robin64

Dancingdad, thanks for taking the time to tell us about ballet trust. It must have been very frustrating for you to face all that red tape. It is admirable that you tried to help out other dancing families. Wishing your son success in his dancing.

Best of luck for the grade 8. Hope all goes well.

So the bottom line is that they cannot help with funding and I didn't actually see any details for other sources of funding for people to try (unless I missed that on their site). It would be good if they had a list of charities or other funding bodies for people to contact. The information on all the different schools might be helpful to someone with a young dancer but this forum is better as information is so current and questions answered so promptly.

Good advice as ever on here but also you could look out for the workshops and short events run by RAD HQ, RBS outreach, ENB etc Last year there were free workshops in August with ENB as part of KIDSWEEK but I haven't seen any ballet ones offered this year. DD did one at RAD HQ too which was reasonably priced and a good day out in London for us too. I think some of the CAT centres run short dance workshops in the summer hols too. Try summer classes/schools and maybe try other forms of dance to add to your DDs experience. Lots of DCs do tap, modern, contemporary etc which can be fun and another route to dance if not quite right for vocational ballet training. Try to take your DD to some live ballet and dance performances as often as you can.

I don't know this author's books really but if anyone lives near Gloucester she is signing books at DD1s school fete on 7th July. DD1 is too old for them and not in to girly books but maybe dancing DD might enjoy this one. PM if you want the address as don't know if I can post it. Get your birthday books signed! I have been told that the books are for Y6/Y7 ish age maybe Y8 too perhaps.

Do you think that her teachers only teach her and not have regular classes with other students? It does seem strange that teachers would go against what is considered safe and best practice to put her en pointe. But as has been said why does a competition like YAGP allow it? They would be giving it the seal of approval by awarding prizes which then sets a precedent. It does seem like a huge amount of pressure on such a young girl. Everything is so extreme nowadays it feels like there is no room for good or hard working but only for these extremes..how young or thin or bendy a dancer is or how obsessively pushy are the parents or teachers!! oh dear I am really having doubts whether DD can get anywhere with such fierce competition. And yes I know that this sort of thing is not the norm but DD is getting to the age/stage at thinking about the future and I am feeling a bit disheartened today.

Spanner, Is it usual for girls this young to be en pointe in some countries then or is this little girl a child protegee?

I am sure it takes a lot of work to get a charity up and running and then work to maintain and manage the funds that do come in. A huge amount of work - but then again these things do happen. I suppose if all dance schools had to pay in to it (obviously this would then be passed as a cost to clients) then funds would build up enough to be useful..but I am not sure I could see it happening. Maybe parents could opt in to contributing something..but would enough want to as lessons can be expensive anyway? Hmm, seems like a passionate idea that hit a brick wall...shame they didn't reply to people contacting them though. I agree that just expecting people to paypal money into some account without being absolutely 100% sure what it was about would not appeal. A nice idea though and how many times on here have people wished they could get help with funding?

Ah, I wonder what happened? Just didn't work out I suppose. I did think that they had got lots of information together and that looks prove helpful as an introduction to training options.

I did watch the first position trailer on youtube but did anyone else click on the related film of a 9 year old Lada Sartakova winning 2nd place at the YAGP 2012 in Paris with a solo en pointe? Sorry I couldn't get a link to work but good gracious...9 years old!!

http://www.ballettrust.org.uk/ I stumbled across this today and wondered if anyone had heard of it. There certainly is a great deal of information about vocational training on the website. It seems that they are not at the point of anyone applying for funding yet and appears to be a new venture. Just thought it might be an interesting item for discussion.

Congrats David, hope you have a great time. DD is doing dance course 2 and ballet 3. I also found the communication really friendly and helpful. It's our first time so looking forward to it.

btw I do mean the height limits are for the childrens parts! but I know there has been quite a bit of discussion on heights for ballet companies/schools. DD doesn't want a ballet career but she is trying to continue with dance and luckily is a naturally good tapper and picks up any dance routines quickly. I just think that with dance there will be probably be a height issue over and above a certain height. We will have to see...

Ballet taxi, I think you are probably more in luck with a smaller DD because they can play younger age but have the maturity. Junior roles sometimes have height limits such as 4'6 or 5' eg Matilda or any of the musical type shows. The panto DD did just needed matching pairs for the 2 teams so DD was matched with a girl of a similar height (she wasn't as tall then) and they shared costumes which were made for them. They chose a range of ages/heights, boys and girls. My DD is really worrying that if she gets any taller it will be the end of her chances at dance or MT college. Most people would be thrilled with such long slim legs (wish I had them...must be from DHs side!)

I agree with ballet taxi. It might be good to check out the past experience of those at your chosen venue. The pantos my DD did were at the same venue - a nice theatre in a medium sized town. It was a professional show but the juniors are not paid. They have excellent cast members but do not use a star. We had been going to watch pantos at this theatre since our DCs were small and liked them. I have seen one or two star type pantos and haven't always enjoyed them. ballet taxi, gosh what a shame. You must have been really annoyed. If it is good there is something quite magical and festive about being involved in panto and even with the hard work and daily commitment my DD never waned in her enthusiasm about doing it. As I mentioned she would do it every year if she could. Our panto has age 14 as the upper limit for auditioning but DD is now 5'8 so I am not sure she would look junior enough now. This is a difficulty with any MT auditions now for her - most have a height limit.

Me too, well done! you are always so helpful I'm glad it has gone your way.

DD did 2 years in panto and loved it. There were 2 teams and they took it in turns to do matinee or eve so it was a show each day (not Suns) DD was in y6 and y7 when she did them. It did involve a big commitment but we all enjoyed it really. She made great friends and would have happily auditioned again. We couldn't manage to spare all the taxi time last xmas because I had a different job so DD couldn't do it. We took her on her birthday to see it and she had a brilliant time seeing her friends on stage (although she did wish she was up there!) It is a fantastic experience. There was a great team and both times involved a ballet scene with lovely tutus plus lots of other dancing and singing/acting. DD met several graduates of dance/MT colleges who were in the cast and this gave her more of an idea about the career side of it.The juniors also had to write and perform their own panto for the cast and families to watch in the final week. These were great fun. DDs primary head was great and the whole school came to watch but once she got to grammar I would say they were less happy about the time off. However we had moved so it meant an hour's drive from school to the theatre and they had to be there an hour before the show so it was quite a lot of time off. Saying that it made no difference to how she got on at school work wise. It certainly teaches a lot about stage craft and having a professional attitude. A great experience and I would say go for it. DDs panto was open auditions and several of the same children came back and got in year after year but I know some theatres just use a local school/s for the junior chorus.

16 and 17 year olds have a lot of school work commitments so 1 ballet lesson might be enough for them. I am not so sure it is always a good thing to compare age and grades. Everyone is different.

Wishing your DS all the best for a speedy recovery. What a shame. At least the weather is ok and he can get some fresh air and sunshine. Hope he feels better soon.

If you can get the opportunity see if your DDs can do an inclusive dance workshop, course or summer school. It did my DD the world of good to dance with young people with disabilities and it puts things like my DDs big feet and long toe that she moaned about into perspective. She had a great time and learned lots about the pleasure people get from dance. In our area it is the county dance team that run these sessions. She has done a few of these over the year and it is always fab to go and watch when they show the work.

I think at 8 years old you are right to just let your DD do what she wants. It's about enjoyment and fun at that stage and also there are lots of hobbies and activities to try. If she still wants to try different forms of dance she can do that when she's ready. At 8 most Dcs are having a go at sports and swimming, perhaps taking up an instrument or going to Brownies. She has got her ballet to be going on with and tap and jazz will come on quickly when your DD is older if she thinks she might like to go back. I think they suit slightly older ones anyway.

hi, I would be interested too but would like recommendations for fitting in W. Midlands/South West or even S. Wales areas as we can get to these fairly easily. We usually end up in London or Brighton over the summer so those would be an option. DD has difficult feet with a long big toe and esp finds pointe hard and I am sure an expert fitting would be helpful to her. Tiffany sounds good Spanner, maybe you can find out where she has gone to!

Is the Oliver rehearsal for a professional show? It is usually a no no to miss any rehearsals so I would be sure to seriously ok this with the show team. You might be able to have your CAT interview at an earlier time and shoot off to make the rehearsal. I think the CAT panel would be pleased with your DS commitment to a project. Just a thought? That said, if your DS isn't needed too much for that rehearsal they may be flexible.

sorry that should be Gershwin no extra c pardon my spelling

Gerschwin. ENB has recently done a Strictly Gerschwin show and they did have some clips on the website I think, or some classic Hollywood like Top Hat, Singin in the Rain etc I also thought of West Side Story too. ENB are collaborating with Flawless so you could try a ballet/urban mix??