Jump to content

Ballet Lessons


dancing10

Recommended Posts

my daughter has been given a day release from school starting in September. Her school is giving her one day a week to do extra dance lessons as they cannot offer her any dance in school but would like to give her the opportunity to follow her passion. I wondered if anyone knows of a ballet school that could offer us lessons during the day in RAD Ballet. We are prepared to travel!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You might try a local FE college that offers dance diploma, BTEC. (won't be just ballet though) Another idea is to contact the CAT scheme which I think might be Ipswich (not 100% on that location) they might be able to point you in the right direction. Try private tuition (could cost quite a bit though).

 

Most regular dance schools have evening lessons to fit in with school. It's a nice idea but could I ask why the school would do this if they did not already know about the training your DD could do on this day off? Most schools seem really strict about time off. DDs was a bit sniffy with her having time off for a panto. How about finding out if enough pupils would be interested in dance GCSE to merit a teacher coming in to teach this? Anyway best of luck with it, let us know what you find.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Gosh how lucky is your daughter!

 

My daughters school have no idea of the level of involvement she has in dance because of their previous sniffy comments about her extra curricular activities.

 

Is this her GCSE' year? Will that have an impact? Or is she not concerned about such non dance trivia?!

 

I do hope she finds somewhere to teach her, good luck.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My dd's school has taken a slightly different stance in assisting her. As she dances 4 evenings a week plus most of Saturday, they let her miss 2 out of 3 P.E. lessons each week. She uses the time to work in the library, which gives her some time to do homework during the day.

 

She still has to spend much of Sunday doing homework but at least she's not having to burn the candle at both ends trying to juggle evening dance classes and homework.

 

We're happy because she's not missing any academic work, so it's a winner all round.

 

Could this be an alternative for your dd if nothing suitable can be found during the day? At least she wouldn't then have to miss a whole day of lessons.

  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Are you looking for a whole school day's worth of ballet lessons in RAD method or syllabus? I would think that might be difficult to find.

 

DD's school once offered her a reduced curriculum when they discovered how much ballet she was doing, which took us by complete surprise. They apparently get a lot of requests from football-playing boys, which they usually turn down, but as long as she stayed on top of her schoolwork, she would be a good candidate. As we'd gone to talk to the head of year over something completely different, this offer was a shock, and not one we took up - we wanted her to be keener on the school work and less keen on the ballet, I'm afraid!

 

You could try approaching an RAD teacher for private lessons during the day, when usually they are not so busy.

 

(edited to add last sentence)

Edited by rowan
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My daughter's school didn't know and wouldn't have cared! Some disgusting parents used to send their DDs in with their dance certificates though so that they could be "re-awarded" them in Assembly! How nauseating is that?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes I think it's nice for children to take their certificates to school. My daughter isn't re-awarded hers but she takes them to show her class sometimes. She's only 8, don't think she'd want to do it if she was a lot older though. There's no award ceremony at my dd's dance school, they are just given them to take home, so it's nice for her to feel special about it at school.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not really nauseating or disgusting, Fiz, I think that's a bit strong. In DDs primary school, way back, they celebrated anything the children did out of school and were encouraged to bring in anything they had achieved. The certificates were put on a board in the school foyer for about a week. I don't think that's so bad!

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

We too are encouraged to send in certificates for the children to be presented with in assembly. Dd's school run their own ballet, tap & modern classes (half an hour once a week low grades only) Speech & drama exams and music exams and those children get their certificates presented to them so why not those who participate in stuff externally. The school speech & drama teacher entered the pupils for a local festival, I entered dd privately and one year she won her class so why not allow her to be recognised too.

 

Ds takes in his taekwondo certificates. It has taken years to find something he enjoys doing and has confidence in.

 

The school is very into recognising achievments.

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My apologies, I should have said when mentioning my dd's "withering look" about taking certificates in that she's 13!

 

I think it's a sweet idea when children are at Primary school. I think - if I remember rightly - that dd might have taken her Grade 2 certificates in. She wasn't presented with them again but she took them in as part of "show and tell". :-)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Celebrating success was also very important in primary school and they were all encouraged to bring in certificates etc for things they had acheived out of school.

The school were very encouraging of his dance to the extent that the whold of yr 6 went to see him when he was dancing in Nutcracker - to the Thursday matinee!!!

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dancing10, I do think that you will struggle to find many places teaching a full days worth of RAD classes during the week but you could contact RAD headquarters to ask. Is there any particular reason why you are seeking only syllabus classes? For open classes you could look at a combination I'd Pineapple, Danceworks and the Dance Attic in Fulham if you are prepad to go to London and move around a bit!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would have been pleased if my DD had taken her dance certificates into school but she refused to do so. I think that a shyer child like my DD, who tends to be overlooked, can gain recognition for something which few other children do and be looked at in a different light by his/her peers and teachers if they bring their certificates into school. At my DD's school they give out music certificates for exams taken at the school (the school is an examination centre) in an assembly.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I wouldn't necessarily try to get a day of dance but use most of the day to do the week's homework as she'll no doubt be at dance classes most evenings when other children do homework. Maybe just find one class or arrange a private lesson for that day.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would also suggest contacting the RAD and seeing if they can put you in touch with someone local-ish to you who might be able to provide you with some private lessons.A whole day of 1 to 1 might be rather draining (and expensive) though.

But it's really nice to hear about academic schools taking such flexible attitudes. My DD's teachers have never shown a great deal of interest in her dancing. She's always been granted time off for exams, EYB etc so they are not against it as such, but there's never been any real interest or recognition of her achievements. They are having a Performing Arts Festival this week, but as far as I can see there is no dance whatsoever in it, which I think is a real shame.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well our school never supported extra curricular activities and I think when the girls concerned were 14 and above, it is nauseating! The school is very quick to take credit if they do well though!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't know anything about it, but the Natalia Kremen Ballet School was mentioned on this forum a few weeks ago. It is somewhere in London (possibly Kensington). Perhaps you could have lessons there during the day.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Stageworks in Buckden? near huntingdon run a course for 16-18 year olds - might be worth a call to see if your DD could do some classes there one day a week? Or Bodyworks in Cambridge - or are there any local colleges that run a btec in dance that your dd could attend?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My dd's school is in Bishops Stortford and is very accomodating with excellent teachers. Email me if you need further info - I know they do some extra coaching during the day sometimes. RAD ballet and ISTD modern/tap/jazz etc. Have had 4 into White Lodge over the last few years - many RBS JA's , NYB success and many talented older students gaining places and funding at Laines, Performers, Northern Ballet School etc. They are also a big festival school with massive successes!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...