Kitschqueen_1

I think a lot of this is how the picture has been styled and lit and yes the high cut leotard contributes to this. I have seen Misty Copeland dance on other videos and her legs do not look so over developed.

Great news! I hope your dd is very happy in her new schools

Cathy Cassidy's books are very much aimed at the "tweens" which apparently are the 8-12 years age group. My daughter used to love her books and still receives newsletters that she signed up for. However at 15 she has more than outgrown them! :-)

Good luck to your DD too Ellington and congrats to her on her determination!! Lets hope you both find the audition experience more positive this year. My DD didn't take up the place in the end, despite successfully auditioning for 2 ballet associate schemes last year she decided to take a place on a Contemporary CAT scheme!

Danskin are my DD's favourite tights too. I buy them from 247dancewear, they are based in Rochdale but do mail order.

Hi, can you tell me do your dates clash with the Olympics?

Good luck to your DD smallbythesea and to everyone else. My DD successfully auditioned last year and we got the yes letter within a week!!

Hi, we always got to Perform Dancewear in Morley, Leeds for my DD's pointeshoes. They carry a large range of brands and Kath and Anne are extremely helpful, friendly and thorough with their fitting. :-)

My daughter is a Yorkshire Young Dancer and there are often joint visits to the theatre for all the CAT students. Interestingly, it is the contemporary girls who are usually in the Converse and Nike Blazes whilst the ballet students are teetering on vertiginous heels! :-D

haha think our posts crossed ballettaxi :-)

This has been an ongoing issue for me and my DD over the years too. Luckily she is now in year 10 and the uniform rules tend to be more relaxed so she wears the all black leather Converse high tops. The battle has ended.......style and substance!! :-)

My 15 year old dd has just left her dance school after 9 years! It was not an easy decision to make as she was one of her first pupils when the school opened and her teacher is more like a family friend. However, whilst the school has grown and gone from strength to strength there are very few teenagers who dance there and certainly none who wish to pursue dance as a career. This made my DD a "big fish in a little pond" which was not helpful. Once she started on her contemporary CAT last year I think she then found the school and the teaching limiting and became bored and disinterested in her other lessons. She has started ballet at another school now and is absolutely loving it again. It is a much larger school with a fantastic reputation and it has some exceptional dancers (who are her age). Her new teacher has been wonderful with her as she has had to switch to RAD syllabus. Her old dance school was at the bottom of our road, I now have another 2 hour round trip a week, increasing in the autumn. The lessons are more expensive and I spend a fortune in Tescos whilst I am waiting but has it been worth it......absolutely, just to see her enthusiasm and love of dance return. It wasn't an easy move and we did not take the decision lightly but in the end I had to put her needs before our loyalty to her old teacher who I'm happy to say has been massively supportive of it.:-)

Brilliant news lil :)

I really hope we get to see this film. I watched a trailer for it and was hooked. I also loved the girl from Sierra leone (Michaela I think she is called), she has overcome such adversity in her life and is not your conventional ballet student. :-)

Thanks every-one, really useful advice

Aww bless him!! They always say that life is what happens between your plans. Hope he feels better soon.

The MDS you are awarded does also cover transport costs and equipment. Again the amount covered depends on the size of your grant, mine covers 42% of those costs. At my DDs CAT they source satellite classes once a week for those students who live a long way from the centre and these are paid for by the MDS. I agree that it does seem strange the differnece in hours between the 2 CAT's you mentioned. My DD does 8 hours per week over 3 days at hers, I think the ballet CAT students do a lot more hours.

Hi everyone, this is probably a really daft question but, when buying softblocks do they need to be fitted like pointe shoes or do you just but the same size as their soft shoes? Many thanks

I wish I could find a teacher like you petipacat! My DD has had private lessons over the years mainly when she was doing festivals, when lessons clashed with other commitments and last year for rehearsing audition solos. She recently changed ballet schools and has switched to the RAD syllabus. She enquired about private lessons as she feels she is behind the others in the class. She isn't (apparently) and was told that she is being entered for Intermediate exam in the autumn and will have 7 weeks special coaching prior to taking this. Not sure what it entails but sounds expensive!!

Thank-you for taking the time to post your and your DDS' experiences. It is so interesting to read. I think there should be a book deal in it for you!! :-D

Darcey Bussell becomes President of the Royal Academy of Dance 14/05/2012 World-renowned Prima Ballerina Darcey Bussell CBE has been elected President of the Royal Academy of Dance, becoming only the fourth President in the organisation's 92 year history. Darcey follows in the footsteps of Dame Antoinette Sibley who retired in April after 21 years in the role. She joins the RAD, one of the world's most influential dance training organisations, at a time of growth and increasing public interest in all forms of dance. Luke Rittner, Chief Executive, welcomed Darcey's appointment: "Our membership voted overwhelmingly to appoint Darcey as our fourth President and I am personally delighted that she has accepted the position. Darcey is one of Britain's most distinguished ballerinas, and her passion for all forms of dance make her the ideal role model to lead the Royal Academy of Dance towards its centenary in 2020," he said. "We look forward to working with her on a wide variety of national and international projects that will keep us, and our members, at the forefront of dance education and training." Darcey commented: "It is a privilege to be asked to be President of the Royal Academy of Dance, an institution which consistently makes such an outstanding contribution to the art of classical ballet and to so many forms of dance. It is very important to me that the RAD continues to both provide the very best quality of training, but also continues to instill the enjoyment and love of dance in everyone by offering such a wide range of opportunities to get involved," she said. "As President of the RAD, I will aim to embody the Academy's vision and values, which Dame Antoinette Sibley so wholeheartedly supported and which strongly reflect not only the organisation's rich past but also its investment in the future of dance, dance-education and training. I am passionate about dance and truly look forward to representing the RAD in this role." Widely recognised as one of the most accomplished English ballerinas of all time, Darcey joined the Royal Ballet in 1988 and became a Principal Dancer just one year later in 1989. During her career, she performed as a guest artist with leading international ballet companies around the world, including New York City Ballet, The Kirov and Paris Opera Ballet. Her final performance was MacMillan’s Song of the Earth performed with Carlos Acosta at the Royal Opera House and broadcast live on BBC 2 in 2007. She has continued to be very active in the dance world and she has just been confirmed as the new judge on BBC One’s Strictly Come Dancing this autumn.

It wouldn't be ridiculous at all Pointytoes 22. Your ballet and jazz will stand you in good stead, go for it! :-)

I think this is an interesting debate how we strive as parents to keep our children healthy (physically and emotionally) especially through the teenage years when we have less control over their eating and sleeping patterns. My 15 year old DD seems to fluctuate between having bags of energy and extreme lethargy and fatigue when she wants to sleep all the time. I do find that the dancing children I have met (including my own DD) are incredibly hard working and driven and do tend to push themselves to the limit in all areas of their lives. Sometimes I find I just need to give her "permission" to take a night off. I had an interesting chat with a colleague who is a child and adolescent mental health nurse; she said that if they get a referral for a teenage girl with symptoms of low mood they request that the GP prescribes iron tablets whilst they are waiting for the initial assessement as the symptoms for anaemia can be the same as depression in this age group.

My DD also started the CAT as she went into year 10 and has continued with her ballet classes locally. As Lil says it has been hard work and she has had to become much more organised with her time. The other thing to factor in is the travelling to and from the scheme which for us is a 2 and a half hour round trip. Whilst the CAT do expect commitment to the scheme and 100% attendance if possible, I have found them to understand the academic (and personal) pressures that young people face and be supportive if they do need to take a night off to complete coursework or revise for exams. I know I keep banging on about it, but it is entirely worth it

Glad to hear you're still enjoying your classes Fiz and good luck to you JulieW with the Zumba, are you aching today?