RBS Junior Associate Newbies

[sunrise81]

Only 2.....both boys......got a place in the yr 5 Leeds JAs this year. Plenty on the waiting list. My dd got a straight no. So yep.......like a needle in a haystack! Oooh Easter and summer......more money to spend as it is about £800!!! No help with photos either....just the positions on instructions then off you go yourself......we got dds dance teacher to take them.

Edited August 1, 2019 by sunrise81

[coniger]

Hi Lara - the Intensives are a bit a minefield in how they choose the kids - photos very important.  If you are a JA it doesn't give you an advantage and you have to go through the same process and it is no prediction on whether they will get a WL place at the end of year 6.  In my DS class there were boys who didn't get a place  at any intensive who ended up getting white lodge places and there were others who got every intensive and boy parts in the ballets and didn't get through.  The intensives are a great experience though and lots of fun! xx

[sunrise81]

1 minute ago, coniger said:

Hi Lara - the Intensives are a bit a minefield in how they choose the kids - photos very important.  If you are a JA it doesn't give you an advantage and you have to go through the same process and it is no prediction on whether they will get a WL place at the end of year 6.  In my DS class there were boys who didn't get a place  at any intensive who ended up getting white lodge places and there were others who got every intensive and boy parts in the ballets and didn't get through.  The intensives are a great experience though and lots of fun! xx

Thats very true.......one of the dcs in the yr 6 class my dd attends didnt get an offer of any intensive but has a place at white lodge!!!!

[BattementBatty]

How do you find out about the intensives? Do they tell you about these things when you start?

[sunrise81]

Yes you get an email letting you know when applications open.

[Lara Eschler]

1 hour ago, coniger said:

Hi Lara - the Intensives are a bit a minefield in how they choose the kids - photos very important.  If you are a JA it doesn't give you an advantage and you have to go through the same process and it is no prediction on whether they will get a WL place at the end of year 6.  In my DS class there were boys who didn't get a place  at any intensive who ended up getting white lodge places and there were others who got every intensive and boy parts in the ballets and didn't get through.  The intensives are a great experience though and lots of fun! xx

HI Coniger, as you mentioned the ballets, are there many opportunities to be cast in one? How early does it happen? 

Thank you everyone for all your responses about intensives.😘

[sunrise81]

Correct me if I'm wrong.......but I think its only the London centre that has the chance to audition for performances.  Up North.......no chance!

[coniger]

3 hours ago, Lara Eschler said:

HI Coniger, as you mentioned the ballets, are there many opportunities to be cast in one? How early does it happen? 

Thank you everyone for all your responses about intensives.😘

Yes there are ballets throughout the year - look at schedule for ROH  ( not nutcracker they use WL students) think they maybe doing sleeping beauty.  It is all down to your height and whether you fit the costume.  It is usually London JA’s and Eastleigh and mostly boys who get the opportunity 

[Lara Eschler]

14 minutes ago, coniger said:

Yes there are ballets throughout the year - look at schedule for ROH  ( not nutcracker they use WL students) think they maybe doing sleeping beauty.  It is all down to your height and whether you fit the costume.  It is usually London JA’s and Eastleigh and mostly boys who get the opportunity 

Thanks so much! Last year the Birmingham Royal ballet had open auditions for the nutcracker  at the Royal Albert Hall but it seems they are not doing it this year. 

[ButterflyBallerina]

BRB use JAs and Elmhusrt young dancers in their Nutcracker at the hippodrome x

[coniger]

4 minutes ago, Lara Eschler said:

Thanks so much! Last year the Birmingham Royal ballet had open auditions for the nutcracker  at the Royal Albert Hall but it seems they are not doing it this year. 

There are other opportunities through Ja’s - marinsky at ROH and Sergei Polunin at the Paladium 😄. Just enjoy it 

[MrsMoo2]

On 01/08/2019 at 20:47, Lara Eschler said:

Thanks so much! Last year the Birmingham Royal ballet had open auditions for the nutcracker  at the Royal Albert Hall but it seems they are not doing it this year. 

They are in Birmingham this year. I had an e mail about them last week. Sadly my DS is too old now! (At 12!) to audition. Lots of luck to everyone trying! 👍👍👍👍👍👍 xx

[Lara Eschler]

17 minutes ago, MrsMoo2 said:

They are in Birmingham this year. I had an e mail about them last week. Sadly my DS is too old now! (At 12!) to audition. Lots of luck to everyone trying! 👍👍👍👍👍👍 xx

Thank MrsMoo2. Is this an open audition? When is it? Many thanks.

[Sarahitaly]

Hi, JA Boys parents, l read a couple of weeks ago about the uniform, but can't remeber what you all recommended, do we buy to size or smaller or bigger?  thanks in advance x

[balletboy8]

21 hours ago, Sarahitaly said:

Hi, JA Boys parents, l read a couple of weeks ago about the uniform, but can't remeber what you all recommended, do we buy to size or smaller or bigger?  thanks in advance x

Hi Sarahitaly

 

I can't recall all the good advice through the thread but I have fanally managed to get all the stuff for my DS - age 8. DS is exactly average height and average weight for his age (red book curve). He is narrow waist, hip and slightly long legged (not massively) and a little broad shouldered.

 

I bought the boys leotard his stats suggests is Size 1 so bought this - he could not even come close to getting it on - ordered a size 2 which does fit snugly (so sizes are smaller than you would think. I would prefer a bigger size but the next size up is for 11 years olds. 

 

I bought the size 1 (7-8?) shorts as he is marrow - snug but good fit.

 

I bought 8-9 tracksuit top which fits nicely as a casual fit (which we like).

 

Trousers sourced from amazon are not an exact match but as a man I obviously can't tell 😊- I read from others that this does not matter at all.

 

White leather shoes he already had and had bought them elsewhere.

 

He now looks magnificent and danced for hours in his new kit after trying them all on!!

 

Hope this helps

[Sarahitaly]

4 hours ago, balletboy8 said:

Hi Sarahitaly

 

I can't recall all the good advice through the thread but I have fanally managed to get all the stuff for my DS - age 8. DS is exactly average height and average weight for his age (red book curve). He is narrow waist, hip and slightly long legged (not massively) and a little broad shouldered.

 

I bought the boys leotard his stats suggests is Size 1 so bought this - he could not even come close to getting it on - ordered a size 2 which does fit snugly (so sizes are smaller than you would think. I would prefer a bigger size but the next size up is for 11 years olds. 

 

I bought the size 1 (7-8?) shorts as he is marrow - snug but good fit.

 

I bought 8-9 tracksuit top which fits nicely as a casual fit (which we like).

 

Trousers sourced from amazon are not an exact match but as a man I obviously can't tell 😊- I read from others that this does not matter at all.

 

White leather shoes he already had and had bought them elsewhere.

 

He now looks magnificent and danced for hours in his new kit after trying them all on!!

 

Hope this helps

Thanks so much for all the info, ordering now x

[LJP]

Hi there - my DD is joining the JA year 6 in London i September.  What hair style should she be wearing, and where/how should the ribbons go??

 

Uniform has all arrived, we've done a 'trial' journey into Covent Garden to test traffic and parking, now it's just the fine details to sort out 🙂

 

[LJP]

One more question, actually......

 

My DD has two very time intensive hobbies - ballet being one.  Up until now we have managed to juggle both fairly well, including Sunday associate classes for ballet.  Now she is having JA classes on a Saturday, we will inevitably run into more clashes with her other hobby.

 

I imagine the the RB takes a pretty dim view of children that miss classes........ is anyone aware if she were to miss, say, 1 class per term, would the have any baring on whether she would pass the audition for next year or not?

[Jan McNulty]

Hello LJP and a belated welcome to the Forum!

[AllAboutTheJourney]

17 hours ago, LJP said:

One more question, actually......

 

My DD has two very time intensive hobbies - ballet being one.  Up until now we have managed to juggle both fairly well, including Sunday associate classes for ballet.  Now she is having JA classes on a Saturday, we will inevitably run into more clashes with her other hobby.

 

I imagine the the RB takes a pretty dim view of children that miss classes........ is anyone aware if she were to miss, say, 1 class per term, would the have any baring on whether she would pass the audition for next year or not?

 

We have a similar issue, and I know even now that DD will have to miss 2 RBS classes for gymnastics competitions (in our case). The dates for the gymnastics competitions are set for the whole of our region and if she doesn't attend on those specific dates she will miss out on being to move up to the next grade or level for another whole year until the next date comes around. DD is planning to stop gymnastics this time next year so hopefully the year after it will be easier. 

 

We have the added complication of having to miss another 2 weeks because we had booked a holiday months ago before she even tried out for JA - unfortunately our school holiday week is not in line with the holiday week that RBS are taking so she will miss two Saturdays for that as well... 

 

I feel pretty bad about it but there's really nothing we can do. I'm planning to send an email explaining the situation - we didn't know that JA was a real possibility when we booked our holiday but I propose to say to them that going forward we will obviously work around the JA dates. 

 

 

[Ruby Foo]

33 minutes ago, Waverley said:

 

We have a similar issue, and I know even now that DD will have to miss 2 RBS classes for gymnastics competitions (in our case). The dates for the gymnastics competitions are set for the whole of our region and if she doesn't attend on those specific dates she will miss out on being to move up to the next grade or level for another whole year until the next date comes around. DD is planning to stop gymnastics this time next year so hopefully the year after it will be easier. 

 

We have the added complication of having to miss another 2 weeks because we had booked a holiday months ago before she even tried out for JA - unfortunately our school holiday week is not in line with the holiday week that RBS are taking so she will miss two Saturdays for that as well... 

 

I feel pretty bad about it but there's really nothing we can do. I'm planning to send an email explaining the situation - we didn't know that JA was a real possibility when we booked our holiday but I propose to say to them that going forward we will obviously work around the JA dates. 

 

 

 

Most of the JA / MA teachers are very approachable via email and as long as you are communicating the issues as they arise they will not be concerned. Obviously if you miss  

too many lessons in a row without good reason and without proper communication then questions may be asked.

[BattementBatty]

We have to miss the second one due to being at centre Parcs that weekend. It was book before we knew about the JA result and I didn’t think she stood a chance anyway!

 

On another note, has anyone received their invoice yet?

[AllAboutTheJourney]

1 hour ago, valentina said:

 

Most of the JA / MA teachers are very approachable via email and as long as you are communicating the issues as they arise they will not be concerned. Obviously if you miss  

too many lessons in a row without good reason and without proper communication then questions may be asked.

Thank you - that's really good to know. 

[AllAboutTheJourney]

I haven't @BattementBatty, I had actually forgotten we still had to pay until someone asked me the other day how much it was! Carried away in the excitement of hoodies and leotards 😂

[2Graceko]

On 21/08/2019 at 17:39, LJP said:

Hi there - my DD is joining the JA year 6 in London i September.  What hair style should she be wearing, and where/how should the ribbons go??

 

Uniform has all arrived, we've done a 'trial' journey into Covent Garden to test traffic and parking, now it's just the fine details to sort out 🙂

 

Hi there, we’re joining Y6 also (not London) and I think I heard or read that buns are acceptable by Y6. I’m sure it said somewhere in the notes that the teacher will advise on hair in the first session anyway? I ordered ribbons but am not sure if they are worn in a bun or only if wearing the traditional plaited bun JA style..

[BattementBatty]

We are London year 6 too. It does say they will tell you on the first session about hair so what is everyone going to do until we find out?  I was thinking of the plaits but if the general consensus is bun I’ll do that. 

[Crazylifecrazykids]

On 22/08/2019 at 13:34, BattementBatty said:

We have to miss the second one due to being at centre Parcs that weekend. It was book before we knew about the JA result and I didn’t think she stood a chance anyway!

 

On another note, has anyone received their invoice yet?

We've not had our invoice yet  x

[SissonneDoublee]

5 hours ago, Crazylifecrazykids said:

We've not had our invoice yet  x

Invoices didn’t come out until mid September the year my DD started, so after her first class. I remember worrying that maybe I had misread the email and she didn’t have a place after all!

[Lara Eschler]

5 minutes ago, SissonneDoublee said:

Invoices didn’t come out until mid September the year my DD started, so after her first class. I remember worrying that maybe I had misread the email and she didn’t have a place after all!

Thank you for letting us know. I have those thoughts 🤣

[Crazylifecrazykids]

3 hours ago, SissonneDoublee said:

Invoices didn’t come out until mid September the year my DD started, so after her first class. I remember worrying that maybe I had misread the email and she didn’t have a place after all!

Haha I've started to think the same! x

[Sarahitaly]

Hi, all getting very exciting now, uniform ready to go and one little boy over the moon with excitement ... Just want to ask is there anyone else doing boys class, Saturday, Covent Garden driving in from M3? We are coming from Andover.

 

[Pointeshoesarethedream]

It won’t be long now!!! I let DD wear her jacket last week for the first time. She was super excited. 

 

Quick question though, in the handbook it says to take a towel for the floor exercises but do children take towels or yoga mats (Leeds specifically)?

 

 

[Dancing unicorn]

Hiya

if teacher is miss Agar then it will be a towel (white hand towel!) still got ours 🤣