Dragonlady

I still have a room to let from September this year. Please do not reply on this forum page but PM me if you are interested in more information. Room is a a single but has lots of cupboard space and is close to town and bus routes.

Thank you everyone for your good wishes. The shop is now open on Brook Street Chester. With respect to the Landlady questions. The Hammond have changed the way their Landlords/Ladies have to work and now have to 'live in' with their lodgers amongst other things until the child reaches the age of 18. (I was quite rare in the fact that I did anyway). My name is on the list and I am happy to answer private correspondence about facilities/rent etc. Good luck to all those who sucessfully auditioned at Hammond 6th form....I am happy to answer what questions I can about everything as DD is in 6.1 Trudi

Yes, that would be me! Not been on the forum much as had some major life changes to deal with, decided to make lemonade with them!!! Trudis Tutus & Dancewear will have its grand opening this Saturday 5th April....very excited about it all. Trudi p.s. will still be making the bespoke tutus for festivals etc.

I seem to have left my notification active on this post so got the message Yes, I will be offering accommodation for this September onwards. I am now oficially on the school's list as had my visit last week. The same sort of deal applies this year really, DD is at Hammond 6th form and I have a single room to let in the house. It is a 3 bed house with small garden close to buses and trains and is only a short walk in Chester itself. The room has a cabin bed and has lots of drawer space, a tall bookshelf and a large cupboard for storage of bedding, clothes etc. All food is included (including packed lunch stuff) as well as limited evening snacks and biscuits. We have unlimited broadband and access to a printer if needed. I can offer a lift to the school most days but as I have a dancewear shop in Chester I cannot collect....buses are reliable and cheap though. I have two cats so people need to know that for allergy purposes. I would prefer to let to a dancer as I cook meals based on their requirements and their hours (and therefore travel home on the bus) will coincide with DD's and so they can travel together. We are a friendly family (just me and DD and the cats) and understand the problems separation from families can bring as DD was a boarder here for 4 years. Let me know if you want other info. Trudi

I am not sure if this helps but my DD was in the same situation. The schools do occasionally have bursary's they can award and DD was given one of them. They are completely at the schools discresion but if they want you badly enough and you are open with the school regarding your finances, then occasionally they can help. DD is aware how lucky she is and is overjoyed to be still dancing in the 6th form after waiting in vain for a place off the waiting list at Central due to the DADA upsets. Edited for apalling typo!

As a mum of a Dd who has just gone through the mill for 6th form auditions, I wanted to warn that it does not get any easier. All auditionees are chosen to audition via photo and for those who fill the physicall criteria there are still a lot of extremely talented dancers all fighting for a place. The places are fewer and the available funded places becoming rarer. Listen to dance teachers advice and be prepared to accept that a career in classical dance is only for the lucky few... my dd dances because she loves it but at 16 is a much wiser person. Good luck to those waiting but there are always other doors if this one is closed. T

My DD is currently in year 11 at Hammond and yesterday they all had an organised trip to the houses of parliament and a chat with an MP as part of a trip to London. Needless to say the subject of DADA's was brought up (as they are all affected one way or another) and the reply from the MP (although a bit woolly) reported second hand from DD, he indicated that this was part of a bigger budget cut for all forms of the arts and that, although the DADA's would be looked at as part of the review for next year, he didn't hold out much hope for an increase in budget. Exactly what this means for next years students is very unclear but he did acknowledge that there had been problems with this years DADAs and that they would look at the entire system again...not much help for this years students though Trudi

Having a big clearout prior to moving and have just found this lovely leotard/skirt at the back of DD's wardrobe. Purchased from America as a 'congratulations' present for getting into vocational dance school it cost a fortune origionally! She only wore it a couple of times as she was not allowed to wear it for dance class and then had a growth spurt It is a lined pale turquoise merle leotard with front lining. It has spaghetti straps and a low straight back (it sits under the shoulder blades straight accross). The attached same colour short mesh skirt come to crotch area only so is very short. The size is 12 (I think that is age USA) and is approx a size 2 leotard uk size. DD is very tiny and it fitted her perfectly at age 12/13 so you may need to have a slim dd aged 10 upwards to get the most out of this. Yours for £20.00 plus postage of £2.50 as she only wore it a couple of times. PM me for more info and a picture of her in it (so you can see what it looks like)...I tried to attach a link to the degas USA website but it failed.... Trudi

The school accommodation people are aware of what I am offerng and are ok with it. As I will not get the house until late July it was too late to be included on the list. I have an enhanced CRB check and the school know me as Dd has been there for four years. I am offering a 'live as family' deal where all meals are included. A bit like having a Foreign Student kind of thing.. Trudi

Ha Ha! I know.... I am really not the old fashioned 'Blackpool' landlady of yesteryear!!!!! Trudi

Thank you. The school has sent out a list recently but I was too late to get on it... T

Hi all, Please PM me if you are looking for landlady accommodation in Chester starting this Sept. DD and I are moving up there.....long story............. and I may be able to help. Trudi

The ballet teachers do not like the Gaynor Mindens or the pre-broken in pointe shoe brands as they prefer the dancer to strenghten their feet in regular pointe shoes first... this goes for years 7 - 11. The only exception is if the dancer has really strong feet and the teacher will then allow the above but generally they advise against them. It is better to ask first rather than spending a lot of money on them DD is in Grishko shoes in year 11 (she was reccomended them by a teacher at ENB) and has not had a negative comment. We never got our pointe shoes from the theatre dance shop but hopefully the leotard prices will become more reasonable if we have to go elsewhere!! T

My DD is already at Hammond and will be going into the 6th form this September. If you want to pm me then I will be happy to pass on contact details to her or answer questions if parents have any. Trudi

Upper school 6.1 applicants: Please do not shoot the messenger....but....why are they not allowing the upper school finals candidates to re-audition? It may be they had an off-day or just need looking at again. This is especially true for the upper school as I know of some really beautiful dancers from vocational schools who made the finals and were not accepted but who were then snapped up by ENB and Central, who would probably give a lot to be accepted into Elmhurst! Do they know (again for the upper school) that there are other more desirable dancers out there who have not already auditioned? Personal opinion only...but this seems very odd T

I agree with the North/South perceptions..... We live on the south coast and DD goes to Hammond. When she first started there everyone said she was posh because of her accent.... despite a LOT of them living far better lifestyles and in bigger houses than we did Now she has adopted their accents to 'fit in' better but when we visit we are still considered 'posh' to her firends Lol

Cangratulations to your DS, you must be very relieved. Has anyone heard of a girl being offered a place yet off the waiting list? My DD is still waiting and despite another phone call to the school on Friday, we are still no nearer to getting any sort of resolution to all of this. The lady I spoke to hinted that they may be in a position to look at their lists after the first week of May...she also let something else slip that worries me greatly but (bacause she asked me to) I cannot say on this open forum. Meanwhile the wait goes on..... T

Yes, I called them on Monday. They said they could not give out any information on the waiting lists (not even to say how many there were on it). I think that until you are in the middle of something like this and can empathise, the school admins (accross all schools, ballet or normal) do not realise what stress this all causes. Maybe someone else had better luck than me. (edit) in finding out numbers/chances etc. T edited for clarity

I am afraid there are quite a few that are waiting for e-mails or letters. As a family, we have given it until the end of the month for places to be sorted out and if DD has heard nothing by then, we will consider it as a 'No'. I do know of dancers who have been offered places at several schools including Central but given the current DADA situation, we are hearing all too often that they are accepting Central places as they cannot afford the full fees at the other schools, despite -sometimes- Central not being high on their list of desirable places to go. This is not meant to start an argument about how good/bad Central is, just that dancers who may have previously turned Central down in favour of ENB or Elmhurst are re-thinking because of finances. I KNOW Central is a brilliant school and DD would preffer to go here than some other places In the meantime we bite our fingernails (DD) and drink red wine (me!) and hope to get lucky!!! T

I was talking to DD's school last week about the DADAs and the lovely lady who manages the dance admin side of things has echoed what we are all saying here....she has noticed that a lot of their preferred choices for DADA's have had to turn them down because of the dramatic cut off point. She has said that she too (as the school's representative and admin for this scheme) will be supporting the arguments that it is actually restricitng talented dancers and skewing the merit based offers figures (if this makes sense?) to the lower income bracket.....not that a lot of families can afford these fees either......... as I said before....this is a huge mess and our children are paying the price T

It is the same for us....DD did a final audition despite knowing she was over the DADA limit....the lady in charge kindly pointed that one out to her just before she went in . She has a place but finances for us mean a lot of heart searching to figure out what to do now....this has spilled over to Central School (on a different thread) where a lot of otherwise potential places are being taken by dancers who have had offers for a DADA but cannot take them up. What a mess this all is.... No dissrespect to the dancers who take up the places, they are truly well deserved...it just means less choice for those not able to use the DADA system. T

DD also on the waiting list.....so the wait goes on for us too..... does anyone know if they offer all applicants a waiting list place or are there just a few? (DD a bit upset at having to wait even longer for an answer) On the bright side, at least its not a 'No' T

We still have not had an email or anything from Central and neither have several dancers that DD knows. I have this sinking feeling that perhaps the 'Yes' emails went out as was mentioned earlier so that the choices can be made before the 2nd April (those lucky enough to have a choice) and those that got a 'No; are still waiting for e-mails/letters? Has anyone heard of a 'No' email or are there others still waiting?...very frustrating if so...and maybe slightly unfair????? T

Thank you for the replies. does anyone know how long Central usually take to let the dancers know? Anxious times here as, with the DADAs out of the question, there is a lot riding on this for dd. T.

My DD was there yesterday morning (She was No 1 but thinks it must have been done on age this time!) She and a few others were asked back for a recall later that afternoon and so did both the claps and the jump rope thing.....does anyone know if the recalls are any indication of anything? DH took DD and wasnt sure. Also does anyone know how many dancers they usually take for the first year? Thanks T