Masters of Ballet Academy

[tropicmama]

Just noticed - probably quite late - that the Russian Imperial Ballet School has now changed to the Masters of Ballet Academy and is moving to new premises in Acton.  Does anyone's DC attend classes within term time at formerly RIBS?  I am very keen to get feedback on how they found it as I am looking into possibly enrolling my DD for a weekly class.  The school and teachers sound very impressive.  I know the summer and Easter courses are superb which is why I would love to know more about the regular term-time classes.

[Pas de Quatre]

Masters of Ballet Academy promises to be a fine school.  RIBS has had great success, with pupils gaining places at RBS and the Vaganova school itself.  Olga Semenova will be joined by Elena Glurjidze and possibly some other high profile names on the teaching staff.  However, I don't think they will be accepting once a week pupils, right from the beginning pupils must attend several times a week as it will be run as a Vocational school.  Unless of course, they start some sort of Associate classes in due course.

[atacrossroads]

The classes will be of a very high standard with the calibre of teachers at the school.  The aim is to provide vocational level training, both in quality and quantity of classes (although the hours will be slightly less than at a vocational school), but in after school hours, giving students the best of both worlds hopefully.  The older children hoping to audition for Upper Schools will no doubt take classes on most days during the week, however I'm sure the younger children will be able to take a more introductory approach and parents shouldn't be put off applying if their child wants to start on one or two days only.  

 

Olga also teaches at English National Ballet School and Central School of Ballet and Elena (an Ex Lead Principal at ENB) has been teaching for both ENBS and RBS in the last year.  

 

My Dc has been going to Olga's classes for a year on Sundays and will now be attending every day (except Mondays when there are no classes).  We've found her teaching to be incredible technically, disciplined yet kind and good value for money. The classes aren't the cheapest around, but if your child is serious about their ballet and when you consider who's teaching them, what you might get for less money and the bad habits that your child might struggle to break further on down the line, it's money very well spent.

 

The brand new studios have been built to their specification, so will offer fantastic facilities to train in  

Edited August 15, 2017 by atacrossroads
Typing errors

[Pas de Quatre]

Details of the classes can be found on RIBS facebook page. Just scroll down and all the classes for different levels are listed.

[Jan McNulty]

https://www.facebook.com/Russian-Imperial-Ballet-School-578290265639441/

 

It's a heck of a way to scroll down so I have copied the relevant post:

 

"Dear Parents and Students,

 

Our Russian Imperial Ballet School will be changing its name to The Masters of Ballet Academy. The school is expanding, and we will be offering more daily classes in multiple studios, but which are all at the same location.

 

From September 2017 our school is moving to East Acton to a new 3-studio complex. These studios have been made specifically to meet our exacting requirements.  The school will offer evening and weekend classes, continue with its excellent vocational programme, as well as offer the well-established Masters of Ballet summer and Easter intensive courses at the Sadler's Wells Theatre.

 

Masters of Ballet Academy 
Address:
The Park Club 
East Acton Lane
West London
W3 7HB

 

Parking spaces are available.

 

Our school is a member of the Association of Russian Ballet and Theatre Arts (ARBTA).

Every year our students successfully pass their ballet exams at various levels. These exams are carried out by independent professional English examiners of ARBTA which is fully accredited by the Board of Dance Qualification & Training (BDQT).

 

We have Groups:

Little Stars Group - for children 4-5 years old, 45 mins each lesson, 4 times per week

Foundations Group - for children 6-7/8 years old, 1hr each lesson, 4 times per week

Junior Group - for students 8/9-10/11 years old, 1hr 30 mins each lesson, 5 times per week

Pre-Senior Group - for students 11/12-13 years old, 1hr 45 mins each lesson, 6 times per week

Senior Group - for students 14-18 years old, 2hrs 45 mins each lesson, 6 times per week

 

Classes are taught according to the Russian classical Vaganova Method

 

Students will be placed in the appropriate class at our discretion according to their level of training and ability.

Our former students have been accepted to such famous professional ballet schools as the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet (St Petersburg), the Moscow State Academy of Choreography (Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow), the Royal Ballet School Upper and the White Lodge (London), the Perm State School of Choreography (Russia), and many others.  English National Ballet Company, Estonian Ballet Company, Wiener Staatsballet Company.

 

We hope see you in our school in September 2017. Please don't hesitate to ask us should you have any questions.

 

Warm regards,

Olga Semenova and Elena Glurjidze,

Artistic Directors of Masters of Ballet Academy.

 

For information please contact us: olga@mastersofballetacademy.com  "

 

[tropicmama]

I found that the school actually has a new website now, which doesn't easily come up (if at all) when you do a Google search using the name:

 

http://mastersofballetacademy.com/

 

This was where I saw the new timetable and fees schedule.  I got the idea that you can do just once a week classes because the fees are dependent on how many classes a week you take, and also they have a Little Stars group which I would not have thought would be an age group that would attend class more than 1-2 times a week max. 

 

Does anyone know if this school has a uniform or would any black leotard do?  It would appear the new website doesn't have a lot of information as yet.

[Pas de Quatre]

Reading the info on the website does make it appear that the number of classes per week are by choice.  On the fb page it wasn't so clear so I just assumed that those were the number you had to do for each level. 

[Firebird21]

Hi all x

Ive seen some old post about this school...just wondering if anyone had any recent feedback about their experiences there

many thanks in advance x 

[Dance.Mum]

DC attended their two week summer school and loved the training despite not being a fan of Russian technique.  It is usually at Sadler's Wells but a modified version took place in their home premises.  We booked it as it was one of the few that was in the studio.  Most who attended were their own pupils and were of a high standard.  Others who attended were from vocational schools such as Tring and a girl who is going into Elmhurst 6th Form.  They have a boy heading off to Vaganova in a few weeks, have pupils place in international competitions and gain places at top upper schools such as RBS and ENB.  Definitely worth speaking to them about what they can offer.  If we had known about them before we would have looked at them while considering vocational school.  The timing of their classes does appear to fit with academic schooling better than some other options we had been considering.  We definitely plan to look at going back next summer if it works out. 

Edited August 28, 2020 by Dance.Mum

[Firebird21]

11 hours ago, Dance.Mum said:

DC attended their two week summer school and loved the training despite not being a fan of Russian technique.  It is usually at Sadler's Wells but a modified version took place in their home premises.  We booked it as it was one of the few that was in the studio.  Most who attended were their own pupils and were of a high standard.  Others who attended were from vocational schools such as Tring and a girl who is going into Elmhurst 6th Form.  They have a boy heading off to Vaganova in a few weeks, have pupils place in international competitions and gain places at top upper schools such as RBS and ENB.  Definitely worth speaking to them about what they can offer.  If we had known about them before we would have looked at them while considering vocational school.  The timing of their classes does appear to fit with academic schooling better than some other options we had been considering.  We definitely plan to look at going back next summer if it works out. 

Thanks so much

we sadly had to cancel the summer school as other issues came up 

glad it was a positive experience for you 

[Mumof1]

On 16/08/2017 at 09:52, tropicmama said:

I found that the school actually has a new website now, which doesn't easily come up (if at all) when you do a Google search using the name:

 

http://mastersofballetacademy.com/

 

This was where I saw the new timetable and fees schedule.  I got the idea that you can do just once a week classes because the fees are dependent on how many classes a week you take, and also they have a Little Stars group which I would not have thought would be an age group that would attend class more than 1-2 times a week max. 

 

Does anyone know if this school has a uniform or would any black leotard do?  It would appear the new website doesn't have a lot of information as yet.

Hi. My daughter is 8 and has been going to masters for 2 years now. She loves it. 
there’s no uniform as such. 
any coloured leotard but no skirts. I do notice that some of the older girls are allowed to wear them but don’t know the exact rules. 
hope this helps. 

[Jan McNulty]

Hello Lily and welcome out of the lurking shadows!

[Mumof1]

8 minutes ago, Jan McNulty said:

Hello Lily and welcome out of the lurking shadows!

Ha ha. I’ve only just discovered this site as I was after some help with an audition. It’s been helpful.