Pups_mum

It's definitely not always been on the list. A friend of my DD's went to KS Dance a few years ago and there was definitely no government funding available then.

They look lovely B4B. Are you able to post to an address different to the person who is paying? I'd quite like to send my DD a little pick me up but I can't get out to the post office myself at present.

I agree with everyone else. It is a normal reaction to the circumstances and probably doesn't really mean she has lost her love for dance. I think that most youngsters are getting fed up of the situation. At first I think there was a degree of almost excitement for "online everything" and being off school. But as time has gone on the enormity of the situation has hit home to those who are old enough to understand and the frustration has intensified for those who aren't. I overheard my 16 year old talking to one of his friends on the phone the other night, saying that he really wished they could get back to school, and he is missing the teachers, which is something I never thought I would hear. The novelty of the lockdown is definitely wearing off for people of all ages and all interests. I would let your DD have a break if she wants. The Associates might actually give her a bit of a boost, but if she doesn't want to be doing loads of online classes or whatever then I wouldn't push the issue. Everyone is going to take time to adjust when normal classes return - she isn't going to get left behind or anything, and at that age she will probably bounce right back when she gets going again.

This is always a stressful time of year for parents and young people, and I think it is even worse this year because of everything else that is going on. But some basic truths remain, though they can be very hard to see when you are right in the thick of things. There are many roads to Rome. And many destinations that are just as lovely as Rome that you may not have even thought of yet. Yes, it is really, really, tough when your child has their heart set on a particular school at a particular time and it doesn't come to fruition, especially when they have got so tantalisingly close, but please don't see it as their dream being over. My DD is an adult now, and I have been posting on this board, and its predecessor, since she was failing to gain a JA place in year 6 I think. In that time I have lost count of the number of DCs who have reached Rome by a different route or who have discovered that despite being absolutely certain at 11 that they wanted to go to Rome above all else, Munich is really where their heart lies..... If your child has been offered a place at this stage, even without funding, then they clearly have potential. There will be other years to try again, and then at 16 and even 18 whole worlds of new opportunities open up. I think that both in real life and online I know of far more young people who have taken the "scenic route" to their final destination than those who have joined their preferred school in year 7 and sailed through. Youngsters develop at different rates. Those who are "not quite there" at 11 may later pass those who look like they have everything going for them at the same age. Not to mention puberty - there are always winners and losers in that particular lottery. So taken some time to grieve for what cannot be today, and then look to tomorrow for what is still to come.

Also thanks TO the moderators! It is a very strange time and there is something reassuringly normal about the forum carrying out "business as usual". As I just said on another thread, I think that the lockdown has shown us in several ways just how important things like dance, music, sport and art are and how much they enhance our lives. I don't have a lot to contribute but I love coming here to read about things like exam results and audition outcomes. It shows that we have hope. Hope that this will pass and that our normal lives will return. And hope is so important now.

I think it is going to be quite challenging for all the examining boards once things get back to normal as there are only so many examiners and there will be lots of schools wanting sessions. Plus of course many examiners are also teachers and will have their own schools to get going again. That said, I imagine there will be a bit of a delay before the demand for exams hots up, as those who were ready to take them before the lockdown are bound to need some proper lessons to get back up to speed first - there's a limit to what can be achieved online. Plus what would have been the next cohort presumably won't be ready, so maybe it won't be that bad actually. It might be more be everyone pushed backwards rather than a big bulge in numbers. I am sure all the boards will do their best to get things sorted as soon as they can. We are beyond the dance exam stage but my son has missed music exams this Spring. He is only a recreational musician so it isn't the end of the world, but I had hoped he would get his grade 8 before he finishes school and that's going to be very difficult now. I know these things are trivial in the great scheme of things but it is still disappointing for the young peopls affected. And actually I think one of the things that the lockdown has demonstrated is just how important things like the arts and sports actually are to our well being, both because we realise how much we miss them when they are not there and because people are clearly helped by them in times of stress. All we can do is keep up what practice and tuition is available and hope that things improve soon I guess. It is such an unprecedented situation it is impossible to know what will happen!

I have no legal knowledge whatsoever, but I wonder if it could be argued that a postponed course is in fact not the same " product" as what you paid for? If it is at a completely different time, particularly if its next year, it isn't what you bought really is it? And there is no guarantee that the advertised teachers will be available next year either, plus the young dancers needs may have changed by then anyway. So I wonder if it could be said that the new course does not fit your needs and is not therefore a like for like replacement? Whatever the legalities it is a poor show in my opinion. Like others have already said, I have been refunded for things due to the crisis that I probably wasn't absolutely entitled to. For instance I had a ferry crossing booked that was a non refundable special offer so I thought I had lost that money, but I've had a 100% refund with no arguments whatsoever. Most companies seem to be treating their clients as fairly as they can.

I imagine they are taking the same stance as the organisers of a big sports event that my son entered. We got an email apologising for the delay in selecting entrants but saying that they were waiting for further guidance as to whether the event would run. It has been cancelled so everyone who had applied just got the cancellation notification and they didn't processes anyone's entry fees. I presume that the admin time and cost was a great deal less doing that than it would have been if they had processed entries in the normal way and then had to inform succesful entrants and refund fees. It is very frustrating but I suppose it must be a nightmare being an organiser of anything scheduled for the summer months at present.

@DeveloppeD I am a doctor with decades of experience in critical care medicine and in your shoes I, personally, would not be going anywhere that I didn't absolutely need to be. Watch some beautiful ballet on dvd or online, keep up some stretching and keep yourself well so that when normality returns you can get back to your classes in good health.

The dance school where my DD is currently working takes its cue on closure from the local academic schools and hence is still open. However, I suspect it may only be a matter of days before schools are closed. My children's school has just instigated a partial closure due to staff shortages and we have had details of E-learning sent home in preparation for any full closure. I really feel for those doing GCSE or A levels this year, or for students sitting final examinations. I hope the examining boards will make allowances for any disruption. Both sports I am involved with have suspended all activities now. I fear dancing will have to follow soon. ☹

Believe me Valentina, I know exactly what it is like to be a frontline healthcare worker working round the clock in an overwhelmed system during an epidemic because I have actually been one. And we ARE seeing hysteria. And its not helpful. Things like ridiculous panic buying of basic commodities and people with serious health problems unable to access emergency services because they are already overwhelmed with calls from people with a slight cough demanding testing etc are happening now, all over the country. We need consistency and people to follow actual evidence based advice rather than hit and miss cancellation of events, the hoarding of pasta and toilet roll and panic on the streets. But this isn't really dance related so I shall bow out of this conversation. Of course we all need to act responsibly and follow guidance but a sense of perspective is also required and at the moment, nationally, I don't think we have that.

I've just been informed that the concert my son was due to be playing in this weekend is cancelled, as is our local music festival in May. My husband has had a business trip to the US cancelled for June, which seems a bit extreme as the picture could be totally different by then. That's been cancelled from the American end, his own company has suspended non essential travel for 4 weeks, to be reviewed then. I do agree that this is a serious Due to my professional background I've got direct experience of infectious disease epidemics so I know this is bad. BUT it seems that hysteria is setting in and there is a random and uncoordinated approach across the country. Other countries may or may not have it right, but at least they seem to have a more consistent national strategy. Here individual organisations seem to be being left to do their own thing and that's confusing for all concerned and is adding to the growing wave of panic.

My children's academic school has cancelled all sports fixtures,trips, parents meetings etc, as well as most after school activities. I have to confess to feeling a bit confused by a lot of apparently contradictory advice and actions from different sources. For instance, our school has pulled out of an academic interschool competition in the next town that one of my sons was due to be participating in. There would have been less than 100 people present I would think. Instead he goes to school, where there are 15 times as many people. Why is one safe and the other not? Another of my children is competing in 2 fairly big youth sporting events this weekend. Both national bodies have issued guidance today that basically say that the domestic sporting calendar continues, with all participants and spectators urged to follow government recommendations re hygiene. Yet school sports fixtures with far smaller numbers involved are off. And advise has been given for one of his sports that teams should not shake hands before or after matches. But its a contact sport. There will be more bodily contact occuring during the match than hand shaking! I may be missing something, but there does seem to be a lack of consistency and logic in some of these decisions.

I'm all in favour of anything that improves dancers safety and comfort. I don't believe that there is anything good about avoidable suffering, particularly if that suffering can lead to permanent damage. When you look at the evolution of footwear, clothing and equipment that has occurred in just about every other physical pursuit in the last, say, 100 years, the ballet world seems rather reactionary. Tradition is all well and good but we shouldn't make dancers suffer unnecessarily just because previous generations had no alternative. I'm currently bedbound thanks to post operative problems in my own troublesome foot so thought I would look into these arch enhancers to pass a bit of time. Interestingly I couldn't find a single advertisement or testimonial that referred to any comfort or injury prevention benefit of the pads, though I can see how they might have such properties. (And of course I haven't read everything ever written on the subject! ) But they do seem to be marketed soley on aesthetic grounds. "Like a push up bra for your feet" was a phrase I came across more than once. I would have thought that the manufacturers would be promoting them as a comfort/safety item if they felt they could. Surely selling them as "foot protectors" would make the product more generally acceptable as dancers could say "oh the top of my foot gets bruised and painful without them.....the fact they make my arches look fabulous is just a side effect" 🤣 But no, both manufacturers and users seem to be totally up front about the fact that they are purely to improve aesthetics. Is that a bad thing? I'm undecided really. On one hand, a large part of the performing arts is about people pretending to be something they aren't. Are these things really any different to costumes, make up, false eyelashes, coloured contact lenses and the like? But somehow it sits uncomfortably with me. From observing how much pressure young dancers are under and how they strive to achieve a largely unattainable physical perfection it seems wrong that people are pretending to have physical features that they don't. It reinforces the idea that you can only be a successful dancer if you possess very specific physical attributes. It would be so much healthier all round if people could see that you can be a beautiful dancer with "good enough" feet etc, you don't have to tick every box on the physique front. It also seems to me that the "ideal" is getting more extreme in many ways - thinner, bendier dancers with extremely high arches, and capable of insanely high extensions etc. Its often said that many of the great dancers of yesteryear would not have made it today because they had the "wrong" physique, yet they were renowned for their great artistry. What a loss they would have been. I wonder who we are missing out on nowadays, and, even more importantly, what physical and mental damage the pursuit of this particular aesthetic is doing to our young people. So are arch enhancers just harmless bits of silicone, analogous to a set of fake eyelashes or are they symptomatic of a worrying trend whereby even some fantastic professional dancers believe that their bodies are not good enough and need to be artificially enhanced? I'm really not certain, but my gut tells me that there is something wromg about them.

It is very sad. I hope they give your DC and the rest of those who have been disappointed priority for future events. I suspect we will see more of this kind of thing before we see less unfortunately. I'm worried that a major youth sports event my son is meant to be participating in in May will be cancelled as I have already paid for travel and accommodation. I doubt we will be able to get our money back for that if the event is off, only the entry fee. We've also just heard that his (academic) school has cancelled all parents' meetings and sporting fixtures until further notice.We were supposed to be going to his year 9 parents' evening tomorrow. Fortunately he is already 100% clear on what GCSE options he wants to take but there will be other children who really needed the chance to talk things through with their teachers and children. We can request phone calls if needed - they are also doing interviews for 6th form places by phone - but its not quite the same in my opinion. I understand the rationale, and I am sure it wasn't a lighly taken decision,but if I had a child who was uncertain about their choices I would be worried.

Grishko do satin slippers with split soles in quite a wide variety of widths and styles. Or at least they did when my DD was young, though it took a while to get them imported - hopefully it is easier now!

I am sure it is multifactorial as there are seldom simple answers to this kind of question. But were I to hazard a guess I would say that a big factor is that in the UK, vocational schools endeavour to provide a reasonably rounded general education alongside their dance training, in not much more time than the standard school day. In some countries, children who have been identified as talented within the arts or sports etc are "hot housed" only in their identified field. Actually its not just in sports and the arts. One of my sons was fortunate enough to represent England in the international finals of a STEM competition a few years ago and met young people from all around the world. The level that some of the teams were at was astounding for their age but talking to them it was very apparent that this was more or less ALL they did. Plus some countries have very different attitudes to child welfare than we do,which enables them to do things very differently. It may produce "better" dancers, musicians, runners and even engineers to do things differently, but at what cost to the human beings?

I'm not sure that's right actually. Cecchetti Northern Associates do use the KS Dance building but to my knowledge there is no direct connection with the school. Or at least there wasn't when the people we knew were going - it may have changed of course. I wouldn't make that assumption though.

I'm a bit out of the loop nowadays as my DD is grown up now, but she had friends who attended the Cecchetti Northern Associates in Warrington some years ago. I am not sure of the details but I am sure Google will help! Depending on exactly whereabouts you are in the NW and how far you are willing to travel, you could look at the Midlands or Scotland where there are a number of possibilities including Scottish Ballet Associates, MIDAS in Birmingham (run by one of our members here, the fabulous Dr Dance ) and I believe there is a Ballet Boost Associates starting in Newcastle Under Lyme. If you travel east there is Northern Ballet Associates in Leeds, York Dance Scholars and SLP in Leeds also have an associate scheme. You may have missed quite a lot of auditions for this year I'm afraid but its always worth looking for next year. Good luck!

@Peanut68 don't let seasickness rule out a career afloat! My Dad used to get hideously seasick and he was......wait for it......in the navy! 🤣🤣🤣 Seriously, it can be overcome. My Dad said that the first week or two on any new ship were hell for him, but then he got over it. He always used to say that every ship has her own particular motion and once you learn to move with her rather than fight her then the sickness stops. Of course most of us never spend enough time at sea to test that particular theory, but he always swore it was true. The stabilisers on modern cruise ships are very effective and getting better all the time too. Or so I am told - I've never been on one and nor am I likely to until I have some more children off the family pay roll! I do have a hankering for the fjords though.....

A link to this popped up on my Facebook from one of the sports related pages I follow so I thought I would share it here. Sadly it is an issue that many of our young people will be affected by in one way or another so I thought it was worth sharing here. https://www.beateatingdisorders.org.uk/edaw

I've had similar comments regarding my DD's decision to go into teaching. Just let it go over your head. Unsolicited "advice" and comments are annoying, but largely irrelevant. It sounds like your DD is successful and very happy which is what really matters. You don't have to defend her decision to anybody.

If it is any consolation, women's cycling wear is much the same. A UK 14 is generally XL, or XXL in most brands, and is often not in stock. I imagine similar problems exist in other sports and activities. And people wonder why there aren't more women participating in physical activities. 🙄

I learned from a local history book recently, that in the late 1800s it was possible to travel by train to London literally from the end of the road I live on in our tiny Cumbrian village. Now that I know, I can indeed recognise the signs on the landscape of the old railway infrastructure. These days we have a nearly 40 mile drive to the West Coast Mainline and even then not every train stops at our nearest mainline station. We have one bus per week through the village to our nearest town. And they call this progress. 🙄

That must be very frustrating Mrs Brown but I hope some other adjudicators appreciate your girls' dance. I love watching Flamenco, it is so dramatic and beautiful. I guess no adjudicator can be an expert on everything, especially with so many styles of dance to understand in National sections. I actually always have far more respect for those who say " this isn't really my sphere of expertise but..." than those who make bold pronouncements when they clearly don't know the style well. It certainly can be upsetting, especially for younger children when they have tried so very hard and get poor feedback. But I do think there is a lot to be gained even from negative experiences and my DD got very good at picking out what was useful to her and ignoring what wasn't. We actually had a lot of laughs over the conflicting opinions on some of her dances, and as long as she was happy with her performance then so was I. Adjudication looks like a really tough job. I used to find it hard going just to sit through some of the long sections when my DD was competing, especially senior lyrical modern sections with 40 angst ridden teens, or character sections where everyone died 🤣. I can't imagine having to concentrate and try to give some kind of meaningful feedback to every dancer over a whole week! And music festival adjudicators are even more amazing. My son gets comments like " You just held the second semi quaver in bar 82 a fraction too long" and I'm thinking "Whaaat! I know you have the music in front of you but how on earth can you spot that level of detail?!" So whilst I've done my fair share of grumbling over the years, I do really have a lot of respect for adjudicators and most of them do a brilliant job and give a lot to our young people.