Balletmumfor2

If this is still available my DD says she would love this please. I'll PM you.

Yes please to the intermediate DVD. Will PM you.

My dd would love to do maths or sciences but at the moment they have only been offered art, eng lit and dance. My husband did think French had been mentioned and someone suggested they might see if there was enough interest in it at the registration day. My dd considering English and French if offered but is very academic.

Hi. Having had my eldest in rb for 6 yrs thought I would tell you our experience. When my dd was in yr6 we never missed a class as we felt the same way you do about committment. However, many children did miss, mainly for school shows, festivals etc. The following yr my dd started festivals & she has missed classes over the years. We always notify the teacher beforehand and apologise. Unfortunately, many of the children who get accepted for associates are the same ones selected for festival teams so there will likely be several other children in the same position. The most important time is just before and after Christmas as classes are gearing up for auditions at the start of the year. If rb did not allow these occasional absences then they may lose some of their most talented dancers. So my advice is don't worry about it. Make sure you explain to the teacher the circumstances when you start and I am sure it will be fine. Other people will have weddings, holidays and other commitments. I don't want to come across as sounding uncommitted. We have done ridiculous things to try to get our girls to rehearsals, associates, classes etc over the years and many 'normal' people think we are totally mad. But after 6 years we realise that life has to exist outside ballet occasionally and with 2girls, both doing festivals and associates it is a real juggling act at times. So, accept your place, start the journey and good luck! X

I use the gym at school occasionally and we have hip abductor and adductor machines. These are really useful for strengthening inside and outside thighs. I also used the abdominal cruncher. Lots of reps with a low weight is the best way to build strength but not build heavy muscles which of course is not what you want for ballet

When my dd's were ja's there was no internal lining on the leotards and yes, they were quite see through. They were told they had to wear knickers underneath even though my dd's never did with their regular leotards. The knickers had to be waist high though or the teacher complained about the line shown beneath the leotard. She wanted it hidden beneath theit belts. Finding white or flesh knickers was fine but finding waist high ones a different matter. It was a recurring problem each year. One parent found some at a market and kitted out many in the class, another grandma altered some waist high adult knickers to fit them. My younger dd felt that they had a tendancy to roll down throughout the lesson however hence the solution of the nude 'body' which also solved the issue of the see through top at the time. As this was a yearly problem, we always wondered why they didn't just ask for the leotards to be fully lined. Mind you, we also had sweatshirts which they had to pull off over a bun whilst trying to keep their hair immaculate. It was many years before someone had the fantastic idea of a sweatshirt with a front zip!

Porselli dancewear which is an online stockist do a body for kids called the 'Loverfor' I think it is. It is a tank leotard in a V thin flesh coloured material that fits perfectly under the ja leotard. No knicker line & was about £10 a few years back so not expensive. Lots of my dd's class bought them a few years back and my dd also wore it for festivals & shows as it helped when changing.

You also need to consider that there are often only 6 mids places available per yr group at each centre. Some of these are often taken by dc's who have been offered full time places at WL but for one reason or another do not wish to accept a full time place. There may also be dc's who did not wish to be considered for WL but only for mids. Certainly, in the case of my two dd's yr groups, all the mids places went to WL finalists i.e. those who were considered to be good enough for full time training but were beaten to it by 12 better dancers. For some, a mids place is more desirable than full time training at age 11. However, we do know one talented mids girl was told last yr in yr6 that she was considered to be a beautiful dancer by the WL panel but her physique was not suited to full time training. They said they were sure she would be offered training elsewhere and she was. WL finalists are able to receive feedback from the audition via their dance teacher if requested.

No problems CeliB. It may be she just tests her hand on her knee whilst pulling back gently on her foot. I wasn't there when she was shown the exercise so am just relating what she appears to be doing. Always best to err on the side of caution. I will check with my dd as well to make sure this exercise is safe for her. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

Hi Tatballerina, I'm not sure if your problem is the same, but my daughter also has trouble straightening her legs fully in positions such as arabesque and this obviously affects her lines. She has been told this is due to muscles which have tightened up after a growth spurt. Two of her teachers (royal and dance school) have suggested slightly different exercises. In the first she sits on the floor with her legs out in front of her and attempts to lift her heels off the floor and hold for a few seconds. She does this 3 times. The other exercise takes one leg at a time. In the same seated position, she uses one hand to gently push down on her knee whilst using the other to gently pull her foot towards her so lifting her heel off the floor. She holds it for a slow count of 3 and repeats the exercise on each leg 3 times. Hope they may help and you understand the descriptions.

Can you ring the Bloch shop and get them posted out? My dd had the same problem with a pair of Freeds. I knew there were loads of Freed stockists but didn't realise that none of them stocked her style and size of shoe. After hours on the phone with the yellow pages I phoned Freed. They couldn't promise they would arrive so quick but said it was likely. They arrived the next day! Fingers crossed you get sorted in time.

Hi macnatt. You are not alone as no news here today either although we have heard of 2 more 'yes' results via Facebook. I am seriously thinking they may be holding a second set of results until the first people have replied. We don't seem to have heard of any waiting list letters yet! Who knows? Fingers crossed for you.

Can sympathise with you Pastel as we have just got home after reading the forum all day and there is no envelope here! At least it means I don't have to debate whether to say anything to dd whilst she's away.

Thanks anyway Jazzpaws. Guess we'll just have to wait till she gets home then!

I wonder if they are all out or whether they have just sent out the definite 'no' and 'yes' letters so they can see how many accept before sending out the next ones. Its not long to accept! Jazzpaws, did the letter come addressed to your dd & was it thicker than a normal envelope? My dd is away at present, so if there is a letter at home tonight when we get in, we will stil have no idea. Don't want to spoil her holidays if its a 'no'! :-)

My daughter also felt the main physio was very brief compared to others she has had. Previous physio assessments looked at potential turnout and so on whereas she felt this was just a brief check to see if there were any potential physical problems. I think this may be why, if adequate flexibility & turnout were not seen in the class they decided to investigate them further through a few quick exercises. Is your daughter very flexible jazzpaws and does she have good turnout?

Hi Jazzpaws. My daughter was also in the callback group in the afternoon. From what she said it sounds as if they were looking closer at flexibility & turnout so I suspect these may have been areas they were unsure or concerned about after the initial audition. They did all splits, hamstring exercise, turnout figure 4 exercise & frogs. Whether its a positive or a negative will depend on whether it flagged up concerns with flexibility or amount of turnout I suspect. My dd does not have flat turnout sadly! Being positive however, I suspect they would not have bothered to look at them more closely if their level of ballet technique was not good enough.

Just heard of someone getting results from Elmhurst upper school finals this morning so guess the letters must be out! As always, we are miles away from home so...

Hi Swanprincess. My DD says she is watching series 2 through Watchseries. Type it into Google search and then select the source of the programme. She recommends Putlocker, Daclips and Allmyvideos as these need no registration. You will get loads of adverts but just delete them. There were also many episodes on YouTube although some of these have been deleted recently. Hope. this helps. :-)

I have used 'Crazy Ladies' a while ago. After a brief phone call and a picture giving an idea what the teacher wanted for a group dance, a sample costume arrived the next day to try on and for the teachers approval. It was sent with no obligation and they used an end of roll of fabric as we had v limited budget. They will make to a picture with your choice of fabric. V helpful and extremely accomodating.

Hi Happymum. My eldest does SA'S at Birmingham and the yr6 JA's seems to be at the same time in a different studio. They do come out at 6:15. We are several hours away so eat there before heading home. It is on a Saturday not a Sunday though so no school the next day. As there is only a choice of 2 venues for SA's many of us travel long distances but obviously feel the training is worth it.

My DD's friend got finals a couple of times and was always looked at closely and manipulated. She eventually got into WL in yr10. Being hands on means they were definitely considering her. I suspect some children are knocked off the list early on due to physique then they continue to look closely at others. If you have a high arabesque for example then that's fine but if you have a low one they may see if you have the potential to improve it. It does mean she was still being considered at that point in the audition but that's all you can say. Too much hip rotation can also be a problem (which a current mid is suffering from) so they may also be checking that. At least you know she was not discounted at the start. Fingers crossed for her!

We spoke to the school last week and were told they were hoping to put on an additional audition for those on the waiting list. She thought the decision to do so or not would be made this coming Friday so hopefully people may hear next week.

My youngest DD used to struggle with Capezio tights because of the waistband. We moved to Plume, which she loves but found the softness of them meant they very easily plucked or ran so didn't last long. We now use Tendu tights which her teacher now stocks in her shop. These are very soft, have no tight waistband, seem to last fine and are a perfect match for Katz satin ballet shoes or calamined pointe shoes. We get them at a reasonable price from Dancewear Central.

Just to add that even those aspiring to be principals in the Royal Ballet do not always follow a vocational route till 6th form. A recent example is Tierney Heap who went from a dance school in Manchester into the RB upper school. She is now in the RB company soon to be dancing a role in one of the forthcoming productions. Proof that it is always possible if you have the talent!