Aurora

I know some girls that have done the Midas summer school and really enjoyed it, hoping to take dd this year but got to get our family holiday booked first!

I went for revolution because it's an American brand and I thought their sizing might be a bit better for me!

Won't don't they ask for a 1 minute YouTube clip or something, then they could see if a child could actually dance! I know some students with the physique they undoubtedly look for who can do a lovely arabesque but not much else!

It was the width across the shoulders so they don't press down, just sort of squeeze in a bit!! Nice loetards though, almost just right for me which was a big surprise as I was expecting to have to send them straight back!

I saw the earlier posts about leotards and just thought I would add that the revolution ones from dance direct seem to be generous in their sizing, some of them are reduced at the moment too. I'm a size 16 and bought 2 leotards in size XL (size chart shows that as size 14), they're slightly snug across the shoulders but I'm quite tall and broad, definitely wearable though. The length is perfect despite my height (5'10") and the best bit is they don't dig into my bum which is usually the worst area for leotards/swimsuits on me!!

Well sometimes dance schools have their own 'internal rules' and I think that's fair enough. Uniform for example, if everyone turned wearing whichever RAD uniform colour they wanted it wouldn't look good!!

The vocational levels were designed to take, on average, about 2 years to complete but of course that depends on the student and how's my classes they take etc.

Traditionally men's shoes were made wider, I used to buy them as I have wide feet. But now a lot of shoes come if different widths so not sure if that's still the case though I guess it probably will be.

DD's school emails exam results out as soon as they arrive.

I guess it all depends on her ambitions. If she's going to be auditioning for vocational school in the hope of going pro some day then I would stick with associates. If her love of dance is purely recreational and she enjoys festivals then maybe go for that! Has she said what she would prefer to do?

If you can manage it then I would go to batley, more of a selection I should think. If not ring and make an appointment, they might ask your daughters shoe size and make sure there's plenty of stock available at the NB branch.

I've heard good things about planet dance too. Most students from our school travel there (about 2 hours) for their shoes, especially their first pair. Don't know anywhere in York, sorry.

We all make a lot of sacrifices for our children (especially us dance parents, amongst others) but I think sending them away to boarding school at 11 is the biggest one you can make. To find out that it was completely wasted and that you've missed out on so much of your child's life and can't even complete their training because of such drastic changes must be a really awful thing to go through. There are a lot of people in very difficult positions and I really do sympathise with them all. I just can't understand why they have made all these changes when it's costing the government exactly the same amount of money anyway!

No guarantees at 11 obviously but the best possible chance of success for sure. To remove the opportunity to complete the training after lower school is utterly unfair. Yes they might have had an excellent private school education meaning it wasn't completely wasted but most people would not choose to have their child live away at boarding school for an academic education alone. Families give up a lot, both financially and emotionally to have their child go to vocational school at 11. To then not be given the chance to complete the training, after those 5 years of sacrifice must be completely soul destroying, especially when your child is talented enough to be accepted and it is purely finances that prohibit it.

Maybe we'll end up going more towards the US system of training with pre-pro schools (fairly local) leading straight to auditions for contracts rather than vocational schools?

Oh yes, I forgot about that! So people get MDS and pay contributions too depending on how much they earn don't they? There's no cut-off for that one still?

But that would mean that RBS couldn't take anyone from a family earning over £70K as it wouldn't be a funded place. That can't be right! Or have I misinterpreted what you meant?!

Well the claims are that the funding hasn't been reduced, it's just been redistributed so that those most in need get enough, but everyone seems to be suffering so I don't know how that works!!

Excellent plan lol!

Yes I think despite the difficulty in getting a loan at whichever end if the scale you are, it's more the thought of paying £75K+ for ANY training that doesn't have a guaranteed and well paid job at the end of it. A £15K investment seems more realistic, more like university fees which is far more acceptable. I have no idea why it costs quite so much to educate dancers. I'm sure the schools don't make huge profits so where does the money go? Is it just because they don't cram loads of students in and can only have limited numbers working with a teacher at a time perhaps?

Absolutely! Reckon it'd be pretty impossible for me to get a loan for £75K+ too - completely impossible in fact!! Just can't believe they keep implying there are government funded courses available and it's people's choice to go private. If ballet is your career choice there are no good funded courses at all! Real sickener for those who have sacrificed so much (personally and financially) for years 7-11 on an MDS or part-scholarship and now have to withdraw from training completely - must be awful for them

Hmmm a £15K loan for the 3 years for those with full dada or a £75K (-ish, I'm guessing!) loan for those over the cut-off? On a low income I would certainly consider getting a loan for 15, on a 'high' income (£70K) it couldn't even be a consideration. I'm not getting into another debate about who is better off etc, just saying (again) how unfair the system is. Nobody is getting a free ride. Don't know why they had to change it in the first place tbh!

And it was certainly worth saying twice

You can only get the leotard from the shop that supplies the school so I guess you'll get more info on induction day. Last year I think most people had to order them.

Well that's what this girl did, spent a year and a half on the syllabus but went en pointe, it must have been 2.5 months before the exam. She got 90 but I think pointe was her lowest mark and she wasn't very confident with it.