Interested Parent

This is why in the other thread I was interested to hear that parents did submit their income information last year. They must have been using that information to determine a profile for this years slicing and dicing of their total budget and yes it's unlikely that the priority of talent will always override the need to spend all of the budget or adversely end up with fewer lower income-related DaDa. Basically you can analyse it every which way and I agree that it will be difficult admin for the schools. What I've been searching for is the new DaDa income declaration form so if anyone can find it please post a link.

There was a bit of discussion on another thread about the means-test DaDas this year and how they will be allocated taking into account merit and 'pot of money' so I thought I would add this link here. Many of you will have already seen it, however the panel down the side has an interesting pdf entitled DaDa provisers scheme guide that may be of some interest: http://www.education.gov.uk/childrenandyoungpeople/youngpeople/studentsupport/a00203099/dada-scheme It would be interesting to know if this is actually how each school is administering it.

Can I ask why they asked for them at all seeing as the DaDa was not means-tested last year? Sorry probably a stupid question :-z

I'm sure we've probably all considered that option. Unfortunately it cuts down your options considerably (Tring, Hammond, ENBS, Elmhurst, Northern Ballet all DaDa). I reckon Central and Rambert will be rolling in talented dancers accepting places. I know the Uni funding option is contentious but what would be the reason for the DaDa schools not giving up the Trinity diploma and changing over to the undergrad Foundation Degree? Would stop the block for every child with talent and give our children the same education rights as other non-ballet kids.

I wholeheartedly agree with everyone on this. Clearly Mr Laws does not know the difference between 'classical ballet' and 'performing arts' in general and, although it may be hoped that the figures and scales will be reviewed, that does not help the majority of parents and DCs who are suffering this ridiculous 'fag packet' solution that he has come up with. We have had to rethink our situation and had that very difficult conversation with our DD about giving up her ballet dream after years of hardwork and dedication. I also noticed the lack of print on this issue in Dancing Times but did notice a plethora of adverts for schools without the infamous word 'DaDa' in any of them! Shouldn't the schools be working WITH parents on this. After all our children are their future!! I can only hope that the schools are reading this thread........

I think you'll find the results of the test have no bearing on the offer of a place; well that's what we were told when DD auditioned. They were sent to her school and time was set aside for her to do them during the school day.

if only! Could you please advise where LJB and LSB are moving to/will reside in September?

Does anyone have access to the dance 'newspapers'? Would be interested to know if any dance journalists have picked up on this and would write an article; maybe offer a parents view on the whole nightmare!

I would be interested in this too Suzyszoo. Does anyone know how pensions contributions affect the 'family income' you need to submit into the current MDS and DaDa system? Also, we would have an issue around self-employment. Our situation would currently take us over the 70k band and therefore impossible but what if one year my husbands earnings brought our total income lower than 70k and another year took it over? Would we have to pay 7k and then potentially 20-30k the following year?

Redroofs is very near me in Berkshire. The majority of their lessons are very much musical theatre driven and they produce strong child stars for the West End and television. I don't believe there is any bias towards classical ballet. Have you looked at their website?

Ooh thank you DrDance. I will take a look.

Please PM me and advise your price

I contacted them and they said it finishes between 3.30 and 4pm.

Your post made me laugh Spooky. When my DD got her first pair of pointe shoes and I had to sew on ribbons etc, I was very careful not to damage the satin ensuring my hands were thoroughly clean and the stitches were small and neat (on the inside!). Then when I looked at them after 1 week of wear, I realised these were shoes for 'working in' and now I am not so careful. DD soon to be 14 and I know what she will be getting for her birthday - a sewing kit!!!

My DD does both CBA and TPA. TPA is similar to a good local school with a high level of teaching. I would say that the auditions for TPA were designed to enable the school to put your DC into the right group and when they write to you confirming the place, they list the classes they think you will benefit from. Obviously they take into account your current grade (RAD ballet and ISTD Mod / Tap) but they also offer free-work classes in Jazz, Contemporary, Ballet, singing, drama etc. You don't have to take everything they offer. Liz x

If she wants to try other forms of dance, I believe she should. She is only 9 and already enjoying many classes of ballet so another class of say modern or tap would do no harm. She may not enjoy it but at least then she will know and if she does she will experience another form of dance and a new way of using her body but with the added benefit of her ballet technique. Go for it!

Wow Lisadebs, what a proud Mum you must be! My DD knew one of the girls as a friend she had made at YBSS; may be your DD? To my untrained eye the young ones all performed beautifully and as well as the main dancers. Wishing her lots of luck with the rest of the performances. BTW I also loved the feathery swan costumes.

I fear to write any sort of review on here as I know very little about ballet, so I am writing this as a complete novice and parent of a young, aspiring ballet dancer... we went to see the Welcome family performance on Saturday and absolutely loved it. We saw Steven McRae and Roberta Sanchez (hope I have that right) and they were wonderful, especially Steven with his fantastic but graceful leaps!!! There were, as expected, lots of little ones in the audience and whenever the swans (corps) came on all those little girls and boys sighed around me so yes our next generation does love to see these classical ballets. As part of the welcome performance we had a talk at the beginning and then during the long interval they left the safety curtain up and allowed us to view the set change. They also opened up the back of the stage so we could see some of the other sets being put together and 1 of the RB principal dancers explained everything very well about the set changes!!! Very exciting and front stall tickets were only £20.. my DD stroked and thanked the seat as we left as she knew she would never be sitting in those seats again

My DD and I have been to see a performance of the Espinosa Company and the quality was very good with several dancers from Tring Park. Unfortunately the theatre venue was very small and there were very few people at the show so any publicity Yat Sen Chang and Espinosa can get is good news.

For us, accommodation was VERY important and if the accommodation had not been good enough we would not have allowed our daughter to audition. You also don't get to look around at Audition 1 and so we would have still been none the wiser on accommodation if my DD had been lucky enough to get a Final Audition. By this time we would have wasted much time and effort on the solos, photos, costs to apply, time off school etc only to find that the accommodation was not suitable. At the open day you also get to watch a short performance in their small theatre and to ask lots of questions about teaching, scholarships, number of MDS places available etc which you don't get at Audition 1. I would highly recommend the open days.

I have done both open days and/or tours with all of the 4 schools: 1. RBS no open day but can book 'JA for a day' for those seeking 11 years Year 7 and then Audition 1 with no tour, Audition Final with tour. 2. Elmhurst no open day, Audition 1 tour of school facilities, Audition Final tour of accommodation (although this may have changed). 3. Hammond not sure on open days but Audition 1 tour of school and accommodation, Audition Final none. 4. Tring yes open days, Audition 1 tour of school, facilities. My experience was that I needed the Open Days for Tring because I had never seen the school or accommodation and if my DD was going to audition, she needed to have a solo dance and possibly singing piece/music which all costs time and money so wanted to be sure it was right for her before we committed to the audition.

Thank you.

May I ask if the SA classes in London are in Covent Garden or White Lodge?

Hi Danceroo. When we applied a few years ago we attended the open day and got a Q&A session with the Principal. That year they had between 5 and 8 MDS places available.

Well done Lil. That is great news and a lovely start for her. How is she getting on with her accommodation?