rowan

Places will definitely come up for at least some on the waiting list. My DD only auditioned for this once and was offered a place, but we had to turn it down in the end. We weren’t the only ones either. It may perhaps depend on which roles are available as to whether a place emerges.

I think that’s a bit harsh to say it’s disrespectful. Maybe it’s the only leotard they had. Many years ago for us, but mine only ever had one leotard at that age.

Yes, but let’s not go there... All sorts of geopolitical and diplomatic machinations behind the scenes, hence the cultural push from the embassy, etc. I didn’t see either company, though a friend of mine saw Astana Ballet on the off-chance and raved about them.

This is the second major ballet company from Kazakhstan to appear recently in London. Astana Ballet performed at the ROH for a few days at the end of September. (Links 22 September.) There is a huge push from Kazakhstan to raise its profile on the world stage in general as it redefines its national identity after years of being part of the Soviet bloc. For example, the Astana cycling team is a major player in cycling. It’s a relatively wealthy country and is investing in the arts.

“I'm sure they are aware from the number of posts they deleted from the comments section under the review“ As they stopped people posting comments very quickly, I’m not sure they are aware. From the Guardian/Observer pop up: “We believe that each of us deserves access to accurate reporting with integrity at its heart...We need your support to keep delivering quality journalism.” Hmm...

I’ve read the review several times now and I get the impression that the reviewer is not only hugely ignorant about ballet, but also doesn’t like it at all. That, coupled with with an egotistic arrogance, is shocking in a dance critic in a serious national paper. If she had started writing by explaining she was at the start of her dance appreciation journey, I would have more sympathy, but how she has been employed and paid to write this is mystifying.

Comparison is the thief of joy - as the saying goes. It’s human nature, though, so let’s hope most try to keep their less wholesome thoughts in their heads. My “fantastically academic” DD managed to dodge all the bullets and become a ballet dancer. Did I imagine this future for her when she was young? No way. Yes, I supported her as a child and young teen, but as she got more into ballet and the older she got, the riskier it becomes as other pathways seem to close off. Relatives and friends made pointed comments. Friends went off to university and I compared, and I worried - about job prospects and injury and everything. But she made a choice to try, and it happened for her. Why did she want to try? Because she loved it more than anything else. Is that the comment of a very young person? It may be, it may not be. But the decision to try has to be made at a young age. It may not have worked out and then she would have to have made another choice. None of us is on the same pathway as anyone else, and diversions and junctions and dead ends are to be expected somewhere. At some point, her ballet career will be over, that’s for certain - it may be soon, or it may be years in the future - and she’ll have to make another choice. A few days ago, I chatted with a stranger on a (much delayed) train. He had been a ballet dancer in his youth, and all he wanted to do at 16 was dance. He had trained and worked as a dancer for several years before stopping in his late 20s and going into a career completely unrelated to dance or the arts. Now about to retire, he had no regrets about either becoming a dancer - or giving it up to do something different.

I mean Sugar Plum Fairy and not Lilac Fairy, of course - getting my pink-purple fairies muddled up!

CBeebies did a staged version of The Nutcracker (no ballet involved) for very young children, on telly over the Christmas period, and very good it was, too. It was acted by well-known CBeebies presenters and was kept short and simple. The basic story was that Clara and her brother Fred were always fighting and wouldn't play together, Uncle Drosselmeyer gives them a present each, a nutcracker and a toy mouse. At night they're whisked off to the Land of Sweets where the Lilac Fairy presides over an annual dance-off competition between the Toys and the Mice. The nutcracker is on the Toys' team. Each team do their dances, but it's decided that if they all dance together, that makes the dance even better, etc. You can still catch it on iPlayer here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/cbeebies/episode/b0851jgb/cbeebies-the-nutcracker

The Fonteyn programme wasn't made by the BBC, it was made by an independent production company. While independent production companies may use the BBC archives, they're not free. And even if the programme had been made by the BBC, I think there would still be an internal charge. The BBC has a paragraph here about how the use of the archive is charged: http://www.bbc.co.uk/commissioning/tv/production/articles/production-resources#archives But I still take the point - they could have showed the last balances of the Rose Adagio in full!

I'm afraid that's all too hypothetical at this stage, Piccolo. I've got Scottish ancestry and I've wondered, too.

I'm heartbroken and gobsmacked, deeply concerned about the future for my own dancing child, with only a couple of years to go before entering the job market. The need to be in the EU for young British dancers seemed crucial. As previous posters have said, virtually no dancers who are good enough to be employed are going to be aiming for the RB or ENB and were instead looking towards Europe as their best chance of employment. Both DH and I work in a niche industry for a foreign-owned company in the UK and are likely to lose our jobs. We, unfortunately, have no Irish ancestry, but I know quite a few people who can and are investigating that option.

So that's one to join the RB, and seven to join the Aud Jebsen Young Dancers Programme. Any news about the other RBS students? It looks like students who were in the Aud Jebsen Programme the previous year have also been accepted into the company, so perhaps that is becoming a bit of a pathway in, though it's not been running long. I see also that Prix de Lausanne winner Julian McKay has now left the RB after his year's apprenticeship.

My 16-year-old found it remarkably easy to get a part-time retail job (big fashion chain that is part of a nationwide department store). She said she wanted to get a job in a shop (wanted the staff discount) and I helped her draft a CV (not that there was much to put on it!) We made it clear she was still at school, put on her week's worth of work experience - in the local cinema - her GCSEs, the little bit of baby-sitting she'd done, anything else that would make her look good - like Duke of Edinburgh's Award and National Citizen Service. She went to the relevant shop, handed the CV in. They phoned her after a week, called her for an interview, and then phoned to offer her a job the next day. She'd only handed in the one CV at one shop! If only all job hunts were so easy! I was absolutely astonished. I'd been full of warning talk, like, "Don't get your hopes up too much. Maybe a bit of voluntary work first. Try a few other shops as well," etc. Now, whether she was just very lucky or the timing was right (she applied before Christmas) I don't know. We do live in London, so perhaps there are more opportunities. Also, perhaps shops might be keener on taking on younger ones because they don't have to pay them the same as older workers? I'm with the other posters - I don't think your son will be able to claim any benefits. But he has lots of work experience, even unpaid, with his placements, so that should stand him in good stead.

Thanks, all Well, the wretched exams are done now, so we shall have to wait and see. I'm not actually so bothered if she doesn't go to university in a year's time, or even ever. She is definitely someone who wants to get out into the world of work. At some point she might change her mind and might be able to go later when she works out what she wants to do and what she needs in order to be able to do it. For now, it's just a matter of getting some sort of level 3 qualification, whether they be A-levels or something else.

Thank you. BTEC, not BTech! (I knew there was Technology in there somewhere!) Part of the problem I think is due to the revamp of the syllabi this year, removing the coursework/ in-class assessment work in favour of final exams, and also the textbooks and revision books (for some subjects) hadn't even been written or published until well after the school year had started. Also, the exams this year have been brought forward by quite a bit, giving less time all round. We won't make any decisions until after the results are out and then we'll see. If she passes them all, she'll be able to drop the awful one for A2s, and then at least she'll have a choice. She has friends at local independent schools who haven't even been allowed to sit some AS level exams because they've been predicted a D grade in them, which I do find quite shocking. Mine is at a comprehensive, so has a bit more leeway. But at the moment she's adamant about not continuing.

Opinions wanted! One of my children, now doing AS levels, wants to leave school. She's finding them tough and is in danger of failing one of them completely. If she fails any of the AS levels, she won't be allowed back to start Yr 13 for the three A2 courses. She's not very academic, but did pass all her GCSEs, nine academic subjects, with mainly Bs, but also three A/A*s. Even if she does pass the AS's, Yr 13 is going to be tougher, and she doesn't want to carry on. I had always thought that going down the BTech route would be a better one after GCSEs, but she wanted to do A-levels. Would it be better to pull out now after AS levels and start a BTech course in September at a sixth form college or hold out through the A2 Yr13 with some (probably not great) A-levels to her name (if she's allowed back)? She doesn't perform well in exams (she has chronic health issues for which she is treated in hospital and which seem to flare up at exam time) and she says she doesn't want to go to university - doesn't want to sit any more exams. The Level 3 BTech options I've looked at don't seem to be particularly appealing either. It seems quite common that children leave after AS levels (a third of children do, according to nationwide statistics) so I'm curious what they do next. A friend of mine's son left his school after not getting good enough AS grades to continue into Yr13, and then did an extended BTech Level3 at his local sixth form college instead and has now starts at a Russell Group university on the back of it in the autumn - so that seems a good outcome.

This is a difficult one. The concept of "higher, faster, stronger" doesn't necessarily work well in ballet. You might find that dancer A can jump higher than dancer B, or dancer C has higher extensions than dancer D, etc, but that doesn't inherently mean they are better dancers. In fact, they may be worse!

"Medical leave" could be anything at all. I wouldn't assume it had anything to do any pregnancy and I'm not sure we should be speculating!

Are very small groups an upside, though? In some subjects, where you need to be able to debate, understand opposing viewpoints and argue a point, it can be a disadvantage to be in very small groups, so says a friend of mine, who is a secondary English teacher.

I have to agree with Anna C's comments, too. Children who I know who were offered WL for Y7 in past years were only doing two ballet lessons a week - one of which was JAs - and no other form of dance, and had taken no exams as well.

"Gymnastics" for ballet in countries such as Russia is specially developed for ballet, it's not normal gymnastics. That's just the word that is used to describe that type of lesson.

There's lots of good suggestions above. I hope you're not frightened off, Ballet_Girl, if reading this makes you think, "DD is way behind!" IF your DD has the technique/knowledge to dance just at Grade 2 level and not at a higher level, you've still got time to improve things, if she wants. Remember, some will only be starting ballet at this age.

Yes, I think Harwel is right. It will be hard to get a paid dance contract in the States without being a US citizen. I've heard of dancers who have been employed in European companies as soloists being unable to get a work visa for the States, even though they had job offers.

Yes, the grades/exams in themselves don't matter, but having the technique and knowledge, etc, to dance at that grade level does give an indication of the track you should be on.