robin64 Posted August 5, 2012 Share Posted August 5, 2012 Spanner we posted at the same time! I would recommend phoning the CAT team in Swindon. I think they would be helpful and have contacts in SW. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pointytoes22 Posted August 5, 2012 Share Posted August 5, 2012 I tried for the CAT in Exeter but was ill and jet lagged on the audition day so didn't dance well Which are the best associate courses in London? I really want to try for RBS associate but I think I'm too old to try this year. Last year I wasn't so into dance but have suddenly developed a passion for it and gone from 1 class a week to 6! There are elmhurst PVPs in Plymouth but for primary school children unfortunately, not sure about Bristol. I looked on EYB website and it doesn't mention any forthcoming auditions in southwest - fingers crossed there might be! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RosaMac Posted August 5, 2012 Share Posted August 5, 2012 Bristol Russian Ballet School have a youth company. It is once a fortnight I think on a Sunday for 13-18 year olds. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna C Posted August 5, 2012 Share Posted August 5, 2012 Weston-Supermare is probably the nearest EYB production coming up: http://www.englishyouthballet.co.uk/auditions1.html There will be more dates coming up for 2013. In terms of London Associates, there are RBS, Central, London Junior/Senior Ballet, and probably more that I've missed! Elmhurst Associates are indeed for Primary school age. If you are worried about speaking to your teacher alone, how about asking for a chat with your Mum or Dad there too? :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robin64 Posted August 5, 2012 Share Posted August 5, 2012 If you look on the RAD website they are doing some workshops in Taunton this year and you could try a repertoire workshop at HQ in London. It would only mean a day trip. Details of all the courses are in the education and training section where you can find a handy calendar with all the events. One thing I would recommend for you is to try and see as many dance performances as you can because interviews at CAT auditions and I am sure other colleges ask you about this and will expect to see that you have watched a good variety of dance performances especially contemporary if you are aiming for that. Keep a note of all your dance experiences and the performances you have seen and try and record what your thoughts and feelings were. Can you do a GCSE in dance at school or a BTEC at a local college? If you have your heart set on ballet then you will have to be ready to be utterly realistic because the places are so limited and the requirements including physical things you can't change are very stringent plus it is harder to get into this later especially for a girl. This is just a fact of life. We have a male family friend who started ballet at 15 and is very successful but it is just more competitive for females. Please don't think I am trying to put you off and I do feel you should follow up your interest but be prepared to look at all your options into dance. I do think it would be good to get your regular dance teacher on board if you can, you might be suprised at the support you get. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aileen Posted August 5, 2012 Share Posted August 5, 2012 Isn't there a youth ballet in Cornwall called something like Duchy Youth Ballet? There may be things going on in Plymouth as it's quite a big place. What about summer schools and holiday courses? Some are residential and they may give you some idea of the standard that other girls of a similar age are at, which could be useful particularly if you attend a small dance school or a school that is not used to sending children to vocational school. I agree with spanner, though. You are going to have to talk to your teacher sooner rather than later. You should listen carefully to what she says and ask plenty of questions. If she is negative you could seek a second opinion from a teacher at another school. You say that you have recently increased the number of classes which you do. Even if your teacher is negative now she may become more positive in a few months time if you improve a lot. You do not say what age you are. It would be helpful if you could tell people on this forum how old you are as others more knowledgeable than me will find it easier to advise you with this information. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pointytoes22 Posted August 5, 2012 Share Posted August 5, 2012 Thankyou for your help everyone, I will look into all options you've suggested I'm 15 (only just) so would be auditioning for 6th form places this autumn/winter - not much time! Im trying to do ad much dance as i can. I love ballet so much and that would be my dream to get into a ballet school, however as you say robin it's alot harder if you're a late starter so I think I may look into general performing arts schools aswell. Maybe somewhere like rambert would be good that have ballet and contempory? Does anybody have experience? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna C Posted August 5, 2012 Share Posted August 5, 2012 If you're looking at Performing Arts/Musical Theatre as an option then I recommend keeping up singing lessons, jazz and some tap. There are some fantastic schools you could look at, for instance Laine or Millenium. For schools like this, and indeed Rambert, you have a little more time as there is more leeway with the age limit. In fact some schools prefer applicants to be a little older. I'd recommend trying again for a CAT scheme if you're looking at schools with a strong Contemporary department. As you're 15 I'd recommend talking to your teacher ASAP; preferably before September if you can email her, so that at the start of term you can start working with her straight away on your audition preparation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robin64 Posted August 5, 2012 Share Posted August 5, 2012 http://www.birdcollege.co.uk/courses_prevoc.php hi pointytoes, have a look at this. These pre vocational courses are designed to help the late bloomer and give you an audition chance and a way of building your confidence. Other colleges probably do them too so might be good for you to find out about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pointytoes22 Posted August 5, 2012 Share Posted August 5, 2012 I have a week long course with her starting tommorow so can talk to her then That course looks great! I've never seen/heard of anything like if before. For associate courses in London, how crazy do you think it is to travel four hours there and back once a week? I've been thinking about it for a while. London senior ballet have auditions for entry sep 2012 on 8th sep - are they good (teachers, training etc) has anybody gone there or know of those who have? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pas de Quatre Posted August 5, 2012 Share Posted August 5, 2012 I have had pupils, and friends of pupils, at London Senior Ballet. The teachers are excellent and it would be worth all your hours of travelling if you were accepted. Long train journeys are a good opportunity to do homework! They are one of the few Associate schemes that continue after 16, they go on to 18 i.e. A-level year, so it would give you more time to catch up. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
primrose Posted August 5, 2012 Share Posted August 5, 2012 Laines do an audition support day. Their next one is 21st October. My dd found this to be very informative and gave a very good insight to what the school was about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna C Posted August 5, 2012 Share Posted August 5, 2012 Ooh, I didn't know that; that's good to know. I've heard good things about LJB/LSB too. If you can get onto an Associate course, Pointytoes, and if the train fares are manageable, it is a long day to get to London but can be well worth it. :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drdance Posted August 5, 2012 Share Posted August 5, 2012 As for the original question (sorry only just come onto this thread...) - I no longer teach graded classes, only additional training for kids already doing weekly classes with their local teacher, but I am trained in several different methods. I think that many many teachers ONLY teach the examination syllabus exercises, thats all the ballet the students learn, and perhaps one show dance a year - and students learn the examination settings rather than learn to dance. Despite the RAD's rigorous teacher training in teaching unset lessons based on the syllabus requirments, and training teachers to create exercises to 'build up to' the examination settings, teachers are sometimes faced with pressure from parents to 'get my child through an exam a year' (are these the same parents who rush to get their child on pointe at age 10?!), or maybe teachers just get worried about their exam results and so don't feel like they have time to teach free work in their classes, or perhaps teachers just get lazy and teach someone elses choreography because it's easier? Who knows.... but this system does NOT produced well rounded, artistic, strong dancers. Those who aspire to be professional dancers of any genre know they need to do associate classes, performance experiences (such as NYB, EYB, LCB etc) - but why do they need to do all of these? Because of teachers putting dancers through exams and not teaching them to DANCE! Having said that, the RAD are obviously keen to address the issue of teachers teaching students to pass exams, rather than teaching them to dance, and their new work is very difficult to merely teach the settings as they are - even the inter foundation/inter which requires no input from the teacher, the exercises are too long to teach all at once so it almost forces the teaches into breaking them down (I hope!) - and the RAD are doing more and more teacher CPD on creating unset work based on their work, and publishing entire CD's of music suitable for free work at each grade. The new grades work demands some creative input from the teachers, and attempts to encourage teachers to use free work to teach movements away from the examination settings. I'm sure those inclined will choreograph/choose one way of doing it and keep it the same forever after, thus taking away all creativity from students but those teachers will be doing their students a disservice. What I'm trying to say (not very effectively!) is that a GOOD teacher will adapt their lessons to suit the students in front of them; if they follow an examination syllabus they should not always teach the set exercises but should use the material within the syllabus and be creative with it, and should create exercises to work on technique of perhaps one key movement in an exam setting rather than all of it, encourage students' dance quality and train their ability to pick up unset work. After all dancing is not about doing the same exercises week after week like a robot! Most Americans don't take exams, they don't follow set syllabi yet they produce some astounding dancers... on the other hand, a lot of Australians follow the RAD method (but supplement it with other things) and they also produce world-class dancers! A training method is only as good as its teachers, exams are markers of what you can do in one hour, on one day - but do they make good dancers?!?! 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
primrose Posted August 5, 2012 Share Posted August 5, 2012 Very well said drdance, I couldnt agree with you more. If I had my time over again with my dd, I really would not be interested at all in syllabus work but in finding a teacher who could teach my dd good technique and how to move and dance to music. I can say this now after my dd reached advanced 2 recieved distinctions, but honestly I dont think the exams teach a child how to dance, just how to follow a syllabus. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swanprincess Posted August 8, 2012 Share Posted August 8, 2012 pointytoes22, do you mind if i ask what grade you are please? i'm in a similar situation to you- i've only really taken ballet seriously for about 18 months, going from 1 ballet class a week in early 2011,to 7 by the end of the summer term this year!! i hope to audition vocationally for 2014 entry, but am currently Inter/grade 6, will probably be advanced foundation/ grade 7 by audition time, does this sound about right to you? thanks x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pointytoes22 Posted August 8, 2012 Share Posted August 8, 2012 Very similar! I'm grade 7 (although I skipped grade 6) and I attend the grade 8 class as well, and inter and I attend the advanced 1 (we don't do advanced foundation) class as well. I would be auditioning for 2013 entry so this autumn/winter - bit scary! I've just spoken to my dance teacher and she's happy to support me and says she will give private lessons x 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swanprincess Posted August 8, 2012 Share Posted August 8, 2012 wow, private lessons!! i wish my ballet teacher would do that for me (not asked her about 6th-form auditions yet!!) good luck for your auditions, hope it goes well for you x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pointytoes22 Posted August 8, 2012 Share Posted August 8, 2012 Thank you swanprincess not sure how much the private lessons will cost though, that wasn't discussed! x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balletgirlsplease Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 Thank heavens I found this thread! Was starting to panic that my daughter is not doing enough as she is only on grade 2 at 10. She started dancing at nearly 7. However, most in her class are the same age. She does a lot of hours dancing through the week but actual ballet is only 1/2 hr. she does musical theatre, tap, jazz etc. she is just starting RBS associates year 6 which we are hoping will give her the extra ballet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna C Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 Hi eloise_please, Your dd clearly has potential, which is super. However I would suggest - if you can - increasing the ballet training now. Is there a non-syllabus class available? Or another Grade 2 class? I'm simply thinking of the huge amount of technique my dd has had to learn since her Grade 2! :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balletgirlsplease Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 No not at the moment. She already dances 4 days a week, a piano lesson, now RBS associates on a sat. Plus another daughter doing similar (didn't get on associates), plus a DH who works shifts and me working part time. She is also very bright and considering becoming a doctor when she leaves school. Plus she absolutely loves musical theatre and her biggest strength at comps is her song and dance. Money and time (and my sanity!) currently limiting taking on anymore! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balletgirlsplease Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 I have also forgotton that she has a private lesson once a week and a troupes class where they are currently learning a ballet so she probably gets more than I realise! Plus her tap, jazz, limbering, streetdance, musical theatre, singing...lol! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna C Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 Gosh! :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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