robin64

C4D I bet they look lovely. Best of luck with vocational school. My favourite shoes when the girls were younger were the lovely navy Mary Janes from Startrite and those sandals with the little hole patterns in the leather...wistful sigh. We once found a pair of Bloch women's shoes - black pumps in TK Maxx and they are gorgeous and lasted for ages but they cost around £100 + normally. Thanks for the link Spanner and Primrose that made me laugh..the look of disgust which also applies to my school bag suggestions! DD has woken up with a cold this morning so we won't do the shoe run today..phew.

Thanks, it's what I thought. I have had plantar fasciitis before and my ankles really hurt in the morning. I wondered what it was for ages, just thought I was getting old and creaky but it seems to have gone now. I will have the chat and let you know how we got on. Where do other people shop? I was thinking Clarks or Jones and I think there might be a Russell and Bromley...any other suggestions to try? we are in the South Midlands so Gloucester, Cheltenham, Hereford area.

I wondered if DrDance or anyone else could give me some advice please. My DD needs new school shoes and I am of the belief that she should choose wisely to take care of her feet because she dances almost daily, putting in many hours per week. In the past I have bought her the usual Start Rite/ Clarks shoes but last time she got some ballet flat type shoes from a girls chain shop (NL if I can hint) they look all baggy now and the sole is very thin. They must give no support at all and she does have quite big feet too (slim fit size 8). Am I being a fussy mum and should I let teen peer expectations (won't call it pressure but more along lines of "no-one wears clarks in y8 or 9") win. Any dance science I can use to convince her please. Or has anyone else bought nice school shoes lately for a tip on where to go? DD isn't too stubborn so I can probably convince her to get a reasonable pair without too much argument but some feet facts would be helpful I think before hitting the shops.

Thanks for the site. It is always helpful and interesting.

Very pleased for you David. Good luck. Did you enjoy summer school?

Well done. I agree they are an exciting company. The summer school was fantastic. Have a great time.

http://www.ballet.org.uk/details.php?id=13 I think this is a link to the workshops at ENB. You need to click on the production and scroll down rather than try the pages on "learning". Ballet Buddies and Friends of ENB get discounts on workshops and I expect you would receive emails telling you about what is on.

Hi my DD did a "Strictly Gershwin" workshop last year with ENB. She really enjoyed it and it was exciting to go to their HQ in London. Plus it was free! so all in all a fab day! Have a great time x We booked it as part of "kidsweek" last year but I didn't see any ballet workshops listed this time. Dancing10 look at their website it will probably have workshops listed there. We have tried a rep workshop at RAD HQ and that was a nice day too. I think they also run various workshops around the country.

http://www.birdcollege.co.uk/courses_prevoc.php hi pointytoes, have a look at this. These pre vocational courses are designed to help the late bloomer and give you an audition chance and a way of building your confidence. Other colleges probably do them too so might be good for you to find out about.

If you look on the RAD website they are doing some workshops in Taunton this year and you could try a repertoire workshop at HQ in London. It would only mean a day trip. Details of all the courses are in the education and training section where you can find a handy calendar with all the events. One thing I would recommend for you is to try and see as many dance performances as you can because interviews at CAT auditions and I am sure other colleges ask you about this and will expect to see that you have watched a good variety of dance performances especially contemporary if you are aiming for that. Keep a note of all your dance experiences and the performances you have seen and try and record what your thoughts and feelings were. Can you do a GCSE in dance at school or a BTEC at a local college? If you have your heart set on ballet then you will have to be ready to be utterly realistic because the places are so limited and the requirements including physical things you can't change are very stringent plus it is harder to get into this later especially for a girl. This is just a fact of life. We have a male family friend who started ballet at 15 and is very successful but it is just more competitive for females. Please don't think I am trying to put you off and I do feel you should follow up your interest but be prepared to look at all your options into dance. I do think it would be good to get your regular dance teacher on board if you can, you might be suprised at the support you get.

How nice I hope she has a great time and well done to you both for being so resilient and trying again. It seems to me that this is something very important in the world of dance!

Spanner we posted at the same time! I would recommend phoning the CAT team in Swindon. I think they would be helpful and have contacts in SW.

Hi Pointytoes Did you try for the CAT in Exeter? It is contemporary not ballet though but there would be some ballet classes maybe. If you can get to a train station easily or get a lift you could look further afield if it is once a month. We live in a fairly rural place and usually have to look pretty far and wide for extra opportunities in the larger cities. Is there anything in Bristol say or Plymouth? Don't be worried about talking to your teacher. I am sure she will support you if she sees your passion to try for auditions. You could look beyond the main vocational schools too for some training - other colleges and companies do post 16 dance training or summer/easter schools. Try asking your local county council if they have any youth dance companies. Gloucestershire provide a service where young dancers can get advice on training. I think you have to just ring and make an appointment. We haven't done this but DD has been involved in county dance and enjoyed it - the workshops were a high standard (again mainly contemporary but I think the teachers had ballet backgrounds). If you can do a summer school it might give you the chance to talk to other young dancers and see what they are doing. Best of luck. Keep positive.

I don't think they will have any strict rules for summer school. I would suggest it says coloured leo and tights because that is what lots of people use for tap/modern lessons eg our dance school had purple leo and lycra tights for those lessons but older girls always swapped to black footless tights. As long as your DD has comfy dance wear I am sure it will be fine. H&M have reasonable plain hoodys if you want to pick one up. Hope she has fun!

thanks spanner, I might phone before we go and can print off a map to take. We are going for Kidsweek and there is a free dance workshop before the Top Hat musical for dancing DD and an art one for non dancing DD. Should be fun.

Can I just double check..did you say you don't need an appointment at that Freed shop please? We have a couple of days in London in August and I was hoping to sort out some new pointe shoes for DD (terrible feet, difficult but not impossible for pointe work so I need help from someone good). I know where Dancia and Capezio shops are, is the Freed shop near there too? oh and do they have lots of different makes at the Freed shop such as Grishkos? Thanks in advance all. Once had a fitting at Capezio store a few years ago which was ok but not amazing.

I appreciate reading the heated threads and on this site everyone is very polite in the way they post. It is good to get a warts and all view and in many ways it sheds a realistic light on what can be seen as a fairy tale world. Good on you to apologise taxi. even if you didn't need to. As I said I like a frank exchange of views anyway.

You might try a local FE college that offers dance diploma, BTEC. (won't be just ballet though) Another idea is to contact the CAT scheme which I think might be Ipswich (not 100% on that location) they might be able to point you in the right direction. Try private tuition (could cost quite a bit though). Most regular dance schools have evening lessons to fit in with school. It's a nice idea but could I ask why the school would do this if they did not already know about the training your DD could do on this day off? Most schools seem really strict about time off. DDs was a bit sniffy with her having time off for a panto. How about finding out if enough pupils would be interested in dance GCSE to merit a teacher coming in to teach this? Anyway best of luck with it, let us know what you find.

Well after all that you can't go! I agree I love to hear how the grown up DCs are doing. Pop back sometimes. x

KItschqueen, thanks, that is very reassuring. DD auditioned for a CAT this year and got called back but her letter advised her to try next year as they wanted to offer places to 14 year olds or above because they needed the training more to try for vocational schools. I know she will go again as she loved the day and I think it would be right for her. We shall see what happens. Nice to hear your scheme being so positive and I hope your DD continues to thrive.

Elfies mum, thanks and it sounds as though your DD has what it takes. DH is 6'4 with size 12 feet so poor old DD has some of those genes thrown in I think! My DD will never be a classical dancer but ballet is the disciplined side for her and I think it does show in other types of dance she does. I agree with you as long as she is happy and enjoying her dance then I will help her. Good luck to your DD at Northern Intermediates and summer school. I bet she will have a great time.

Thanks for the encouragement. Last week I went in to finally hand in our notice to stop ballet lessons after DD had reluctantly gone to a pointe lesson and I felt it was time to stop and she agreed. After 11 years it was a very big decision and quite emotional. Well, what do you know..DD came out of the lesson saying "I hope you haven't given in the letter, I know it's been hard but that lesson was great, the teacher was supportive and I just can't give up, I love it too much" I didn't know whether to laugh or cry! So we are back on the rollercoaster! I have been away this weekend but coming back and reading your responses has been so nice. I am glad we have faced a bit of a crisis in a way because DD has had to really think and assess what she loves about ballet and has made the decision for herself with no pushing from me although deep down I was disappointed about her giving up. It won't be easy but she is determined to work through the issues with her difficult feet and ankles and her teacher feels that it is not an impossible task. Luckily for her other forms of dance seem to come quite easily but as you all know ballet is just very special.

Klaris, height shouldn't stop someone's dream but the harsh reality is it probably will and unfortunately tall is probably worse than petite in that respect. DD does do contemporary but even with this I am sure there are some limits to who passes auditions.

My DD is now 5'8 and still only 13 so probably has not finished growing. She has begun to think that the possibility for her to dance is looking over. I know she is sad about it. Non dancing DD is 15 and shorter with smaller feet. Eleven years of ballet classes and various other dance classes for years too and the reality of height and physique is now here. We now have to think about what to do and whether to let some dreams go. There have been some tears shed already. We do have some dance things lined up for the summer but in the long run I don't know now....

What do you all pay for lessons then? I pay £6.70 per lesson up front and a term in advance for one school and DD does 4 classes per week there (!) but another school DD goes to just does pay as you go and that is £4 per hour, you just pay at the beginning of the lesson and drop it in a tin so half an hour tap is £2. I have never paid for private lessons but would be interested to know what the usual cost is for these. I wonder if costs for lessons vary around the country? Talking of good value Ballet Cymru general dance week summer school is £60 for the week, ballet is £120 (non boarding).