Pups_mum

There is undoubtedly a lot of pressure on young girls to look "good" these days, and it certainly doesn't only come from dance classes. If the child in question wasn't enjoying her classes then it seems reasonable that she stopped - there are very many hobbies and activities on offer for 9 year olds after all. But if she liked dancing otherwise, it seems a shame. Of course if a child, or adult come to that, spends a lot of time in a leotard doing a physical pursuit then they are going to compare their body to others at some point, and this can become an issue. But it's an issue that can often be resolved without stopping the dancer dancing. I don't think that this kind of thing should be brushed under the carpet but it annoys me a bit when ballet is demonised in this way. Obviously there are some dancers who have eating disorders, but that's not confined to ballet, and the vast majority of young children who dance do so for fun and fitness and are not troubled by weight issues.

What lovely news. All the best to her in the future.

The other thing that would ensure appropriate dancing would be if parents voted with their feet - or wallets as the case may be. My DD does festivals and her teachers have never choreographed anything for her that I felt was inappropriate, or asked her to wear anything that I wasn't comfortable with.But I have seen pupils from other dance schools wearing costumes that frankly would look more at home in a strip club (not that I've ever been to one - I'm just guessing!) and dancing to music that I consider totally unsuitable. But I assume the parents must be ok with that as they are allowing their children to perform? Without any shadow of a doubt, if my DD was given dances that I thought were unsuitable I would not allow her to perform. Nor would I leave her in a school where I didn't trust the teachers to maintain proper standards of decorum. I think parents sometimes just get swept along in the dance world, (and probably in other pursuits too) but we need to remind ourselves that actually we are the paying customers and we are in control of what our children do. Teachers would not be choreographing raunchy routines with skimpy costumes if more parents stood up and said no. There are teachers who stick to age appropriate costumes and routines so if anyone is in the situation of feeling uncomfortable with what their child is doing, then look for a different teacher. Nobody should feel like they have to let their child participate in something they feel is wrong.

Or maybe a festival character dance! (Wonder how that would go down?!) The cogs are whirring in my brain as we speak.....

My DD has done several exams on her own. The first was unexpected as she and her best friend were meant to be doing grade 5 together but friend was ill. DD only found out about an hour before the exam that she would be on her own. She wasn't quite 10, so it was quite a big upset for her and apparently she did start crying when she went in. The examiner must have been sympathetic though because she actually got the highest mark of anyone doing an exam in our school at that session. Sometimes the examiners do seem a bit scary, but they are human and I think they understand how anxious little ones can feel on these occasions. I am sure your DD will be fine. Since then DD has done grades 6,7 and 8 on her own too, either because there was an odd number of entrants or because she was the only one doing it. She says she actually prefers being on her own now, as there are no distractions and she feels like she is giving a performance for the examiner In fact she is currently worrying about doing her advanced foundation with other people! She will be doing it at RAD HQ, which is where she did intermediate, but on that occasion she did the exam with several friends. This time she is the only one from her school who will be there so i assume she will just be put in wherever there is a space? She would prefer to do it on her own than with girls she has never met before but I guess that isn't really time or cost effective for the RAD. Does anyone know what they do with lone candidates?

As is often the case, I don't think you can generalise. The benefits of an associate scheme are bound to depend on the individual student and their aspirations, the quality, variety and amount of training available at their local school, and the quality and type of training available at the associate scheme. For some students it will be hugely beneficial do do participate in one of these schemes, but not for all.

I agree with you Julie, but I think that knowing a bit about the statistical chances does help to prepare children, and is of some comfort to those who don't get chosen. I think that knowing that 9 out of 10 (or whatever) don't get a place does help them get things into perspective a bit, particularly if they are used to being a big fish in a little pond at home.

This is an interesting discussion. A little while ago there was a fair bit of talk on here about how Central was likely to become even more popular due to it's funding arrangements. As I understood it, changes to DADAs were making Central a more attractive option than many other schools because of access to student loans. I wonder if all the students/parents making their decisions are fully informed about the 3rd year situation and the potential impact on future funding if they want/have to do something different after 2 years. Maybe it's not as financially advantageous as it first appears? The whole funding issue seems to be a complex mess that is getting worse not better. I really feel for anyone trying to figure out what to do.

Ooh, I got momentarily excited when I saw they were going to Newcastle but then I realised my DD is too old. Good luck to all who are in the right age range - hope some of the balletco children get to take up this exciting opportunity.

Whoops. Just goes to show how much notice I take doesn't it? Better not let DD read this....

A is equivalent to distinction in the RAD system. I think it's over 80% in ISTD. If I understand it correctly, all the organisations whose qualifications are recognised by whatever the national body is called (sorry, that's slipped my mind) had to have 3 categories of success. RAD went for distinction, merit and pass and ISTD is A, B, and C.

Another proud mummy moment from me sorry... My son played in his first music festival yesterday. as I've said before he is excrutiatingly shy and it was a big surprise that when his teacher asked him if he would like to do it he even agreed. When he got up yesterday he was very anxious, saying his tummy felt funny so I told him that it was ok if he didn't want to go, but he insisted he did. When we arrived we discovered that the piano he would be playing was a great big Steinway concert grand placed up on the stage and I thought he might run away at that point! But when his number was called, he went up and played. I could have burst with pride as overcoming his shyness to do that was a major achievement. He started off fine but stumbled a couple of times and came off stage looking very upset but we gave him lots of reassurance about how proud we were of him and pointed out that most of the other children had probably done it before and that's why they seemed so much more confident. And then the adjudicator stood up and gave her comments, saying that she wasn't worried about a few nervous mistakes at this age but was looking for good technique and the ability to interpret the music and put light and shade into it.....and my son had won! I couldn't believe it! I know it's only a local music festival and I don't think he's destined to be the new Lang Lang or anything but I do think he has some talent and it is lovely to have that recognised and to have his confidence given such a boost. The adjudicator was absolutely marvellous. She gave every child a really constructive critique, and demonstrated on the piano what she meant.She managed to give corrections without sounding in the least bit judgemental. We watched a couple more classes afterwards because we found her feedback so illuminating and enjoyable to listen to. It left my DD saying that she wished that some of the dance festival adjudicators she has had over the years were more like that! All in all, a lovely day.

I'm sure the examiners mark based on how they see the student perform on the day and nothing else. They will be marking each student against set criteria, not against each other,so it shouldn't matter who else is in the room. There is always bound to be a bit of inter examiner variation but I'm sure the RAD have stringent quality control processes to keep that to a minimum. I would think that would be one of the things they would have had to demonstrate in order to get the qualifications accepted on the national framework and eligible for UCAS points etc. I guess the venue could affect the outcome if it was somewhere that the student felt uncomfortable and therefore performed less well, or vice versa, but I doubt very much that there will be any noticeable difference between marking in the different centres.

CeliB's post about not needing as many ordinary clothes made me smile. A couple of months ago my DD asked me if she could get some new clothes urgently - she'd been invited out with friends and had nothing to wear. Only this wasn't the typical teenager's definition of "nothing to wear", it was true that she genuinely had no "ordinary" clothes that fitted her. She'd had a growth spurt and we had failed to notice that she had outgrown all her clothes. I realised that this is because she wears school uniform every week day, until she comes home, changes straight into dancewear and goes to the Studio. Then she comes home, showers and gets into pyjamas. And at most weekends she just wears dancewear and then pyjamas. I did feel guilty - a teenager without so much as a t shirt and pair of jeans to go out in sounds like a case for social services! (She does have an extensive collection of leotards though!)

Remember that when you are pregnant (or breastfeeding) you have higher levels than usual of the hormone relaxin, so your joints, ligaments etc are "looser" than usual. I wonder if that could be connected in some way?

No advice sorry, but just wanted to say congratulations and good luck with the birth and everything.

It does sound a lot, but presumably everyone is spending on leotards, shoes etc anyway? I reckon i spend several hundred pounds a year on shoes and my DD just dances with her local school. I don't dispute that going to vocational school is hugely expensive but it's not all "additional" expense. When you consider the cost of local lessons, equipment, travel, additional activities like associate classes, eyb etc it can add up to quite a substantial amount. Maybe if you calculate what you are currently spending and subtract it from the new costs it might seem a bit less painful?

Wouldn't it be refreshing to see just one newspaper article about a young male dancer that doesn't mention Billy Elliot? It must drive the boys crazy, being continually described as "Such and such a place's answer to Billy Elliot".

I was also going to mention Adv Foundation - my DD is doing the exam this year and though she did find it a step up from Intermediate it wasn't too much of a shock to the system. I also agree that it would be helpful to find out exactly why your DD is unhappy. Is it just the syllabus or is it something else. I think that all of us on here with teenagers know that it's a difficult time, with a lot of pressure from different areas and wild hormonal changes going on. Also, I think you need to think about why your daughter is dancing, and what her long term goals are. I'm a bit out of the ordinary on here in so far as my DD has no aspirations to dance professionally (though she is wanting to teach) and I guess there may well come a point where she reaches the limits of her ability in exam terms. As my DD has already got what she needs in order to do her teacher training I won't be unduly concerned if she doesn't want to take any more ballet exams. (She's actually more concerned about doing Intermediate in other genres for the teacher training, though ballet is her first love.) There's a lot to gain from non syllabus classes - exams aren't the be all and end all. I would give some thought to letting your DD step off the syllabus "treadmill" for a while. Doing some non syllabus work and rediscovering the joy of dance could be what she needs. But as I say, I'm kind of viewing things from how I'd feel if this was my DD, with her priorities - I recognise that yours may be very different.

The idea that the shoes could get narrower with use does seem to defy the laws of physics to me I have to say.

I think "success" in any field comes from a number of components, including intrinsic ability, hard work, opportunities and a bit of luck. The way those things come together for the individual is bound to vary but I think everyone needs at least a bit of all of them!

Absolutely. I still remember getting a new teacher for organic chemistry at A level and literally one lesson later, topics that I had been struggling with for months had become absolutely simple and obvious. It was just like someone had switched a light on! No reason why the same thing can't happen with dance.

Absolutely agree. My DD has been doing solos on stage since she was 5 and takes pretty much any mishap in her stride. As she says, you don't have to think about anyone except yourself and you can always make something up as you go along. But she gets much more worried about dancing with other people in case she makes a mistake and lets them down. The most anxious I've ever known her get about dancing was once at EYB when she had to lead a line on and she was panicking about getting the timing wrong and putting everyone out. (Didn't happen fortunately!) I've never danced myself but it seems to me that there is great skill in dancing in a group and making a corps really one body, not just a group of individuals.

One thing to consider when opting for a shorter style is how low down your hairline is at the back. My hairline is very low, so it has to be pretty much shoulder length to get into a pony tail. Even though it looks as though it should easily be long enough before then, there are really short bits underneath at the back - it's kind of hard to explain sorry! But just make sure that if your DD does have a bob, that the shortest layers underneath will go into a pony tail, or else you get left with short sticky out bits of hair at the back that are nigh on impossible to disguise!