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EYB Swan Lake


amum/Cathy

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We echo pups mum, cathy and rachaelballet lovely comments!! what a fabulous and amazing production, very impressive!! The costumes were wonderful!!

DD has made some lovely friends and has had a ball, she has absolutely loved every minute! xxx

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Thanks for posting the sky link amum/cathy. For us, 4 weeks after the performance (dd was at Dartford), we are still living and breathing Swan Lake, dd is still dancing round the house showing us not only her part but all the others too with cries of 'mum do you remember this bit..and this bit...and this bit' She had a really great experience.

 

Well done to everyone in Newcastle too.

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hi my dd was a swan in the eyb at dartford,and is auditioning again next year.

but we found this year,alot of girls left because they were not happy

does anyone no if there are any dd, or ds, who did the same in other productions.

as i am having second thoughts for my dd.

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The only time I've heard of people leaving when we last did EYB were a couple of older girls who weren't happy with the parts that they had been cast. Personally that seems rather odd because they must have paid for the whole thing by then.

 

My daughter wasn't particularly enamoured with her mouse costume but she just got on with it. She still absolutely loved the whole experience and the pretty Mirliton costume made up for the mouse one! :-)). She can't wait to do EYB again.

 

Did the girls say what they were unhappy about?

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hi my dd was a swan in the eyb at dartford,and is auditioning again next year.

but we found this year,alot of girls left because they were not happy

does anyone no if there are any dd, or ds, who did the same in other productions.

as i am having second thoughts for my dd.

Did your daughter enjoy herself? That's what I'd suggest you base your decision on, not other people's experiences.

I don't suppose there is a course or scheme of any kind in the world that suits everybody. If your DD had a good time and you are satisfied with the EYB experience then let her audition again. If not, don't. You've got your own experience to go on so why worry about other people's views?

I've got pretty strong views about people dropping out of rehearsals for anything part way through (unless because of ilness or something else serious of course) but I had perhaps better keep them to myself.

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hi pups mum, i noticed your dd did swan lake in newcastle, did she enjoy it.

and did anyone drop, out there. if so what reasons.

as my dd felt she was left unchallanged at dartford being she is in advance 1.

but felt if you were in a lower grade, you felt more challanged.

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I don't honestly think people do EYB to feel challenged, to be honest. By that I don't mean it's easy, far from it! I mean that I think people do EYB for other reasons.

My dd rarely gets performance experience as her school does not take part in festivals, and only does a senior show every couple of years. So she loves to do EYB as it gives her valuable performance experience which is really helpful to her. The technical aspects of the dances did not particularly stretch her last time, but that didn't worry her at all as she did it for the whole experience - dancing all day, making some lovely friends, and getting the chance to learn new dances and perform on stage.

 

If your dd already gets plenty of performance experience and wants to feel challenged technically then maybe EYB isn't going to give her what she's looking for. But only you and she can decide that, really.

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hi pups mum, i noticed your dd did swan lake in newcastle, did she enjoy it.

and did anyone drop, out there. if so what reasons.

as my dd felt she was left unchallanged at dartford being she is in advance 1.

but felt if you were in a lower grade, you felt more challanged.

Yes, she did Swan Lake and this was her 3rd and hopefully not last EYB experience.She loves it. She didn't find the steps she was asked to do in her dances on any of the occasions especially challenging (though says that particularly this year the classes beforehand were quite stretching at times.) She certainly hasn't performed any steps on stage that she couldn't do before. But that's not why she does it. I think there's a lot more to it than that. She has learned a huge amount about dancing in a group, particularly this year. At home she's a fairly big fish in a small pond and has had plenty of solo parts in local shows etc but never danced in a big ballet group like the Swans before. She learned a lot about timing, spacing and team work. And about performance, which is the big thing at EYB. I think she did get help with technique (in class rather than rehearsals )but that's not really why she goes. She goes because she loves to perform and she's always given it 100%, even when she has felt that she was not being technically stretched.

This year her grandparents came to watch and I was concerned that as they are quite elderly and were sitting in the circle they might not be able to pick her out. DD replied that she hoped they couldn't, because her role was to turn herself into a swan and she shouldn't be distinguishable from the other swans. In her words "We've got to be a tight knit team, not try and stand out as individuals". This was new for her and I was proud of her for "getting it".

I don't thing EYB is necessarily the right scheme if you want to be technically stretched, that's why their "tag line" is "Performance Experience". A summer school or associate scheme might be better if you are after technical strengthening, but I think EYB very much does what it says on the tin. We love it and can't wait for the next chance to come around.

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yes my dd did the eyb last year, she was only 11 and danced in pointes for hours.

but this year. she sat down most of the time.

and only used her pointe shoes too look pretty.

the girls in her group ,were very unfriendly, and chatted, on there phones alot.

the only good thing for her was the time she spent understudying the princesses.

as you got to do advanced moves

i think when you reach advanced 1, at a young age you will always be put in the same age group.

than girls who are 16 or 17 .

i think on this occasion, maybe trying for an associate class for my dd would be better

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My dd was only 11 too.

 

Sorry to hear your dd didn't make friends, mine made a few, but it was difficult for her because all the girls in her group were older - she was the youngest by about 18 months - and that is a huge gap at their age!

 

What's been nice though, is that she now bumps into people she recognises at other things, so hopefully next time your dd will already know some of the other girls and making friends will be easier.

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Eleven or 12 is awfully young to be doing Advanced 1 and it could be that they thought that even though that is her grade on paper that she may benefit from dancing at a lower level. I suspect that the majority of the corps in major ballet companies are capable of a lot more than they may be asked to do on a daily basis but they will know that working hard at that level may reap rewards. Another consideration is that something like EYB is more a performance experience than a technical one and I believe that they work hard to create a professional look. With this in mind, they may not place an 11 yr old in the same group as several 16 yr olds as it just would not look right!

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I think height is a big factor in the casting process. It has to be really. Apart from the logistics of the costumes, which I presume can only be altered within certain limits, the groups do look best if they are all similarly sized. There's no getting away from the fact that if you have a group of 6, and 5 are 5ft 4 adding one of 4ft 10 (or 5ft 8 come to that) would look very strange. That can sometimes lead to children who are either small or tall for their age being placed in groups with children who are either older or younger than them. I can see that might make the experience less enjoyable for some children. Equally if a child is ahead of their peers technically then they can either be cast with older children in which case they may not make friends, or cast with similarly aged children in which case they may feel that they aren't dancing to their full potential. This is unfortunate, but it's the way of the world isn't it? I don't think this problem is exclusive to EYB either. I've heard of similar issues with other youth companies and at summer schools too. I can't think of an answer though I'm afraid.

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i agree putting 11yr olds with 16yr olds would not look right

but in dartford one of the princesses was 11 and had just been put in pointes.

with girls as old as 18,as her mum was upset about her dd being in alot of pain

and told me she was finding it hard, but she did not say anything in fear of missing out

so my dd helped her while understuding her part , she was very thankfull to my dd

my dd also understands if she ever dances with the corps ,it will be danced better , a white tutu she will wearing and she will be payed.

something the eyb do not do

i sometimes think us parents can get swept up in it all. but remember we are paying the eyb alot of money

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i agree putting 11yr olds with 16yr olds would not look right

but in dartford one of the princesses was 11 and had just been put in pointes.

with girls as old as 18,as her mum was upset about her dd being in alot of pain

and told me she was finding it hard, but she did not say anything in fear of missing out

so my dd helped her while understuding her part , she was very thankfull to my dd

my dd also understands if she ever dances with the corps ,it will be danced better , a white tutu she will wearing and she will be payed.

something the eyb do not do

i sometimes think us parents can get swept up in it all. but remember we are paying the eyb alot of money

True. Obviously if your DD ever dances in a professional company it will be danced better as it will be being danced by professionals, not children.

EYB is a commercial organisation, not a charity, so of course we have to pay. I don't think they make any secret of that.

If you don't feel you got value for money, the simple answer is not to go back. If you are in the South East I'm sure there are lots of other schemes within reach. Maybe if you start a thread asking then other members in your area will be able to suggest something that might be more suitable to your DD's needs.

Good luck finding something.

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Apparently some did drop out at newcastle. One wasn't cast as a princess so she quit after the casting day which sounds a tad diva-ish. Another couple of girls dropped out too and one was apparently very rude to miss Lewis!

EYB is a performance experience, it is not necessarily meant to be technically challenging though of course it will be for some.

Your dd will really just have to wait her turn. When she's older, if she's good enough then she probably will get a better role. As for the other location casting an 11 year old as a princess, she was obviously an excellent dancer and deserved the role and perhaps none

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Apparently some did drop out at newcastle. I heard that one wasn't cast as a princess so she quit after the casting day which sounds a tad diva-ish. Another couple of girls dropped out too and one was apparently very rude to miss Lewis! Also some girls were stopped from under studying the princesses because their technique wasn't good enough and they took a huff about that! My daughter and her friends were discussing it on the way home, that's how I heard all this!

EYB is a performance experience, it is not necessarily meant to be technically challenging though of course it will be for some.

Your dd will really just have to wait her turn. When she's older, if she's good enough then she probably will get a better role. As for the other location casting an 11 year old as a princess, she was obviously an excellent dancer and deserved the role and perhaps none of the older children were as good as her.

For anything in dance, you can of course ask for feedback but you shouldn't really doubt the decisions of the professionals in auditions and selection processes (or even in classes really). They are highly experienced and know what they're doing.

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While it's useful to hear all experiences - good or not so good - of EYB, if people have complaints about how it's run then of course they can choose not to do it again, or raise any issues with the Company. It's not cheap but it is comparable in value to summer schools and for many children (mine included) it's a wonderful, invaluable experience.

 

Stardancer, it seems that perhaps EYB isn't what your daughter is looking for this time, but I would suggest you make the decision based on your experiences of EYB and not on other people's experiences. There may be all sorts of reasons why people pull out but unless those people choose to post here, we don't know their reasons.

 

 

 

 

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My daughter has done EYB several times and has enjoyed them all (especially the one where she got a small solo! :D ). However she understands that any part big or small is important to the overall performance and being part of a large corp is not an easy option.

I think it is a shame if others have had negative experiences especially in regards to friendships because, apart from the shows it has always been the social aspect that my DD has enjoyed the most.

As others have said EYB is mostly about the performance and this year she has decided that she needs to work more on her technique so my £400 is going on a summer school. That is her choice and sadly unless a lottery win is imminent, I do not have the finances for her to do both.

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I agree with the comments about casting with height and costumes in mind.

 

When my dd was 11 and danced on pointe with the older girls, she had just had a massive growth spurt (4 inches in the summer hols!) and was their height, so she was put with them rather than with girls her own age and level.

 

She also struggled with the quantity of pointework in rehearsals.

 

When I talked to them about it, they said that they didn't realise during casting that she had only been on pointe such a short time, as she was doing really well. We agreed that she shouldn't do quite so much, and from then on she practiced in flats for part of the day, and just wore her pointe shoes to go through the dance at the end of each rehearsal.

 

So, please don't suffer in silence!

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How childish of the dancer you mention, Aurora. My Ex DDs did shows with their dance school and danced what they were told to dance. That said, when they were both in the chorus of "Joseph" at the Cambridge Corn Exchange, my youngest was one of the children gathered around the narrator at one point. So was the stage school's owner's daughter, and the tantrum she had the next year when told that other, younger children were going to be used!

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Very proud of DD for always being glad to have just got into anything (she's always been hyper aware how lucky she is and mindful that there can't be places for everyone) - never mind what part you play there is always something valuable to learn.She has always just been pleased to be in it.

 

For EYB to be able to put together an entire ballet in only 10 or 11 rehearsal days the choreography needs to be possible for the majority of the cast immediately so the performance element can be worked on. In our own experience they can and have made choreo harder for certain groups where as a group they can cope with more, likewise for duo/trios and solos, for example the big friends in Coppelia usually do almost the exact RB version.

 

While at associate classes she has been taught the whole white act RB version of Swan Lake in rep classes and to do it flat out is certainly nowhere as easy as it looks.

 

J x

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Getting back to the actual production, what were everybody's favourite bits? I loved the Swans and Cygnets (though obviously I'm biased!). I was really impressed by how well synchronised both groups of girls were. I also really enjoyed the dances in Act 3, especially the Spanish dance. And the little Tzar's nephews and nieces were adorable - I thought they all got into character beautifully and the choreography for them was lovely. The whole production was very enjoyable but I think those were the parts I enjoyed most. I'd love to hear what everyone who saw either the Dartford or Newcastle performance enjoyed most.

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