RBS Mid Associates / Elmhurst extended young Dancers

[Shellym]

Hello, I’m pretty new to all this, DD has really only started taken ballet seriously in the last 6months, just a hobby before with weekly classes, she is a young year 5, year 6 in September.  As she kept going on about royal ballet and saying it would be her dream to go her dance teacher she suggested she should try for JA, we also tried for Elmhurst young dancers too.  Last week we found out it was a no from Elmhurst and she was truly devastated, really expecting a no from JA too so trying to get prepared.  It’s her first attempt at anything like this so we knew it was extremely slim odds.   She determined to work harder, and to up the practice she is already doing at home.  She wants to continue trying but I haven’t a clue how much more is expected of them at the MA and extended dancers auditions, what additional stuff do they have to do, what form does the audition take, is it still like a class?  Apologies if this has been answered in another thread. 

Thanks x

[glissade]

My #1 suggestion is to ask your daughter's ballet teacher for an honest assessment of her suitability for the training offered by the various schools. For example, RBS select their JAs largely on the basis of a few highly-desired physical attributes (body proportions, feet, extent of possible turnout, extent of hypermobility etc). If your daughter doesn't have these attributes, then she is unlikely to be offered a place on their JA scheme. At MA level upwards, children need to have both the physical attributes plus the ability to use them (eg it's no use having beautiful feet, swaybacks and turnout if you can't coordinate your body and dance with intelligence and musicality). It really is very important to remember that not having the RBS-desired physical attributes has absolutely no bearing at all on a child's ability to dance - many children who don't have the physical attributes are beautiful dancers, win many festivals, get good grades in exams and go on to have careers in dance with other schools and companies. Perhaps your daughter's teacher could help guide you here ....?

[SissonneDoublee]

You might find that your DD’s teacher can request feedback from the Elmhurst associates audition. This would give you a bit more of an indication. If there are other schemes locally, such as MIDAS, Ballet Boost or Tring CBA, you might be able to apply for a mid-year audition. Tring definitely hold auditions in November. Good luck!

[Shellym]

Thanks I’ve asked her dance teacher to try and get feedback from a Elmhurst, DD is a petite girl, making fabulous progress according to her dance teacher, very bendy with some hyper mobility, going to be having a long chat with Dance teacher once we get J A results.  Just really wanted an insight as to how these auditions change as they get to year 7 x

[Bluebird22]

I didn’t do very well getting feedback from Elmhurst but Royal did give me feedback. The general conversation is not so much what is wrong with your child that meant they didn’t get a place, they pointed out a few issues but certainly not factors that have held others back, it feels more like a case of “there was just others we wanted more”

[PurpleM]

Kings international ballet academy associates programme is very good. The directors are great for giving honest feedback. 

[Shellym]

23 minutes ago, PurpleM said:

Kings international ballet academy associates programme is very good. The directors are great for giving honest feedback. 

Thank you, haven’t heard of it before, more local for us too!

[sunrise81]

The audition will be the same.....normal lesson with some stretching and improv. It's just the number of places available greatly reduces as the number of MA centres decreases 

[Mummy twinkle toes]

53 minutes ago, Shellym said:

Thank you, haven’t heard of it before, more local for us too!

Excellent training. We left a prestigious scheme to go there.

[Ruby Foo]

As glissade has already pointed out, it’s really a question of physique and whether you have the RBS look. At JA level, there is still a fair variation in some physiques/ feet etc, but by mids, because there  are far fewer places, it is a little narrower. Still plenty of openings for talented dancers without going down the RBS route.

[Motomum]

At MA level for RBS, speaking from my experience of the children in my child’s Y6 JA class, they really are all about physical facility as they like to call it. It becomes a much bigger consideration than at JA level. Also like glissade has said, understanding how to use what they have also becomes v important.

 musicality and other more abstract esoteric qualities are equally important, but RBS want it all. I can honestly say that IMHO RBS definitely have a body type, Elmhurst less so.

RBS, slim, small head, long neck compact short to medium length torso, long arms, long legs that are proportionate, flexibility and beautiful feet with a high instep, especially for the girls.

At the vocational training stage, not the professional hiring stage, exceptional talent and potential is still of course a huge factor too, but ......

 

Get feedback every time and like others have said get an honest assessment of your daughters dance potential and physical suitability  for certain ballet training programs, they all are just that little bit different with RBS being about as purist as they come for classical ballet training.

 

Your daughter is still young, but find out now if her body type is right, so that she knows where her ballet strengths and focus needs to be.

 

[Shellym]

1 hour ago, Motomum said:

At MA level for RBS, speaking from my experience of the children in my child’s Y6 JA class, they really are all about physical facility as they like to call it. It becomes a much bigger consideration than at JA level. Also like glissade has said, understanding how to use what they have also becomes v important.

 musicality and other more abstract esoteric qualities are equally important, but RBS want it all. I can honestly say that IMHO RBS definitely have a body type, Elmhurst less so.

RBS, slim, small head, long neck compact short to medium length torso, long arms, long legs that are proportionate, flexibility and beautiful feet with a high instep, especially for the girls.

At the vocational training stage, not the professional hiring stage, exceptional talent and potential is still of course a huge factor too, but ......

 

Get feedback every time and like others have said get an honest assessment of your daughters dance potential and physical suitability  for certain ballet training programs, they all are just that little bit different with RBS being about as purist as they come for classical ballet training.

 

Your daughter is still young, but find out now if her body type is right, so that she knows where her ballet strengths and focus needs to be.

 

Thank you, once we get the ja results I will chat to her teacher x

[PurpleM]

On 02/06/2019 at 19:36, Shellym said:

Thank you, haven’t heard of it before, more local for us too!

Your very welcome. 

[DD Driver]

On 04/06/2019 at 03:58, Motomum said:

At MA level for RBS, speaking from my experience of the children in my child’s Y6 JA class, they really are all about physical facility as they like to call it. It becomes a much bigger consideration than at JA level. Also like glissade has said, understanding how to use what they have also becomes v important.

 musicality and other more abstract esoteric qualities are equally important, but RBS want it all. I can honestly say that IMHO RBS definitely have a body type, Elmhurst less so.

RBS, slim, small head, long neck compact short to medium length torso, long arms, long legs that are proportionate, flexibility and beautiful feet with a high instep, especially for the girls.

At the vocational training stage, not the professional hiring stage, exceptional talent and potential is still of course a huge factor too, but ......

 

Get feedback every time and like others have said get an honest assessment of your daughters dance potential and physical suitability  for certain ballet training programs, they all are just that little bit different with RBS being about as purist as they come for classical ballet training.

 

Your daughter is still young, but find out now if her body type is right, so that she knows where her ballet strengths and focus needs to be.

 

 

I think you have summed this up perfectly!

Seems a shame (to me) that some extremely talented dancers will be overlooked if they are not an exact fit to the criteria. 

Do they think that diversity - and the benefits it offers - is for other people/organisations?  Maybe but just seems a loss.  Oh well.

[Ruby Foo]

A lot has been said on this forum-about the RBS ‘type’ of physique ( including by myself) but in reality there is quite a bit of diversity both in associates and at White Lodge. Tall and short willowy physiques and some much more muscular/ sway backs and some with none/ all with flexible arched feet but not necessarily ‘ banana’   feet etc. Quite a variety. 

[Shellym]

I spoke to her ballet teacher and she said certainly nothing wrong with her body shape or type, she has hyper mobile elbows, affectionately known as weird elbows as she can bend them the wrong way.  We will wait the results and go from there.  

[Ruby Foo]

Good Luck Shellym. The ballet world is not at all straightforward and sometimes you have to enter through the back door so to speak! The ones who get a ‘ yes’ first time don’t always go on to fulfil their potential and vice versa!