dancerbabe82

I have been following this thread and what strikes me more than anything re the 'acceptable use policy' is that perhaps everyone needs to remember not to take comments personally unless directly written aimed at you (which in itself contravenes the policy). It seems here that one person has misunderstood something and has perhaps inadvertently made an assumption, and in explaining their assumption (based on what they have read, which may have been misunderstood), some people have taken offence to this, and have thus been a little rude back eg telling someone that they are "naive", "silly", "insulting" or "without manners" for this innocent misunderstanding. As for saying " I feel that people need to be very careful what they write unless they have their facts correct....... Please have manners and think before you write" - Surely the whole point of this forum is to answer people's queries about such schools?! Therefore people ARE going to have beliefs and assumptions based on things they have heard or read which may not be correct. It was my understanding that the poster was happy to be corrected, but also felt the need to defend herself as there was a slight 'attacking tone' to those who indeed did correct her,

Awww well done everyone! Lemongirl your daughter should celebrate her achievement - before you know it she'll be taking grade 4 or higher and won't worry about the number, only that it's a distinction. And that IS a great mark! Exams aren't the be-all and end-all... as we've heard many times on this forum vocational schools etc don't care about grades and all that. Having said that - Good luck to everyone else who's waiting. Be proud of your achiements and use your reports to look at where you can improve, and set yourself a goal to improve that area!

From a teachers point of view, think it depends on the student - like everything. There's no one hard and fast rule here. With my younger children as they're coming up to exams I do extra exam classes but also encourage them to 'practice' at home between their weekly lessons (not just ballet but modern and tap too). They get a copy of the syllabus music on loan and I hope that they are rehearsing the settings so that they remember them, rather than self-training their technique, however I'd like to think there are those few who are diligent enough to remember some corrections from their last lesson! In terms of exam work home practice or rehearsal is vital - you can really see those who do it because they are much more confident and they know the exercises so can concentrate on making them look really good. In my 10+ years of teaching I have NEVER seen a pupil come back after a break of 2-3 weeks looking worse. Occasionally some kids come back after being off for 6 weeks having slipped into an old habit, or have practiced something slightly wrong like pirouette position but within a lesson or 2 they're back to how they were. Incidentally - I've also seen lots more kids come back having had a holiday with old habits. It's so frustrating as a teacher when you and a pupil spend so long work really hard on improving something like posture or placement in a particular position only to have them come back after the summer looking like they did 6 months ago :-(

I've been following this thread with interest, as I do with most of the threads here - I just love this forum! As a teacher I don't tend to know when all the girls start their periods so I've not really been able to comment but I just wanted to say how great it is that there is a dance teacher in the UK with such knowledge as DrDance - I'm sure I'll be PMing you for advice all the time! (If thats ok?!?)

@balletjack Did you get an answer to your question from this thread? It's very informative! We're lucky to have such knowledgeable people here

I have to agree - I've stopped teaching syllabus work unless kids want to do the exams (and then they come to extra lessons to learn the exam settings) and I teach free work classes that build strength and fitness as well as technique. Although I do have to say that the new RAD grades seem to have a better element of fitness work eg building jump height in parallel, lots more moving around to develop aerobic fitness.

Congrats Julie!

Tulip apologies but I don't understand your post. How many from year 11 got places to stay on at Tring? I understand that you say 7 are moving elsewhere but how many are staying on? Thanks

Best of luck to those starting at Tring! - like I said before, Ofsted are usually VERY critical and their report was encouraging, not only of what is already there, but of the schools willingness to improve what has been pointed out. So yes there may be aspects that need improving but it's certainly still an amazing achievement to get a place and a great school to train at.

I certainly don't mean to negate the issues that people seem to have experienced so I apologise if I made it appear that way - I can well believe that being put in a class that you don't want to be in, and more seriiously, weren't told you were going to be in must be VERY upsetting. I'm more intrigued with what is going on there if OfStEd have been so positive, as I know from personal experience that in mainstream education OfStEd are difficult to please, and often hammer management - curiouser and curiouser!

You should try to talk to your DD's JA teacher if possible, but the year 6 JA class I observed did prepare the children VERY well for what they'd be asked to do :-)

The OfStEd inspection is very recent, and is very thorough. No school can get a report like that without being good. Even the comments that others have made on here regarding the communication between senior management and other staff can't be that bad otherwise they'll have been noticed. The school (academic) I work in has just done a staff questionnaire which wil be looked at come the next inspection and I know a lot of people have used it to comment about managment and communication etc. Incidentally, Ofsted also look at parent questionnaires and parent feedback.... Another point - Tring doesn't sell itself as a purely ballet school so I advise any pupil wanting to go there that it's an all-round training. To be brutally honest I think anyone who goes there needs to know that it isn't a ballet school and shouldn't expect to come out of it a ballet dancer.

Thanks. I agree with you Primrose. I saw a job advert recently for a teacher at one of the 'big 4' and it basically implied that if you haven't had a performing career don't even bother to apply. I believe that having a good eye for technique, line etc and being able to relate, explain things and inspire students is just as important.....

A comment on another thread made me think a little bit... so I have one question. Do people believe that teachers who have been professional dancers are better than teachers who haven't?

swe how young do they accept kids at Laines etc?

It is very difficult - I understand the heartache caused but the schools do have to draw the line somewhere. And wherever they draw the line, there will always be some children/students who fall just below this line and it must be so tough to deal with. I might be being controversial here but I do agree that parents should be totally open and honest with their children before going to the auditions. It's very easy to get swept up in 'audition madness' and the prestige of being offered a place is wonderful but unless you are parents both on 6 figure salaries there is a risk that the child won't be able to go to said school. It is the same for most private schools - there are scholarships etc for those children that the schools really want, regardless of background or income, then anyone else who is good enough to meet the schools' standard has to pay the fees. I also believe that in this day and age there are enough good additional training programmes and good teachers around for children not to have to go away at age 11, if they don't get MDS or scholarships. Ok so it's not as easy as being at vocational school where it's all under one roof but if the dream is really there then the kids will put the work in wherever they are. And if the kids don't get into any of the secondary school age schemes (eg MA's, MIDAS, CAT's etc) then it's probably time to accept that it's not going to happen.

I generally don't run my own summer school because so many of my 'less committed' pupils' families go on holiday but I've got a few kids who are looking at the various options. Where are people heading this year? Particularly interested in the 'all round' type summer school rather than pure ballet, as some of my kids aren't going to be ballet dancers but are stronger in contemporary/ modern etc Thanks!

I just found out my pupil (who will be year 9 in September) got onto the waiting list for the level 3 class. She's a bit upset but she said there were a fair few older girls in the auditions so maybe it's because she's younger. Please keep your fingers crossed for a place!

They study gymnastics at WL.... I actually think it's very helpful for ballet, particularly in developing strength and flexibility. Not all gymnastics is done in parallel, in fact it is impossible to lift a leg above about 60 degrees (certainly lower than hip height) in parallel. Gymnastic training really helps for core strength and back flexibility too, and as long as a young dancer/gymnast learns from an early age to control her pelvis in ballet I think it's not too much of a problem. We've had lots of debates on here recently about whether classical ballet is getting more gymnastic, and whether we like it or not, it seems that artistic directors/choreoraphers etc want dancers with bendier backs, higher leg extensions and higher jumps and I think we can learn a lot from how gymnasts are trained.

Can anyone PM me Peter Parker's email address please? I've tried contacting them via their website but not had a reply....

I thought that too - but then that other 'midlands associates' isn't associated to anything either!

I'd love to know what the OfSTED criteria is for the inspection of vocational ballet schools! Some of the things they look for in academic lessons could theoretically translate into ballet classes (e.g. working towards a clear learning outcome/focus for each lesson, the use of continuous/regular self and peer assessment). As a ballet teacher I've sometimes taughted non-syllabus classes to 'seniors' and will adapt exercises to accomodate inter foundation, inter and adv students all in one group (eg battement fondu a terre, en l'air and en l'air en demi pointe) - this is what OfSTED would call 'differentiation' - thats kind of what I was getting at but I also know that they start at basics in year 7 so it does interest me whether they do differentiate in the ballet lessons?!

What frustrates me is that people think that any professional dancer will be a good teacher, and if you never danced professionally you'll never by employed by a vocational school, regardless of how good you are as a teacher. A colleague of mine is a wonderful teacher, her pupils all adore her, she is an RAD examiner and is warmly welcomed wherever she goes examining yet was passed over by one of the 'big 4' a few years ago for someone who had no teaching qualifications but who was a recent ex-pro. Similarly I have pupils who participated in a 'performance-based weekend ballet scheme' (which will remain nameless) - the company proudly advertise that all classes are taught by ex-professional dancers yet the kids thought that the person 'teaching' them hadn't helped them progress or learn anything other than choreography.

Great news! So many teachers/directors/choreographers etc in the field of dance seem to operate out of a culture of fear rather than praise... I believe that happier dancers perform better and like Anjuli said, there are ways to give corrections (or 'feedback' as I was trained to say....) to emphasise the positive too. Think about Strictly Come Dancing!... Len Goodman always finds something positive to say, and will also give feedback to the dancers as to what they need to work on.

Hi everyone - I wondered what everyone thinks of the photo Dance Direct have put on their FB page today! Personally, I think it's good to show that a famous professional ballet dancer looks strong and athletic, but it appears that others aren't too sure! It's here: https://www.facebook.com/?ref=tn_tnmn#!/photo.php?fbid=10150964635150827&set=a.260130305826.141671.122638350826&type=1&theater