rowan

I'd like to echo what has been said in the above posts and also wish to add that seven is very young in the ballet scheme of things. I know it might not seem like it when every ballet school is full of tiny tots doing "ballet", but really it is. See how it's going in another year's time. The other schemes and holiday courses and youth ballets also tend to need a teacher's permission and they often have to sign the forms as well, so do check that the teacher is OK with it all. As for the physical stuff... Unfortunately, there is what seems to be an absolutely insane list of physical attributes that are desired or not desired for ballet, from the length of the neck to the shape of the feet, all of which seem quite ridiculous to the parent who simply sees a a graceful and musical child with a love of dance. But absolutely no dancer has all the attributes. All of them have faults. And none of this matters at your daughter's age! Best of luck!

Wow, Glowlight, only two British girls?! I'm a glass-half-empty person, and I was still taken aback by that!

My understanding is that this school is more like a normal state school that has a specialism in dance, like many already do with specialisms in foreign languanges, technology, sport, etc. I think it is all to the good. In London there are free outreach schemes that do reach out to bring boys into ballet and dance, and many ballet schools also have their own outreach programmes, all aimed at primary school pupils. The problem is that most children, even if they are picked out as having potential for dance, like most children elsewhere, their chances at getting into vocational school are still very slim. The key is to keep those children engaged, who are still interested and do have talent in whatever form of dance, be it ballet or street dance, with free lessons that are part of the normal school day; even if they don't become the perfomers of tomorrow, they might well be the audience of tomorrow.

Goodness, I've only recently realised that this forum is back up and running, at least for now. Good to be back. To Tulip's post on the American dancer... I think the fact that young people from abroad auditioning for British ballet schools will become more and more common, and it has to be a wake-up call. There are many, many young people engaged in intensive ballet studies around the world, doing far more and perhaps better than is normal here; I wouldn't like to judge, myself. By chance, at the weekend, I met in a social situation a European ballet dancer working in a British ballet company, who said that, in the main, British ballet training simply wasn't up to it and she was distinctly unimpressed by the RAD, its exam system and its hold over local ballet schools, which she regarded purely as a money-making enterprise. This, of course, is simply one person's opinion who had studied ballet in a different country with different methodology. However, DD's friend last year, for example, did an auditioned-for summer school abroad and returned in awe of a whole contingent of absolutely brilliant dancers of her age from Japan.