Associate Programmes; More than One?

[Bunny]

Good morning everybody,

 

Just looking for some advice really. My DS has been offered a place with both Elmhurst and RBS, in Sunderland and Newcastle respectively. Although the RBS time has been confirmed, Elmhurst have advised they are adjusting their timetable so cannot yet give a time. I was wondering, how common is it for children to do both programmes? Is that acceptable/generally advised/advised against? He was originally dead set that if offered both he would jump at the RBS place but now he has been offered Elmhurst he is making noises about the possibility of attending both. I feel like this would porbably be too much, but aside from that, just wondered if anybody had any experiences of doing two associate programmes, how the different schools were about it, how your DD/DS found it?

 

Thank you!

[BalletBoyMumma]

Congratulations to your son for being accepted into both! Incredible! 

 

Interested too. My son was going for another programme and went for the RB audition as a bit of an insight to what auditions are like (he'd not done one before)/to have fun and simply to be able to dance at The Royal Ballet School - he had another audition a week later. We didn't expect him to get into RBS at all (still shocked). While RBS a no-brainer and we've already accepted the place he too is now making noises about 'what if' he's accepted into the other one too. Do others manage this successfully? Does it burn them out? 

[Bunny]

1 minute ago, BalletBoyMumma said:

Congratulations to your son for being accepted into both! Incredible! 

 

Interested too. My son was going for another programme and went for the RB audition as a bit of an insight to what auditions are like (he'd not done one before)/to have fun and simply to be able to dance at The Royal Ballet School - he had another audition a week later. We didn't expect him to get into RBS at all (still shocked). While RBS a no-brainer and we've already accepted the place he too is now making noises about 'what if' he's accepted into the other one too. Do others manage this successfully? Does it burn them out? 

Ahhh, huge congratulations to your DS too! It's so difficult isn't it. On one hand you absolutely don't want to burn them out and damage their love for it by letting them do too much, but at the same time when they are given such fantastic opportunities to enhance their training, you don't want to decline them for your DS because you want to see them achieve their dreams! Such a difficult decision to make. It might all be for nought for us anyway as Elmhurst classes might clash with RBS, and like you we've already accepted  RBS JA's (of course!) but it feels like a bit of a quandry and thought there'd be some others here who must have gone through the same thing! x

[Bluebird22]

I have a student in year 5 currently doing Royal and Elmhurst, it seems to be the norm for that particular centre. I’ve had quite a few in the past do both, all I should add are very high energy kids. To begin with they found it very tiring, naps on the car journey home etc, but I think the times for one changes when they move year groups making it a slightly later start in the morning. We only live just over an hour away from the Birmingham centres so travel time isn’t too bad. 

[Anna C]

I only have experience of a dc doing two schemes from 14 onwards; dd started as a Central Prep at 11 and added in Tring CBA at 14.  It worked fine as Tring is only 6 Sundays per term so dd got every other Sunday off.  

 

It largely depends upon the child, how much energy they have, what else they do (swimming/music/Brownies etc), do they have non dancing siblings, how much homework do they get from their academic school.   If you can fit it in, afford the time and money, give it a try.  They might thrive or they might start to burn out, in which case be prepared to drop something. 

 

Edited to add:  at JA age and at exam times I do think it’s very important to have one rest day a week.

[meadowblythe]

DS did Elmhurst Associates (Birmingham) in the mornings and JAs (also Birmingham) in the afternoons - quite a few of his cohort did that.

[Pups_mum]

Yes, you certainly can do more than one associate scheme. It is not uncommon for children to do two or more. Whether you should do is a different matter of course and one that only you and your young dancer can decide. As a previous poster has said, it really all boils down to whether the commitment is workable for your family on a range of levels. 

One thing I would say, is that when you have a talented and enthusiastic child it is easy to get swept along and take every opportunity that presents itself. Unfortunately that can morph into a feeling that you HAVE to do everything possible, that "everyone else is doing it" and that you are puttling your child at a disadvantage if you dont. This isnt restricted to ballet of course - it happens in all kinds of fields like sports, music and so on. I've seen it a lot, and been guilty of being sucked into that kind of behaviour myself at times, but I am now certain that you definitely can have too much of a good thing and that the importance of  getting enough rest cannot be stressed too much.

 

If doing 2 or more schemes works logistically, doesn't eat too much into family life, doesn't exhaust or upset your child or negatively affect school work that's great. But if it means frantic drives for a stressed parent with an already tired child who eats most of their meals  in the back of the car and never gets any real down time, then think again. I've concluded that if I start to notice that there is more tupperware than proper crockery in the dishwasher then it means the kids are doing too much!

[meadowblythe]

 

whilst I would agree with everything Pups_mum said, for us attending either was going to be a 5 hour minimum round trip - so the extra class on the same day was the least of the problems.  Also, as a boy, one scheme offered the chance to dance with male teachers which he was not going to get elsewhere, and the other was JA and you have to be brave to turn that down when you know nothing about ballet.

 

Our take was to try it for a year and see how it went.  It's sometimes easier to drop a class than to get into the scheme in the first place.

 

 

[Crazylifecrazykids]

Hi 

My DD auditioned for 3 associates schemes and was offered places on all 3 schemes (we are still in shock!). She's been offered places with Ballet Boost JAs, Elmhurst and Royal Ballet JAs and of course she has her regular dance classes too. After much discussion it came down to a definate acceptance of Royal Ballet with then choosing a 2nd. After research and conversations with teachers, looking at our family as a whole we have decided to accept her Ballet boost place and decline her Elmhurst place but in all honesty we were so humbled and grateful to be offered 3 associates places, that turning down any felt wrong, we are not dancing parents. Still learning as we go lol 

[BalletBoyMumma]

Pups_mum, that's really good advice. Thank you. 

 

Our first place is RBS JA's and we chose 24 sessions, so a lot but not every weekend (until you hit oct/Nov) Our second one is Cecchetti which is just 9 sessions over the year (and it's a boys class, which my son loves) and it's on a Sunday. Given the lessons during the week and we have two other children who also dance/have music and Brownies commitments we are really thinking carefully about it. Some weeks will be manic, others nothing more than what we do now (which is a lot but ok as all local). It's the travelling that worries me as a lot, if not all will be by train. That said, we all love travelling into central London so I can't see us getting fed up with the RBS ones (unless we're hit by dreaded engineering works on the trains). 

 

Lots to think about. Too much of a good thing can turn sour. I think we are going to go in with an open mind but quit the second associates class if the travelling becomes unmanageable or the no longer enjoyable. 

[sunrise81]

Yep you can do more than one scheme - just be aware of different styles of training and technique. My DD is a RBS JA, and last year was also a Ceccehetti Associate. This year (Year 6) she has dropped Cecchetti as she has gained a place on the Northern Ballet CAT scheme.........she will be busy very, but it was her choice to audition - we are already in Leeds for her Saturday lesson, so it is 2 extra sessions during the week - we shall see how she does!

[Bunny]

Thank you so much to everybody for your experiences. Lots to think about!

[PutYourBooteesOn]

Newcastle was our second choice centre and we had planned that if she was accepted to royal and offered Newcastle we would do elmhurst audition to make the journey worthwhile. As it was, she got our first choice and is doing royal with two other programmes. 

[BalletBoyMumma]

On 28/06/2019 at 14:03, sunrise81 said:

Yep you can do more than one scheme - just be aware of different styles of training and technique. My DD is a RBS JA, and last year was also a Ceccehetti Associate. This year (Year 6) she has dropped Cecchetti as she has gained a place on the Northern Ballet CAT scheme.........she will be busy very, but it was her choice to audition - we are already in Leeds for her Saturday lesson, so it is 2 extra sessions during the week - we shall see how she does!

Can I ask how your DD found doing cecchetti associates style alongside Royal Ballet JA programmes? 

We've just received DS's acceptance letter for cecchetti (this is the style he studies at his local dance school) and also we've already accepted the place at RBS. He's going into yr5 but has never done an associates programme before. He's only grade 2 (cecchetti). 

The cecchetti programme is tough for me to get to as I don't drive but I could make it work somehow as it's only once a month and not every weekend. It's a tough decision to make (as the parent, I mean - he's eager to try both). 

[sunrise81]

She was absolutely fine doing both. She finds it easy to remember if something is slightly different......at her normal dance school she does ISTD grade 4, but RAD inter foundation so has become used to switching if needed

[BalletBoyMumma]

4 hours ago, sunrise81 said:

She was absolutely fine doing both. She finds it easy to remember if something is slightly different......at her normal dance school she does ISTD grade 4, but RAD inter foundation so has become used to switching if needed

 

Thank you. That is really helpful. My DS picks things up quite quickly too and doesn't seem to have any trouble remembering routines or theory so far. I think we are going to go for it and see how things go.