Pups_mum

Many thanks to the lovely sheilabee. Parcel arrived today and is much appreciated.

Oh that's brilliant Sheila, thank you. I wil drop you a line right away.

I see what you are saying, but I'm not sure you can exactly blame the school. Of course it depends on exactly how the letter was worded. Obviously it would be wrong if child B had been told outright by the school that they couldn't audition but the others were allowed to, but if they were all given the same information but took different decisions based on that, then I do think that is reasonable. If the school didn't mention the lack of places then people might justifiably feel that they had been cheated out of their audition fee if it then became apparent that there were no places and never had been. And as have people have already mentioned, there may be "no places" but if someone arrives at the audition who very clearly has all attributes they seek, then it makes sense that they'll try and make a place. They probably weren't lying when they said there was no space initially, but things change. My DD has never auditioned for vocational school and nor is she likely to, so I have no personal experience to speak from, but from reading this forum and observing other people's experiences it seems clear that there are many other factors besides a child's talent that determine whether they gain places in schools or schemes or not. Where they live, the family's financial situation, whether there are siblings or not, quality of local teaching and simply whether the parents/teacher even know about the opportunities available must play a part, along with many other things. In your hypothetical situation, there may be many reasons why child A went to the audition and child B didn't. Maybe child A lives round the corner from the school and B is hundreds of miles away. Maybe A is an only child of higher income parents and it's logistically easy for them to get to the audition, whereas B's parents can't afford the train fare for what is almost certainly a "no"? Those sort of things aren't fair it's true, but they are real, affect many families (and not just in the ballet world), and I don't think they are anybody in particular's "fault". The schools may have many faults, I wouldn't really know, but I don't think they can be blamed for that sort of thing. I don't think the parents of child A are at fault either. If they are in a position to be able to make that audition, even knowing that the odds of getting a place are miniscule and they and their child still want to try then why not? If child A didn't go it wouldn't really improve matters for child B would it? And surely any child who does eventually get offered a place at a school that is technically full must have something special about them anyway?

If you do find them and are interested in selling I would be very grateful Sheila. DD is studying both Adv Foundation and grade 8 at the moment and the cost of all the bits and bobs doesn't half mount up!

I hope this is ok to ask - I think I remember people asking similar on the old forum so hope it's not against the rules or anything now. Does anyone have a a copy of the RAD grade 8 or advanced foundation DVDs that they no longer need that they would be interested in selling? My DD wants both of these and I thought it was worth asking here before I order them. Thanks in advance if anyone can help.

It's a tough world, no doubt about it. I am greatly relieved that my DD has no aspirations to dance professionally as it does seem a hard, and at times unfair world. Hats off to those children who battle on. But if it's any consolation, it's not just ballet where things like this occur. I have 2 young friends who this year have failed to gain university places in their chosen subjects.(Different subjects, different parts of the country, so no connection between them.) Both are academic high fliers with wide ranging interests including county and national youth sporting appearances to their credit. Both are articulate, interesting and empathic young people with proven track records in voluntary work related to their hoped for careers. Both have had to endure the misery of serial rejection letters with no feedback or explanation whatsoever, whilst seeing other apparently less well suited or motivated classmates gaining places.No-one can understand why they have been unsuccessful, but one can only assume that they lacked "that certain something" that the admissions tutors were looking for in their interviews. It's not just ballet, it's life I'm afraid. I wish the best of luck to all the young people who are having to pick themselves up, dust themselves down and start all over again in these tough times.

Congratulations! That's lovely news.

She'll be 14 the day before the rehearsals start so is having to do without her birthday party in favour of dancing!

My DD is going to be a swan and is looking to it very much. I'm excited to see the costumes - bet they are all going to look gorgeous.

Well I watched the disco programme and thought it was quite interesting. Not my cup of tea it must be said, but the children clearly train very had and were amazingly flexible (too flexible sometimes maybe?) I have no idea how the judges make their decisions though with so many children whizzing round the dance floor at such high speed for a very short time. I didn't really "get" the genre to be honest, it seemed more like a set of acrobatic tricks with some background music than dance really, I didn't feel that they were really dancing to the music if you know what I mean? But it's very difficult to judge on one programme I'm sure and there are plenty of people who don't understand what we see in ballet - each to their own. I did enjoy the look on my husband's face when I told him what the costumes cost though - I don't think he'll be moaning about the cost of DD's new tutu so much! Did anyone else watch? What did you think? It would be very interesting to hear the views of anyone who knows about freestyle - how representative (or not!) was the programme?

I think it has to be remembered tha with all programmes of this type the makers depend on he shock factor to get an audience.Look at Big Fat Gypsy Weddings for example - there has been an outcry from the Gypsy and Traveller communities about how this has misrepresented them. I don't know anything about disco/freestyle but my DD dances in festivals, and I reckon that if a film maker was so inclined they could probably make a "shockumentary" about that too. Pick out a few larger than life characters, the odd teenage tantrum, film for 5 days and then edit all the worst bits into half an hour and I bet you could produce something suitably over the top. It would all be "true" but totally unrepresentative of the wider picture. Similarly I'm sure there have been programmes which would leave the uninitiated believing that every child who is learning ballet is anorexic and is tutored by a terrifiying teacher dressed head to toe in black, barking orders at her terrified pupils! Best to take all these things with a pinch of salt I think.

Would this be any use? http://www.cecchetti.co.uk/youngdancers/associates/northern/index.php

Sorry to hear your news DamhsaMom but pleased to hear that your DS is handling it in such a mature way. It sounds like being in Ireland makes things more difficult for him, but don't give up hope. He is doing very well to have reached that standard in only 2 years. If he keeps working hard with his local teacher I'm sure other opportunities will come up. How old is he now? There are lots of schools that you can apply for at 16 or even 18 that have more of a focus on contemporary or jazz which if I recall rightly you said he was more interested in than classical ballet? Have you thought about a Summer school for him this year at all? And the RAD do "Boys Only" weekends that might boost his confidence a lot too. I appreciate it will be expensive for you to come over for courses though - maybe you could combine a course with a family holiday as there are some of them that are in very nice places. Your son sounds like a very determined and talented young man and I'm sure other opportunities will come his way in due course.

Don't be disheartened Katy. Your daughter has only been dancing a very short time and whatever the future holds the main thing is that she's loving her dancing and having fun. Some people have more natural turn out than others, but it's something that every ballet dancer has to work at. In my (admittedly non expert!) opinion, the fact that she doesn't have great turn out after one term of lessons doesn't mean that she never will have, so I wouldn't stress too much about that at this stage. However, it's undeniable that physique is very important in ballet and there are good dancers who no matter how hard they work simply don't have the right body type to be professional dancers. That can be a hard thing for a child to learn (I speak from experience as my daughter is a fairly good dancer but she really doesn't have the right body to dance professionally, at least not ballet).It's a conversation that you may or may not have to have with your daughter one day - only time will tell and I wouldn't fret about it yet. But remember that there's more to ballet than the RBS, and more to dance than ballet. Your daughter has just discovered ballet and by the sounds of it she's loving it and doing well. My advice is to let her have her dreams, however fantastic they seem today, but encourage her to work hard with her teacher and take up whatever local opportunities there are. Maybe another class a week would be an idea? Take advice from your teacher and do your own research about what is involved in ballet training (this site is a great sense of info.) Just take things one step at a time and see how things progress. There are loads of great things about ballet as a hobby, whether it leads to full time training or not. Don't be too downhearted that your teacher isn't keen on her applying for JAs this year - there's always next year and there are loads of other exciting things that young dancers can get involved in too. Chin up!

We were in the front row of the circle on Saturday night and didn't have a problem with the lighting - or at least the darkness seemed appropriate if you know what I mean! I thoroughlly enjoyed every aspect of the production.Indeed my daughter declared it to be "awesome" which I think is the highest accolade a teenager can give! We're also looking forward to Swan Lake in September.

Thanks C4D - I was starting to think I might have missed something. I had taken a gamble on the rehearsals being in the same place and booked some accomodation nearby so I'm quite relieved to hear that!

As an aside, has anyone had a letter yet confirmimg the venue and final schedule for the Newcastle rehearsals? I thought we might have heard something by now.

I would say it depends very much on how your DD feels about it. Remember that there are always many more applicants for associate scheme places etc than there are spaces, so "no" letters are rather more common than "yes" ones at every stage. Getting a no doesn't mean that you are a failure, but it can be hard for children to accept this sometimes. How old is your DD? If she is able to go along and enjoy the experience for what it is, but understands that many (probably most) of the children auditioning are not going to get places then there is absolutely nothing to lose from trying. It's not always the most technically accomplished children who get picked anyway - the staff may see potential that is just waiting to be unlocked. But if the experience has dented her self confidence and she feels she won't enjoy the experience of the audition, maybe think again. Sorry, that's probably not much help is it, but I think it depends a lot on your DD's temperament and you will be the best judge of that.

Wow - good luck to your son DamhsaMom. He (and you!) must be very dedicated and determined.I can imagine it must be very lonely to be the only boy in the whole country at his stage. I wish him all the luck in the world with his future plans.

I think Cathy was after any news from the Dartford casting - she'll know when the Newcastle one is since her son is participating. Does anyone know if the Dartford production has been cast yet, and if so what parts there are for the different age groups? It sounds like a very interesting production, and if the pics on the EYB Facebook page are anything to go by there are going to be some lovely costumes.

Sorry, just read back what i wrote and realised I'd made a mistake! Currently a student can take a RAD exam if they reach the minimum age by 31st December of the year in which they sit the exam. But as from 2013 they can only enter if they exceed the minimum age on 1st January of the year in which they sit the exam. Sorry for any confusion caused by my typo.

The rules regarding age limits for RAD exams are changing in 2013 apparently. As the previous poster said, currently the student has to be the minimum age on 31st Jan of the year they take the exam, so in theory at least a student who is 11 in December could do the IF exam in January when they had just turned 10. From 2013 the date that determines age changes to 1st Jan so the youngest possible age to sit the exam would definitely be 11. There's lots of discussion about it in the "Focus on exams" publications that you can read on the RAd website. http://www.rad.org.uk/article_green.asp?id=413&realCat=400 I think the announcement is in the Feb 2011 edition and there's further discussion in the next 2 editions, including a very interesting viewpoint from an examiner in the latest edition.