Pups_mum

Just wondered what everyone is up to for the Jubilee Weekend? Are you entering into the full red white and blue spirit of things or keeping out of the way til it's all over? Plenty going on at our end. My boys' school had a lovely garden party this afternoon in glorious sunshine and at the weekend there is a big festival in our nearest town, complete with tall ships, the red arrows and a firework display that promises to be spectacular. The highlight is on Sunday afternoon though, in our parish church. My DD is singing as part of a "Songs of Celebration" concert, accompanied by her father on piano. DD is perfectly relaxed about it as she's no stranger to such events, but my poor husband is not. At the ripe old age of 47 he is making his first ever public performance and he is very nervous. I am teasing him mercilessly, though secretly I am very proud of him (and DD of course.) What's on everyone else's agenda?

The pink dye has arrived! If the weather holds I will be starting my experiments this week end and will report on the success or otherwise of my tight resurrection programme.

Yes, I can see it would be harder if she has to wear a skirt. Kids can be cruel and no matter how sensible a teenager is it can be very hard for them to believe that something bad that might happen in the future is more important than the something bad that will happen when they walk into class in the "wrong" shoes. Good luck ballet taxi. As a matter of interest, what kind of shoes to vocational students wear when they are not dancing? Are the schools very strict about non dance footwear?

Whilst I really don't like my DD wearing heels, I have to confess that she does walk well in them. There's no teetering invoved - that's me! I presume it's something to do with the core stability and balance that comes from ballet. When I commented that I couldn't walk in her shoes her reply was "No, But then you can't pirouette en pointe either can you?" Teenagers...pah. ( I couldn't resist retaliating by telling her that she wouldn't be able to eiter if she broke her ankle though!)

He's 8, nearly 9. It's a few different things I think. He did have lessons when he was younger and was doing very nicely, but when he moved from the pre primary to the primary class he suddenly refused to go anymore and would get very upset if I tried to persuade him, so I decided not to push the issue. He is very shy and doesn't like to be in big groups of children and I think the bigger class (both in numbers and stature) freaked him out. I think there is an element of "boys don't do that" now maybe, but I think it's more the shyness as he's the same with other activities too.

I see someone every day who should do ballet - my son.Sadly he is not interested, despite my, and my DD's teacher's attempts to persuade him.

This is probably the biggest source of friction between me and my DD. Well, shoes in general actually, not just school shoes. I've had things relatively easy until now as she has quite small feet and so hasn't been able to get as fashionable shoes as she'd like, but she's now a size 3 and can start shopping from the adult aisles. Most of her school friends wear the ballet style flat shoes you describe for school, and towering heels out of school. Obviously I'm not keen on either! So far I have remained in control of the school shoes but it has been at the cost of compromise on out of school shoes. I hate those ballet style flats with a passion. In fact if I ruled the world one of my first dictates would be to make it illegal for anyone under the age of 18 to wear them!I have a friend who is a foot surgeon and we have spent many hours planning the Shoe Revolution! I see so many girls walking round with their feet rolling out of the sides as they are so unsupportive, or with the heels slipping off. I imagine their toes all curled up inside as they try to grip the soles to keep them on GRRRR! I have had many arguments with DD about this, but she has yet to counter the argument that her real ballet shoes always have elastics or ribbons on so that ordinary shoes should have something to hold them on too. She currently has some a bit like this http://www.ebay.com/itm/GEOX-Girls-Shoes-EUPHORY-Mary-Jane-BLACK-7-6-41-NEW-/320669621282?pt=US_Childrens_Shoes&hash=item4aa9661c22 She wears trousers for school so the strap is mostly covered and they don't stand out as being too different to the other girls, but they are supportive and pretty hard wearing, plus Geox shoes are quite "breathable". Unfortunately I have had to agree to the purchase of some pretty hideous heels and a pair of flat slip ons for out of school wear as part of our deal! However, given that she spends almost all her waking hours either at school or the dance studio, the opportunities to wear them are extremely limited so I don't worry too much. interestingly though, today is non uniform day at school and she's gone wearing a pair of those lace up pumps that are very popular at the moment rather than any of the shoes I disapprove of. Maybe she does listen to me a little bit....or is that just wishful thinking

Ooh, I wish my DD's school would allow shoes like that. They are not allowed to wear canvas shoes or sandals of any type - standard black school shoes all year round whatever the weather, and they do get sent home if they break the rules. I'm normally totally in favour of strict uniform policy but my DD has certain "odour issues" with her feet! She only wears canvas ballet shoes for that reason so I will leave you to imagine what her leather school shoes have been like in the recent weather!

My DD's teacher has all her certificates, insurance, licence to use music ((can't remember the proper name!) etc in frames on the walls in the studio so that everyone can see them. Could you do the same or do you teach in a variety of venues? I think you are right to be proud of your qualifications as they are definitely not easily come by. Where would we be without great teachers?

I think teaching is part natural gift, part learned skill. As Spanner said,being able to do something, even very expertly, doesn't necessarily mean you have the skills to teach it. Some of the very worst teachers I have ever had were tutors at university - even though they were world reknowned in their field they had no ability to share their expertise with their students. I'm sure there are people who are natural and wonderful teachers without having teacher training and there are probably qualified teachers who aren't very good too, but as a general rule, I would advise someone who was new to ballet and looking for a teacher (in this country)for their child to opt for a teacher who is qualified with one of the main recognised organisations. When my DD started I knew nothing at all about dancing and I always say that I got lucky when I picked a name out of the Yellow Pages. That's true, but I did look into it a bit further and one of the things I did was google what the teachers qualifcations meant. I knew nothing about ballet but i figured that like any other physical pursuit there must be safety issues and that a young child badly taught could injure themselves. The fact that i was putting her in the hands of a qualified teacher gave me some reassurance (though I was never naive enough to believe it was any guarantee, and there were other things that I asked questions about too.)When you start your child on any new activity it's a step into the unknown and it's difficult for the novice to know how to choose a teacher. I think that opting for someone who has trained with a recognised body is usually the best approach, whether you are talking about ballet or other things such judo or swimming. It's possibly quite different at higher levels but I'd personally be uncomfortable in entrusting a young chld to an unqualified person.

Does it have to be either or? If there are things you do like about her current school could you continue some lessons there and get additional teaching somewhere else? I realise that might not be possible either for logistical reasons or because the two teaching styles may clash though.

I don't think competitions are inherently a bad thing. In fact I think the "no competition, everyone's a winner" ethos that seems prevalant in a lot of British schools at the moment does our youngsters no favours at all. Unfortunately real life is competitive, whether we like it or not. The problems with competitions arise from people's attitude and behaviour. Even at the fairly small dance competitions that my daughter does I've seen tears, screaming and tantrums backstage, and that's just the parents! But on the other hand there are plenty dancers (and parents) who turn up and have fun whether they win or not. Obviously I've not seen the film, but I suspect that one of the problems with big competitions like YAGP is that the stakes are so high. If some people can get their knickers in a twist over a medal at a local festival it's not surprising that some will go OTT at a competition that could be literally life changing.That seems to me like unreasonable pressure foryoung children to bear. Prizes of high value can bring out the worst in people as well as the best.

I just had one of those moments... I was looking at the current affairs discussions on another website and saw a headline including the words "and more flexibility for all". It turned out to be something about early years education, but I can't get rid of the mental image of the whole population attending compulsary state run stretch classes. I need to get out more.

Do any of the potential new schools have any summer activities that your daughter could attend? That might be an opportunity to get a better feel of what the schools are like. Good luck with your decision.

We've never changed dance schools, but I have moved my DD from one academic school to another and my advice would be to listen to your instincts. I spent a lot of time brushing aside things that I wasn't quite happy with as I didn't want to upset either my DD who had lovely friends, or her teachers who were essentially good and nice people. Eventually some other circumstances forced our hand and we had to move her and I was glad of an excuse really. It was a good decision and I should probably have done it earlier, but hindsight is a wonderful thing! It took a little while for DD to settle but after a relatively short time she was much happier. Nowhere is perfect of course and there are a few things we miss from the old school. There will always be "niggles" but if they become things that keep coming back to bother you,rather than just minor irritations, then I would seriously think abut moving.

Inspired by this thread, i have just ordered some pink dye from ebay. Once it arrives I will experiment with some of my dd's large collection of "grink" tights and see if it is possible to restore them to something approaching their former glory. I will report back with results in due course!

I'm in a nosey mood this evening! How did everyone's DDs/DSs start dancing? Are you a "dancing family" or did your child's interest come out of the blue? I have The Tweenies to blame. When my DD was just turned 2 she saw an episode in which Fizz went to a ballet lesson and immediately started saying that she wanted to go too.I smiled and told her that she could when she was older, fully expecting her to forget and move onto something else in a day or two. But she didn't. After 6 months of constant pestering, I gave in, picked up the Yellow Pages and called the nearest dance school. The principal told me that she didn't normally take children under three years old but I could bring her along for a visit and we would talk about a start date then. The start date proved to be immediate, and she has practically lived there ever since! I knew nothing at all about any type of dance before she started, and nor did anyone else in the family, so I would never have thought of suggesting ballet lessons had she not asked. I'm glad she did though as it's enriched my life as well as hers, as I now love to watch ballet myself and I've made some wonderful friends through her dancing too. (my husband is reading over my shoulder and muttering something about money but I'll ignore that..) What's everyone else's story?

Just a lighthearted thread! Complete the sentence please... For me it would be: You know you're a "dance mum" when you recognise your daughter by her feet! I was recently looking at some photos that one of my DD's teachers had taken. One in particular caught my eye but I didn't recognise the dancer. Til I looked at her feet and only then spotted it was my own daughter...whoops... What about everyone else?

Going off the topic slightly, but the other interfering comment I loathe is "what's the point?" As in, "if she's not going to earn her living doing this, what's the point in carrying on?" People seem to fail to understand that dance has an intrinsic value. I usually mutter something about transferable skills and it keeping her fit etc, which is true, but what I really should say is "Because it's beautiful and she loves it. Dancing makes her happy and watching makes me happy. Being happy is good!"

I think the fact that you now know that there was an illness underlying the tiredness is reassuring in a way, in that it shows that the tiredness wasn't caused by simply "doing too much". My DD is 14 and on an average week she does 10-12 hours dance and 1-2 hours singing lessons, more if an exam or show is pending, and she isn't planning on a career as a dancer.She has 1 or 2 days each week when she doesn't do anything. I've had the "doing too much" and "spending too much " comments too, but as far as I see it, as long as she's enjoying it and keeping up with her school work then it's not too much. If either of those things were to change, then I would reconsider of course, but until then she can carry on. I'm glad my DD has an all consuming interest, whether it contributes to her future career or not. Much better than her spending her evenings watching tv, sending messages on facebook or hanging about in the streets like plenty of her classmates seem to do. If your DD is on the mend, I wouldn't worry. Of course if she has recurrent illnesses or something you may need to look at her schedule again and see if it needs modifying, but I wouldn't be unduly concerned about a one off illness - everyone gets ill sometimes. Glad to hear that she's feeling better.

There are 2 books on my bedside table at the moment - Indian Takeaway by Hardeep Singh Kohli and the Rough guide to Andalucia. I've read them both before, but the former, though not exactly great literature, never fails to make me laugh, and the latter has been dusted off in preparation for our long awaited summer holiday. Last week when it was cold enough to be taking a hot water bottle to bed, I felt the need to read about hot countries!

My DD has private lessons. She started having private lessons when she was about 5 I think. Then it was just half an hour once a week. It was offered by her teacher - I would never have thought to have ask at that stage. Now she is 14 and has an hour each week with each of the 3 teachers at our school. She doesn't do just ballet in her private lessons though and the content varies from week to week. Sometimes she learns/practices festival dances, sometimes it's extra exam preparation, sometimes non syllabus work. She's done a lot of non syllabus pointe work with one of her teachers recently, and I expect she'll soon start learning her solo for the school's Christmas production. She enjoys her private lessons as it enables her to work intensively on particular things that she needs to improve and to try things that aren't covered in the regular classes.

I have for sale 1 pair Capezio leather black split sole jazz shoes. Size 4.5M US size - sold to me as UK size 2 but I would say more like UK size 1- 1.5. Unworn. Cost £14.95, selling for £7 plus postage. Also one pair Bloch Pro Elastic pink split sole canvas ballet shoe size 2c. Unworn. Cost £10.95, selling for £5 plus postage. Please PM me if interested.

[ I was just coming to post exactly the same thing as I had an advert for this in my inbox today. I thought these items might make a nice present for a young friend who has a birthday coming up, but that picture put me right off. I don't know a lot about the technicalities but I know what I like to see and I think overspilts and so on just look ugly. I can't believe it's good for the body either. I don't want to give or reinforce the idea that it's desirable to look like that by giving those pictures to an impressionable young girl. I definitely won't be buying these products.

A friend sent me this link to a short film made in 1948 and I thought I'd share. Enjoy! http://film.britishc...s-of-the-ballet