KS or NBS

[Dancing unicorn]

I will ask my dd for you re timetable tomorrow/Monday! Term 2 ie now is show term. Starts January with rehearsals of usually an abridged version of a full ballet plus contemporary, jazz, tap, Spanish, commercial and musical theatre! Performances for a week at local schools (no half term) then back in to more rehearsals of a different ballet for 3 full performances at the Brindley in Runcorn (final night tomorrow)! It’s like watching a proper company full ballet with full costume, scenery, props the lot! Follow them on Facebook to see this weekends performances! 
Since being at ks my dd has done Beauty and the beast, Peter & the Wolf, Romeo and Juliet, La Sylphide and now Swan Lake! And this is with covid in the middle too! The teaching and attention to detail is outstanding. My dd was at 2 voc schools before ks and she’s learnt more here in the years she’s been here than in the 5 years in lower school! 💗
 

[mumtotwoballerinas]

On 22/03/2022 at 18:42, glowlight said:

Congratulations to your dd on her offers.

 

This must be a very difficult choice to make, and I think she needs to think about what is important to her and use this to inform the decision.  

 

My dd went to NBS many years ago.  She was very much a ballet girl and was on the classical focus right the way through.  I believe she got a very good classical training, with lots of performance experience (A full length ballet each year in December, and pieces in the whole school end of year show each July).

 

During her final year she started to realise how difficult it would be to secure a classical contract.  She went to many auditions, but also decided to broaden her outlook.  She auditioned for all sorts of different things, and in the end went to work on cruise ships.  Looking back she now says she is very happy with the way things turned out, that she has had a much more interesting career than she would have done if she had  joined a ballet company.  I'm trying to remember what the other classical focus girls in her year did - there were only a handful of them.  At least one of them got a classical contract.

 

It is difficult when you look at graduate destinations on school websites to work out whether it is a handful each year who get jobs, or whether every dancer that goes through the school gets work.

 

I think almost everyone in DDs year who wanted to continue to dance secured paid employment in dance of some sort within a year of graduation.

 

But - graduate destinations aren't everything, there are many other things to take into consideration like whether the ethos of the school is a good fit, whether the location and living arrangements work for you.  My dd loved living in Manchester, but it wouldn't suit everyone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I would definitely dig about on  Instagram and look at the profiles of those being posted by 

schools to see how recently they actually graduated and have the recent graduates gained actual dance contracts or are they places on pre professional programmes. If you can take the opportunity to watch the current students perform at the schools you may be considering and trust your gut instincts