Brussels International Ballet School

[Charles28]

Hi everyone on the thread, our daughter has been accepted for the 23/24 school year. She will be 18 when she arrives in Brussels. We are seeking advice or assistance with housing. We are hoping she can board with a BIBS family or house share with other students from the school. Do any of you know of or have contacts with other students looking for a new house mate or a family who is looking to rent a room to a BIBS student.

Thank you.

[Jan McNulty]

Hello Charles28 and welcome to the Forum!

[Charles28]

Hi, thank you.

 

[shawnmcdonald]

Hi Charles28 our family has the same questions as our daughter is attending BIBS starting September. We are coming from Canada. You? 

[Charles28]

Hello Shawn, Sydney, Australia.

If anyone can help Shawn and I with contacts / options for housing, it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

[shawnmcdonald]

Hi Charles, could you email me at kristinandshawn@shaw.ca and we can connect outside this forum. We are currently looking at different options, and have a few ideas. Thanks

Edited January 26, 2023 by shawnmcdonald

[HLH]

Does anyone have experience with the Brussels International Ballet School's summer intensive? 

[rainemaker]

On 25/01/2023 at 20:45, Charles28 said:

Hi everyone on the thread, our daughter has been accepted for the 23/24 school year. She will be 18 when she arrives in Brussels. We are seeking advice or assistance with housing. We are hoping she can board with a BIBS family or house share with other students from the school. Do any of you know of or have contacts with other students looking for a new house mate or a family who is looking to rent a room to a BIBS student.

Thank you.

Hi 👋 my daughter has just been accepted for the 23/24 year. We are in Australia and she will be 18 when she arrives in Brussels. I am also searching the internet for accommodation solutions. Have you found any? Which country is your daughter coming from? 

[Jan McNulty]

Hello @rainemaker and welcome to the Forum!

[Charles28]

On 17/02/2023 at 23:04, rainemaker said:

Hi 👋 my daughter has just been accepted for the 23/24 year. We are in Australia and she will be 18 when she arrives in Brussels. I am also searching the internet for accommodation solutions. Have you found any? Which country is your daughter coming from? 

Hi, we are also in Australia, Sydney. We have not yet found a solution as we are finalising some things before diving in to all the logistics. We have been contacted by another family here and will start to talk about options with them too. I think a shared flat may be a good option for 3 to 4. Thank you for contacting us.

[Expat]

On 26/01/2023 at 17:47, Charles28 said:

Hello Shawn, Sydney, Australia.

If anyone can help Shawn and I with contacts / options for housing, it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Hi All,  our DD also got accepted for 23/24 year and just turned 17.  Also looking for housing👍all options and ideas on the table!

[Jan McNulty]

Hello @Expat and welcome to the Forum.

[Felidae]

On 21/02/2023 at 19:17, Charles28 said:

Hi, we are also in Australia, Sydney. We have not yet found a solution as we are finalising some things before diving in to all the logistics. We have been contacted by another family here and will start to talk about options with them too. I think a shared flat may be a good option for 3 to 4. Thank you for contacting us.

Hi, my daughter is going this year too. She’s just turned 17. We’re in Sydney’s northern beaches. I’d love to contact you about this as I am completely clueless!!!!

[Jan McNulty]

Hello @Felidae and welcome to the Forum!

[La sylphide]

Hi 

 

would anyone be able to message me with an idea on what the fees are to attend? My daughter is looking to audition but there is no mention of the costs anywhere.

[Tiaramum]

Hello all. We’ve just received an offer for this school! Eek! Would love to hear some thoughts from current students/parents. 
 

thanks in advance x

[Allwrong]

DD is there currently. Many congratulations on the offer.

I couldn’t be more positive about the school for DD’s particular needs. The teachers are attentive and demanding, and really committed to their students’ success. They know their students very well, and tailor demands and opportunities to each student’s needs and stage of training. Entry to competitions is encouraged when felt appropriate (and you can suggest ones you are I interested in), with the aim of giving students experience of performing under pressure. DD finds all the teachers very open to discussing specific concerns and requests. For example, being under-trained (long story), she is quite behind in contemporary, so the teacher has invited her to do the class below as well as her class to help her catch up.

 

It’s a bit quirky, but that happens to suit DD perfectly! The language of instruction is largely some form of English that you have to get your ear into, and that can sometimes get in the way of communication a bit. And decisions on casting for the performances come quite late and can swap around a bit, but everyone gets plenty of opportunities. Classes vary considerably each week.

 

There are 2 groups, age-based, quite large this year (20-25 each). Each group is taught by the 3 ballet staff (and other individual specialists). Focus is on ballet, but weekly (very good) contemporary, and also character and Pilates.

 

Not many boys, and they are rather good, so have a bad habit of getting contracts and disappearing! So pas de deux is a bit limited.

Most students are from long-term vocational training, and it’s very international, though lots of Australians and Canadians this year. But DD was very non-vocational (aged 18) and has never been made to feel this is a problem. On the contrary, she is very fully supported  by the school. This is only her second year with them and they are very strongly encouraging her to audition for contracts and supporting her (videos, suggestions for applications etc). And plenty of students are getting contracts, though not generally with big national companies.

 

A dancer from a more structured or standard training set-up might have a different angle, but we couldn’t be happier with DD’s training and progress. 

 

We are UK based and getting a visa wasn’t fun: happy to advise (DM me). The application sailed through once its turn came, but getting there was a hassle.

 

Brussels is a fun city, rich cultural life and easy to live in. 

[sunrise81]

I would love info about fees and accommodation costs? I can't find anything about them and this is somewhere my DD is interested in next year.

[Beezie]

@sunrise81 I highly recommend trying this year’s summer intensive.  This should give your DD the best info on whether the school is a good fit.

[Ms Sunshine]

My dd has decided not to audition after attending the summer school. Just did not feel like a good fit!

[HLH]

9 minutes ago, Ms Sunshine said:

My dd has decided not to audition after attending the summer school. Just did not feel like a good fit!

My DD was accepted to the summer program for this summer.  She will have just turned 14.  We are in California so we are trying to determine whether it is worth it to travel all the way to Brussels for the experience.  A plus is that she goes to French school so she could use her language there.  Would you mind sharing your dd's experience last summer?  Thanks in advance!

[Beezie]

@HLH It’s a great starting point for a vacation, if you want to get her set-up and then take a 1-2 week trip….returning at pickup.

 

I recommend renting a car and hitting: Bruge, Ghent, Dinant, Aachen (Germany).  You could also do a longer driving tour of just Germany; 2 weeks is enough to do a nice loop through Central Germany all the way down to Bavaria.  Brussels is also a short train ride from both Amsterdam and Paris.  ….so lots of vacation possibilities, but may need to put them on a map and overlay with how much driving you want to do.

[HLH]

22 minutes ago, Beezie said:

@HLH It’s a great starting point for a vacation, if you want to get her set-up and then take a 1-2 week trip….returning at pickup.

 

I recommend renting a car and hitting: Bruge, Ghent, Dinant, Aachen (Germany).  You could also do a longer driving tour of just Germany; 2 weeks is enough to do a nice loop through Central Germany all the way down to Bavaria.  Brussels is also a short train ride from both Amsterdam and Paris.  ….so lots of vacation possibilities, but may need to put them on a map and overlay with how much driving you want to do.

I'm sure I could find wonderful things to do!  Thanks for the recommendations.  

[alison]

17 hours ago, Beezie said:

@HLH It’s a great starting point for a vacation, if you want to get her set-up and then take a 1-2 week trip….returning at pickup.

 

I recommend renting a car and hitting: Bruge, Ghent, Dinant, Aachen (Germany).  You could also do a longer driving tour of just Germany; 2 weeks is enough to do a nice loop through Central Germany all the way down to Bavaria.

 

Go through Luxembourg and stop off at Trier, too: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trier

[Ebonee]

On 14/01/2024 at 08:46, Tiaramum said:

Hello all. We’ve just received an offer for this school! Eek! Would love to hear some thoughts from current students/parents. 
 

thanks in advance x

We have also just received an offer and are considering attending 24/25.
Have you made a decision on attending yet?
Sounds great from the comments so far - I would love to hear any other feedback people have also.
Very daunting decision.... and of course their is housing to look into....

[Tiaramum]

Hi Ebonee.

No decision here as yet. It really does sound a great school and like they give great training but work you hard which would suit my dd. I need to look into the accomodation and see how that works. 

Its such a long way away too - lots to think about.

Feel free to PM me anytime - we can maybe share our findings whilst we make our decisions.

 

 

[HLH]

18 hours ago, Ebonee said:

We have also just received an offer and are considering attending 24/25.
Have you made a decision on attending yet?
Sounds great from the comments so far - I would love to hear any other feedback people have also.
Very daunting decision.... and of course their is housing to look into....

Are the students invited for the fall also invited to attend the summer program?   Just curious.  My daughter is planning to go for the summer program. 

[BattementBatty]

Could anyone tell me how much the fees are for BiBS?  It says on the website they communicate them after application.

 

Thanks,

[Allwrong]

Just a rather lengthy heads-up for Non EUers re visas (gosh I hate being non-EU). The process takes a very long time, so you can’t leave your decision re BIBS till the last minute. A contract with a mutual commitment between you and BIBS is one of the documents you need for the application.

 

The reason for the lengthy wait is that BIBS is a private higher education institution, so the documents get put in the same process as all other visa applications for immigration to Belgian from all over the world. So you can forget the statements about timings for student visas: that’s just for state universities.

 

The other problem is that the company you have to use to make the application in the UK (and I believe other countries too), TLS, are absolutely hopeless and will tell you it’ll take about 10 days. Not so. That’s for standard student visas processed in the UK. Yours will have to go over to the Belgian immigration office in Brussels, by diplomatic bag. This alone took 3 weeks for DD! Sadly you can’t hop on the Eurostar and take it there yourself: the application has to be made from your country of residence.

 

Worse than that, TLS are not fit for purpose and desperately understaffed. They process all visa applications from the UK for all EU countries, not just Belgium. The first, and hardest, obstacle you have is to book a face-to-face appointment with them.

 

Because of the pressure on bookings, they release slots once every 2 months, and you need to get through to the website on the first day the slots become available.  We tried to do this early July, the day a new set of appointment slots were released. We got one of 2 remaining, for 26th August! Also, they do not tell you this is the case, nor when the slots are released.

They do not re-release cancelled slots, so no chance of a last-minute queue-jump.
Also, you cannot book until you have completed a form with certain details that require you to be a fair way through collecting requisite documents ( you can check which on the TLS site).

 

So DD’s application went in late August, and she finally got the visa through late November. Sounds fine as it was just within the 3 month Schengen deadline (DD had gone out straight after submitting her visa, with just her passport, which is standard practice). But you have to go back to the TLS office where you submitted the application to collect the visa. So her visa was sent back to London with her in hot pursuit!! Waste of time and money, but less so than for her Canadian friend in the same situation who had to go back to Canada for hers!

 

Also DD was afraid she would miss the Nutcracker performances if the visa didn’t come through in time, so she also took 10 days in the UK in late October to have enough days to take her past the first set of performances. More money and missed training.

 

I’d add that DD was lucky, as others have waited longer than 3 months.

 

The requisite documents take a while to assemble, too (and are costly). It seems a hassle, but is a walk on the park compared with dealing with TLS. 

 

The good news is that you only have to do this once: yearly renewals are easy. Also there is never any problem with a visa actually being granted: it just takes a while because of the immigration backlog. And to be fair the Belgian immigration office do let you track the progress of your application to some extent, which helps.

 

I also think this year has been particularly bad on the Belgian side, as Anderson has been surprised by the waiting times. But I don’t think there’s any reason it would be better next year, as immigration applications aren’t likely to slow down.
 

This is not meant to put anyone off a fantastic school. It’s what I wish I had known so that we would have started earlier and avoided sleepness nights. Mine to be fair, not hers, as she was protected by the trusting insouciance of youth!

[Blue]

Hello, My DD (17) was offered a place PTP24. Would love to connect with other parents whose kids will be starting in Sept.Thanks! 

[Jan McNulty]

Hello @Blue and welcome to the Forum!

[Tiaramum]

@Allwrong - How have you found BIB? Do they help their graduates find jobs? Hows the communication with parents? 

[Allwrong]

Well I can probably give a better idea when DD is back in Brussels after her first professional audition and I can grill her a bit! 
My impression is that they are extremely active in helping dancers find jobs, and certainly have plenty of successes with Eastern European classical companies. DD is currently at an audition with several such companies and Anderson has turned up to film the 4 BIBS girls selected to attend during one audition class so he can watch back with and give them tips. He suggested (strongly urged) this opportunity to DD (3 audition days and a gala) and it’s being a huge and very productive learning curve.

DD will be auditioning seriously next season, so it’s hard for me to judge support, but plenty of dancers at the school are attending multiple auditions and one has been accepted for ENBS Swan Lake in-the-round.

As for communication with parents, it’s hard to say, as DD was 18 when she first went out and did pretty much all  of the one-to-one communication herself. They send out general missives pretty rarely, but we haven’t had personal contact bar admin and a progress report.
Communication used to be in dodgy often hilarious mock-English, but to the family’s disappointment they have now got an admin person with good English, and it’s got much more comprehensible. The language barrier with staff is a bit of an issue, though, until you adapt to it. DD has near-native French, which helps a bit, but the faculty are mostly not native French speakers either.

Communication of arrangements for performances is rather cursory and subject to change, but I reckon that’s not too important for parents, but in general you have to get used to trusting the process and being patient until you know what’s going on. It’s probably the school’s weak point, but matters much less when you trust the school and can see your child really well supported and challenged to succeed. I know DD is very confident with how things work now, and knows she is valued. But in the early months she was second-guessing a lot and mistakenly felt she was disappointing her teachers on occasion. The language barrier / cultural barrier does create an initial distance between dancers and staff. But actually they are really invested in every individual student, and DD couldn’t be more supported.