MCOS

My DD loved competitions! So I sat through a lot of them. My experience is 1. Some competitions will limit the number of solos a competitor can do. Most competitions will have a website which will have details of rules, this will be mentioned there. Perhaps look this up in advance for the competitions you know you will be attending. 2. You need time to polish each solo. Make sure quantity doesn’t impact quality. Will you have time to polish more than 4 solos?? Better to do 2-3 solos really well than so 6 solos at a mediocre standard. 3. For important competitions, eg Dance World Cup, I have seen really strong soloists drop to just 1 solo to make sure it is in best possible shape. Maybe consider doing less but better prepared solos for important competitions, eg maybe for regional finals which have a national final. 4. A solo is great opportunity to push yourself and improve. Either introducing new technique or trying new styles. A solo is a fantastic way to drive improvement as you will spend more time practicing. But these solos take even more time for practice…. So you might need to drop some of the four you already do to make time to perfect new solos. 5. Lastly, are you also doing duets or trios, or many group dances? How much practice time will these require? And lucky you, at 13 years old, you have years of competition ahead of you!! Enjoy and best of luck.

@Mummy twinkle toes thanks for that correction. OP, another piece of advice is to attend open days or intensives at colleges where your DD thinks she might be interested. And above all, audition at several places. My DD made her choice based on audition.

DD is at LSC, and loving every minute of it. Wilkes was her very close second choice. We were so impressed with Wilkes. And they are really really strong on Commercial. And have a diploma course. Check out their MoveIt videos on YouTube. They are fabulous!! DD is Jazz girl who also loved ballet, which is why she choose LSC. LSC is mostly for degree students. I can very highly recommend it. But that requires A Levels or BTEC.

Thank you all! Loads of ideas here for her to try. It sounds like breakfast on the bus is a good way to go. She hadn’t realised that was allowed. I am going to try some of the ideas myself, I will be spending more days in the office now that Mom the taxi driver won’t be required so much. Thanks again!

Thank you all! I will pass on those suggestions to her. She will have to move out of her food comfort zone, what better time to do so than when she is at college! It sounds like breakfast on the bus is a good way to go. She hadn’t realised that was allowed.

Hi I am hoping you lovely people can give me some suggestions that I can pass onto DD. DD just started BA Dance degree. Staying in Halls 40-50 mins bus journey away. No kitchen facilities at studio, so she can’t refrigerate or microwave any food. Unfortunately she is a fairly pick eater, and prefers hot food which is not an option. Some days there won’t be time to pop to a cafe or shop to buy food for lunch. She is up early for the bus, and needs to get hair prepped for ballet. She is also very tired in the mornings and is not leaving herself enough time for breakfast. A recipe for disaster. Can you suggest healthy on the go breakfast and lunch foods? Nut free studio, which takes away some good options. So far I have come up with Breakfast (She eats dry cereal in her room) Bring a yogurt or yogurt drink on the bus. Or a baby bell. Lunch - Crackers & Hummus - Crackers & Cheese - Baby Bel cheese & fruit - Ham Roll/wrap - Pasta Salad - Preprepared, cold Chicken or Ham quesadillas (ok to leave out of fridge for several hours?) Unfortunately she hates bananas and oatmeal. I too prefer hot food, and I am struggling to think of on the go, cold options. Ideas???

Do most dancers in full time training take out health insurance? DD just starting, but I haven’t organised any.

Can she record it in June and if not happy with result to take it in person in August? It sounds like she will be better prepared in June? I imagine several weeks of no practice would have bigger impact on her scores rather than recording.

I was advised Calamine Lotion, after DDs pointe shoes were very dirty after an outdoor photo shoot. It worked surprisingly well. Be careful not to soak through the material. Allow it to dry properly before wear. instructions below from google: Calamine lotion works great as an overall pointe shoe cleaner, as its color closely resembles that of pink satin pointe shoes. Dab a cotton ball into a small amount of calamine lotion. Gently pat the cotton ball all over the pointe shoes, paying special attention to dirty areas.

@dancingdolally I sent you a PM.

Thanks @dancingdolally. I got a place from Axo Islington waiting list yesterday, and we went with it. It is pricey, but has direct bus to LSC. Is there a Freshers Facebook page? My daughter was busy with school week and didn’t email LSC to ask.

Thanks! I will ask her to sort out access to the Freshers page. She only accepted her place at weekend so hasn’t got access yet.

Hello all DD2 is off to LSC in Sept. She had hoped to stay in Chester House, but it is full and has a very long waiting list. They advised she book someplace else. Does anybody have any recommendations of other Halls that are popular with LSC dancers? It seems that I should have made a booking immediately after audition, rather than waiting for her to choose her course. Ah well, can’t turn back the clock.

The drop down option was already there. It just wasn’t intuitive to choose AEC option for filming, but found it there eventually. Good to hear about the breaks, especially in this warmer weather.

Of course, as I posted, teacher mostly figured it out 😂.

Hello everyone I am posting on behalf of my daughters ballet teacher, she won’t mind me saying she is not very tech savvy. Teacher tried to register my DD for filmed exam today. (She is in Ireland) On My Exam Entries page, she only has option for New AEC Entry or New RAV Entry. No option for Filmed exam. She he hasn’t been able to contact RAD regional manager. Can anybody tell her how to proceed with exam entry? Can she proceed with filming in advance of registering DD? And upload the video once registration is sorted out? Lastly a question of my own. DD is only student doing Adv1. Does that mean she dances non stop except for transition between barre and Centrework, and again between Centrework and Pointe? Are these the only times she can take a water break?

My biggest concern about iPhone 11 is storage. I hear Ad1 is about 75mins? Otherwise that would be great option, and it is what DD used for audition videos, etc

Thanks everyone We will supply camera and tripod. Teacher will do the rest. A dry run is planned and teacher will test camera then. We remembered that DD has a good camera (forgotten about as iPhone is camera of choice these days 😊).

Thanks hfbrew I never realized the quality of a gopro would be good enough! Having something that we can setup and leave alone for duration of exam would be great. Did you reposition it between barre and center work? Or just leave it in initial setup for entire exam? I think I will also invest in one. It will also come in handy for filming auditions, etc.

Thank you for the welcome 😊.

Hello Does anybody have experience of submitting filmed exam to RAD? We are not in UK, so this is only option currently. My DD is only dancer from studio who plans to film and submit her exam. Has anybody been through this process? Any tips?? (She is doing Adv1)