batmanballetshoes

Dont they have a homestay program - email them. But kids do travel it just becomes not practical after a late night rehearsal. Good luck xx

27 minutes ago, Lifeafterballet said:

Sarasota Ballet pay their Studio Company dancers $1,000 per month. 2019-2020. 

Just about survivable on if you are in a shared apartment and budget well.

But of course there’s the cost of the flight, deposit and health insurance to consider. The company paid for the visa petition too. I recall that it wasn’t a student one as the Studio Company and main company international dancers were all on the same petition. 
 

Nice! That’s actually very generous! Let’s all head to Sarasota!!!  Yes all different just from our personal experience with various studio companies it’s a student vocational  visa and limited pay and no performance certainly no job guarantee.  Thanks for the heads up! 

3 hours ago, Birdy said:

I don’t believe that any of last year’s RBS graduates who got contracts in the USA held US passports. 2 were from Australia, 1 was from Japan, 1 was from Spain, 1 was from the UK, and 1 was from Korea. I can’t think of a single big ballet company in the United States that doesn’t have international dancers. My (American) DD was fortunate to be offered a junior company contract with a European company that she believes is a better fit for her than any company in the US.

Technically if you get a place on a US studio company that is not a "job" it is not paid and is further training and classed as education so the international passport holder is granted a student F1 visa which allows them to remain in the country for the length of the course. Different to the right to work.  Although yes there are plenty of internationals in US companies rare to be a graduate.  

& while we're on it paying to go to an audition when you don't even know the terms of the contract.... unheard of in any other profession - cant imagine paying to go to an interview and not knowing the salary! 

16 minutes ago, Sadielou said:

At the risk of being shouted down I thought I would share a few of my insights, thoughts on the current work / audition situation for our young dancers.

 

As some have mentioned previously there are now far too many schools, just counted 12 in the UK, (and they are just the well know ones), and far too few jobs to accommodate the amount of Graduates filing out of them every year. The ratios involved are never going to add up. So why oh why are “Dancers” on the Gov UK jobs available list ???  Another petition needed I think.

 

Due to the lack of jobs, many vocational colleges have ramped up their training to include an extra Graduate year, and now another new trend has emerged the “Trainee course” and my personal hate “The Junior Company” These courses are only serving to prolong the fate of dancers that are unable to find viable jobs. Yes I hear you scream, but isn’t it better that students are keeping in shape, doing class and gaining valuable experience. No, in my humble opinion it is fleecing parents of money and prolonging the inevitable.

 

Many European Companies have a glut of older dancers, dancers that are entrenched until retirement (who can blame them) so there are very few new contracts up for grabs. Employing new dancers on full time contracts, runs the risk (after two years employment) of having that dancer fill that spot till the bitter end. So Companies having got wise to this have invented “The Junior Company” or “Trainees" to fill their empty Corps spots. Because on these Junior contracts, young dancers can easily be replaced yearly, with no worry of having them wait out their time till retirement. New blood every year for the company for way less money, win win. Having had a Son working for a European Junior Company. I know first hand, that these kids get paid less (some not at all) Yet do the same amount of work and in most cases more than the full time Corps Company members.

 

My other Son after graduation had a “Trainee” contract in a different European Co. He was paid 500 Euros a month, which didn’t even cover his rent. The contract stated that the trainees would be training alongside the full time company dancers and helped into work at the end of the contract. Of course this didn’t happen. On day one the Director gave an introductory speech, his first statement being that  ‘There will be no contracts at the end of this season” A very depressing reality on your first day. There was no “Training” per se and all trainees were thrown into all performances alongside the full company members, even, as in my Sons case doing featured roles. At the end of the contract, there was, as promised no contracts and no help with auditioning elsewhere. Not even a thank you for all your hard work. All that was offered was another trainee year. We nearly capitulated and signed a second contract, but in the end had to come to the sensible decision, that it was simply unaffordable, and delaying the inevitable. We found out later that the Government paid this Company 3000 Euros per month for each trainee of which there were 6. As the trainees themselves only received 500 per month.this meant that  15000 euros monthly went into the company coffers curtsy of these young dancers. What a rip off !

 

I thought that since my dancing days things would have improved, but actually think they have got much worse. At least in my day students were paid to perform with the major companies. I am fed up with hearing of young dancers being expected to work as extras for little or no payment, propping up the major companies who couldn't do the classics without them.

 

Year after year ENB use young dancers as extra’s. ENB have pared down their contracted dancers to such a degree that they simply cannot do any of their classics without an influx of extras. These dancers are treated like second class citizens, not given company dressing rooms, (literally put in a bathroom) unable to use the company Gym or Physio suite and on top of that ENB has the audacity to pay them £100  a week less than the corps company members who are doing the same and in some cases less work. But year after year ENB know dancers will apply as extra’s hoping to gain that illusive full contract. A contract that never materialises as more often than not the Director has already employed a dancer scouted from one or other of the big competitions, or, as I see this year already, a Canadian, Dutch trained dancer scouted at the Grands Audition. Why don't they take from their feeder school, or from the many extra's who already know their productions. These students / extras must be good enough as they are already performing for paying audiences under the ENB banner. RB & BRB are even worse as they don't even bother to pay their students. Once again poor parents, are unwittingly subsidising these productions, by providing a free workforce and on top of that paying outrageous ticket prices, to see their kids on stage. Please remember parents that the Directors of these companies are all being paid extremely well and that none of these big productions could be staged without this poorly paid /free work force. I think this is a scandal that badly needs addressing.

 

In the UK we have all been lead to believe that training at a well known and respected vocational school is the way to launch our children on the job ladder. However from all the replies, & comments on this thread this is obviously not the case. As Parents we are now expected, to finance private coaching, extra graduate /trainee years, professional photo’s, videos, competition fees / audition fees (Grands audition, YAGP Job fair, and several small companies charge a fee)  costumes, travel and accommodation. Along with subsidising the big companies by providing living & travel expenses for a child working for free or very little. An impossibility for many families. Ballet has sadly once again become a career only the well off can afford. If your child is not at a top feeder school and one of the very few on the fast track to the adjoined company. It seems that private tuition and the chance to perform on the competition circuit is the only way to bag a good contract. I can think of several boys and girls that are now in top jobs whom on paper do not conform to the stipulations on their current companies audition notices. I am not saying that these kids do not deserve their contracts just that if they hadn’t had the opportunity and finances to perform on the competition circuit, they may not have even have been invited to an in person audition. The cost of competitions has already been discussed on this thread. There was an article in Pointe magazine totting up the costs, See link https://pointemagazine.com/ballet-competitions-101/  This article was written in 2018, so imagine the costs now, eye watering !

 

Although we as a family are very lucky to have both kids working, the pain and angst involved on the audition circuit has at times been over whelming. What is the answer, is there one ? What can we as parents do to change this toxic audition / work culture ? As parents we all want our kids to achieve their dreams, but sometimes to quote the old cliche you have to be cruel to be kind, and know when enough is enough. Sadly in most cases it turns out the rewards at the end of the Ballet Rainbow are way too few to counteract the, hard work, expense and inevitable disappointments. Would I do it all again ?  On reflection, honestly no. 

Thank you for being so transparent and blunt.  This is my experience exactly. 

25 minutes ago, Sadielou said:

It seems that the audition was just a marketing move. The same as using the LCB name. The blurb and the fact that the Co Director held, paid for pre audition classes at Pineapple with the carrot of being seen early and getting "pre audition feedback" definitely gave most the feeling that this would be a company of mainly new dancers. The Director even told the auditionees at the beginning of the final audition, that they were looking for 12 dancers. The whole audition culture has become toxic. 

Totally and this guy is one of the better ones. It’ll never change… 

8 hours ago, Peanut68 said:

I think we are perhaps being hard on LCB for holding auditions that purportedly only 4 dancers then gained contracts from. That hit rate is quite likely high in comparison to many a closed ie. Invite only following applications company audition. I guess as it was in effect a start up the feeling was that there were 14 jobs up for grabs. Yes, but just like in any industry there will likely  have been a bit of head hunting & active recruitment going on well before & after these auditions. Let’s just hope that LCB proves a big hit with UK audiences & that they do lots of audience research. If we audience goers support them & at the same time feedback how we’d really love to see more UK dancers within a UK company then maybe that will help for future recruitment opportunities - both in increasing the numbers of dancers but also perhaps looking to improve the ratio of UK/overseas talent 

LCB was not an open audition. It was selected from video.

There are few jobs.

Spot on @Ruby Foo

HI - I have one XS left and a couple of S if you DM me your number I will send photos!

hi - sorry just saw this will have a look and PM you!

I believe you can also audition for Ballet Central - the third year only of Central School of Ballet 3 year course x

Hi! Sorry that is long gone - what are you looking for? I have many many Yumiko mainly in a size Small - would you like me to have a look and let you know what I have? X

PS I have used ours on carpet.... but we dont have a big shaggy one! 

Hello - if you go onto the Harlequin Dance floor website they have a section called "Home studio" where you can buy a good sized piece for home, I think they sell a travel bag etc although my daughter just uses a yoga strap.  There are cheaper options that we used over covid when we had to basically cover the whole living room floor but I cant remember their names! you'll probably find them if you search... really useful investment actually for practice at home ..... sad to say ours is well travelled 😂😂😂😂

@Jewel @Neverdancedjustamum copy that! And mine has a BA in dance 😂😂😂😂😂😂

Brave students to speak out.

Pure joy! If you have the time grab a ticket and go! you'll come out dancing and singing!

Not sure where you live but get her on the stage! At age 8 the best experience a child can get is the joy of dancing, rehearsing with friends and being in the wings in costume and make up! Can you audition for London Children's Ballet? Good luck x

Yes I hear it is necessary for gaining sponsorship in a country if you need a work visa. A few friends have needed to show some form of qualification to get a visa in Europe where they only hold UK passports. They were classical dancers going into classical companies, some even had top school training and were clearly strong dancers but still need to show some form of qualification to be granted a visa to work by the various authorities.

flip flops for the shower and a bikini 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 !!!!

I think you answered the question yourself - your daughter has loads of friends and would hate to leave.  Don't worry too much if she is happy and enjoying herself we can easier get far too emotional and involved with stuff that actually our kids handle quite well. A lot of what you have said I would say is typical of not just ballet of a whole heap of extra curriculum stuff.  Good luck xxx

Adore Amber x

I have returned leotards to them before that were too small but obviously not custom made ones - email the Berlin store they are really helpful and I think are the guys who send out the European orders.

Good luck xx

We used Wolsely Hall Oxford, I think covered 5 subjects but they do masses  - it was really good, they provided a week by week plan, assessments, books etc  and when DD transferred back into mainstream education in Year 9 she was streamed into all the top sets and ended up with top GCSE grades so wasn't behind at all.  Only thing I would say is you need to be self motivated so we did end up with a tutor once a week in each subject to give a bit of direction and that worked well.

Good luck I guess what I'm trying to say is it can absolutely be done but you need to be motivated and draw up a schedule and stick to it - it is easy for ballet to take precedent and education is super important particular at this age. I know quite a few who have ended up age 18-20 with no GCSE which even if they have the most wonderful impressive career having no qualifications does nothing for your self-esteem. xx