celb

Do remember that flexibility in young children may vary particularly during a growth spurt

Oh no my DD is a Cash's girl for best items when the Sharpie/stamper won't do how sad.

Also up north the west coast mainline is closed for engineering works north of Lancaster giving us an annoying 2 hour drive to Preston to put DD on the train back to vocational school- luckily we were forewarned by another dance parent.

Also "dance with your heart ballet skirts" check out her Facebook page

Check out www.designedbyalice.co.uk .She makes skirts in 4 different lengths including teaching length in a variety of colors and styles

Spent a very pleasant morning watching these talented and hardworking young people.What a great advert and insight into the school.

The sports massage therapist at Elmhurst comes in every Wednesday... £22.50 though

Band -Aid also do finger and toe blister pads - I'm not sure if they sell them in the Uk range as my DD buys 10 boxes at a time in the US and then shares them with her friends at school.

Balletmadmom what you are saying applies to London only - the audition set up is different for the different venues.In Birmingham and Manchester the SA audition is on the same day as the Upper School audition whereas the Lower school audition is linked with the MA audition

My DD is the same age.I emailed re this - they I think would only have one audition and was advised for SA / year 10 that she should do the senior photos.Still not sure which day they would be allocated.

Elmhurst does do weekly tap and Jazz in years 7 through 9.Tap I think is optional in higher year groups

My DD was a Royal Ballet School Junior Associate for 3 years.The classes are pitched at quite a basic technical level concentrating on correct technique and conditioning, with homework stretching and strengthening exercises to be done 6 days out of 7.I felt this was a great opportunity for my DD to concentrate on her basic ballet technique.The classes are quite long - 2 1/4 hours and were quite a commitment for a young child ( and parents) particularly if there is a distance to travel to class - we had a 5 hour round trip.Being a JA however was a wonderful experience .In addition to the regular classes there were workshops at the Royal Ballet Upper School in Covent Garden and trips to see the Royal Ballet Company perform in some of their pre grand dress rehearsals at the Royal Opera House.Some JA children do also have some performance opportunities but this mainly seemed to be for London based JAs. Some firm lasting friendships were made amongst both the children and parents.It did lead to us being drawn onto that vocational ballet roller coaster however.

Unfortunately it looks like this is before the end of the UK school term even for my DDs vocational school.

At Elmhurst the children can go home any weekend except the "closed weekend" before the summer show.About once per half term there is a leave out weekend when the kids go home on the Friday afternoon - the time of this varies.On these leave out weekends the children are not allowed back in school before 6pm.It works out as a home visit either leave out or holiday about every 3 weeks.On other weekends the children can go home after their dance classes on Sat am.The finishing time for these depends on grade ; for my DD it was 12.30 in year 7; 10.30 years 8 &9.Phones are not allowed in the main school building.The children get their phones back after afternoon classes but generally don't use them till mid evening after prep dinner evening dance etc.The phones are handed in at bedtime which gives a finite time for parents to get on with their evenings without wondering if their DC is going to call.The children have their phones most of the weekends.The school has wifi so it is possible to communicate by other means eg Skype/ FaceTime until the wifi is switched off generally about 10. All I can say about holidays is they are never long enough!

My 13 year old DD has a 14a Degas leotard - it is equivalent to her wear moi child size 2 school leotard .She is 50th percentile for height ( but mainly legs)

What an exciting and inspiring weekend of dance.My DD and I met up with so many friends ,balleocoers and teachers - great to support an event of this caliber in Scotland .We enjoyed cheering on the talented young dancers from my DD's school and also anyone or anything Scottish.I was disappointed to discover we'd missed a ceilidh on the Saturday night.Back to the dancing- for me suppressing partisan tendencies ,amongst the girls Sasha Leong from Sydney Ballet School really stood out, especially her breathtaking classical variation from La Bayadere.Maki Sekuzu ,a student at Elmhurst demonstrated beautiful classical lines and artistry in a simple white leotard.Padua Eaton's award winning own choreography " Computer Virus" was memorable for its quirkiness and originality (also Elmhurst).John Rhys is a witty and expressive performer rightly capturing the audience award along with his well deserved bronze medal.The opportunity for developing dancers to participate in the Genee coaching classes ,win or lose is reward in itself and something for our younger DCs to aspire to.

pm sent chelsea bun

The ATG group selling the tickets for the finals on Sunday at the theatre royal in Glasgow were advertising 10 to 15 seats still available yesterday so you might still be lucky Chelsea bun www.atgtickets.com .I can't wait to attend the finals on Sunday.DD and her ballet teacher are making the most of their Glasgow weekend by also going to see Scottish Ballet perform The Rite of Spring and Elite Syncopation on Saturday.

Elmhurst also has overseas auditions in Japan now so the number of international students is growing.

Looking at Elmhurst vocational full time 6th form numbers for 2012-13 6:1 25 6:2 18 6:3 21 total numbers mixed men and women.In the lower school the largest was year 10 with 26 and the smallest year 8 with 21 ( but only 4 boys).

There are a number of well known medical studies citing fit and metabolically healthy obese individuals who have a lower risk of death than unfit normal weight individuals such as this one http://eurheartj.oxfordjournals.org/content/34/5/389.

Very disappointed this clashes with the Genee international final in Glasgow - would have loved to attend both

My DD and I read the whole series including the American versions when she was a JA- the content was the same but some of the names were different. Unfortunately I lent them all to a fellow JA and never got them back. I know at Elmhurst there can be very little time between dance and academics.My DD usually keeps her tights on ,rolls them up and adds socks under her joggers as they usually also have evening dance.

When my DD auditioned for a year 7 place we did a November audition to spread them out and it certainly increased her confidence to have bagged a finals place early on but it depends on individual circumstances as to whatever else is going on for your DD & family

When my DD was a Manchester JA she was not marked as absent from school but marked as present but being educated elsewhere.