Neverdancedjustamum

53 minutes ago, Footloose48 said:

In a bit of a quandary. My DD is starting the Junior Online Associates in October - she's in year 6. We're not sure whether to go for mid associates now because at the moment she doesn't think she has the flexibility required. Is it a very big jump to mid-associates? I realise that it must be even harder of course to get into MAs. She's auditioned every year to get onto JAs and thrilled to have finally got onto JOAs.

If she really wants to, I’d say go for it. You just never know. My DD was never a JA, not really flexible, never really applied for the SIs apart from one time, doesn’t have the much-desired “ballet feet” nor sways but by some miracle was somehow offered an MA place. I think the important thing is to be realistic about the chances and to just be relaxed about it. I still don’t know how she got an MA place but I do think the fact that she was chilled about it all and never really dreamed or particularly worked towards getting anything RBS helped in being calm and realistic. Having never been a JA, I can’t say whether it was a big jump but she didn’t mention anything about the class being particularly difficult. Hope this helps.

I have two brand new still in its pack Freed full sole leather ballet shoes:

1 x size 6M

1 x size 5.5M

£10 each including postage already (or £19 for both including postage already)

This is the shoe that’s in the RBS associates list for JA and MA

Brand new in pack RBS Mids leotard (navy blue), size 2. Never opened. Already comes with elastic belt. £12 including postage already. 

Barely worn CBA jacket size age 11/12. £15 including postage. Worn only a handful of times. 

58 minutes ago, Neverdancedjustamum said:

Hi, we are London centre and we got an email from the teacher saying which equipment need to be purchased on the 38 Aug. Then another email on 1 Sept to say shop is open with a link to buy the items. Also received invoice from their Finance on 3 Sept. 

 

We also received an email the other day with revised start times. Does anyone know if they’re still having the first day parent talk as mentioned in the Handbook or did the Zoom meeting done last week in place of the in person meeting? 

Sorry, meant 28 Aug (fat fingers haha!)

Hi, we are London centre and we got an email from the teacher saying which equipment need to be purchased on the 38 Aug. Then another email on 1 Sept to say shop is open with a link to buy the items. Also received invoice from their Finance on 3 Sept. 

We also received an email the other day with revised start times. Does anyone know if they’re still having the first day parent talk as mentioned in the Handbook or did the Zoom meeting done last week in place of the in person meeting? 

2 hours ago, Lemongirl said:

Fees at LSC are currently around £15k/year (ouch!)

 

Even though this is a degree course attached to a university, the maximum loan students can take out for the fees is around £6K leaving a huge shortfall.

 

At other universities, as I understand it, fees are around £9K and students can take a loan to cover this in full and it's not means tested.

 

Does anyone know the reason for this difference?

It might depend on the nature of the partnership/arrangement between LSC and the validating body (Uni/HEI/Higher Education Institution) and may also be due to the validating body's registration with the Office for Students which can determine the maximum amount of fees they can access from Student Finance England. I definitely know some private providers who can access the full £9250 loan from SFE/SLC.  In these cases, the programme is delivered by the private provider, but validated/franchised, quality assured and the degree awarded by the HEI/Uni.  So these students are registered with both the private provider AND the HEI, and are technically considered students of the HEI based at the private provider.

7 hours ago, Candycakes82 said:

Hi, all all the above leotards now sold?  Thanks

Hi, I’m just out at the moment but I’m pretty sure numbers 1-4 and 8-9 are still available. Was there anything in particular from the above you were interested in? 

19 hours ago, BalletMum2020 said:

Hello, 
We are looking for advise for full-time professional training in Europe with a particular interest in Italy. This will be starting September 2022 at aged 16 years. 

We are not concerned about the type of qualification on offer, but would like the main focus to be for a career in Ballet performance. We are especially interested to hear about forward thinking teachers who are inclusive and progressive, preferably with a good understanding of movement science. 

If you can recommend somewhere and are able to offer any advise on the audition process (esp. rough dates) that would be a bonus! Also if you have any information on the languages used at the school in classes that would be helpful.

Thank you for your help  

Hi! Just by chance I looked into this last year because my own DD isn’t interested in going full time at 11 and at the time told me she might consider at age 15/16 overseas in Europe. I found some very interesting things and I do think looking at Europe is a good thing - lots of choices and if you look at stats of students (even those starting at 11-12) progressing through the years, on to the higher years and then to second/junior companies and main companies, it’s quite impressive. I find where I live that most get too focused on one school (preparing kids as young as 8 with the sole goal of getting into one particular school) without realising there are tonnes of amazing options out there. Unfortunately I don’t know much about Italy or how Brexit might have affected British nationals’ chances of getting places and/or funding but found out about some good schools elsewhere in Europe and I can dm you info should you wish. Some of the European schools are coming up with stunning dancers, I have heard of at least four who have been given contracts as soloists/Demi-soloist in known companies so soon after graduation.

15 hours ago, 5678balletmom said:

She applied in person, SAB, PNB, most schools do a tour in the main cities in the US. The students show a birth certificate /passport/ and they take a class with a few of the faculty that travels. Usually 2 , one gives the class and one goes around with a notebook writing notes. SAB takes a picture of each student and they also record the class audition.

Sound amazing. Much prefer that way than just submission of photos. Especially these days when they can audition via Zoom in real time. 

1 hour ago, 5678balletmom said:

My DD attended SAB, PNB and the Rock School of Dance. She loved PNB, the classes were wonderful and included choreography classes , There were about 20 students per class. The Company rehearses in the same building so the students can see the rehearsals through the day. She had about  4 classes a day which kept her really busy. Seattle is a very safe city so she went on her own at 13. SAB is extremely safe she attended that intensive 3 summers. It is only 2-3 classes a day but very intensive. The location, New York, is great and the students are very well taken care of. The Rock School of Dance in Philadelphia was wonderful , she attended that intesnive at age 9 and 10. The Directors are amazing , and the classes although very large were excellent. 

May I know how your DD applied for the places? My DD has always been wary of applying for SIs in the UK as they always seem to be based solely on photographs and with the rise of children as young as 9/10/11 having photos taken professionally, it just took the shine off applying for her, especially since I wasn’t willing to fork out to have professional photos done. However, she loved auditioning online via zoom for overseas ones over the last few months and to her delight received offers from European and American SIs. Do places like SAB, PNB and Rock just ask for photos or is there a chance to audition online or submit videos? 

On 09/07/2021 at 21:07, Elz said:

My DD is 7.5 and obsessed with ballet and any kind of dancing.

 

She presently only does 30 mins of ballet a week in a Grade 1 class. She also does 30 mins each of tap and jazz, and 45 mins of what is described as "cheerleeding" but according to my DD is more like random jumping around. She also does a gym class.

 

She will add a 30 min Grade 2 class from Sept.

 

She is really keen to audition for a junior associate position. Is this enough? She wants a private ballet lesson in addition (30 mins). Is that too much? Not enough?

 

I know they don't judge on technique etc but I can't help but think that it does come I to it somehow.

 

 

 My DD at that age was doing 45 minutes each, once a week of the following: grade ballet, modern and tap.  And one associates scheme roughly fortnightly (not weekly).  However, depending on what your DD's goal is, you will have to check with her what she wants to do and how frequently.  I always think that the motivation for anything they do should come from them from the very start.  I am not generalising but what I have observed where I live and certainly in the last few years, I have seen kids who are in year 2/3 already being "prepped" to audition for JAs, this includes privates, multiple classes a week - the works!  Where I live, it seems to get even more intense with Years 4/5/6 doing hours of dance every week that leave me and my DD open-mouthed with shock, all to prepare them to audition for full time vocational schools at age 11. My DD is not keen to go full time and so I am somewhat shielded from most of this but it is quite easy to observe where I live. It is always good to be realistic when going into all this I believe.

I think I saw somewhere a WL letter of offer from this year and it looks like they’ve changed the system there too. Guaranteed training for first 3 years so I guess it won’t be as stressful as it used to be with the threat of being assessed out constantly hanging over the students’ heads. I wonder what will happen after those 3 years if this new system will impact on the number of WL graduates being offered a place at RBS upper.

On 14/07/2021 at 03:23, NJH said:

as do Grishko , 

Yes, but I think their master fitter if I’m not mistaken is based outside London. Central London is much easier for us.  I have spoken to Bob Martin and he still does custom shoes so we might go for that. 

6 hours ago, Molls.conway said:

I’ve been researching different summer intensives and my dream ones for this year include Houston, PNB, Kirov, and San Francisco

I am wondering if anyone who has been there before , or knows someone who has , knows how many people on average attend these intensives. 
 

Are they large? Or are they medium sized ?

Hi!  Kirov posts a lot of videos on their Instagram stories as their summer intensive progresses so you can get a good gauge of how many students are in each group.  It looks maybe medium in terms of class size but it also looks like the students get a lot of focused feedback and instruction.  They also offer scholarships to both their summer intensive and year-round programmes. My DD was offered a scholarship to their summer intensive and an offer for their year-round programme but due to travel restrictions we did not want to risk going this summer (and she's only 11 so can't imagine her being in the US boarding, alone.  To be fair, I can't cope with the idea of her boarding full time within the UK either).  Houston is quite long days, I've heard, and classes are challenging in a good way.  PNB and SF are probably medium sized but both very high standard too - all of them are.  Apart from being better as they are in-person, they will never have as many students in a group as some of the online ones my DD has attended in the past (and never again) which bordered on being a "follow-along" class with its lack of feedback and 100+ students in a group.
 

An interesting short article I chanced upon, although from a few years ago is this: 

https://aballeteducation.com/2017/01/27/15-summer-programs-that-pay-off/

Now sold 

I have a brand new, never opened, still in its packaging RBS MA leotard in size 2.  I bought this as spare but due to growth spurt I don't think DD will stay in this size for long.  Literally just bought recently so looking to sell for £12 including postage already.  This is the navy blue leotard with RBS print on the back, matching belt already included.

On 11/11/2020 at 21:41, Felicity said:

Does anyone know if Bob Martin is still custom making pointe shoes? And if so how do I get hold of him.

If not is there anyone similar about these days?

Hi Felicity, just wondering if you managed to get hold of Bob Martin?  If not, did you fine anyone/anywhere else to custom make pointe shoes?  I do think Bob still does, via appointment, and he comes into the Bloch shop in London.  I am curious to hear about people's experiences with custom shoes as I know Freed also do them.  In addition, Bloch also has a service where they tweak existing styles to be more suitable to the dancer (I think it's called Bespoke or something like that).  

There is a relatively new UK-based online shop called Dance Pointe which stocks/pre-orders overseas brands not easily found elsewhere (Zidans, DellaLo' Milano, AK Dancewear, Mariia, etc).  No customs charge and the shop owner if very lovely and helpful.  Not affiliated with the shop, not an ad - just a very happy customer.

22 minutes ago, Dancing Kitty said:

 

Our packages were from Australia - interesting we had the same experience.

Same here.  I could not figure out why some had customs charges and some do not.  They were parcels from Claudia Dean Collection.  I always dread the grey/silvery customs fee card.  I remember not being charged any fees for quite a big parcel (with about 6-7 items in it) but getting charged for a parcel with only two items in it (of much less value).

22 minutes ago, Farawaydancer said:

Isn’t there a yumiko rep in the U.K. these days? They used to order a few times a year, in a bulk order. 

I know of a couple but I don't think either place orders that frequently and at least one is thinking of adding on possible customs charges to the prices of the leotards.  The benefit of getting them through the ambassadors is that they offer 15% off and you can customise the leotards according to your specs.  Wait time is about 6-8 weeks though as they are made to order and at least within the past year, wait time was been slightly longer than this.

3 hours ago, Marconcini said:

Has anyone had any experience of having to unexpectedly pay import tax in order to receive parcels of leotards in U.K. ordered online from EU? Specifically I’d like to order some Yumiko leotards and want to be forewarned. Only asking as I’ve heard of several horror stories of as much as £300 custom fees being slapped on parcels of clothes with a much lower value than the fee! Also just had to post a very old mobile phone to a relative in EU after she left it here on a recent visit: she has just been charged 28euros tax to receive the parcel!

I used to order quite a fair bit from shops within the EU as there was no customs charge.  However, I heard that these days there can be custom charges for parcels that are over £135 (not including postage).  I can't quite remember which shop warned me of this and whether this is accurate.

To be on the safe side, I tend to split Yumiko orders to make sure no one order is over £135 (just in case).  If you order from the Yumiko EU site, it is free postage to the UK so you can just do separate orders without paying anything extra for postage.  You can also contact their Berlin boutique directly via email.  They are extremely helpful and very lovely.  I can DM you their email address and the name of the staff I usually deal with if you wish (if you haven't yet).

3 hours ago, Ballerina_girl said:

Thank you this sounds like my daughters shape she’s turning 11 in august and is petite I’m going to go for the 3A leotard then and 9-11 tracksuit. If the 3A is too big I will swap for the 2 

Hi, just to say my daughter is 11 and the 3A is slightly loose on her.  Wearable but not as fitted as she wants it to be.  She is not petite (around 151cm height) and is usually in adult XS in other leotards.  The size 2 fits her fine.  I ordered both size 2 and 3A to be on the safe side as she can always wear the 3A in a few months' time (or weeks, seeing as how she is always seem to be going through growth spurts).

In the past, when I used to get charges/fees for parcels from the US or Australia, the customs charge can be as much as a third of the value of the products inside the parcels!  It also tended to be quite random, sometimes I'd get charged a customs fee, sometimes not.  I couldn't predict when I would get charged so I just assume that I will get charged for parcels outside the EU (back then).  It was always a bonus and felt like a win when I don't get any fees.

54 minutes ago, Dancermom said:

Hi! Does anyone know how the sizing is on the RBS Associates tracksuit? Xx 

I think they’re quite big but maybe they’re meant to be quite baggy? My DD is 11 (height approx 151/152cm)and is normally in size adult XS for most things including leotards so I ordered age 12-13 in both the top and bottoms. They were very baggy on her and the top is longer than she’s used to so I ordered the 9-11 years and that fit her better. The joggers are still quite baggy so I’ve bought her leggings elsewhere instead. I think she’s just in between sizes maybe because I also had to buy her two leotards (2 and 3A), she prefers the fit of the 2, I prefer the 3A but both are wearable.