NJH

Straight from Vocational training ? via PGCE and/or the 'standard route' teacher training from the various awarding bodies ( which is why some of the vocational providers incorporate it into their course to overlap the theoretical teaching) not sure how much professional performing experience is needed for PDTD https://www.royalacademyofdance.org/programme/professional-dancers-teaching-diploma-pdtd/ but the d teacher i know with PDT had a number of years of contracts and/or jobbing freelance professional performing work before doing it

certainly from contact improv Contemporary stuff i;ve done which did involve dancers taking the full weight of others it;s not just pure strength I also think the distiction between partnering and the full lifts is important

those with contracts at the point of the first lockdown could have been furloughed and then brought back to flexi furlough

As has all ready been pointed out 'Classical' is a much mis-used term in the music world and increasingly it seems in dance ... I do think the references to pointe work, turnout and 'classical ballet technique' are very pertinent to this topic, my knowledge is limited compared to some here, but the one ballet piece i have performed despite the overall choroegraphy and the choice of music made defintie use of 'classicla ballet technique' where contemporary pieces i;ve been in have consciously avoided balletic stuff unless making a point

on the 'in class' point if dancers of what ever level are being drilled on pirouettes here's a drill i've seen ( and done) loads of time 4 quarters 2 halves 1 single emphasis on clean technique and precise landings 1 double / best effort 1 more 'best effort'

because the performance got cancelled a plan was hatched between various people ( The Ballet Retreat people , Northern Ballet company people plus some of the serious Northern Fans like Janet and a raft of other people from the dance world) and at 1930 hours on that Saturday when the curtain was meant to go up on the celebratory performance Hannah's social media was filled with images + little videos it was a fabulous moment ( and apparently it got very dusty ... )

Especially as the next Saturday was going to be very special indeed - the Performance of Geisha that was to be Hannah Bateman's last planned performance with Northern in Leeds what the Northern/ The Ballet Retreat Community conjured from nothing ( thanks to the two Nicola's [one famous - Gervasi , one not famous / infamous member of the TBR family] and Giuliano Contadini ) was special... #hannahsflowercascade

obvious thought is the teacher would like her to 'clean up' that pirouette to near=perfect landings - i.e. chosen place , exact direction and the like ?

I think Anna makes some very pertinent comments. I can't comment on associates - but as an Adult now dancing at or about Intermediate level some of the least enjoyable classes i've had have been with teachers who have danced as Soloist or principal level with big name companies - in part because they were unused to adult dancers at that level, with the consequent knock on that had for their confidence , equally i've seen other well trained teachers with professional performer experience just completely fail to 'gel' with a class ... and i;ve seen different people have very different experiences with the same teacher in the same class ( and not bullying related) down to learning styles and sometimes 'shell shock' if they have only ever danced within one or two closely related syllabus driven styles then i've seen 'local dance teachers' who routinely get students into Vocational training and have got peopel who started dancing as adults through VGEs and even into teache training

I had heard that description for Mid Associates in particular especially as there are some places at Y8 and Y9 that come up and also Y10 has been historically seen as one of the stepping on / off points and although it seems less common now there are still some people who get into the 'big name' upper schools without Lower school/ CAT experience

CAT is Vocational Lower School training and should be viewed in that way ( a teacher friend's eldest DD is a CAT dancer), i'm not sure what the rules are about still dancing with current dance school,

Northern Ballet School in Manchester Has nothing at all organisationally to do with Northern Ballet (the Company) or the Academy of the Northern Ballet in Leeds, that said obviously there is some cross pollination of teachers and the like as there are a good number of very good teachers who work freelance across that M62 Corridor... there is some confusing because Lavernen Meyer era Northern Dance Theatre / Northern Ballet Theatre ( i.e. the Company now based in Leeds) was based in Manchester... at the time the likes of Terence Etheridge was dancing with the company... NBS is an interesting organisation with the different emphasis /. streaming available within their course I do , personally, wonder however, if the Existence of NBS is one of the reasons ( along with the historical links of NBT/NB as a company with Central School of ballet via Chistopher Gable and continued through a good number of Gable and Nixon era dancers ( including Kenny Tindall ) is one of the reasons that AoNB doesn;t have an 'upper school' of it;s own despite having a 'lower school' in AoNB CAT and the PGP as well as the Associates and the talent spotting

it's important to note that the Lowry CAT is a Contemporary focused CAT , the AoNB Leeds CAT is the only one that is Ballet focused.. that said there is high quality Ballet training with the CATs https://www.nationaldancecats.co.uk/what-are-cats/

I have similar thoughts i'm not sure i'll do London this year although we'll see in the Autumn

Northern has both Apprentices who are named as part of the company and the professional graduate programme ( which is one of Pippa Moore's current projects with Northern ) not 100 % of the terms of engagement of the Apprentices but at least one had completed the PGP before getting her apprenticeship https://northernballet.com/biography/sara-dos-remedios also the PGP is branded under the Academy of the Northern Ballet rather than the Company https://northernballet.com/academy/professional-training/professional-graduate-programme Interestingly this leaves the conventional Upper School as the only part of vocational training that a dancer can't undertake with AoNB as they can do associates > CAT (and get a 'lower school' vocational training ) and do the PGP ...

given Linehan's 'performance' in his " evidence " to the house of lords , which any objective assessment demonstrates to be nothing more than conspiracy theories without any basis... and an object lesson in the damage that obsessive belief in XRW lies has on careers, lives and income ...

is it ? as under the tier system once the gyms reopened PT sessions were permitted, but group classes were banned. also 'household' doesn;t come into it with regard to paying for a service.

what is the advice given ref Personal triners at that 12th April point of view as some of the NGB advice has failed to distinguish between individual and group classes and also failed to akcnowledge that adults can be working for NQF accredited qualifications

I absolutely love Anna as person and find her classes such fun

I suspect they probably don;t any longer given how problematic parts of Mumsnet are for extremist radicalisation

I suspect, however, that Edinburgh's experience is based on being in Scotland and having a lot more people coming with *solely* highers than is typical across the UK as a whole as the Welsh and NI systems are fundamentally the same as England in terms of final year of secondary education being at 18 for the vast majority of pupils

I bleive it does. from my own ( now 20 + years ago) experience of University, the main thing with under 18 freshers generally was they were pplaced in catered halls with all the other support structures halls have ( senior residents / subwardens and like) were those over 18 could be placed in 'flats' or 'university houses'

the RAD certainly has Standards Examiners who examine the examiners iirc Lynne Reucroft-Croome ia or was a Standards Examiner ( @sophie_rebecca would know )

I haven't had the pleasure of meeting Mrs Kidd , I have met Simon IRL (and taken class as noted in my other reply ) I do think there is a risk that people focus in certain schools ot the exclusion of others ( although for many the whole MDS situation may mean that they have to ...) Obviously i have not seen him teach young people but i found him to be very engaging and able to cope with the vast range of ability you get in the studio at TBR

that indeed they ( Mr and Mrs Kidd ) do... in the wonderful pre- covid world I had the pleasure of taking class with Simon Kidd at The Ballet Retreat (DPK had to drop out last minute so Hannah B made some calls meaning that we had a double treat of daily classes one with Pippa Moore and the Other with Simon kidd )