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Classical ballet training Tring


Motomum

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Can any parents of children on the dance course, or knowledgeable members tell me what system of training Tring vocational ballet classes follow?

How does it differ from Royal Ballet or Elmhurst, or is it the same?

Does a child training at Tring come out with the same overall technical proficiency of classical ballet training as the other vocational ballet schools?

 

Where do Tring ballet trained students graduate to, both Upper Schools and companies?

 

I can find lots of information about the Performing Arts alumni, but very little about their dance course specifically.

 

 

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5 hours ago, CMcBallet said:

I can’t speak to their particular training system but recent graduates have gone on to train at RBS Upper School and join major ballet companies.
A current 6th form student has just gained a contract with BRB. 
https://www.instagram.com/p/CPQEJHABJJY/?utm_medium=copy_link


BRB have taken on a lot of dancers for their Cinderella production this year. Using pupils from Elmhurst and  ENBS and some graduated dancers on short term paid contracts. They must have a lot of “bubbles” going on as they did with Nutcracker. Fantastic opportunity for work experience with them. Shame they aren’t paying them all. Both my dc toured with BRB whilst students for free so I’m pleased to see them hiring and paying unemployed dancers too ☺️

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8 hours ago, CMcBallet said:

I can’t speak to their particular training system but recent graduates have gone on to train at RBS Upper School and join major ballet companies.
A current 6th form student has just gained a contract with BRB. 
https://www.instagram.com/p/CPQEJHABJJY/?utm_medium=copy_link

Do you know of more than one recent student who has gone on to RBS Upper School? I only know of one, who seems to have had quite a lot of training in addition to their training at Tring. Which major ballet companies have recent graduates joined?

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1 hour ago, Clara67 said:

Do you know of more than one recent student who has gone on to RBS Upper School? I only know of one, who seems to have had quite a lot of training in addition to their training at Tring. Which major ballet companies have recent graduates joined?

RBS Upper School - I believe there’s a young man in 3rd year and a young lady in 2nd year. 
Ballet companies - I’m afraid I’m not clear on other recent graduate destinations.


It’s worth remembering that Tring has a ‘dance’ course and not strictly a ballet course.

Read into this as you may but I see it that they take their ballet seriously and that you ‘can’ progress classically upon graduation.

Historically their graduate pathways have been as diverse as their training, also pre pandemic there were a large number of recent graduates dancing with Matthew Bournes productions. 

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1 hour ago, CMcBallet said:

RBS Upper School - I believe there’s a young man in 3rd year and a young lady in 2nd year. 
Ballet companies - I’m afraid I’m not clear on other recent graduate destinations.


It’s worth remembering that Tring has a ‘dance’ course and not strictly a ballet course.

Read into this as you may but I see it that they take their ballet seriously and that you ‘can’ progress classically upon graduation.

Historically their graduate pathways have been as diverse as their training, also pre pandemic there were a large number of recent graduates dancing with Matthew Bournes productions. 

Thank you.

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There are a fair few who move to RBS from Tring . At least there were when my DS was there .

He graduated 4 years ago and is now in a company . He speaks very highly of the classical training at Tring .

I am more than happy to share our experiences if anyone wishes to pm me .

 

Tring do very well in competitions too. Cecchetti, for example .

Not all the top schools enter for these.

 

They certainly come out as very versatile dancers . My pupil who graduated from Tring last year, was a finalist for BBC young dancer (classical section ) but she is just as proficient in contemporary, jazz and commercial . 

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It’s difficult to compare I think as the cohort at Tring differ from elmhurst and RBS. It’s a ‘dance’ course rather than ballet and there are far fewer MDS places. Would the school give you leavers destinations for

the upper and lower school if you asked? Or sometimes it’s interesting to look at companies who do usually give you a biography for their dancers including lower and upper school. I’m not sure that are that many from Tring, definitely more from RBS, Elmhurst, ENB and Central. That may be a reflection of cohort rather than standard of training though. I think you need to try and get the figures and work out how many go on to ballet companies/ RBS etc. 

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I always used to think that company members put all their training down.  I later realised that this is not always the case.  There are several members of BRB and RB that do not list Tring as part of their training.  I was shocked to realise that Darcey Bussell had started her training at Tring before moving over to RB school (admittedly not for long) but she was encouraged not to publicise it as it was not ‘part of the narrative’.  How many others is it ‘not part of the narrative’?  Also, you have to understand the incredibly fragile egos of some dancers who will not want it known that they did not make it all the way through the RB school, but had part of their training at Tring.  
 

The training at Tring can be anything your child has the capacity for. 

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Darcey Busell went to Arts Ed.  It’s included in the bio on her webpage.

 

I’d take the rest of Harwel’s post with a pinch of salt.  For example, Joseph Sissens’ and Olivia Cowley’s ROH bios state that they went to Tring before the RBS as did Rupert Pennefather’s when he was an RB principal.

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1 hour ago, Harwel said:

I always used to think that company members put all their training down.  I later realised that this is not always the case.  There are several members of BRB and RB that do not list Tring as part of their training. 

 

 

I'd always thought it was because there is very limited space in the programmes for dancer bios!

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6 hours ago, Jan McNulty said:

 

I'd always thought it was because there is very limited space in the programmes for dancer bios!

Me too. From what I've observed in programmes over the years, dancers often only name the institution from where they graduated and competition successes such as the Genee. They tend not to mention schools they trained at when they were younger.

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8 hours ago, Jan McNulty said:

 

I'd always thought it was because there is very limited space in the programmes for dancer bios!

I am sure there are various reasons.  I also know some that miss out some of their training because they didn’t enjoy that part of their training. 
 

My point was that, just that it is not in the bio in the program does not mean the dancer didn’t train somewhere else. 

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8 hours ago, bangorballetboy said:

Darcey Busell went to Arts Ed.  It’s included in the bio on her webpage.

 

I’d take the rest of Harwel’s post with a pinch of salt.  For example, Joseph Sissens’ and Olivia Cowley’s ROH bios state that they went to Tring before the RBS as did Rupert Pennefather’s when he was an RB principal.

Tring used to be Arts Ed (I am happy to be corrected if she actually attended the London school).  I just know that she said it wasn’t part of the narrative to a friend of mine. 
 

Again. The point I was making is that not all the dancers list their complete training for lots of reasons.  A previous poster said look at their bio - it isn’t always the best place to base an opinion on where someone trained.  I also know people that do not list it as it’s not something they wish to share.  Take it with a pinch of salt if you like - but keep an open mind and realise that many people train in many different places and only those with all the correct physical attributes (and everything else we know is required) will make a classical career, wherever they train. 

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9 hours ago, Jan McNulty said:

 

I'd always thought it was because there is very limited space in the programmes for dancer bios!

 

Certainly, years ago, the Royal Ballet programmes used to list every single promotion a dancer had, and the date.  Nowadays, that's (annoyingly) tended to be reduced to when they joined and when they reached their current rank, especially for higher-ranking dancers.  No way am I assuming that the dancer asked for the intermediate stages of their career not to be mentioned because they were uncomfortable times, or anything like that.  I've also noticed a greater absence of "s/he trained with ..." statements in those bios in relation to earlier training.  I wouldn't like to speculate on the reasons for that.

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10 hours ago, bangorballetboy said:

Darcey Busell went to Arts Ed.  It’s included in the bio on her webpage.

 

I’d take the rest of Harwel’s post with a pinch of salt.  For example, Joseph Sissens’ and Olivia Cowley’s ROH bios state that they went to Tring before the RBS as did Rupert Pennefather’s when he was an RB principal.


 

Tring used to be called Arts Ed. There were two schools, the one at Tring Park and the one in London.  They became separate in the 90’s. According to Wikipedia it became known by its current name in 2009.  Rupert Pennefather also went there. 

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I’m not sure why dancers would suppress knowledge of training at Tring, (it’s certainly mentioned by some high profile dancers) but would be happy to mention elmhurst, central, ENB etc. If they were you’d think the school would have a more high profile list of leavers destinations to put this right. It’s a common thing for academic schools to list top exam achievers and destinations. The other thing is that schools and teaching staff can change enormously

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2 hours ago, Peony said:

I’m not sure why dancers would suppress knowledge of training at Tring, (it’s certainly mentioned by some high profile dancers) 

 

Well the wonderful Tyrone Singleton, a principal at BRB, lists Arts Ed first for his training.  I know when he joined the company he said he had trained at Tring.  Carrie Johnson, ex-BRB and subsequently with Matthew Bourne, was also a member of his cohort.

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1 hour ago, valentina said:

In September, there will be 4 students at RBS upper school who started their training at Tring, plus a 5th who has just graduated.

I don’t think all 4 have gone or would go straight to RBS upper from Tring? I’ve seen one incoming one and one who is now in second year but I don’t think either were at Tring from first form either. I am guessing the other two maybe started at Tring but moved to WL or other schools. But you’re right in that they did train for some time at Tring. It will be interesting to see apart from the one who has been announced as going to RBS upper how many of the recent graduates (this year and maybe last 2-4 years) went on to classical ballet schools such as RBS, Elmhurst, ENBS, Central and overseas classical ballet schools.  I have seen one girl go on to the Bolshoi but I don’t think she started or finished at Tring. Does Tring publish their graduate destinations? 

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I agree with Harwel. I’ve known personally a few dancers whose bios on company websites are not a true reflection of reality. Often details get omitted or things get lost in translation, especially if working abroad. Sometimes this is done by the company itself, leaving the dancer wincing at inaccuracies. Sometimes it’s down the dancer him or herself presenting an edited version of the truth. Or sometimes a combination of both.

 

Eg, one bio may say trained at X top school and then Y top school. Not mentioning that they were only at X top school for one year, and they spent the next four years elsewhere before joining Y top school. Those four middle years get no mention. Or “trained with RBS” really means an associate scheme or a summer scheme.  I think it is very common - it’s a “narrative” as was said upthread.
 

Darcey Bussell was at the Chiswick Arts Ed school, not Tring.

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13 hours ago, Momapalooza said:

I don’t think all 4 have gone or would go straight to RBS upper from Tring? I’ve seen one incoming one and one who is now in second year but I don’t think either were at Tring from first form either. I am guessing the other two maybe started at Tring but moved to WL or other schools. But you’re right in that they did train for some time at Tring. It will be interesting to see apart from the one who has been announced as going to RBS upper how many of the recent graduates (this year and maybe last 2-4 years) went on to classical ballet schools such as RBS, Elmhurst, ENBS, Central and overseas classical ballet schools.  I have seen one girl go on to the Bolshoi but I don’t think she started or finished at Tring. Does Tring publish their graduate destinations? 

Am I correct to assume from this that it is not usual for those wanting a classical ballet career to remain at Tring for upper school? Do classically-focussed students always move on from Tring lower school to train elsewhere when they are 16+?

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48 minutes ago, Clara67 said:

Am I correct to assume from this that it is not usual for those wanting a classical ballet career to remain at Tring for upper school? Do classically-focussed students always move on from Tring lower school to train elsewhere when they are 16+?

 

I don't have any relatives in dance training but I do read Doing Dance.

 

I don't think it's quite that straightforward - students don't just move from lower to upper schools they have to audition for them and I would guess that most students apply for more than one upper school.  Don't forget that international students are also applying for UK upper schools (and vice versa) and that it is always a good idea to have plans B,C and D rather than putting all your eggs in one basket.

 

I don't know how old your child is but it is also worth bearing in mind that aspirations can change.  The daughter of one of my colleagues went to The Hammond at 11 determined to aim for a career in a classical ballet company.  Within a year she had realised that that was no longer her aim and she was aiming more for musical theatre.  She ended up having a fulfilling career as a dancer on cruise ships (and her Mum and Dad enjoyed a number of cut price cruises to exotic locations!).

 

It should also be remembered that far more students graduate from upper schools than there will be vacancies in ballet companies.

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16 minutes ago, Jan McNulty said:

 

I don't have any relatives in dance training but I do read Doing Dance.

 

I don't think it's quite that straightforward - students don't just move from lower to upper schools they have to audition for them and I would guess that most students apply for more than one upper school.  Don't forget that international students are also applying for UK upper schools (and vice versa) and that it is always a good idea to have plans B,C and D rather than putting all your eggs in one basket.

 

I don't know how old your child is but it is also worth bearing in mind that aspirations can change.  The daughter of one of my colleagues went to The Hammond at 11 determined to aim for a career in a classical ballet company.  Within a year she had realised that that was no longer her aim and she was aiming more for musical theatre.  She ended up having a fulfilling career as a dancer on cruise ships (and her Mum and Dad enjoyed a number of cut price cruises to exotic locations!).

 

It should also be remembered that far more students graduate from upper schools than there will be vacancies in ballet companies.

Thank you. My DC is already at a vocational lower school - I’m just thinking ahead! Tring would be one to consider for upper school because of the A’ levels offered, as my child is very academic - it just seems that those who have had a classical career having been at Tring have only been there for some or all of their lower school training. Does anyone know of anybody gaining a classical contract after training at Tring upper school?

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Ds was offered an unfunded place for 6th form at Tring. We visited the school 3 times. We both really loved the atmosphere/ vibe and the academic side of it. Having experienced a ballet lower school I felt it was a more diverse environment that was less intense and more “normal”  I can’t think of another way of describing it ! It would have really suited him but we couldn’t afford it. Whereas Dd flatly refused to go to the audition for 6th form as she felt it wasn’t classical enough for her and although she enjoyed other forms of dance it wasn’t what she truly wanted to do. I myself love the mixture of courses and students ☺️

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56 minutes ago, Clara67 said:

Thank you. My DC is already at a vocational lower school - I’m just thinking ahead! Tring would be one to consider for upper school because of the A’ levels offered, as my child is very academic - it just seems that those who have had a classical career having been at Tring have only been there for some or all of their lower school training. Does anyone know of anybody gaining a classical contract after training at Tring upper school?

 

As previously mentioned - Tyrone Singleton, who is a principal at BRB, graduated from Tring into the company as did cohort member Carrie Johnson who has subsequently gone on to have a successful career in Matthew Bourne's company and the West End.

 

Max Westwell graduated into ENB and had a successful career there before moving into An American in Paris and subsequently into Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake.

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23 minutes ago, Jan McNulty said:

 

As previously mentioned - Tyrone Singleton, who is a principal at BRB, graduated from Tring into the company as did cohort member Carrie Johnson who has subsequently gone on to have a successful career in Matthew Bourne's company and the West End.

 

Max Westwell graduated into ENB and had a successful career there before moving into An American in Paris and subsequently into Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake.

On the BRB website it says that Tyrone Singleton trained at Tring and The Royal Ballet School - so presumably not Tring upper school?

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