Neverdancedjustamum

Maria Khoreva (and I believe Kimin Kim)’s performance was cancelled by the David Koch Theatre: https://www.instagram.com/p/C57MVRFO2U_/?igsh=MTgzMjk4cmo5dGhyMA==

We have gave up a Week 3 place today so hopefully some more movement on the waitlist.

Thank so much! That’s very handy! Sadly, not really an option for us as we live quite a bit away but it’s good to know that there are differences across weeks.

Has anyone done 2 weeks of YBS in the past? Just wondering if it’s worth doing 2 weeks or are the weeks very similar (ie same teachers and classes and rep etc)? And do the DCs need to be picked up in the weekend between the two weeks? If not, are there houseparents around and are there activities for them to do between the weeks?

I was so gutted to miss that. Keeping an eye out when they’re back. There’s just a vibrancy and energy to them that’s very obvious in their performances and the little behind the scenes videos some of the dancers post. They all seem very strong in contemporary pieces too.

One PdL winner appears to be joining the RB: https://www.prixdelausanne.org/schools-companies2024/ Glad to see two are joining the ABT Studio Co. Seems to be a very exciting and vibrant company for young dancers. I often see Instagram stories and YouTube videos posted by the dancers and they appear very happy and settled and a good number go on to ABT.

The winners have chosen their schools/company. So glad to see Paloma joining ABT Studio Co. https://www.prixdelausanne.org/schools-companies2024/

Good point! That’s why the number associates / vocational / pre-vocational programmes have just boomed in the last few years. Look at some of the most popular posts on this forum - it’s always when associates auditions or intensive application results come out. Why the cost of hourly privates continue to go up, with some teachers charging upwards of £100/hour. There are many who are willing to pay massive amounts for all these.

I agree with this 100% and it really is the reality now. I know some would disagree but my DD is at that age range where for the last 4 or so years we have witnessed first hand how crazy it has become. She’s a relative latecomer to dance so perhaps this was already happening before then but we were gobsmacked at how much time and money people are willing to spend for “their child’s” dream. The money and time involved is, quite literally, mind boggling. My DD has peers who spend 5-6 weeks of summer breaks hopping from intensive to intensive, local and overseas. Talks of who is having privates with which famous ballerina/teacher/coach and for how many hours a week and where. We are talking easily £200-500 a week on training alone if you factor in privates, classes, associates, physios/PBT, competitions, travel. This doesn’t include intensives and masterclasses. Im not generalising but this happens with a good number of young dancers these days. Travelling to multiple overseas competitions. Who’s doing the most hours of training a week. Whose parents drive the longest to and from classes. Who’s doing which associates schemes. I’ve seen children who don’t seem to have rest days, who don’t get home until late in the evenings, who sideline schooling all to chase the ballet dream. I am actually pleased we witnessed this firsthand quite early on as it was a massive reality check for my DD. Thankfully, my DH (also from a non-dancing background) was very quick to put his foot down early on and insisted that we need to be realistic and he would like to see his daughter during the weekends and evenings after school, especially in these crucial formative years - they are only young once and we can never get this time back. This is also part of the reason why as a family, we never considered boarding at 11 for my DD. A very personal choice for us, and one most will probably disagree with, but we didn’t think any childhood dream was worth us missing part of our DD’s daily life for a set number of years. At the end of the day, is it really worth it? Good luck to those DCs and families who are willing to go through this difficult (and expensive) journey - perhaps in the end it will be very rewarding.

I have nothing but good words about this associates scheme and would wholeheartedly recommend it. I think it’s a bit of a hidden gem and I love the fact that it is. It has actually been running for years and years and I feel like they genuinely care for their students. They don’t seem to be about the numbers so class sizes are good, everyone gets detailed attention in every class. In this way, it seems more like a nurturing scheme than just a buisness. Lovely studios and excellent, nurturing teachers. Certainly for the older years (Senior, Graduate) they have a separate timetabled class for pointework. This might seem like a small detail but you would be surprised at how rare it is to find a scheme with separate pointe class. My DD did this alongside a more well-known associates and the difference in the level of classes was very obvious. In the more well-known one, there are no separate classes, and pointe work was sporadic. At one point my DD said they only did pointework roughly every other week for the last 20 or so minutes of the class. At LJSB my DD did one-hour pointe class every week. During watching day, I was astounded in a good way at how much my DD progressed. Whilst their website needs a bit of updating (very old photos!) and their social media isn’t regularly updated (actually a big plus for me! I’m wary of those that post too much), the timetable and term dates are current. You can see how it’s a nice full day, well worth the travel even if you’re not local to London. They send regular assessment reports, detailed ones. This was a stark difference to another scheme my DD attended where you don’t really get detailed feedback. After assessment, all you get is a template email indicating if you still have a place in the next year.

I think it depends on what your DD wants to do. Does she eventually want to apply for upper schools/sixth form/college and do dance? What kind of school does she want to go to? I think if she’s more of an all-rounder (diff types of genres) then the pressure to do lots and lots is slightly less. Speaking from experience and personal observation, if she is keen on classical ballet mainly, then the competition is ridiculously fierce as the ballet world seems to have gone all out in recent years. My DD mainly does classical ballet but does it purely out of love and doesn’t have any immediate goals of auditioning for schools but we know of others who are extremely committed and focused. I know of young dancers who do 4 associates schemes, some who are in full time school but also does associates schemes, associates schemes plus every day training in local schools, multiple privates, competitions in the U.K. and abroad, regular physio/gyro/pilates/strength/conditioning/PBT classes and 121s, multiple intensives during schools holidays (how many can you squeeze in during the school breaks?) both in the U.K. and overseas - I feel exhausted and broke just thinking about it. But that is how the reality for a good number of young (classical) dancers these days. On the upside, I know of many successful young dancers who get places in dance colleges with only local dance training and they are absolutely stunning and extremely well rounded dancers. In the end, this versatility I think might make them more employable. At the end of the day, I think you need to think carefully, realistically and long term - can you afford additional classes without sacrificing family time and holidays and other siblings’ activities? What does your DD actually want and is it a long term goal or is it a young person’s current ‘want’. What are the realistic job prospects of the career your DD wants and is she happy with that? If I got a pound for every time I’ve heard parents tell me “but this is what my DC wants”, I can probably fund multiple intensives for my DD too. In answer to your question about finding time, I don’t know how they do it either. I know some who have resorted to home/online schooling, some who leave their schools early some days to go to training, some who have no rest days and don’t get home until late at night. My DD only dances 3-4 times a week, mostly in the weekends, and she’s still up late most nights trying to finish homework and preparing for exams. Sorry if the above doesn’t really answer your question about whether it is necessary. I think it would very much depend on many factors like the above.

There is definitely hope. I know of two who were in vocational school at the same time and didn’t attend after the first few weeks. I know of someone who preferred another associates scheme and so left after the first two weeks of mid associates. Some “vocational type” schools prefer their students to attend Saturdays in their schools. People leave or give up their places for a variety of reasons.

I never knew much about dancing or ballet until DD realised her love for dancing (just as a hobby though so in a way I’m quite glad not to have to worry about this side of things), so in the past I naively thought that graduates of the “big schools” just walk into company jobs upon graduation. However, I recently noticed that final year students of even the big name schools seem to now attend big auditions and do overseas audition tours. Years ago, a few people told me that if you are a graduate of so and so school you’re guaranteed a job but I’m guessing that’s not the case these days.

Don’t lose hope. Those are the numbers but equally I’ve known of young dancers getting offered a place quite late on too. Just when you least expect it

It might feel that way as I assume most (if not all) London MA2s who are in Year 9 are offered SA1. All the MA2s I’ve seen post on social media have been offered SA. I’ve not seen any who didn’t get offered a place. I think I’ve only seen one non-MA get offered SA but I’m not sure if it’s for SA1 or SA2. I think also that current WL year 9s who aren’t continuing at WL are most likely offered SA. Some MAs from other centres also opt to attend London SA. I think London associates are normally around 18 students in a class on average so there aren’t that many places at all in SA1 I think after current MA2s and WLs take the places. It depends if your DD is SWL for SA1 or SA2. And how many will go full time come September. I’ve only seen one this year who was offered RBS full time so that girl might not take up her SA place. However, I’ve definitely seen movement in SA waitlist over the last few years. It just depends on the year. Some choose not to take their place as compared to other associates schemes it is only around 2 hrs and 15 mins every week so if you travel from far you have to be weigh options carefully especially if other schemes offer more classes and longer hours per week. On the other hand, the RBS brand is very hard to turn down.