Simon Moriarty

You are very correct in your point taxi4ballet. From our experience when 'said' child does start to get good and need the next level of training, the tendency is to stay put because of friends, and other festival commitments etc. Local dance schools are amazing establishments for the community and for the local area, but fair too many local dance teachers think they own their children, and rather than send them else where with best wishes and support, or admit they have outgrown the school or their personal level of teaching experience. They hold onto them, therefore holding their training back and potentially damaging their dance career options in the future. When a child does want to be more serious about ballet, it should be the parent who investigates further training and look deeper to what is available. This can be done by way of Associates schemes or just by moving to a better school with better teaching. We as a school provide some of the highest quality training in the UK, and we offer this to whom ever wants to take it, or wants the information about it. Some do, other don't for that exact reasons I mention above. In answer to how a parent can find out about a teacher or school. Parents should find out their teachers experence as a dancer and what qualifications they have gained as a teacher. Also how long have they been teaching, and the successes of the school. Every school in the UK will from time to time have a talent walk through their door because they live local. So they may go onto RBS, or greetings. This could have happened at any school as that scold just had the talent, that does not nessaraly mean the school created that person or trained them well! So when did that success they talk about on there website actually happen. Do they get success year on year, or was it a one off ? Also a website is to shout about your qualities so they are aways going to worded in a specific way to get you to join. Thats just marketing yourself. But maybe these statements need to be taken with a pinch of salt. We are aware of quite a reputable school in the UK saying that "they can get you into a vocational school of your choice!" which is a ludicrous statement, because by nature they are all Auditioned places, and the local school does not get to choose or have an influence, also that suggests you turn up at the school, say "I want to go RBS" and they can deliver this. The ballet world is a minefield for parents who do not know this world. It is not easy thats for sure!

Quality over quantity every day. However quality teaching can be so hard to find these days, especially in the UK outside the vocational schools. In your local dance school. Doing an hour ballet training badly with a low level teacher is a disaster, but doing 6-7 hours with them can jeopardise your ballet career options. Bad habits are extremely hard to put right after years of training the wrong muscle in the wrong way. Muscle memory being implemented badly can sometimes be irreversible. Limiting high end career oportunities. Always start with the best teacher possible, and check their credentials!