Out-the-other-side

Just watched this very unsettling report on ITV news - the parallels between their experiences and those of my DD and others in her year/school is stark - surely just a matter of time before the spotlight turns to vocational ballet training? 
https://www.itv.com/news/2022-11-08/the-weight-shaming-culture-that-sentenced-gymnasts-to-lifelong-health-issues

Sold x

I have a copy of this I am happy to give away for postage costs - probably around £2 would cover it. 

It makes me beyond sad to see us all as dance parents discuss how we can put back together our broken children - been there, done that, got the therapy bill - whilst the damage goes on unchecked. I keep hoping that the next big scandal to be exposed will be that of the ballet world so that future generations of bright-eyed optimists can navigate a fairer, kinder, more nurturing system but the occasional ripples that surface soon die down again. At times, it seems untouchable. 
To the original poster, I genuinely send you best wishes in helping your child regain their self-esteem but would very politely suggest that it may not be THEIR mindset that needs changing as much as their teacher’s. Xx

How do any of us objectively gauge who is an exceptional teacher or not? On our own personal experiences of them? (or our DC’s)  On their student successes? Both of these ways of measuring are in my opinion flawed.

Two vocational standard dancers in the same class can have very different  experiences based on many factors. These includes physical attributes - as parent of a now ex DD who is tall,  she very rarely had exercises adapted to suit her height and longer limbs in school. But when this did happen, for example with tall guest teachers who understood, it was transformational. And, as controversial as this may be, teachers bring their own biases/personal baggage to class and this impacts on the student experience albeit often unintentionally (though sadly not always). Yes unfortunately, we have many personal experiences of this but sharing them here will surely get this thread locked. But they are real and documented and were finally dealt with by the school in question. Some people would still argue that their DC  had (and continue to have) exceptional teaching from the very teachers who damaged my DD and others and were the direct cause of her walking away from ballet and to now be receiving counselling to recover from the trauma. 
Also teachers who offer private coaching (with the pre agreed focus on vocational school application success) can be very selective and honest (rightly so in my opinion)  in whom they chose to mentor - they indeed do know how to spot those DC with potential AND the right physical facility but this selectivity can potentially skew the big picture. A little like on this forum annually when associate and vocational application results come out - it’s human nature to want to share the successes and not the ‘failures’ but it doesn’t give the true picture and can be unintentionally misleading. 

Internationally, the ballet master classes in Prague are superb for older students with amazing teaching faculty. Plus Prague is pretty fantastic too! 

18 hours ago, ArucariaBallerina said:

Hi all,

 

Just to disclaim, I am still hoping to pursue a professional dance career (I have a couple of auditions lined up in the next few weeks!) but I’ve been considering a more solid Plan B recently and would love to study History at university, if I were to not get a job/get injured/when I retire etc. 

I was just wondering if anyone had any experience of moving from professional training into a good University (I know it’s quite an unrelated subject haha). I have 2 A*s at A Level (one in History luckily) and my Level 4 diploma in Dance teaching, but I know many universities want 3 A Levels (but I don’t ideally want to wait to have to study for a third!)

 

Thank you

EPQ qualifications and vocational exams all carry UCAS points too! But with 2 good A levels and a diploma, I would imagine you would be eligible for a good range of courses. (DD received all unconditional offers to study law with 1 good A level, EPQ, diploma and qualifying dance exams.)

Just to be aware that some universities, for some courses, ask that A levels be achieved in one sitting. 
 

Good luck! 

A lovely review for  all 6 schools here:

https://www.britishtheatreguide.info/reviews/unite-for-ukrai-sadler-s-wells-20901

The Create and Dance units of work on the Royal Ballet website are fabulous and free! We have used them to support our Primary dance curriculum for a while now. I hope they will still be available once this programme is up and running! Our sports premium money is also spent on employing a sports coach and we would definitely not have the budget (or the will) for this as it meets only a small aspect of the primary PE curriculum. 

And all of this totally undermines the premise of MDS and DaDA awards which are meant to level the playing field and ensure that no talented dancer is excluded! Back to ballet being elitist! 

I have seen this company on my Instagram feed but have no direct experience of them. 
 

https://www.yourparisphoto.com/

There may be reviews on their website? 

This was posted on Malvern Ballet Seminars Facebook page recently. 
 

Due to popular demand we have secured another boarding house therefore more places have become available for our Easter Course 19-22nd April. Please message us to express your interest in a place.

My dd did Malvern a few times and the teaching was always excellent. 

We could not get private insurance that covered my dd using the school based physio! (This was for Elmhurst) We could have got  physio cover, but only with their approved providers which would have meant trips to Birmingham city centre which would not have been practical. In the end, we opted out of that and made a private arrangement with the school physio to pay for sessions should she have needed it. 

12 minutes ago, RHowarth said:

BBC News reports that performances in Northallerton and Wolverhampton have been cancelled. At least in Northampton's case, this is at the instigation of the venue, who will carry the financial loss.

This is true also of Wolverhampton 

The Gaia exhibit  is currently on display at the Think Tank/millennium point  - free to pop in and see it - it’s and not from from Annette Nicholson’s studios. 
 

https://www.millenniumpoint.org.uk/gaia/

3 hours ago, FlexyNexy said:

I thought my post would be suitable under this heading. My DD has graduated vocational school just in the middle of pandemic, secured contracts overseas but due to embassies being closed, we had to pass these opportunities. I do not know how, but she has found strength and continued to train this year in pre-professional programme/ junior company, but I think she is very tired of this cycle. She seems to be only getting into ‘companies’ which are subsidised financially by parents in exchange for dancing opportunities. She is frustrated that she is not going to be paid and feels the pressure she is giving on us. During our last call she said she fell out of love of ballet and all this hard work came to “nothing”. I want to support her, but I also do not want to feed her with encouragement to continue if this is making her depressed. Many of her peers have flown this month to join cruises, but this is not her “cup of tea”. Her mood is very down, she does not even know what she would like to do after ballet so I suggested just to come home and take little time out. We are stuck and also in a motion to set plan B.

My daughter was in a similar position - apprenticeships and short term contracts that would have meant her staying perpetually on the audition treadmill. In the end, stability became the strongest pull for her (it is in her nature to crave that whilst others, such as my eldest non DD, can cope with uncertainty and freelance style work.) What I would emphasise is that she found it impossible to make that decision whilst still in the ballet bubble. In that sense Covid was a blessing as it allowed her to step away and to see that her sense of perspective had become somewhat warped. She also had to get over the ‘what will people say/think trauma’ that she had blown out of all proportion. 
She is the happiest I have ever seen her, putting her many transferable skills and qualities from ballet to excellent use and is genuinely excited for her future, which is totally non dance related. Ironically, she was contacted this week with an  expression of interest from a National Company in Europe in response to the last audition application she made in the summer - she just laughed and said there was no way she was going to go back to that world. And this from someone who was totally obsessed with ballet less than a year ago. It was her entire world then - now she knows there is a whole (often kinder) world out there for her to enjoy and discover. I wish your daughter well - happiness should be in the journey and in the destination too. Sending you both love and reassurance that there most definitely IS life after ballet! 

4 hours ago, Kate_N said:

In my experience of university admissions, this is the case. And a lot of more competitive or academically demanding degree courses don't use the points system at all. At my place (Russell Group, competitive to get in) we don't use UCAS points - we interview on the basis of predicted or achieved A Level grades.

Also (and am happy to be corrected on this) DD has been told very recently that all A levels must have been sat in the same academic year. This was for the non UCAS points universities. I expect to show that they can stand up to the rigours and intensity of the academics. Sadly, for vocational students with limited time for A levels alongside their training, this can be a barrier to being considered by many institutions. 

4 hours ago, Pas de Quatre said:

As I understand it, UCAS points from Dance exams can only be used for entry to Dance Degree courses, and not other degree courses.  Would be very happy to be told this is not so.

All of the unis my dd applied to to study law accepted them.

10 minutes ago, balletbean said:

I always remember Elmhurst explaining on their website the qualification as:- 

 

“Diploma level 6 is vocational equivalent of a BA(Hons) degree’.
 

That phrase has stuck with me and used on several opportune moments when the need arises. it’s simple and very clear. 

However, you need to do the one year top up with Middlesex Uni to gain full degree status. The other issue we have found is that, if applying to university,  a level 6 diploma carries no UCAS points so you are left to persuade the universities in your personal statement of the value of the qualification…

In as new condition, GMAX free-standing adjustable double ballet barre.

£70 new asking £40

Collection only from Staffordshire or central Birmingham. 

Even without all of the very valid issues raised, if I were a parent of a child (with only U.K. citizenship) embarking on year 7 auditions this year, I would strongly consider holding back for a year or more to see how the European job market settles over the next few years. Without wishing to get political (and seeing how threads discussing this have previously been shut down) I do think a wise eye would be on graduate destinations more than ever before. 

Ladies small white bullet pointe skirt - as new, worn only a couple of times. 
£15 to include P and P 

6 hours ago, Jan McNulty said:

 

But are the dancers trained to the standard that the Artistic Directors of this country are looking for?

Certainly good enough to be regularly used to boost the corps…

5 hours ago, Kate_N said:

Be careful what you wish for. The "British jobs for British people" idea is what fuelled the success of the Leave the EU campaign. 

As a very strong anti Brexiteer married to the son of an immigrant family this is most certainly not my standpoint! However, for ballet dancers EU jobs for EU citizens was undeniably a reality in the 2020-2021 audition season - either stated directly in job adverts or communicated in other ways - as someone has referenced either in this thread or the Radio 4 discussion one,  interest shown but made clear no help can be given with visa applications or being directly asked for passport status in email communication with companies/directors before material would be viewed. My DC experienced all of this first hand. 
Maybe this will be a short lived situation, something that will be ironed out in negotiations at some point in the foreseeable future, but in a time limited career it has rung the death knell for many young (predominantly female) careers before they even had chance to prove themselves. 

The Sainsbury’s on the large retail park by the university definitely has toilets that are open now. The large Next (with the Costa inside) also has toilets but not sure if these are currently open.