annaliesey Posted January 10, 2018 Author Share Posted January 10, 2018 2 hours ago, taxi4ballet said: DD ended up at a school where the timetable didn't have any higher-level classes on Saturdays, because they had so many associates. The timetable was organised so that the vocationally-minded students got the right classes on the days they could do them. I’m glad you said that. I thought I was going bonkers thinking this way 🤣 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxi4ballet Posted January 10, 2018 Share Posted January 10, 2018 If you are a dance teacher and you have a student who is an associate somewhere, then you shouldn't deliberately change the time of their class so that it clashes with their associates, meaning they have to give up one or the other. Especially when they are the only student in your school on an associate programme, and they have dance exams coming up in a few weeks' time. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 10, 2018 Share Posted January 10, 2018 My dd's former school had a class timetable set in stone and they moved for no-one which was equally fair/tough on everyone. The issue wasn't really the classes though, it was the endless rehearsals for festivals that got shoe horned in, changed at the 11th hour and left you 15 mins to drive 20 miles and stress like mad. Since the 'associate' dcs were also invariably the ones shoved into the most festival dances this led to a lot of angst all round. Finally, I twigged that we needed to 'start with the end in mind' and prioritise those activities that would most help my dd get into full time training. Be sensibly selfish for your dc, you can't do everything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
balletbean Posted January 10, 2018 Share Posted January 10, 2018 I feel for all of you and your endless empty fuel tanks for the miles you all must cover. My DD walks from her school to the studio (10 mins). The dancing studios are split between two sites but only 3 min walk between the two. We live just 6 mins from the studio (if the traffic lights are green). 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Confuddled Posted January 10, 2018 Share Posted January 10, 2018 4 hours ago, taxi4ballet said: My dd was 12 when we'd finally had enough, and I started looking for somewhere else for her to go. It took nearly two years to find the right place. I had to cast round and make a list of all the dance schools within an hour's travelling time that offered multiple classes a week for Inter upwards (pretty thin on the ground for advanced). Then a list of all the days and times that they all had those classes on the timetable. I also had a good look online, Facebook etc etc, and asked people at associates and EYB rehearsals where they went. Then cross off any where days/times of their classes clashed with associates/other non-negotiable stuff. Then look at whether any of the schools had any success in getting their students into vocational training, and if so, how many and where. If they didn't, cross them off. Then see whether any of them were RAD (which is what dd had been studying so a move would be more straightforward) although she would have been happy to switch for the right teacher. There weren't many schools left on the list by this stage... Then I did a lot of telephoning to see who could offer what, and whether they seemed nice, interested and enthusiastic, and actually wanted to help. Crossed a few more off. That left a small handful of schools (out of about 20 that I had started with). DD then had some trial lessons. She decided one was a 'no' after a few weeks (which was a pity as it was the nearest!!), one was a 'maybe' and the last, which we only found about by accident as there was no online presence at all , was "OMG definitely yes!" so there she went. This is fantastic advice. I'd also add that going to a trial class is good, but a if a ballet school does a summer school then that's really helpful in working out whether it's a good fit. I know summer is a way off, but a whole week really gives your dd a chance to see whether she gels with the teachers, what the other pupils are like, how seriously they all take it etc. I know some schools don't do summer schools (or not for older children), though. I knew dd had found the one when she bounced out happy but exhausted. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
annaliesey Posted January 10, 2018 Author Share Posted January 10, 2018 45 minutes ago, balletbean said: I feel for all of you and your endless empty fuel tanks for the miles you all must cover. My DD walks from her school to the studio (10 mins). The dancing studios are split between two sites but only 3 min walk between the two. We live just 6 mins from the studio (if the traffic lights are green). Haha now you are just showing off!! 🤣 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cara in NZ Posted January 11, 2018 Share Posted January 11, 2018 7 hours ago, Fiz said: I understand that but playing beat the clock was a nightmare. Our worst one was Grade 3 when DD was 10. Class at 3.45, when school finished at 3 and it was a half-hour drive away. It was the first class of the day so the dance school doors were locked until the teacher swanned up 10 minutes before. We tried doing the kids' buns in howling gales on the pavement outside, or in the car. Buns done before school didn't last... in the end she started getting changed at school in the lunchbreak so there was only the hair left to do. The things we do! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxi4ballet Posted January 11, 2018 Share Posted January 11, 2018 My dd became an expert on in-car hair and doing a bun in the dark 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicola H Posted January 11, 2018 Share Posted January 11, 2018 9 hours ago, Fiz said: Either she wants the money for private lessons or she’s touchy about the C.A.T sessions. I feel for you and your dd. It’s petty and hurtful. I'd also be interested to know what the teachers background is ... i.e. were they themselves vocationally trained ( whether traditional vocational performer orientated route or via a HE qualification) even if they have never been a pro in a company ... ? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joyofdance Posted January 11, 2018 Share Posted January 11, 2018 We suffer the conflicting timetable problem too. DD doesn't do exams anymore so fortunately that isn't an issue. We manage it by trying to give equal balance to different classes. It does mean that she invariably misses the odd class with her associates and her dance school and we still have to pay for them but we don't have a choice. When DD did exams and festivals with her previous dance school I used to get really annoyed at last minute extra rehearsal demands. Apart from the time the cost was ridiculous. I am convinced that some dance school teachers decide that they need a little holiday money or want to buy something nice so will pay for it by dragging all of the kids in for extra exam or festival dance practice. Sorry if that is brutal but I have always had my suspicions 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
balletbean Posted January 11, 2018 Share Posted January 11, 2018 (edited) 17 hours ago, annaliesey said: Haha now you are just showing off!! 🤣 I shall let you into a secret. I'm that close it has been known that I complete the ballet pickup in slippers and leave the veggies boiling with meal ready to serve within minutes of walking in the door. Opps is that just too much. lol PS The only downside is that DD complains as the heating in the car hasn't had chance to kick in for the journey home on the cold night!! lol Edited January 11, 2018 by balletbean 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiz Posted January 11, 2018 Share Posted January 11, 2018 (edited) I would have been like that if we’d lived near to the school my dds went to but the local school, five minutes away, was awful and closed two years after my youngest dd started ballet. Ballet was thin on the ground in our tiny town and it meant a 30-45 minutes commute in one direction or another. It’s not like that now. There’s a new good school which welcomes associate schemes and is proud of the pupils that get on or do shows. Edited January 11, 2018 by Fiz Removed word. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pups_mum Posted January 11, 2018 Share Posted January 11, 2018 1 hour ago, balletbean said: I shall let you into a secret. I'm that close it has been known that I complete the ballet pickup in slippers and leave the veggies boiling with meal ready to serve within minutes of walking in the door. Opps is that just too much. lol PS The only downside is that DD complains as the heating in the car hasn't had chance to kick in for the journey home on the cold night!! lol I had that experience transiently when for an all too short time, DD's old school relocated to a building about half a mile down the road from our house. Mostly she walked, or asked the school bus driver to drop her off there instead of at home, but I did a fair few late night winter pick ups in my PJs too. But sadly that school closed, and the next nearest school offering an advanced ballet class was 40 miles away. (The downside of rural life). So we went from the sublime to the ridiculous overnight! Fortunately she passed her driving test very soon after, though that of course gave me a whole new set of worries. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
annaliesey Posted January 11, 2018 Author Share Posted January 11, 2018 6 hours ago, joyofdance said: We suffer the conflicting timetable problem too. DD doesn't do exams anymore so fortunately that isn't an issue. We manage it by trying to give equal balance to different classes. It does mean that she invariably misses the odd class with her associates and her dance school and we still have to pay for them but we don't have a choice. When DD did exams and festivals with her previous dance school I used to get really annoyed at last minute extra rehearsal demands. Apart from the time the cost was ridiculous. I am convinced that some dance school teachers decide that they need a little holiday money or want to buy something nice so will pay for it by dragging all of the kids in for extra exam or festival dance practice. Sorry if that is brutal but I have always had my suspicions Haha sorry to laugh but I think they just really don’t see things from parents perspectives sometimes. I can only assume some have had their fingers burnt with rotten parents over the years that it’s easy to be cynical about all parents (bit Luke we are now with dance teachers!) haha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
annaliesey Posted January 11, 2018 Author Share Posted January 11, 2018 3 hours ago, balletbean said: I shall let you into a secret. I'm that close it has been known that I complete the ballet pickup in slippers and leave the veggies boiling with meal ready to serve within minutes of walking in the door. Opps is that just too much. lol PS The only downside is that DD complains as the heating in the car hasn't had chance to kick in for the journey home on the cold night!! lol Ok this is hurting haha and to make it worse, even if I were in your position I can guaranteed our blooming teacher would still clash all her classes... guaranteed!! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
annaliesey Posted January 11, 2018 Author Share Posted January 11, 2018 I’m thinking that I might end up setting up a dance class directory linked to google maps where you can just search and filter by days of week, times, class type, and have a 5 star review system im sure I’m halfway there already its even worse now the ‘find an RAD teacher’ facility only includes teachers who pay to be included! Needles and haystacks 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiz Posted January 11, 2018 Share Posted January 11, 2018 I feel your pain! I had this experience for our dds and also for myself when I went back although interestingly two of my teachers also had Cecchetti training and I loved it. It’s so dancey! I’m really missing classes a lot but I’m just not up to going at the moment as my health fluctuates so much. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
balletbean Posted January 11, 2018 Share Posted January 11, 2018 59 minutes ago, annaliesey said: Ok this is hurting haha and to make it worse, even if I were in your position I can guaranteed our blooming teacher would still clash all her classes... guaranteed!! The studios are split over two locations, Ballet at one and tap/modern at another. Some classes literally start one genre as the other class finishes. It is well known to see Lycra clad children and teenagers running up and down the road between the two, especially in the summer months where they don't bother to throw on a top/leggings. Which amuses us parents as teenagers can be so fickle in what they are seen out in public wearing. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiz Posted January 11, 2018 Share Posted January 11, 2018 You aren’t in Cambridge, are you? We had the same thing, split sites, and the kids used to do the same. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
balletbean Posted January 11, 2018 Share Posted January 11, 2018 11 minutes ago, Fiz said: You aren’t in Cambridge, are you? We had the same thing, split sites, and the kids used to do the same. Nope. Much further south. 🇯🇪 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicola H Posted January 12, 2018 Share Posted January 12, 2018 6 hours ago, annaliesey said: I’m thinking that I might end up setting up a dance class directory linked to google maps where you can just search and filter by days of week, times, class type, and have a 5 star review system im sure I’m halfway there already its even worse now the ‘find an RAD teacher’ facility only includes teachers who pay to be included! Needles and haystacks Speak to @sophie_rebecca about the mechanics of that as she has a overlay for adult classes - the easiesy way to fined that is go to the fabulous http://jelterps.blogspot.co.uk/ and click on the 'adult ballet classes' link in the top bar 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sophie_rebecca Posted January 13, 2018 Share Posted January 13, 2018 On 12/01/2018 at 00:13, Nicola H said: Speak to @sophie_rebecca about the mechanics of that as she has a overlay for adult classes - the easiesy way to fined that is go to the fabulous http://jelterps.blogspot.co.uk/ and click on the 'adult ballet classes' link in the top bar @annaliesey very happy to add you as a contributor to the map if you'd like to help carry it on https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1LQe92qPsOF3qHObTMypt_r-j6qE&usp=sharing 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiz Posted January 13, 2018 Share Posted January 13, 2018 Sophie Rebecca, there is also Go Dance in Lincoln. It doesn’t offer pointe. Streetbeat might in some cases. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicola H Posted January 13, 2018 Share Posted January 13, 2018 19 minutes ago, Fiz said: Sophie Rebecca, there is also Go Dance in Lincoln. It doesn’t offer pointe. Streetbeat might in some cases. Streetbeat does have adult pointe (Wednesday nights before adult 'intermediate / advanced' ballet ) beginners / improvers adult ballet is on Monday http://www.streetbeat.dance/dance_timetable.pdf Go Dance isn;t on the list because no one has contributed it based on actual experience - the listing is contributor generated - i know my contributions to it are based on actually going to class or knowing the teachers / having done other stuff with them ... ( also IIRC Go Dance is pay per term even for adult classes) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiz Posted January 13, 2018 Share Posted January 13, 2018 I used to go there and posted about it sometime before you joined Ballet Co, Nicola. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sophie_rebecca Posted January 13, 2018 Share Posted January 13, 2018 It's a list I generated via contributions from the community (mostly via twitter) & teachers getting in touch, it's in no way an endorsement kind of thing, Jane travels & dances a lot more so her blog has many many reviews, I'm always open to new additions, I like the idea of someone remembering they loved ballet or being inspired to start & it being really easy to look at the map & see if there are classes close to you to hop into sometimes it's very hard trawling websites to see if they do adult classes & it's not always on the website etc but things are getting better for us adult dancers. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsMoo2 Posted January 13, 2018 Share Posted January 13, 2018 Guess what?? Daughter got into school choir!! 😭😭😭 More timetable clashes!! Yay for us! 🤣🤣🤣🤣😂 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pups_mum Posted January 13, 2018 Share Posted January 13, 2018 33 minutes ago, MrsMoo2 said: Guess what?? Daughter got into school choir!! 😭😭😭 More timetable clashes!! Yay for us! 🤣🤣🤣🤣😂 I can relate... it's a bit of a double edged sword when they do well at things isn't it? My boys are taking part in an engineering type competition next week. Last year their team won the regional competition and then did sufficiently well at the nationals to get through to the international final. It was an awesome experience for them but a logistical and hugely time consuming nightmare for parents. I'm glad they've had that opportunity, but I know I'm not the only one of last year's parents who is secretly hoping that they don't win the heat next week......bad mummy.... 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrancingMum Posted January 14, 2018 Share Posted January 14, 2018 Every-time DD makes a school team I despair as although matches should finish in time to get back before the end of school they inevitably over run and/or the coach gets stuck in traffic and then there is the rush to dance class not to mention the risk of injury. Thankfully she managed exams last term without injury and the bruises could be covered by make-up! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legseleven Posted January 14, 2018 Share Posted January 14, 2018 Yep, it would be helpful if DD only danced and we only had to try to fit in various classes (which in itself is a mission). Sporting and other commitments are lovely but just add even more stress for all of us! Ah well, wouldn’t know what to do with ourselves if we were un-stressed 😉 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Confuddled Posted January 14, 2018 Share Posted January 14, 2018 Yes, I'm currently trying to make this term's diary work. I've found three serious clashes so far, but I"m sure more will appear as people send me details of timings. Trying to balance things between siblings is hard, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HollyLou Posted January 15, 2018 Share Posted January 15, 2018 I'm so incredibly pleased my dd dance school change to fit with associates and CAT scheme. The timetable has been adjusted quite a few times to fit in with my dd training (lots of vocal/social media complaints from other parents though!). Thankfully the teacher will not be swayed by childish parents and my dd has just been given a main role in a new group dance.......the teacher put a post out on our group page aswell to highlight the fact that the place was fully deserved as my dd works much harder to keep up with everything. It means a great deal to my dd as she had felt a little excluded recently. I had noticed some teachers had issues with CAT for some reason. My dd teacher is a massive supporter of them but local schools say how awful the teachers are. I've found the CAT staff to be so amazing in all areas. The teachers have been in contact frequently the last week awaiting the results of last weeks Elmhurst audition. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicola H Posted January 15, 2018 Share Posted January 15, 2018 2 hours ago, Sarah2203 said: <snip> I had noticed some teachers had issues with CAT for some reason. My dd teacher is a massive supporter of them but local schools say how awful the teachers are. I've found the CAT staff to be so amazing in all areas. The teachers have been in contact frequently the last week awaiting the results of last weeks Elmhurst audition. i wonder if 'Sunday League' managers for kids teams are so dismissive if their players get into the academies for football or rugby ... given CAT schemes style themselves as ' same quality (and quantity) of teaching as going away to vocational school' ... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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