One year post-grad course in classical ballet?

[BrightEyedAndBushyTailed]

thank you for all the replies and posts that are really useful thank you 

 

I just feel that it is so competitive out there these days and it is rarer now to go straight from vocational school into a  company, and as she is young for her year it might be beneficial to take another year honing her  technique. She still wants to audition for companies in her final year at vocational, alongside auditioning for possible post-grad courses.  She is brave and confident. I talk about her going to a school/set course somewhere etc.  because of the structure, as  our situation at home is not conducive  to her being based at home with no set schedule, going to open classes etc. KateN yes there are lots of great suggestions upthread, thanks everyone.Unfortunately many of them are not financially possible.

 

I am now doing a little  research about 1 year courses in Europe, it is very hard to work out the reputation of places especially if the websites etc. are in a foreign language. I have noticed a school in Cannes called Rosella Hightower(I can understand some French) but have no idea if it is good bad or indifferent. If anyone knows please post , thank you again so much everyone.

[Pas de Quatre]

Rosella Hightower School is one of the best in Europe.  It has been going since the 1960s (approx) - if there is a suitable course it would be fine.

[aileen]

I agree with Kate. If your dd is graduating after three years at upper school then she will be a year older than school leavers going off to university. By the second year of university most students are living in rented accommodation and having to look after themselves. Your dd will be competing with students who have been living in hostels and rented flats since they were 16, many of whom have come from abroad, sometimes speaking little english. In companies you have to motivate yourself and take responsibility for your own health and fitness and professional development. I have a son who is young in the year and young for his age and, fingers crossed, he will be going off to university next year a few weeks after his 18th birthday. I think that he may struggle at first as I'm aware that I do too much for him: nagging, chivvying, showing, reminding, checking etc. He is very disorganised and doesn't seem to pick things up by osmosis the way that my daughter does. In fact, she, who is two years younger, is more practical and responsible than him. I'm telling you all this because I do sympathise but the difference is that your dd has chosen an exceptionally tough career which she and her contemporaries will be starting in their late teens rather than in their early twenties. I would try and work on your dd's confidence and life skills when she is at home with you during the holidays. Companies want mature and independent people. Putting it bluntly, there isn't the time to babysit them. There doesn't seem to be the type of pastoral support available to university students who are of a similar age to new and recent graduates of vocational schools. I suppose that this is hardly surprising as companies are places of work whereas universities are educational institutions.

[BrightEyedAndBushyTailed]

Thank you for your comment, my daughter is already looking after herself and living in rented accommodation and I would expect she would continue to do so when she leaves her current vocational course and goes to either another course or a company.

[rowan]

Don't forget that there will be more post-grad programmes available that aren't called "such-and-such school". A lot of (though not all) the junior companies are actually programmes for which you are not paid, but which you have to pay for (after a successful audition). There will be a lot of competition for these places, but they're designed as bridging programmes between school and paid work, helping develop technique and stagecraft. You could look at the thread on Cinevox Junior Company in Switzerland, for example, and some of the ones Sam mentioned above. I second the opinion that Rosella Hightower is a fine school - and it will also have competitive entry requirements.

[aileen]

Well, perhaps I've missed something as you say that your dd is doing well and is able to look after herself day to day. What does she (or you) feel she might be lacking? I don't understand why your dd would have reservations about applying to companies in her third year of vocational school along with everybody else. Is the issue the quality / intensity of the classical training at her current school, which she feels needs to be topped up by a further year at a vocational school?

[BrightEyedAndBushyTailed]

thank you Rowan!

[2dancersmum]

I think actually that in the graduate year it is only sensible to be looking at all options for after graduation.  My DD also took the approach of auditioning for a position and looking at where she might continue training if she had no success in her auditions.  Coming home after graduation would have meant no chance of classes to even maintain technique, let alone build upon it or even just keep the same levels of fitness and stamina going.  DD looked at the London Ballet Company - they do apprenticeships but you do have to be able to support yourself in London.  And she looked at a school in Brussels (whose name escapes me but may just have been Brussels Ballet School) and at Ballet Bartowski which I think was in Lille - northern France certainly.  networkdance.com always lists auditions for these 1 year ballet programs.  It is a stressful time.  From the language point of view of moving abroad, I would be inclined not to worry about it.  Most places there will be some English spoken and you do tend to pick up a language if you live in a country, even if you were no good at languages at school.

[rowan]

I agree. I can fully understand why students think another year of classical training and performance training might help give them an edge, whether that is on an official postgrad programme or in a junior company that you have to pay for. And what do you do if you audition and are not successful straight away? Do you take that as a sign that you're not good enough? Do you just give up there and then? Probably not just at that point. So you need to keep on with your training and keep trying - so that means considering some sort of post-graduate training.

 

We know it is very hard to get a paid full-time classical ballet contract straight out of vocational school. It's probably harder for female dancers than male dancers, and harder for those who haven't attended RBS and the like. If you look at the graduate destinations from the various British schools, once you discount the postgraduate programmes, the unpaid traineeship/apprenticeships, the junior companies that you yourself have to pay for, or the contracts that only run for a few weeks in the year, you can see how hard it is to get paid classical work. There's just too much competition from others graduating from the top European schools. 

[Kate_N]

I just feel that it is so competitive out there these days and it is rarer now to go straight from vocational school into a  company, and as she is young for her year it might be beneficial to take another year honing her  technique.

 

 

If what you want is the competitive advantage, then I think you may have to pay for it, in some way or other. It doesn't sound like she wants to do an MA - what about a PG Cert[ificate] or Dip[loma]? From October there will be up to £10k available in postgraduate student loans funding, for those who have paid the £9k pa undergrad fees.

 

But it sounds like what you think she needs is a further year of full-time vocational study - rather like a repeat year? What about a full-time fee-paying school? Is there anything near you (I'm thinking of Hammond et al).

 

I went to university at 17 and coped, the professional dancers in my family both went abroad at 14 and 16 respectively, for training & then work (at 17). It can be done, thousands have done it - ballet is an international profession.

 

Rosella Hightower is probably one of the top schools in Europe, if not the world! Anything there would be fine. And a beautiful location. The Neumeier School (Hamburg), the John Cranko School, and the Munich International Ballet School are all top German vocational 'Berufsfachscule'

 

Good luck!

Edited March 8, 2016 by Kate_N

[aileen]

What about New English Ballet Theatre? This company is supposed to provide a bridge from school to company for recent graduates.

[2dancersmum]

New English Ballet Theatre are auditioning soon I think but from the bios of their dancers it does seem that 'recent' is quite a vague term as they all seem to have danced in other companies previously as supposed to being a bridge between school and company.

[aileen]

2dancersmum, I believe that NEBT was originally set up to provide performance opportunities for new graduates who hadn't managed to secure a contract with a company. Last summer, I went to see a charity gala to raise funds for Nepal and I was surprised by the bios of the dancers featured as most of them had quite substantial post-graduate experience. I put that down to injuries and the gala being an additional event but, from what you say, it appears that NEBT is actually taking dancers with experience rather than recent graduates.

[JulieW]

My son danced with NEBT this summer for a short time. He was one of very few British dancers and most had been employed previously.

[Jan McNulty]

A couple of years ago both Josh Barwick and Isabella Gasparini danced with NEBT after they had danced with Northern Ballet for several years.  I think, given that they are usually producing new ballets, it would be good experience if you could get it but as others have said most of the dancers seem to have had previous performing experience.

 

Josh Barwick is now with Rambert and Isabella Gasparini is with the Royal Ballet.

[Harwel]

As with all these things, they are going to pick the best dancers who come through their doors. It sounds like an interesting company and would suit dancers in a transitionary period between companies who are figuring out their next move.

[BrightEyedAndBushyTailed]

NBET would not be suitable for my DD.

 

I have been investigating lots of the suggestions upthread, at least the ones that have affordable fees.

[invisiblecircus]

I've heard mixed reviews (second and third hand) about Rosella Hightower. Does anyone have any inside info?

 

It 's one of the Prix de Lausanne partnership schools and does have a strong history.