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Allwrong

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  1. For a flat, try spotahome website. Don’t know if they will have what you want, but they are light on the documents you need to produce. Can’t remember specifics but i know DD had accommodation sorted out before her visa went in. They were happy with a financial guarantee from a UK bank account. Of course because they facilitate contact between the landlord and prospective tenant this may vary from case to case. The other advantage is that you can take out a contract for as little as 3 months, so there is flexibility if your dancer isn’t happy with the flat. We found it a really easy process and DD got a real bargain, and it’s all been really smooth. With the caveat of course that different landlords might be more complicated.
  2. In her first year (aged 18), DD used an organisation called Un toit deux âges. She stayed with a family, but fed herself. In return for max 5 hours helping out per week you pay £2000 for the entire year. The organisation were fantastic and supportive. A lot of BIBS students have used them, and many households speak excellent English. https://www.1toit2ages.be/?lang=en
  3. This is so frustrating, and so common in the academic sphere too. I’ve lost count of the time my children were called shy at school because, being quick at understanding, they held back from a process that was aimed at those taking longer to understand. This perceived need to push yourself forward is a real modern curse, and is really nothing to do with a genuine situation, such as a real performance or an audition. At university my son is now amongst the most vocal because the debate is at his level and his contributions appropriate. If your DD has lovely technique, she will rise to the top and outshine by the beauty of her movements, which are all the star quality a ballerina needs, and very hard indeed to be achieve. I know it’s hard to accept when roles in school shows go to those who attract attention through the year in class, but once in a real situation you daughter will be fine. She might have to swallow down some disappointments in the meantime, but she’ll come through in a more real situation. DD appears socially shy amongst dancing peers, but she frequently gets noticed as a dancer, in class situations as well as performance. But she always did poorly in festivals or situations where whet was needed was ‘starlet’ sparkle. If it helps, DD says she doesn’t feel shy in a role because she is communicating the character. She will, however, always be more of an Odette than an Esmeralda. But that’s fine: a company needs both. And there are more Esmeraldas out there than Odettes! So my advice to your daughter is be very proud of her technique, and find teachers who appreciate what she has. This may mean she doesn’t get an Upper School offer where she is (though she may well, too) but only because she doesn’t match their style. She needs somewhere that is good enough to be able to develop her great technique! Plenty of places will jump at the chance to take her.
  4. This is encouraging. Thank you. And the point about learning alongside others is a useful one.
  5. I wonder too about how necessary these programmes are, and to what extent the additional experiences improve dancing and to what extent they are simply an enjoyable extra. I'm sure they add something, but maybe it is not an essential something. Which is fine, were it not for cost. DD is getting to the stage where she still feels there is a lot to do by practice and strengthening, but as training advances, tuition is actually less necessary. Given that, what she feels she need post-graduation to improve, if she doesn't have a paid contract, is ready access to studio space and a monthly private lesson to prevent any developing bad habits. She could do this living at home and using her old dance studio when not in use for classes (she has an incredibly supportive local dance teacher, but I suspect that is not uncommon), and splashing out on regular high-level lessons. And that would be so much cheaper than further programmes, but not recognised on a CV. So you end up feeling you have to find the money to create a conventional CV more than anything. Is this cynical? Or naive? Or both? We are trying to do this on a shoe-string (in other words, a sensible budget 🤣), but sometimes I have the feeling money-saving shortcuts are not acceptable to the ballet establishment (whatever that is).
  6. Well I can probably give a better idea when DD is back in Brussels after her first professional audition and I can grill her a bit! My impression is that they are extremely active in helping dancers find jobs, and certainly have plenty of successes with Eastern European classical companies. DD is currently at an audition with several such companies and Anderson has turned up to film the 4 BIBS girls selected to attend during one audition class so he can watch back with and give them tips. He suggested (strongly urged) this opportunity to DD (3 audition days and a gala) and it’s being a huge and very productive learning curve. DD will be auditioning seriously next season, so it’s hard for me to judge support, but plenty of dancers at the school are attending multiple auditions and one has been accepted for ENBS Swan Lake in-the-round. As for communication with parents, it’s hard to say, as DD was 18 when she first went out and did pretty much all of the one-to-one communication herself. They send out general missives pretty rarely, but we haven’t had personal contact bar admin and a progress report. Communication used to be in dodgy often hilarious mock-English, but to the family’s disappointment they have now got an admin person with good English, and it’s got much more comprehensible. The language barrier with staff is a bit of an issue, though, until you adapt to it. DD has near-native French, which helps a bit, but the faculty are mostly not native French speakers either. Communication of arrangements for performances is rather cursory and subject to change, but I reckon that’s not too important for parents, but in general you have to get used to trusting the process and being patient until you know what’s going on. It’s probably the school’s weak point, but matters much less when you trust the school and can see your child really well supported and challenged to succeed. I know DD is very confident with how things work now, and knows she is valued. But in the early months she was second-guessing a lot and mistakenly felt she was disappointing her teachers on occasion. The language barrier / cultural barrier does create an initial distance between dancers and staff. But actually they are really invested in every individual student, and DD couldn’t be more supported.
  7. Just a rather lengthy heads-up for Non EUers re visas (gosh I hate being non-EU). The process takes a very long time, so you can’t leave your decision re BIBS till the last minute. A contract with a mutual commitment between you and BIBS is one of the documents you need for the application. The reason for the lengthy wait is that BIBS is a private higher education institution, so the documents get put in the same process as all other visa applications for immigration to Belgian from all over the world. So you can forget the statements about timings for student visas: that’s just for state universities. The other problem is that the company you have to use to make the application in the UK (and I believe other countries too), TLS, are absolutely hopeless and will tell you it’ll take about 10 days. Not so. That’s for standard student visas processed in the UK. Yours will have to go over to the Belgian immigration office in Brussels, by diplomatic bag. This alone took 3 weeks for DD! Sadly you can’t hop on the Eurostar and take it there yourself: the application has to be made from your country of residence. Worse than that, TLS are not fit for purpose and desperately understaffed. They process all visa applications from the UK for all EU countries, not just Belgium. The first, and hardest, obstacle you have is to book a face-to-face appointment with them. Because of the pressure on bookings, they release slots once every 2 months, and you need to get through to the website on the first day the slots become available. We tried to do this early July, the day a new set of appointment slots were released. We got one of 2 remaining, for 26th August! Also, they do not tell you this is the case, nor when the slots are released. They do not re-release cancelled slots, so no chance of a last-minute queue-jump. Also, you cannot book until you have completed a form with certain details that require you to be a fair way through collecting requisite documents ( you can check which on the TLS site). So DD’s application went in late August, and she finally got the visa through late November. Sounds fine as it was just within the 3 month Schengen deadline (DD had gone out straight after submitting her visa, with just her passport, which is standard practice). But you have to go back to the TLS office where you submitted the application to collect the visa. So her visa was sent back to London with her in hot pursuit!! Waste of time and money, but less so than for her Canadian friend in the same situation who had to go back to Canada for hers! Also DD was afraid she would miss the Nutcracker performances if the visa didn’t come through in time, so she also took 10 days in the UK in late October to have enough days to take her past the first set of performances. More money and missed training. I’d add that DD was lucky, as others have waited longer than 3 months. The requisite documents take a while to assemble, too (and are costly). It seems a hassle, but is a walk on the park compared with dealing with TLS. The good news is that you only have to do this once: yearly renewals are easy. Also there is never any problem with a visa actually being granted: it just takes a while because of the immigration backlog. And to be fair the Belgian immigration office do let you track the progress of your application to some extent, which helps. I also think this year has been particularly bad on the Belgian side, as Anderson has been surprised by the waiting times. But I don’t think there’s any reason it would be better next year, as immigration applications aren’t likely to slow down. This is not meant to put anyone off a fantastic school. It’s what I wish I had known so that we would have started earlier and avoided sleepness nights. Mine to be fair, not hers, as she was protected by the trusting insouciance of youth!
  8. DD is there currently. Many congratulations on the offer. I couldn’t be more positive about the school for DD’s particular needs. The teachers are attentive and demanding, and really committed to their students’ success. They know their students very well, and tailor demands and opportunities to each student’s needs and stage of training. Entry to competitions is encouraged when felt appropriate (and you can suggest ones you are I interested in), with the aim of giving students experience of performing under pressure. DD finds all the teachers very open to discussing specific concerns and requests. For example, being under-trained (long story), she is quite behind in contemporary, so the teacher has invited her to do the class below as well as her class to help her catch up. It’s a bit quirky, but that happens to suit DD perfectly! The language of instruction is largely some form of English that you have to get your ear into, and that can sometimes get in the way of communication a bit. And decisions on casting for the performances come quite late and can swap around a bit, but everyone gets plenty of opportunities. Classes vary considerably each week. There are 2 groups, age-based, quite large this year (20-25 each). Each group is taught by the 3 ballet staff (and other individual specialists). Focus is on ballet, but weekly (very good) contemporary, and also character and Pilates. Not many boys, and they are rather good, so have a bad habit of getting contracts and disappearing! So pas de deux is a bit limited. Most students are from long-term vocational training, and it’s very international, though lots of Australians and Canadians this year. But DD was very non-vocational (aged 18) and has never been made to feel this is a problem. On the contrary, she is very fully supported by the school. This is only her second year with them and they are very strongly encouraging her to audition for contracts and supporting her (videos, suggestions for applications etc). And plenty of students are getting contracts, though not generally with big national companies. A dancer from a more structured or standard training set-up might have a different angle, but we couldn’t be happier with DD’s training and progress. We are UK based and getting a visa wasn’t fun: happy to advise (DM me). The application sailed through once its turn came, but getting there was a hassle. Brussels is a fun city, rich cultural life and easy to live in.
  9. Brussels is very flexible. A lot of 18 year olds started this year. if they are ready to audition, they will be encouraged to start doing so straight away, or keep going for another year, or another two, as appropriate. Quite a few of their 18 yr olds (and younger) are at Yagp (Paris) this week.
  10. Brussels International Ballet School is prepared to take older students.
  11. I don’t think having used student finance already or not makes any difference to eligibility. If you are deemed already to have a degree, it makes no difference how that first degree was funded, even if you paid every penny yourself. What matters is whether your subject is one of those for which you can get student funding for a second degree. If so, no problem at all. Here is the magic list: agriculture and related subjects architecture (if it’s a MArch RIBA Part 2 course) biological sciences computer science mathematical sciences medicine and allied subjects physical sciences technologies courses leading to qualification as a veterinary surgeon and the link: https://www.gov.uk/student-finance/who-qualifies If your subject is not on the list, the answer is much less clear, and depends on whether the diploma excludes you from further funded study . I’ve not seen a clear answer to this. Can anyone help? Good luck!
  12. It’s a bit marmite. My son found it superficial and way to much work for the sake of work without real intellectual challenge. Was irritated too by the smug pseudo-ideological tone of the supposed (but imperceptible) internationalism. Ironically, it restricted his range of learning too. Had the school allowed, he had chosen his 4 A Level subjects, but the IB limited him to doing to 3 Highers. He had to drop philosophy down to Standard, and then waste time on, amongst other bits and pieces, ´Theory of Knowledge’ which is philosophy light. Other son did 3 A Levels and 2 ASs and was much happier with that range.
  13. My ´if onlys’ : if only semi-professional training from home till 18 were the widespread norm, before full/time vocational; if only semi-professional were max 3x a week with additional practice (body conditioning, barre) at home, rather as aspiring musicians do. This would be a longer process, but could create beautiful, strong dancers whose bodies and minds could develop appropriately. Plan B could also be catered for with A Levels etc in place. The obstacle to this does not seem to be what is the best training in the long run, but rather the intense competition to get there early, fostered by the perceived necessity to get into the most famous schools. International competition has turned this into something of an arms race. Separate thought: no need, surely, for dancers to get squeezed through a subsequent academic degree unless they want one. Not knocking university degrees: mine was sheer delight and a foundational mind-opening experience. But, with the notable exception of some courses (eg medical) university is not automatically the place to gain professional training, which might be better (and much more cheaply) gained on the ground. When your dancer has the thirst for things academic, that is of course important and logistically more complicated (funding).
  14. Just to clarify the student finance loan/not a loan situation: it’s not so much a loan as a graduate tax. The amount you owe at the end of your studies and the interest you pay on the ‘loan’ bear no relation to the rate at which you pay that amount (loan + interest) back. The payback rate is simply calculated as a percentage of income, just like a tax, so while your income is low you pay nothing, and then a bit more as you earn more. Then after 30 (40 now?) years the remaining debt is cancelled. The ‘interest’ owed relates to the overall sum you will theoretically need to pay back, but you may never get that far before the debt is cancelled. Under the 2022 regime, only 27% of student loans are expected to be paid back in full. An astonishingly low figure. My children have little faith in their future earning power (!), so have maxed out their borrowing (MA, year abroad), on the assumption they’d pay the tax/repayment for 30 years and still not have paid off their 3 yr loans, so anything else is ‘free’ money. But BE CAREFUL: with the new regime from this year, this is expected to rise to 61% of students. So it’s a more tricky calculation.
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