too now though I knew it was coming up because we had pre-warning and so I asked him about it at the time and I’m certain he said someone came in but just had a clipboard and was writing notes. 
 

DS’s teacher is hypermobile (and DS has bowed legs so has to work extra hard to tighten up in the thighs) and I’ve been lucky enough to be present in some of his classes with her when they’ve discussed these issues - if the dancer knows how to work with these things to compensate the over bending and make them aesthetically pleasing it’s generally fine. I guess that comes with age. I wouldn’t worry too much there. 
As for the toes, you could be right, though all of mine have their dads very flat feet but arches are appearing with the correct foot work (eldest DD is about to go on pointe which we thought might never happen - DS does the most work there of the three so his feet have much more of a foot arch than his sisters). 
 

It’s interesting what focused work on certain areas can do. 

23 minutes ago, Lara Eschler said:

I was also thinking about paying for a private consultation with the ballet physio when all restrictions are lifted (especially as DS is adamant he did not have one as a JA). Ds had a consultation on zoom but I am curious to find out more (and minimize any risk of injury). 

DS attended the YDA final in London today and though the letter said there would be some physio checks, he just said there were some stretches and no contact (he was awarded a funded place). 

@Lara Eschler I think you could be right, though DS said in yr6 they had one but wasn’t touched, just told to do positions and watched (their teacher mentioned the physio assessment in yr6 and gave extra exercises for homework on the parents eve - DS was given hamstring stretches).

In YR5 I think, going by what DS says, it was a bit more involved but they were in different classes then. 

7 minutes ago, Lara Eschler said:

I was also thinking about paying for a private consultation with the ballet physio when all restrictions are lifted (especially as DS is adamant he did not have one as a JA). Ds had a consultation on zoom but I am curious to find out more (and minimize any risk of injury). 

DS attended the YDA final in London today and though the letter said there would be some physio checks, he just said there were some stretches and no contact (he was awarded a funded place). 

Well done for YDA!!! 👏 Your DS is fabulous - he’ll have some choices to make, no doubt about it.  

I think we missed our opportunities for DS this year due to not being serious enough about the vocational route early on however DS has a place at the oversubscribed local school with a fantastic music department and is a specialist sport and science academy (all his strengths, so I really can’t complain too much) - academically he’ll be fine, I just worry whether he’d be able to keep up his dancing to the standards that would be required to continue how he wants to. A private physio appointment would certainly help with some decision making, for sure. 

Thank you. That’s good to know.
 

We’ve never really taken this too seriously before but if next year we apply again (DS already really wants to), it might be worth having a private physio check beforehand, just incase, to rule out any physical limitations. 

4 minutes ago, The red shoes said:

Yes you can be flexible without hypermobility.

Tring & Elmhurst both do physio checks... not sure about Hammond? 

Thank you. So we are still none the wiser really.

Gosh, this waiting really has us overanalysing things. 😰

I hope we are put out of our misery soon with some results. 

Interesting conversation. So can you achieve the appropriate flexibility for ballet with zero hypermobility?
I only ask as DS is pretty flexible (but only through constant work and he loses it really easily) but he doesn’t pass any of the hypermobility tests aside from maybe the pike stretch (which he didn’t have at first but has been taught how to stretch correctly to achieve it). There’s no hyperextension in the knees or elbows and he can’t touch his thumb to wrist and his pinkie and big toe can’t stretch beyond 90 degrees. His turnout he stands in is not great, nowhere near flat at all but teachers keep saying he has more and to try to rotate and use more because his pliés are very outward apparently, and he is comfortably in box splits when warm.
 

I think it must be so difficult at this age to understand what muscles to engage...and maybe strength, they don’t have a great deal of muscle mass at this age either. 🤔

I’d love to know more about that physio assessment. Do the other vocational schools do a physio assessment at audition too (thinking for the future)? 

1 minute ago, The red shoes said:

Starting to think 80% of their decision will be based on the physio check 🥺

I hope not! ☹️ DS doesn’t have flat turnout and I’m not sure he’ll ever achieve fully flat (he’s flexible but not at all hypermobile according to the weird tests I’ve seen online: elbows, toes, thumb etc). 
 

I hope we can get some sort of feedback. I’m sure I’ve read that teachers can ask but parents can’t - will ask ours.

But, given we are relying on the recounts of 10/11yr olds I could be well off the mark. 😂

Haha, this bugged me too. When DS told me I put my Google detective hat on 🧐😅 and I think, going by how DS described it and the way they manoeuvred his leg apparently, it might be a digital goniometer - there’s a compact one called Halo used by physiotherapists but DS said it wasn’t that one. It’ll be to check rotation in the hip socket, they’ll be able to tell if a child has natural turnout or forced (more from the knees) and how much range there is (apparently). 

Not sure if anyone is in WL auditions today but if they are (and are reading on here): Good luck! Enjoy. Have a wonderful time! 🩰✨⭐️👏  

Hopefully results soon. 🤞 

4 minutes ago, PetitJeté said:

I’m not sure it was a cycle event actually, just lots of cyclists! 😂

It does get VERY busy with cyclists. 😰 No matter the weather.

(Must admit, I was relieved when ours was a Friday because parking in the park can be a real nightmare on weekends). 

It’s a beautiful park though. Hope you’ve managed to spot the deer roaming around - they really aren’t shy at all. 

Are you waiting to pick your DD up now?  

Good luck to those auditioning today. You’ve got this! ✨🤩🩰⭐️ I hope you have the most wonderful time. 👏

11 minutes ago, Bunny said:

These last two emails from RBS have made me jump! I think Monday now it’s after 5pm but suppose you never really know! x

Yes! Same. 😰

Hope everyone has had a wonderful audition today. And good luck for those tomorrow and Sunday too! 

We are day 7 of no results today - do you reckon we are safe from expecting results for the weekend? (I really, really want my life back from this obsessive refreshing of emails 😅🤣) 

Good luck to those dancing today. Enjoy every moment! Smile. Stretch your feet. Dance like you mean it! You will be wonderful and have the most amazing time! 🤩🩰⭐️✨

Awww. 🥺 Lots of hugs needed. 

Weloveballet - can you print it? It was the email we printed and DS handed in, I didn’t show the text. If you can’t, screenshot the email just incase and it’ll be fine - we found phone signal a bit sketchy up at WL. But others did show their phones (that could have been text or email). 

3 minutes ago, Raquelle said:

There is nothing more stressful than turning up at your hotel the night before an audition and realising it has closed down!!!! Luckily premier inn squeezed us in! @balletdreamsmust have been the same hotel only they forgot to email me to tell me....I haven't even bought wine! 

Oh my goodness!!! That is terrible of them. 😳

Glad Premier Inn had space. Maybe grab a wine - I certainly would need to in that situation. Bless you. 

Breathe. It will be fine.