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Is it worth auditioning at Hammond if you are not a ballet dancer?


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Their dance course looks pretty much what dd wants in a school but I'm not sure if she is good enough.

 

Her ideal school would be Sylvia Young or Italia Conti but money and distance means that's never going to happen.

 

She was thinking of auditioning for the drama course at Hammond but we are all concerned that 1 hour of dance per week which is what they get is going to seriously put her behind if she goes for MT at 16 or 18. She currently does ballet tap modern and jazz but isn't JA calibre or anything.

 

She loved the place on her visit and felt she would be at home there. However she already has access to a very good local dance school, top notch singing tuition and good drama classes but I've done the sums and vocational school would actually be cheaper for us by the time we account for all her dance and school fees.

 

Is it worth applying for both dance and drama as a fallback option maybe?

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Are you absolutely set on Hammond? I'm only asking because it sounds as if your dd would do well on the Theatre Arts course at Tring, where the lower school children study drama, singing and dance. It seems to be an excellent course and may be worth looking at.

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How much is the theatre arts course at Tring without funding, I know the dance course with boarding is £29.000. How much is it at Hammond, I don't know but I am sure it must all be taken into consideration. There is a guy called Mr Williams at Hammond who is amazing and brings out the best in the children. Children on the dance course also have access to him.

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Unfortunately she wouldn't have much access to drama if she were on the dance course (one hour a week in year 8). I know you said drama was important for your DD.

 

My DD does individual singing lessons plus quite a lot of music/choir lessons with the wonderful Mr Williams, so we're very happy with the singing side of things.

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I think drama can be trained at a later date i.e. age 16 whereas dance can't really be left that late.

 

If I were you I'd have her audition for both, if she doesn't get into the dance course then go for drama and have her take dance classes at the weekend (though I'm not sure that would be enough to get her into a good college at 16). If she gets into the dance course she could take a drama class at the weekend if she's keen to but I really think that can be left until she's older.

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  • 1 month later...

All i would say is,you can train to be an actor or singer later on in life,but dance training won`t wait.

You are so right. Steve Houghton who was a fabulous guest jazz teacher at Harpenden Summer Dance School this year gave a very enlightening talk about his extensive dancing and acting career. He fell into acting by accident when he was understudy in a musical but he stressed that good dance trainng from an early age was vitally important, afterall actors can not suddenly become dancers of a high professional level! Drama can be studied at any age but whilst its never too late to learn to dance you do have to have many years of training to reach the highest levels and be of a professional standard. Edited by hfbrew
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