Dragonlady

I have just reponded. I wanted to stress that the word 'wealthy' actually means 'middle income' and that two working parents in average jobs will be over the limit. I do not wish for a re-emergence of the debate as to who earns what or who is classified as 'poor' but wanted to highlight the anguish of dancers who are now being told they cannot continue their training because of a number on a piece of Government paper. Trudi

It was with very mixed feelings that I read the No letter for my DD. I was sad that she hadn't been chosen but incredibly relieved that we were spared the agony of knowing we could not afford it anyway if she had got a place. She is still doing Central's final and is auditioning for DADA funding at her own school with the hope they may be able to find alternative funding (or carry over her bursary). Well done everyone who got invited to the finals and my sympathies for those who DADAs are out of the question. T edited for typo

My DD also got through so maybe we will have a chance to meet whilst we have an anxious wait outside! T.

At Hammond all the interested year 11's have to audition with the external candidates, in the same audition classes. I know of a few there who did not make it past the first cut and a few others then not offered a chance at the funding places.... All the rest of the internal candidates will audition alongside the successful external DADA auditionees early in March....nothing is taken for granted and as far as I can tell, it is a level playing field. T

We have taken the decision that dd will attend the DADA finals (if offered...we are still waiting for EMBS audition results!) but when we are asked to supply the usual financial information we are offering them a LOT of additional personal financial information....it is up to the schools what they do with it but if they don't know why the finals are turned down or they do not have all the facts and figures when it comes to their financial teams offering DADAs they may assume that either parents are happy with the system of have decided to take up offers elsewhere..... I am personally very offended by the rather trite reply that Jaylou62 got....but am reminded that this was the attitude of many in office about Olympic training for all but the most high profile sports....not helpful but true. T

Sorry, I have space to make you a tutu but live in Dorset. Trudi

I have read all of the previous posts and some of them have left me feeling quite sad. I have a dancer who is directly affected by these changes and her future is quite uncertain. It is not, and never really has been about who earns what or how they do/do not earn it. This is about talented children today, now, facing a very bleak prospect of non affordable training and hence no future career in classical ballet. If you had to face my DD as we had to do this weekend and explain that her years of sacrificing birthday parties, sleepovers and personal local friendships as she has competed with other talented dancers to train her way to 6th form is all for nothing........to her, it is not about money or how much/little there is, it is about doing something that makes you wake up every day happy inside and being able through dance to pass those feelings on to other people just by watching you.....all gone because someone in government was in too much of a hurry and needed to tick some funding cut boxes! As parents/carers we ALL make sacrifices for our dancers as we believe in them, it really does not matter to a child how much 'disposable income' we have as long as they are supported to the best of OUR OWN ability. Please make sure we are focusing our feelings toward the correct place....ie the faceless people who made the aribtrary decision that has a huge impacts on all sorts of lives. We will personally be fighting hard (as we have all along) to make sure that - if she has the talent - then her dreams can be a reality. We are currently talking to all sorts of 'money people' as well as writing to out local paper and MP. Please, lets band together to fight for our children....not each other. Trudi

Welcome to the forum. My DD auditioned in January and said that the ballet class was good but not too advanced at this stage. I have posted her experience in a different earlier thread but do not know how to link it to this one. If you use the search engine here for Central you will find it. Good luck! T

DD has been offered a place today at Hammond 6th form but they are being a bit canny and asking us to fill in a finance form alongside the acceptance letter. When I called the school they explained that their DADA's will be given out to the people who got the highest audition marks and those lucky people will be written to after all the auditions are over. When I asked what happened to those not lucky enough to get a DADA (even if we could afford it) there was a mere hint at the fact that the school has a little leeway in funding and these other fundings for talented students may be an option for a very luck few (My DD attends the school currently on a bursery as she was a year 8 entry) Not too much light at the end of this tunnel but if other schools are willing to look at fundings 'outside the box' then may be a few more talented middle class dancers can fulfill their dreams......................

I have put it both on my website but also on my tutu business website.....this will hopefully reach a lot of ballet interested Mums. DD now fully aware of all of this and is very distressed as we are certainly not going to be able to afford the full fees if she is lucky enough to get through further auditions. T

I have signed too. This directly affect my DD as she is currently waiting for results for some of her 6th form auditions. I cannot believe we have scrimped and saved (and ues, even downsized out house) to enable her to keep doing this, only for the goalposts to be changed at the last minute! T

If you are anywhere near me, I make bespoke tutus at a (hopefully) decent price! I do not use lycra though, just the corset method. P.M me is you want more info and prices. T

I have said this in other posts but my DD also auditioned for Elmhurst upper school and was rejected after the first round.......as were ALL her classmates in her particular vocational dance school! Boys and girls alike I think. She took it very hard but is still going to other auditions and has had some recalls to boost her confidence. Please tell your dd to keep trying and she will hopefully come through, its bad enough to get our dancers through all the contstant auditions and rejections but we all then have to face the dreaded funding problem..........we do it because we believe in them and because they are all beautiful dancers! Good luck T

All the successful internal candidates (as far as DD can tell) have been asked to attend a funding audition, as most of them will be relying on funding to continue with their studies this means that there is still very much a level playing field as they will audition along with the successful outside candidates. T

DD did her 6th form audition yesterday so is now joining the ranks of those waiting for letters. There were only 10 in her PM audition session which started with a talk to dancers and their parents by the Head, Academic head, and Head of dance as well as finance. The dancers were then taken out for their ballet audition which (for my DD's session) did not involve any pointe work and was at a medium level of difficulty. They all then went straight to Jazz which involved a very brisk routine which they had to pick up very quickly, DD said she had to work hard and think quickly for this. After that were the dance solos which are a max of 1 min long...so they got through them quite quickly. Some dancers did pointe work but this was not expected by all. The dancers could then go home apart form the ones who opted to play an instrument. all told they were in and out within 3 hours max. Letters are expected to take 10 working days. Hope this helps. T

I cannot help you as to content as my DD has yet to audition for a 6th form place (and yes, she is already in the lower school) We were warned that the audition process would be harder this year for ALL auditionees and I know from talking to DD last night the students were there from 9.15 a.m. until nearly 6.00 p.m.! They were all conpletely exhausted by the end of it. A few in DD's year 11 class did not make it through to the afternoon sessions. Yesterday was mostly internal candidates but my DD and a couple of others will be auditionning in early Feb along with other outside candidates. I think they are really looking for performance more than anything else and the ability to pick up things quickly. Good luck to everyone! T

DD is doing the 6th form audition on the 15th Jan. It has taken a bit of a back seat to GCse exams and mocks so the musical instument piece (an optional extra) will be a bit shaky!! Good luck to everyone for the auditions...whatever yeargroup you are. T

My DD also got through to the final audition! So despite being the two smallest there in the morning looks like No's 1 and 2 did well Finals (for DD) are on Sunday 24th but I think there are also overseas auditions plus their finals (on same day) on the Saturday. fingers crossed for those waiting for letters..... and sympathy to the 'No's' we know only too well those letters, but just keep trying. T

Just got a great deal for our stay in Londom for DD's ENB audition later this month, a Novotel close to Waterloo for a much reduced price. Lots of bargains to be had if you are quick! T

Hi Ecarte, No. My DD was in the morning session. She enjoyed the experience but is very realistic about the outcome. I think that we just have to focus on a really good "Plan B" and hope that she can keep going to 18 with a good level of ballet training...not something Dorset is renowned for though. There are other auditions coming up so "Plan A" very much a goal still. T

Thank you for the good wishes. DD made the place with plenty of time to spare and then found a cafe where a lot of other nervous dancers were waiting! THere were 25 dancers (mixed sexes) to a group and there were two groups auditioning that day. They were told that there were 400 children auditioning - including two separate days in Japan - and that they could take maybe 30 It was interesting that the dancers were numbered in height order and DD was number 2!! (she is very tiny). DD said that the pannel was just two people with clipboards at a table and a third who took the class which was not too challenging, my DH says that they were made to feel welcome and answered questions from parents at the front desk (no parents allowed to watch audition). Fingers crossed but not holding out too many hopes as these odds are overwhelming when you think that the UK contingent was maybe 50 dancers against 100 japanese and the other 100 EU countries auditioning on the finals day itself. DH talked to a lot of other parents and no-one was holing out much hope of being able to get their dancer through to training at 16 (because of the economics etc) and that 18 would be a better option................. T

Millie, If your DD is anything like mine she would be doing all the Brownie stuff dancing!!! We did try other options...she was really good at swimming but it got to a point where she had to choose which training to go for and she really wasn't built for swimming competitions etc...so we went with dance.... T

I just wanted to wish everyone who will be doing their audition at Central tomorrow (for the senior school) the best of luck. My DH is taking DD in the car from Dorset so hopefully the traffic will be kind. It is with some trepidation we are allowing DD to do this as we, like so many other families (on a separate post), will be hard hit if the predicted cap on DADAs is true. It would make it almost impossible to get her to any school even with the offer of a DADA. All we can do is allow her to follow her dream and hope that a.) she gets offered a funded place b.) that we can then afford to let her go. Fingers firmly crossed! T Edited for typo (again!)

I can confirm that the upper school are invited to audition for parts alongside all the lower school students. My dd is auditioning for a dancing part (yes, all the children have to audition internally - even the seniors!) and although it is mainly for years 9 and above, there were a few opportunities in their last musical (Les Miz) for a few talented children from years 7 & 8. In order to accomodate and showcase lots of talent, they usually offer some leading and lesser roles around to several different children so everyone gets a chance and parents can attend the performance/night their own child is doing their thing. If Les Miz was anything to go by this will be a terrific performance....they really are a talented lot! T

My DD's No was for a 6th form place so they must have sent a lot of letters out at once for different audition dates.