Sixth Form Auditions

[dancelover]

Hi all,

 

I'm new to the forum, and have learnt so much from reading your previous posts. Although, I was wondering if anybody with experience of auditioning for sixth forms, could tell me at around what grade/level the Tring, Elmhurst and Hammond auditions are? Also, do they look for potential at 16, or is that mainly at 11? And finally which one of the 3 schools would be best for somebody hoping to pursue a contemporary career?

 

Thanks

[KathyG]

For contemporary look at Rambert, Laban and London Contemporary School.

[Pas de Quatre]

Laban and LCDS both require 2 A-levels and entry is at 18, so it is not necessary to attend a Vocational school for 6th form. Northern Contemporary Dance school is also well regarded.

[Aurora]

At 16 potential is emphasised less but still there, they will certainly be looking for very fast learners if the technical standard isn't quite high enough! At 16 the main 'ballet' schools will probably be looking for a standard of about Advanced 1 or above. Other schools such as Laban look for around Intermediate+ I believe but if their contemporary is very strong and they haven't done much ballet I think they could still be accepted.

[Anna C]

Hello dancelover, and welcome to the forum.

 

If you are most interested in a career in Contemporary dance, then I agree with the advice given here - that you don't necessarily need to apply for vocational 6th form places (assuming you can get enough good local training in the meantime). For contemporary, I would look at:

 

Rambert

London Contemporary Dance School

Laban

Northern School of Contemorary Dance

 

If you want ballet and contemporary training then I'd look at Central School of Ballet for 6th form as their contemporary training is strong. As Aurora said, potential is more desirable for lower school candidates as Upper Schools have limited time in which to train you, so being at a certain standard for ballet is more important.

 

Are you an associate, or on a CAT scheme?

[hfbrew]

t

Hi all,

 

I'm new to the forum, and have learnt so much from reading your previous posts. Although, I was wondering if anybody with experience of auditioning for sixth forms, could tell me at around what grade/level the Tring, Elmhurst and Hammond auditions are? Also, do they look for potential at 16, or is that mainly at 11? And finally which one of the 3 schools would be best for somebody hoping to pursue a contemporary career?

 

Thanks

Whilst I agree with the other posters about the places that are more specifically contemporary schools it would be good if someone could answer the question more specifically, ie out o the three schools mentioned above, which is best for contemporary? My ds found the contemporary training at Tring very good but I know at least one of the teachers he had has left. But the training made him confident enough to go to a contemporary audition and get down to final 6-( in the end he didn't get the job because they needed someone the right ethnicity !)

 

Lots of ex Tring stuents are at Rambert. I was talking to one only the other day who was very complimentary about the contemporary training at Tring and who was very glad to have waited two years before continuing training at Rambet rather than go at 16. Apparently the 16 year olds struggle far more with living away from home in independant accomodation at this age.

 

Unfortunately I can't say anything about the contemporary at either Hammond or Elmhurst. But standard of the auditions will definately be pitched at advanced 1 level.

[Picturesinthefirelight]

I can only comment as an audience member but there was quite a bit if contemporary dance in the Hammond end of year lower school show and it was if a high standard. The teacher was very good. I didn't get chance to see the upper school dance show.

 

Dd did the summer school last year and had done very little if no contemporary dance before. She really enjoyed it but obviously she's a lot younger.

[Tulip]

Yes the contemporary training at Tring is very strong and I do believe it helped my daughter during her auditions. She never used to be that keen on contemporary but now she is enjoying it more, this could be because she is a little older and has more understanding of the subject.

[2dancersmum]

We saw the Hammond upper school show last year and the contemporary was a high standard. Part of the entry audition for Hammond is a contemporary class and I would guess they are looking for potential in this part of the audition as many students do not do a regular contemporary class before starting vocational school. Contemproary is part of the curriculm for all Hammond 1st year students and 2nd/3rd year dance students. I would agree that ballet at audition level was around adv 1 standard but do know of many students gaining places for 6th form vocational schools who were borderline intermdiate/advanced at the time of their auditions.

[dancelover]

Thanks to all the speedy replies. Would anybody be able to tell me what level advanced 1 RAD is in terms of ISTD? I presume you are talking about RAD. How do the two compare? Thanks again

Edited November 19, 2012 by dancelover

[2dancersmum]

I may be wrong but I thought that the ISTD vocational grades were the equivalent level/standard of the RAD grades. That said the auditions are obviously non-syllabus and not everybody takes exams so I don't think it matters which syllabus a student has been studying.

[Aurora]

Yes it's equivalent to ISTD advanced 1

[swe]

Hello all

My dd is doing adv 1 in both RAD and ISTD (she attends 2 different schools)-just her opinion of course, but she thinks the ISTD is more challenging

[Aurora]

That's possibly because there's a lot of unset steps with ISTD which the examiner sets on the day. It may be a bit harder actually but I think the RADs new syllabus being released next year will be harder than the old one if it follows along the same lines as the new Inter found and inter syllabi!

[RosaMac]

I agree, my daughter is studying ISTD and RAD intermediate and she finds ISTD a lot more challenging.

[swe]

To be honest dd didn't say it was the unset work which is the difficult bit (she is used to this now) she is talking about the general syllabus. Put it this way, she will be taking ADV 1 in RAD in Spring and she won't be ready for ISTD until a year later!