Kat09 Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 Hi - is anyone able to advise as to whether Upper School auditions are similar in content to lower school auditions - is it just a class and physical check or are the candidates interviewed as well. Thank you for any insights that you can offer. My daughter is a year 10 at the moment and thinking that she would like to audition this year as a preparation for Upper School auditions next year - we are presuming that no year 11 places would be on offer due to GCSEs etc - for all you knowledgeable people,would this be a good preparation or not? Many thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
balletla Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 There are a few places on offer for year 11. I have heard of both Elmhurst and White Lodge offering 2 to 3 spaces this last year and people seem happy to take them despite the GCSE issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marianne Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 As far as I know, the only students likely to be auditioning for Y11 places are international students who aren't already in the middle of GCSEs...so I'm not sure the audition process would bear much resemblance to the large auditions held for Upper School places. It perhaps might be better to do the ENB audition course in January http://www.enbschool.org.uk/short-courses/ - it will give a taste of auditioning for a top upper school and it's aimed at the 14-16 year olds your DD will be auditioning alongside. I think Central have done something similar in the past, but can't find anything similar on their website this year. Is your DD an SA? If not then it would be worth auditioning for London SAs, there are Y11 places available and it would familiarise her with the Upper School building in Floral Street. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lottie Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 Central's Dance Day in London is on Sunday 9th December 2012. Have a look at http://www.centralschoolofballet.co.uk/ddcourseoutline.php DS went when he was in Year 10 which gave him an idea of the place etc ready for those Post 16 auditions. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swanprincess Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 Marianne, do you know roughly how many Year 11 RBS SA places are available, and how many audition, please? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balletmumfor2 Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 Hi Swanprincess. Not sure if you would be thinking of London or Birmingham SA's but my daughter is currently one of only 3 year 10's at Birmingham with about 9/10 year 11's so there should be several places for year 11 next year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marianne Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 Sorry Swanprincess, I think it varies year to year. Not sure how many Y10 London SAs there are at the moment - 10 maybe? Although it does sound like there will be places available at Birmingham next year! Sometimes places aren't filled in Y10, sometimes students move, or lose interest or can't do the travelling anymore. And I've heard that occasionally people lose places due to poor attendance (thus opening up a space for someone else in Y11). As far as I know, all SA applicants audition together - so it would be a mixture of Y9 & 10s at the audition. But please someone correct me if I'm wrong! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2dancersmum Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 Kat09, upper school auditions vary considerably from school to school. All have a ballet class, some also contemporary or jazz classes or both, some interview also and some require a solo dance. If you check websites of schools you are interested in, they often list the format for the auditions. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragonlady Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 (edited) As we are off to Elmhurst for the 6th form auditions tomorrow, I wanted to wish everyone auditioning all the best. As far as I know there are two upper school auditions going on, one in the morning and another just after lunch a mixed bunch of boys and girls. I may see some familiar faces as I hang around waiting for my DD. Trudi edited for typo Edited November 12, 2012 by Dragonlady 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lildancer96 Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 Wishing your dd loads of luck x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JulieW Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 How exciting - can't believe it's that time of year again Good luck everyone 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tabitha Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 Best of luck and fingers crossed DL! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ecarte Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 May see you there Dragonlady as my dd is auditioning tomorrow. Good luck to all those auditioning. Anyone know what the traffic is like around Elmhurst as I'm trying to work out journey times.( coming on motorway from M40)? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
primrose Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 Good luck to all those auditioning. The traffic in the morning around Elmhurst can be horrendous, allow plenty of time for travelling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ecarte Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 Good luck to all those auditioning. The traffic in the morning around Elmhurst can be horrendous, allow plenty of time for travelling. Thanks will allow loads of extra time better too early than late and stressed! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JulieW Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 Allow loads of extra time. If rather sit in the car outside for an hour than be late! They let us in quite early to use the loo when Josh auditioned for year 10 and then we waited inside coz Andrea took pity on us :-) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KathyG Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 (edited) If you do arrive very early there is the MAC centre just round the corner where you can get a cup of coffee and free parking. Traffic through Kings Heath and Dog Pool can be horrendous though M40 is usually ok. Sorry forgot to add Good luck and enjoy. Edited November 12, 2012 by KathyG 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swanprincess Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 good luck, hope it goes well! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2dancersmum Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 good luck to everyone auditioning Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragonlady Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 As usual, the school made us really welcome. We arrived early as made allowances for traffic but got there in plenty of time. We stayed in the Radison 'Encore' hotel the night before and although slightly more expensive than some others, it was clean and felt 'safe'. DD and I had a quick evening meal there and it was reasonably priced and good although a limited menu. It is only just up the road from Elmhurst so the taxi only took 10 mins, (we allowed 45!!!) The audition was good with a pannel of 5 and a video camera. Parents were given a talk about A levels and pastoral care. They are currently building a new 6th form accomodation block - away from the school - which made me feel slightly better about sending DD off to live on her own in a big city (if she gets in of course!!) as they will have 6.1 and 6.2's living there as of Sept 2014. (currently it is just 6.1's that are housed). We were allowed into the audition room for the last excersise which was a pointe excersise and I am glad that I am not a judge as everyone was lovely!!! Fingers crossed for a good result Trudi 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ecarte Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 I agree we were made very welcome yesterday and it was perfectly managed. I was horrified that we went into the last bit of the audition as I did not want to put my dd off! However it was great to see the fab standard of the auditionees and I would not like to be in a position of selecting and it does remove some of the mystique surrounding the process. Dd felt she did not do her best but that's auditions for you... It's how you dance on the day and they have to learn to deal with that. Only thing that is a slight negative is that I think there are only 10 places available for new entrants and they are auditioning at my best estimate over 120 applicants! I allowed an extra 11/2 hours journey timeand only had 10 mins to spare.... All in all a very valuable experience. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
balletla Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 Only thing that is a slight negative is that I think there are only 10 places available for new entrants and they are auditioning at my best estimate over 120 applicants! Sorry Ecarte, what does this mean? Do you mean that they only have 10 places for 6.1 next year in total? Or that some of the places have already been allocated to current year 11s and only 10 places are left? Is that for girls and boys combined? Somebody did say on another thread that there are 18 girls in 6.1 this year so I guess that if they all move into 6.2 then there will be fewer places in 6.1 in September. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ecarte Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 Talking to the housemistress of 6.1 she said that the current year 11 ( or their equivalent) was a large year and that 20 of them would be continuing into 6th form and they usually take 30. So it's a reasonable assumption therefore that there will only be 10 new spaces. No idea of the girl/boy split. Am more than happy to be corrected if anyone knows different. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
balletla Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 (edited) Oh! I wonder how they have already made that decision without having seen who else is out there (not to take anything away from the current Elm students). Does this mean that current pupils in the school get priority? I thought it was a level playing field again at 6th form entry? Edited to say: Also, how does she know that some of them won't go elsewhere? Maybe she just means that they assume approx. 20 will stay but it could be more or less. Edited November 14, 2012 by Ribbons Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ecarte Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 Not sure, but that is what she said when asked about spaces, it was during a walking tour and she did not elaborate beyond this. Sorry it's not more detailed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pointytoes22 Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 Ecarte and Dragonlady could you ask your DD's what pointe work they had to do? I'm auditioning in January and am relatively new on pointe so just wondering. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ecarte Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 Hi Pointytoes, not managed to ask dd as she is rehearsing however the pointe work was the bit we watched in the audition. It was a very brief exercise and looked quite basic. Sorry I am not a dancer and don't know the names of the moves. Bourses, relevees I think but no pirouettes. Sorry not much help. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragonlady Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 I talked to DD last night and asked about this, it seems that they ask different groups to do different things, so in the morning audition there was not a lot of pointe work (the bit the parents watched), there was more pointe work in the afternoon audition but easier 'flat' work. Just to clarify, the allegro, adage and pointe work was also different for both sessions although the students were all auditioning for 6.1. I hope this makes sense, DD's school friends were in both groups so they had time to compare last night. Some things were harder for one group but others the same sort of thing was easier, each had different things that were harder....its just what the pannel ask the dancers to do at the time. I was aware that there were limited numbers of places available but I think they would offer a place to a dancer they wanted regardless of the apparent numbers. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JulieW Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 Back to the numbers - they won't know for certain which of the current year 11s will be offered places/will want places for sixth form, until the later auditions, but they will have a good idea from past experience. At this stage they'll just be inviting those who they would potentially like to have in sixth form to the final auditions so they can then see them all together. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tutoo2much Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 Julie, do you mean that not all current year 11s at Elmhurst invited to final audition? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JulieW Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 To be honest I can't remember for certain but I seem to remember the odd student not going to finals. Also remember things might be different this year as they have a new artistic director Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seagazer Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 Last year all year 11's were given the chance to attend the finals, some had already made the decision not to continue with dance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxi4ballet Posted November 16, 2012 Share Posted November 16, 2012 Are year 11 students allowed time-out to attend auditions for other schools for sixth form entry, or is this frowned upon? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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