Neverdancedjustamum

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.

There are also some who leave even after the term has started. I personally know of at least two who gave up their places after attending a few sessions.

We have given up DD’s place for Week 2 as she will still be in school then. Hopefully there will be some movement in the waiting lists.

My DD has been offered 2 weeks - but non-consecutive ones 🤔 Can this actually happen? I can’t remember what we applied for but I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have chosen two weeks separated by a week in between. I think we also only applied for one week as DD has offers elsewhere and we’ve had to consider dates carefully. And one week anywhere is usually enough for her.

I second what @Ruby Foo said. I’ve always found leather full sole not very flattering although people always say full sole is better for working the feet. I personally find the canvas full sole by So Danca the most aesthetically pleasing, for full sole. I might be biased though as we are also partial to their stretch canvas split sole and tights. The worst leather full sole I’ve seen were the Freed ones that used to be (and might still be) on the uniform list for RBS associates. It was an odd colour, not at all flattering and aged really badly. I’ve never been a fan of satin ones either. I’ve always liked shoes that look seamless shade and shape-wise with tights. Capezio might have something nice that are full sole although they often change stock so I’m not sure these days.

Absolutely. I noticed this too about most vocational schools, and this includes administrative staff. Quite the disparity from non-vocational schools and definitely different from universities (the latter normally have brilliant pension schemes from my experience, much better and even more generous than corporate). I have noticed as much as a £10k difference in the starting salaries between similar administrative roles.

I can’t fault the comms. They are always very timely. In my experience, emails I have sent have been responded to within an hour or so on average. I really do feel like they value not just the dancers but the parents also.

I cannot comment on the full time school and whether being an associate can help but my DD decided to move to Central Associates from another prestigious associates scheme last September. She was torn and couldn’t decide whether she wanted to stay for her third year in her previous associates or go to Central but after she attended the latter’s induction day she was hooked. (I would not recommend waiting until last minute like she did as I still had to pay for a full term’s fees for the other scheme as per notice period). CSB associates has about 4 separate classes within the day. Pointe is a separate class which is very good and I found that only one other scheme (I am aware of) has a separate, timetabled pointe class. They also have contemporary class. They get breaks including lunch which means they get to make friends and really bond. It was also refreshing to apply for their intensive and receive a decision within the same day, and without having to pay an application fee. The two Saturdays either end of half terms normally don’t have classes which is so ideal for family holidays. Having worked in education for over a decade, I am very impressed with their organisation and communications. They utilise their school’s virtual learning environment for the associates’ homework and learning resources. My DD once left her jacket in one of the studios and within half an hour of emailing them, I received a response from their Associates Manager (not an admin staff!) telling me she’s found it and will keep it for my DD to collect the week after. It’s very early days and we are only into her second term but I can honestly say my DD has not looked back and is absolutely loving it. People thought she was crazy/bonkers/mad when she left the other associates scheme (and kept getting told places in it are like gold dust and she must be out of her mind to give it up) but luckily, she never really cared much about what others think and doesn’t really care about big names and reputation. She will go where she feels settled and happy and where she can enjoy her love of dance. I have watched class in about half a dozen associates schemes over the years and I can honestly say that in my non-dancing, outside observer’s eyes, Central Associates is one of the more enjoyable ones to watch, the level seems quite high, fast paced, and is not boring to watch. There is a lot of dancing as such. As I said it’s early days and I might change my mind but I can honestly say that I’m impressed with the scheme so far and my DD is happy.

Don’t worry too much about photos or what you put on the form. It’s hard to guess what they look for and it’s probably pointless doing so. Being their own associate doesn’t seem to give you any advantage either. My DD applied last year purely for fun and to see what happens and not expecting anything. She hates having photos taken so her photos were a mish mash of ones taken hurriedly after class at different times (using a phone and she was wearing different leotards!) so they weren’t even from the same day. I think this was also the form that asks how many hours you dance a week and which genres. In any case at the time she was only doing one ballet class within the week. So her total hours a week that we put on the form must have been very pitiful compared to others especially those who are in full time vocational school. By some miracle she was offered a place and not even from the waitlist. The week she went she was one of less than a handful from the U.K., the rest were international. To this day, we still don’t know how such a miracle happened, and it truly was given what was on her form and her photos.

I always thought the school had JKO in its name since it was established but I could be wrong. I don’t recall ABT School as being anything else but ABT JKO School.

Based on what I’ve read in another part of this forum and what I’ve seen on Instagram, I guess you meant one of the prize winners from ABT JKO School. In quite a unique move (I thought) I’ve never seen an AD of a well-known vocational school do, Stella Abrera posted on her Instagram and publicly acknowledged the candidate’s former school for the “wonderful training received prior….”.

I’m very curious who this is @Birdy! I just saw the list of winners and saw that, as in previous years, Princess Grace Academy did extremely well once again. All 3 students they sent went on to be finalists and I believe all 3 are prize winners too. I recently saw snippets of their exam and the students all seem to be stunning dancers. The school must be so confident of their students (and their teaching!) to livestream exams and sometimes, I’ve seen them stream classes too. I understand a good number of their current students are already prize winners from various competitions but then again, the same is the case for (some) other vocational schools.

Just had parents evening and had a good chat with the Head of Dance at her school who outlined what will be covered for each of the two years, from what I recall it’s as @Dance.Mum above posted. It was a lovely chat that got my DD excited but I must say that the HoD is one of maybe a handful of people in her school who knows DD does ballet and contemporary (or dances, full stop, as she keeps dance and school very separate - until next year I guess) and already seemed excited to work with her. In the end she thanked my DD for being part of a good number of her former students’ GCSE and A level choreo and performances…and made sure she’s said yes to another two who have asked her recently to be involved in their A levels. It was really lovely as I hadn’t known that my DD has helped out with so many of these for the last couple of years. I must say that dance, whilst perhaps not as prioritised as sports in her school, does get a lot of support with annual events and a fair number of GCSE students actually going on to dance sixth forms and colleges. For anyone else who might have been curious like me, yes they can take Dance GCSE and still have dance as one of their PE GCSE ‘sport/activity’. Both the dance and PE teachers actually said that this is very handy for those who like dance anyway and they can use their dance choreo for one of the PE requirements.

I would be interested in this too as my DD also plans to take Dance GCSE. She also wants to do PE and I know that dance can be one of the ‘sports/activities’ of the 3 required for PE (she is already in two school sports teams so that hopefully takes care of the 2 group ones and she can, if allowed, take dance as the individual for PE). I was therefore wondering if she can do Dance GCSE but also take dance as part of her PE GCSE at the same time. I know she’s been asked to help in several GCSE and A level dance projects over the last couple of years but still doesn’t know the details for when she actually takes them. I have parents evening this week so can ask the dance teacher. We also have options evening sometime soon so will try and find out and share any pertinent info. I’m not sure the content would differ for someone who dances a lot compared to someone who doesn’t. I would have thought the requirements at the end of the day would be the same in terms of what they need to produce/submit? My DD has danced since she was 6 but nowhere near as many hours as her peers do. Probably less than ‘hobby hours’ especially given the volume of school work she has now at year 9, there’s not much time left. For her it was natural to pick it as a GCSE option as she’ll pick what she thinks will be the best way for her to get a good set of GCSEs to go to Sixth Form and then to a good uni to do something in the sciences. So for her, I think it’s more the theory side that she wants to know more about.

There’s also a bus that goes from the stop right outside Richmond train/tube station (Stop E?) that stops right near St Margaret’s Drive. From that St M bus stop to Rambert is maybe a couple of minutes walk. I can’t remember the bus number but it’s fairly frequent, even on Sundays I think. Every 10 mins or so.

I have heard the same from acquaintances whose children attend/attended the school. Nothing but good words for him and his leadership. Very refreshing!

Lots of summer intensives are still open for applications, both here in the U.K. and overseas.

I’d say most of those who start Year 7 at WL were JAs. When my DD (who was never a JA) got finals for WL, she was one of the very few (probably less than a handful) in her group who wasn’t a JA. Most MAs would also have been JAs.

Just to say that some places might even still come up after the response deadline. They are quite understanding if you need a bit of extra time to confirm if you can take the place. My DD was also offered autumn intensive but at the time I was still unsure if we were going to be away during Oct half term and they were kind enough to let me respond a week after the deadline.

Those offered a place were given until Sunday 14th January to confirm if they will be attending.

I also use “alumni” for both genders. This was also how I was taught in school. Also a plural form so there’s lots of coverage there.

I might have missed/not spotted them but there have been extremely few British or British-trained participants in recent years at the Prix De Lausanne. Off the top of my head, I can only think of two female British participants in the last 3 or so years, and maybe one British national but trained elsewhere. I am not sure if this is due to very few British applicants or whether it’s very small numbers getting through to pre-selection. Having seen PdL performances and masterclasses, I think the panel do a great job of picking finalists because on the whole, I find the selected candidates strong on stage and in class. YAGP in its initial stages are more of a mixed bag and I think this is because anyone can apply and participate. Just my personal opinion. This year there seems to have been a spike in the number of British young dancers in the European YAGP competitions.

Results are out for the spring intensive.

How refreshing and very transparent of them. I’ve always liked this idea as they can get a good gauge of their own students against “externals”. I’ve always wondered why some schools/companies opt to audition their students separately from others.

Princesse Grace Academy posted a snippet of their December exams on their Instagram. Very refreshing to see a school that’s very transparent and proud of their students (and confident enough to show such long videos!). They also often stream their end of year performances to the public.