Foreverdrivingtodance Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 If you never get selected as a JA do you realistically stand any chance of making it to White Lodge!! How many children actually go in Year 7. If you have a child that would like to go to a ballet school what are your other options. Have heard of Elmurst & YDA not sure of any others. My daughter is currently Year 5 will be doing 11+ but deep downs has dreams of dancing. But just beginning to feel how realistic is this!! Are you meant to be the world's most amazing dancer when you audition for a Year 7 place or are they still looking for potential. Just seems like the completion is so stiff! Any advice much appreciated. She auditioned last year for JA place & made SWL & was only doing 1 ballet class then. We have since changed schools & she is doing more putting her heart & soul in as she is so determined, just don't want her to be too disappointed & fitting in all this 11+ stuff as well feels a lot. .Just not really sure what we should be conentrating on! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
balletcoach Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 There are some children, who weren't JA's have been successful for White Lodge. So, you can always try, never say never. At this stage (for y7 intake) they are still looking pretty much for potential, rather than advance techniques, very important body and leg lines. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarahw Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 (edited) Sparkle 123 - it's a can of worms.... Regarding WL the vast majority have been JAS - around 90%?? Although it will vary.. But WL is not the only place and indeed other places may suit others better..... WL,Elmhurst,Tring and Hammond are the 4 with government funding. As you say YDA also offer lower school training. It is very much on potential at age 11. There are lots of threads on here that give you a feel for the situation. When you have time (ha ha) sit down with a cup of tea (or maybe gin) and start with the Lower School Auditions thread which is pinned. Then use the search facility to look for other threads. You could search under Lower School or the names of any of the schools.You have plenty of time so digest it all for a few months before making any decisions. She could apply to JAS again as a starter? SWL is a great achievement. Realistically the numbers in vocational training in Y7 are low (12 girls at WL) so have various options on the burner... I would also ask your teacher her opinion. Good luck!! Edited October 17, 2016 by sarahw 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
balletbean Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 If you never get selected as a JA do you realistically stand any chance of making it to White Lodge!! How many children actually go in Year 7. If you have a child that would like to go to a ballet school what are your other options. Have heard of Elmurst & YDA not sure of any others. My daughter is currently Year 5 will be doing 11+ but deep downs has dreams of dancing. But just beginning to feel how realistic is this!! Are you meant to be the world's most amazing dancer when you audition for a Year 7 place or are they still looking for potential. Just seems like the completion is so stiff! Any advice much appreciated. She auditioned last year for JA place & made SWL & was only doing 1 ballet class then. We have since changed schools & she is doing more putting her heart & soul in as she is so determined, just don't want her to be too disappointed & fitting in all this 11+ stuff as well feels a lot. .Just not really sure what we should be conentrating on! There is also Tring Park vocational school, maybe worth looking at. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Picturesinthefirelight Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 I have been told by several people of children who never made JA's but did get into White Lodge. They definitely look for potential at Year 7. Schools like RBS and Elmhursrt will also be looking at physique etc. I think they take 12 girls and 12 boys each year. The options available depend on whether you are able to pay fees or whether you need full finding in the form of an MDS. There are four schools with MDS funding available. They are Royal Ballet School, Elmhurst, Hammond & Tring. Other full time vocational ballet/dance schools that don't have government funding (but some have bursaries etc) include YDA, Moorland, Abbotts Bromley & Legat, (from age 13 I think), Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foreverdrivingtodance Posted October 17, 2016 Author Share Posted October 17, 2016 Thanks everyone this is so helpful. When she auditioned for RBS JA & speaking to other mums their kids seem to be doing much more & taking it more seriously.We are going to go again next year, just feels so scary! (love her so much!) We are quite late to the whole ballet thing but Since September she is doing a lot more classes & YDA associates at the weekend.We did audition for Tring last year & it went terribly.Think the lady is it Desire gave us some feedback & it was dreadful! she said her technique was rubbish!! (to be fair she was ill had gone to bed at 10pm after EYB performance & had to get up at 6am the next day for audition & was later diagnosed with ear infection!!) but that kind of prompted us to change dance teacher to improve her technique. But worried we have left it too late to claw it back! But then she got SWL so that was a good sign. She seems to have the right physique.Feel too scared to go back to Tring in all honesty.Think her previous school was more about fun that technique.She has done some festivals & has her first ballet solo in one next year.But just thinking about the auditions for all these schools does the child come up with a solo or will her teacher devise one for her.Just keep imagining you must have to have some amazing Billy Elliot moment in the audtion & be the most amazing person!! not sure she would be that good. & does she still have enough time to get her technique better. So the ones with funding would be what we would need to look at as realistically could not afford to send her. She is a clever girl (wants to be a doctor! but ballet is her love!) I was rubbish at sport so love the fact she enjoys it so much.I went to an academic school but was not great.Just feel it must be so amazing for these kids to do something they love. Generally also what is the time frame for all this.So I guess you send of application forms, then do auditions what time of year is all this?? She would be more than happy to stay away from home (escape her brothers!) Do you go & look at the schools before or just wait to see if you get in Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amos73 Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 Hi sparkle Occasionally someone not a Ja gets place in year 7 but last few years apart from overseas students all ye 7 places have gone to JAs. Some people who haven't been JAs do get places in ye 8:9/10 but remember the chances of a place in these years are so slim as maybe only 1 place available (sometimes none.) However the other vocational schools are worth applying for and will give excellent training, and upper school places are another kettle of fish altogether. Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foreverdrivingtodance Posted October 17, 2016 Author Share Posted October 17, 2016 Thanks for this. Think we will do the JA audition again next year & see what happens.Can you go from get SWL one year to actually getting in next year? It will feel so nerve wracking going back next year!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna C Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 Gosh, lots of questions! The best advice I can give you is to do as sarahw suggests and have a read through the "Questions about lower school" thread at the top of Doing Dance. It should help with most of your questions. Flowerpot, with regards to Tring, I would be very surprised if Miss Samaai had only given you such unconstructive feedback as "dreadful". Are you sure the lady was called Desiré? Was the audition for Tring Park School, or for the Classical Ballet Academy? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southerndancemum Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 Flowerpot - my DD went from no to yes in a year so def worth trying 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foreverdrivingtodance Posted October 17, 2016 Author Share Posted October 17, 2016 That gives me hope! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mariska Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 Would a school abroad be an option? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JulieW Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 Putting a slightly different perspective here with our own story. Sorry old members who've heard this before - look away now! Eldest son was a JA after being on the waiting list, went to WL, was assessed out of year 9, went to Elmhurst, danced professionally abroad and briefly in the UK for 3 years. Daughter was a JA - her main love was ballet, didn't get into WL mainly due to potential physique rather than ability imho, but had always said if she couldn't be a dancer she wanted to be a vet. Became apparent that her talents lay more on the academic side but she carried on dancing seriously all through school (but completely dropped the idea of being a professional dancer by about year 8). She's now a 4th year vet student and has never regretted dropping the dancing dream. If she'd had the natural talent/physique etc to have been a really good ballet dancer she would've loved it, but she didn't love ballet/dance enough to be one those people happy to just dance regardless of what level who wants to dance anywhere, so she moved on to other things. I'm by no means saying to give up yet or anything, just showing that even when they're really good and really love it, there are sometimes better/different things ahead. Just take it a day at a time and enjoy the journey whichever route it ends up taking you. 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxi4ballet Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 For year 7 entry the audition panels will be able to look beyond technique & current level of training and see the underlying facility and potential, and from that they will know whether the dancer will benefit from the training at their particular school. I wouldn't worry too much about being given feedback saying that technique isn't up to much - if anything it could be helpful. That happened to us and was the impetus we needed to look for another teacher and move dd to a better school. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foreverdrivingtodance Posted October 17, 2016 Author Share Posted October 17, 2016 yes that's what we did, she did not say daughter was dreadful, that was my interpretation just she scored low on technique therefore we moved to a different teacher who offered more classes.Thanks for all the different stories.Food for thought 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna C Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 Best of luck! Do keep reading the forum - it's a mine of information. And don't be scared to reaudition a year (or more) later at places who have previously given a "no". Some schools/schemes like to see candidates again - it can be a chance to show improvement and determination. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piccolo Posted October 18, 2016 Share Posted October 18, 2016 Hi Flowerpot, just skimming through this thread. Bit late replying but just wanted to say that I think the feedback from Tring was more a criticism of whoever had been teaching your daughter technique. Must be frustrating for a teacher who knows better to see a child with promise that has been taught the wrong technique. Definitely audition for Tring again now you've addressed that matter and her technique is having a spot of polish. If your dd is as desperate as she sounds to live her life dancing,I think it will be seen by likeminded people who will open doors for her. If she has all the other required attributes, I think she will be successful. Only saying this as I've recently seen a situation that seems just like yours. Good luck! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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