Lena

Thank you everyone for your amazing advice on this, very helpful.

Well done to your daughter, she’s done so well, great to see positive examples like this! X

Hello lovely dance community, I am wondering about your views about the usefulness of RAD grades for vocational training. Is working through the grades good preparation or is the time better spent doing other types of training (if so what)? Many thanks!

We were in that position (deciding late) last year, got a last minute admission to Malvern, it was fantastic. Great training but also great fun.

Very glad the move worked out well for you and your family! X

Hi Boys_can_dance, this is super interesting, thinking about a similar move for upper school in 2 year’s time. May I ask which schools you considered/applied for? Did you go visit them? I am finding many of their websites not very informative (esp. Neumeier & Berlin Staatsballett).

No, would just be her not the rest of the family... not thinking about an immediate move, but maybe when she's 15/16ish... in theory it's just a short plane trip away, although of course that is assuming that the pandemic will leave us at some point, which at the moment feels like it might never happen...

Thank you!

Thank you Valentina, that is very helpful!

Thank you Jan, very useful indeed!

Thank you Kate_N... all important considerations! The schools I looked at list a flat fee and do not seem to make the the 'home' vs. 'overseas' distinction that we are used to in the UK, but I will dig deeper... and yes there are other costs as you point out... if I do discover this as a viable route then happy to share! My daughter speaks some German which obviously would help, much more daunting for a dancer who gets dumped in a totally unknown language environment...

Thank you ally6684, that is really good to know! All the best to your dancer!

Dear dance community, I have a question about training abroad. In the UK, lower school training that requires boarding is SOOOO expensive, even taking into consideration government funding. In contrast, the Arts are more heavily subsidised in some other countries, meaning that if one gets accepted at audition the actual training is much much much cheaper... we are thinking of auditioning e.g. at the State Ballet School in Germany, and wondering whether anyone has experiences with trying to train abroad? Thank you!

Hi, I have a dance obsessed 11 year old, but we are not ready to send her boarding for lower school (nor could we afford to!). But, I am wondering whether by not doing Lower School we jeopardise her chances of doing Vocational Training later on. How many students manage to get into decent full-time vocational training after GCSE who have not been to full-time training before? If we keep doing intermediate foundation onwards at our local studio, and also an Associate Programme (e.g. Ballet Boost or CSB), will that be enough? At the moment she dances 6 times a week but clearly it is not as intense as proper full-time training at RBS, Elmhurst or Tring ! Could it be enough to get more serious later? Interested to hear about any experiences you have with this! Thank you so much.