rowan

So it was. Thanks, Spanner!

I'm not sure the Melissa Hamilton comparison is helpful in this case. In Melissa's case, she followed the one teacher in the school who believed in her talent while others did not - she didn't have a great deal to lose by trying it for a year or so. (And she had finished school. ) CeliB's son is rated highly by all staff, I believe, and has a scholarship at one of the world's top schools. If he was to stay in the US and home-school, for example, where would he live? And what about the costs? Can he even stay in these circumstances - I'm thinking of immigration issues? The new teacher may or may not be Russian, but the school is still a Vaganova-method school, and surely they will appoint someone appropriate. He might be just as good, or even better. I'm not sure what the US school-leaving age is. Does he have a lot more to do before he can get his high-school certificate? Moving to one of the big Russian schools, especially if he could get a place in the Russian class, would be a huge thing, but not impossible. However, people do leave the big prestigious schools and have private teaching, and make it - I'm thinking of someone (name escapes me) who was at the Royal Ballet School, hated it and left early on, found a private teacher and then re-auditioned years later for upper school and was accepted, and then into the company.

But that money doesn't have to be necessarily spent by parents. That's why schools run outreach schemes, offer free lessons, scholarships, bursaries and shoe allowances - for the most talented children whose parents can't afford it, All I'm saying is that the price of the ballet uniform is a cost that could be controlled more - if the school really wanted to. If it had to pay for the uniform for all its pupils, they'd be more inclined to get a really good deal. If it's the parents who pay, well, it seems to me that the school sets its own prices... And don't get me started on £95 for a child's blazer... CeliB, I take your point about dancewear being worn more, being ultimately cheaper and more longer lasting than street clothes!

Yes, I do understand how different leotards differentiate year groups, and the sense of achievement, etc, and all that makes sense. But this is at upper school, sixth form level. After all, a lot of secondary schools drop uniform requirements at that level, too. However, I'm not suggesting dance schools don't have a uniform at all. My child's dance school doesn't have a uniform, and then you can get problems associated with that - not wanting to have the same leotard as someone else or wanting a new one in the latest fashion. I am, however, querying the cost of compulsory uniforms. A lot of these young people will have other cost commitments, especially those living on their own in London, for example.

Now, I think £45 for a regulation leotard really is a lot! And why do leotards have to be a different colour when the student moves up a year group? I don't see any need for that. Is it cheaper for a school to have leotards specially made for them, too? What's wrong with an off-the-shelf make and style for a uniform? My child spent several years in an outreach scheme where everything was free, including the uniform. The uniform was provided new - a very basic off-the-shelf leotard for girls (the cheapest one available, I later found out) and T-shirt and shorts for boys, socks and leather full-sole shoes, and it stayed the same for all year groups.The organisation paid for it all and they clearly would not want to increase costs to themselves unnecessarily. I can only assume that it's somehow worth the schools' while to insist on different leotards and have them so expensive - a bit like football supporters' shirts. Edited for typo

Well, that's enlightening, Encouraged. I've never had to buy a tutu, practice or otherwise, so I don't know about the prices of those, but the other prices don't seem unreasonable. How it mounts up! I'd be impressed if your daughter can manage three years on six pairs of tights and one pair of canvas shoes, too! I wonder if some of those things (perhaps the tracksuit) you find that students don't actually wear - a bit like the "compulsory" bits of uniform, PE kit or bag that you buy for secondary school that never get used!

Encouraged, what on earth do students have to buy that ends up costing £500 for uniform? Sorry, don't mean to lead the thread astray!

And I believe I've heard stories of dancers getting contracts alongside a no-doubt handy donation to the company provided by a "sponsor". With so many dancers, many as good as each other, and so few jobs available, just how is a company to choose? But I'm cynical, I'm afraid.

A friend of DD's quit associates class partly because of the bun issue. She had very short hair, ear length, too short for a bun, and she got poor marks for "grooming", although she aways looked very neat with her hair swept back off her face into a hairband and clips. For her, it clarified the issue of how much she wanted - or didn't want - to become a dancer. Having her hair short the way she wanted was more important to her than conforming to the uniformity of "ballet hair" and she no longer dances.

The Telegraph recently published an etiquette guide to ballet and opera for beginners, in which the subject of booing merits a paragraph: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/opera/the-big-question/9922375/The-Big-Question-an-etiquette-guide-to-ballet-and-opera-for-beginners.html

Yes, I suspect the schools will be doing more fundraising themselves - hence the growth of dance summer schools in the UK.

And foreign students, especially those from outside Europe, don't qualify for awards, I assume. Maybe private sponsorship is found for some, though. So, would this be a reason why the UK schools have started holding auditons abroad? Central and Elmhurst hold auditions in Japan now, I believe. And ENBS is holding its first summer school in America, and will be scouting for students there. More students from abroad will mean fewer places for home-grown students, but perhaps it might make more funding available for the Brits.

Multiplicity... Hmm. Lots of ideas about the evolution of the creative process, and its growing complexity, based on Bach's compositions. But it was too dark! As we've mentioned before on this forum, I felt there was a problem with the lighting. I was halfway towards the back of the balcony and it was very difficult to see. Dancers' feet were often shrouded in shadows, too. The all-black attire didn't help either. Polina Semionova was hard to see, too - literally - as she wore a mask and voluminous skirts throughout. However, the main problem was that I thought the corps weren't sufficiently in sync. The piece really demanded absolute synchronicity and dancers being more, or less, in time with each other just didn't cut it for me. Just a bit frustrating, really.

I think we should be careful not to suggest that the London centre is "better" than the other centres, and that a child who has a JA place in London has a higher chance of getting a WL place than children at other centres or, indeed, no centre at all. Whether or not a child has weekly JA lessons or less frequent lessons, or whether the lessons are more "intensive" or not, WL will still be looking for potential above anything else.

Oh, just remembered - of course, the Brit School, the only state school, I believe. I know a young person who's just been offered a place here for drama.

There's the Barbara Speake Stage School in Acton, West London, a full-time school, which offers academics, too.

Sorry to hear about your mum, Julie.

Before I set out to see my first Don Quixote tomorrow, what is the correct pronunciation of this ballet? I've found Spanish, Old Spanish, French and English pronunciations, namely Don Kee-Ho-Teh, Don Kee-Sho-Teh, Don Kee-Shot, Don Kwiks-Ot, or something like that! What's the correct pronunciation?

Level B1 is roughly equivalent to AS level. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_European_Framework_of_Reference_for_Languages

I think you don't have to prove that you don't watch or record live TV. They have to prove that you do.

How does it work for the prize winners, those winning the prestigious ballet competitions abroad? They often get a place at a top ballet school as part of the prize, funded by some organisation or other - I assume schools like the RB don't fund these themselves but perhaps I'm wrong. Do the students get to pick which school they can attend or do they have to divvy up the allocated places between themselves? Or does the school pick the student they want?

My husband learned as a complete beginner with The Classic Piano Course by Carol Barratt, which is designed for adult beginners. He also had a teacher, though!

My child was a Central Associate and did leave early. In fact, she begged to leave for ages before I agreed - I really didn't want her to leave, but there's no arguing with a young teenager, and what was the point in paying for something she didn't want to do? She liked the contemporary but hated the ballet, and this is a child that lives and sleeps ballet and goes to every ballet class she can manage. I have to say, though, that the teaching all seemed very good, to my untutored eyes, and they definitely did pointe work every week.

I once made some enquiries about YBSS for DD, who hasn't taken any exams at all. YBSS weren't bothered at all - they would accept a letter from her teacher as to her ability.

I had an enjoyable afternoon watching this. I, too, had problems with the streaming in the earlier parts, which was frustrating. My rusty French seemed adequate enough to keep up with the interviewer and interviewees, which was an added bonus! All seemed to agree it was a stand-out year - or do they say that every year? - and much was made of the ratio of male to female contestants in the final, as PDQ says above. Leticia Domingues was the one I'd picked out of the female dancers and I was glad to see her recognised. Discovering that Mika Fogarty, one of the wunderkinds from the ballet film First Postion, was in fact a Swiss national and therefore eligible for the Swiss-contestant prize was a bit of a surprise!