mumtotwoballerinas

21 minutes ago, OnTheMove said:

I 100% agree with this. Go for what the child enjoys and what’s easier for you as a family with travel, expense etc. 

 

Also, to say that doing the associates of a school you want your child to go to and that it will influence them getting a place at that school is    wrong. 
 

So that cuts out all the children that live nowhere near an associates program? Spreading the idea that you need to do the associates to gain a place at the school just puts pressure on families who may be 100s of miles from those schools. 

I think we are also ignoring the plain fact that many of the successful entrants for year 7 and year 12  have had private coaching with 1 or more professional or ex professional dancers. You only need to look at the successes claimed this year so far for evidence. 

It also has to be considered if you wish your child to continue their associate journey, where are mids and seniors held, will they still be within easy travelling distance. Beware that this may be different for girls and boys. Most primary age children have associates within fairly easy travelling distance, but this may end up being a 5+ hour round trip every week at year 7 and 

On 23/03/2023 at 13:17, Hanmah67 said:

But doesn’t everyone get funding ?

Means tested

1 minute ago, OnTheMove said:

Yes Hammond and Tring don’t have as many MDS awarded  because they’re mixed genre, not pure ballet, schools. 
 

The trouble with exams is that they can take over technique work. (RBS don’t do exams and they’re not as big a focus at Elm, and Tring I think they’re optional). 
 

A child can pass an exam but not necessarily have wonderful technique out of the grade work. That’s the trouble with them in my opinion. They’re useful and do produce a benchmark of sorts but when it comes to a career as a professional ballet dancer they don’t hold up. 

Again RAD is not the main focus at the hammond, but a well respected and valuable tool. In the absence of a trinity diploma they are also evidence to potential employers required for work permit and  visa applications.

On 24/03/2023 at 11:49, OnTheMove said:

If they can do this to kids before they’ve even started the school, it makes you wonder what else they can do…

I think it’s despicable to offer a place on the day in front of a child when they’re not offering the funding as well. Do they care about the feelings and mental well-being of the child? 

Tring and Hammond are the same due to limited MDA. An offer of a place doesn't guarantee funding. My DD was offered Tring, but didn't get MDA. Fortunately she was offered MDA for Hammond which she loves. 

I believe one year someone was offered an MDA for Tring days before the start of term and turned it down as everything was bought including uniform for Hammond ! 

It's an issue with the system that there are only four MDA dance schools and two of those only have limited MDA available. 

On 26/03/2023 at 20:55, OnTheMove said:

This isn’t true. It will have little bearing on being offered a year 7 place.

 

Try for both and choose which you enjoyed the most (and easiest to t

Look at most recent years year 7 intake and which associates they attended. It would depend whether you are considering a year 7 place. 

5 hours ago, OnTheMove said:

Unlike some other schools, Elmhurst do take a good proportion of their year 7-11 students into their upper school. It’s very competitive to get into their upper school as an outsider because there isn’t many places available. 
 

A friend of mine told me that it’s half ballet and half other genres at the Hammond? Which does produce a good all round dance education (which is a positive in the current climate). 
 

The majority of the hours at Elmhurst are ballet, with a small amount of other genres. It makes it very hard to compare the two, as their focuses are so different. 
 

I’m not saying one is better than the other, just the focus and specialism of each is very different. 

Ballet has been the main focus of dance course at the hammond with tap and modern istd exams taken. RAD exams are more up to date than some schools in past years. DD in year 8 just taken intermediate. Whatever your opinion of RAD exams it does set a useful  benchmark for where pupils sit, particularly in relation to other schools vocational and no vocational.  Being an MDA school means focus is largely ballet so focus isn't that different.  Year 11 destinations would always be interesting if published. The number going into upper school varies considerably from year to year. Another thing to consider EBS and RBS have MDA available for all who qualify I believe. Hammond, like Tring have a limited number of MDA

4 hours ago, Dancemum19 said:

Hello all!!! Is anyone DD or DS starting The Hammond this September year 9? 

Daughter currently year 8

Stick with RBS if you want a better chance of vocational school place at year 7 for Elmhurst and RBS. 

My son is having huge issues getting visa, but even with an EU passport dancers have to apply for visas in certain countries 

My son started ballet at 13. He attended Elmhurst young dancers and started vocational training at 16 at Kate Simmons he secured a contract on the day of his graduation. Finding an inspirational male teacher makes a world of difference and he was lucky to have some lessons with the wonderful Simon gray at my daughter's dance school prior to graduation 

Boarding house is at back of playing fields about a 5 minute walk away. The house parents take everyone across after post arrival meeting 

There are rooms of 2 &3. There are 3 shared bathrooms 

On 05/02/2023 at 14:29, Dancing unicorn said:

Dd was at ks 4 yrs (extra yr cos of covid!) loved the school, loved the dance, loved the staff, loved the teachers and loved the boarding! Think there’s just one house with 2 bedrooms that is run by an older couple, this is mostly for younger first yrs! Dd was there 2 yrs and loved it. 3rd yr she was with 2 first yrs, one of whom she’s still friendly with even tho dd has left there 🤣 All in walking distance so saved on travel expenses. 4th yr dd was further away as technically she had left, but even this was only a short bus ride away.

KS was the one that she felt most at home auditioning at. 

Our DD absolutely thrived at KS, would highly recommend over any other college!

 

 

Some of my DS friends weren't in walking distance - definite bus ride so may have to factor additional expense in if commuting from central Warrington. 

I regularly wash my DD Bloch stretch canvas shoes on a normal 40oC wash and dry overnight on radiator and they have never shrunk. I also wash my son's (he does his own whilst away) so danca and they don't shrink either. 

On 30/12/2022 at 14:28, Pas de Quatre said:

In early December I saw a post on fb from King's International Ballet School wishing toi, toi, toi to their ex pupil Luca Burns who is touring with Varna International ballet. I asked if Luca would be dancing in Bournemouth as they are scheduled to dance at the Bournemouth Pavilion Theatre in March. He replied that it is the UK group who will dance there and that he is on the Korea tour. So maybe they have split the company for touring - like BRB used to do - or maybe they have employed extra dancers. It appears to be the ballet from the Opera House in Varna, Bulgaria.  The Varna International ballet competition has been running for decades is one of the most reputable.

Varna international ballet is the newly created touring company if the Varna state opera ballet in Bulgaria - a company celebrating its 75th year. They employed a lot of dancers in September specifically for the UK tour. A second tour has taken place in Korea. They have filled the slots in the UK which would have been the Siberian ballet, but was cancelled because of the issues with Russia. 

My son joined the company in July in Bulgaria 

On 27/01/2023 at 11:19, Hayjon said:

She did the open day, but was unsure if it was the right fit for her, we enjoyed it and I thought the pastoral care etc was probably better than most others. We thought it was a great place just wasn't sure if a little ballet heavy for her. So I would be interested to hear your thoughts. 

I would always advise you to look at the current graduates destinations. Are they in employment or on post graduate courses. Each student's experience of pastoral care is evidently very different. Gut feelings are usually right 

They are active on Instagram you might be better off sending them a DM 

Navy tutu with structured bodice, net dyed to match hooped and tagged.

Age 8-11years worn twice 

Yorkshire ballet seminars have an audition prep class in Birmingham and London during half-term 

On 22/03/2022 at 18:42, glowlight said:

Congratulations to your dd on her offers.

 

This must be a very difficult choice to make, and I think she needs to think about what is important to her and use this to inform the decision.  

 

My dd went to NBS many years ago.  She was very much a ballet girl and was on the classical focus right the way through.  I believe she got a very good classical training, with lots of performance experience (A full length ballet each year in December, and pieces in the whole school end of year show each July).

 

During her final year she started to realise how difficult it would be to secure a classical contract.  She went to many auditions, but also decided to broaden her outlook.  She auditioned for all sorts of different things, and in the end went to work on cruise ships.  Looking back she now says she is very happy with the way things turned out, that she has had a much more interesting career than she would have done if she had  joined a ballet company.  I'm trying to remember what the other classical focus girls in her year did - there were only a handful of them.  At least one of them got a classical contract.

 

It is difficult when you look at graduate destinations on school websites to work out whether it is a handful each year who get jobs, or whether every dancer that goes through the school gets work.

 

I think almost everyone in DDs year who wanted to continue to dance secured paid employment in dance of some sort within a year of graduation.

 

But - graduate destinations aren't everything, there are many other things to take into consideration like whether the ethos of the school is a good fit, whether the location and living arrangements work for you.  My dd loved living in Manchester, but it wouldn't suit everyone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I would definitely dig about on  Instagram and look at the profiles of those being posted by 

schools to see how recently they actually graduated and have the recent graduates gained actual dance contracts or are they places on pre professional programmes. If you can take the opportunity to watch the current students perform at the schools you may be considering and trust your gut instincts 

On 12/04/2022 at 17:51, Ballet Power said:

Has anyone else had the email today about the possibility of being given a bursary? I have for my dd but it still seems they aren’t really committing to financial help. I’ll fill the forms in and hope!  

They did this last year sent out bursary paper work and then gave out MDS to students as MDS were declined - we were lucky and got a quick MDS offer but some didn't get them until end of April or later - fingers crossed 🤞

On 05/04/2022 at 17:18, Ballet Power said:

That’s the same as ours. 
wish we could self fund! 
sorry for your news. 
 

I wouldn't give up hope, quite a few offers were given at the end of April last year. There were even a late round of applications offered MDS after all the movement ( places still being announced). The current year 7

has 10 girls 3 boys on the dance and a Mt day student. 

Good luck to all those waiting x

Elmhurst young dancer tracksuit new style jacket age 10-12 and leggings age 9-10 hardly worn due to covid £40

Bloch leotard age 12 ( comes up small) £10

I still have a young dancer leotard age 12 for sale this is hardly worn - it fitted my smaller than average daughter in year 6 

Age 8-10 sold