EYB auditions 2022 (High Wycombe)

[Ballet_dancer2020]

Hi... can anyone tell me how competitive EYB is normally ie usual number of applications and those successful? My DD is keen to apply (High Wycombe) but having just received disappointing news from JA's not sure I have the heart to put her through another rejection if odds are stacked highly against her! Grateful if anyone has any ideas! Thank you x

[MamaFrosty]

I’d say go for it, my daughter was in a similar position, auditioned and got a place and absolutely loved it - it’s her favourite thing that she’s done. I don’t think it’s hugely competitive to be honest, and the audition video isn’t especially challenging. We heard pretty quickly after the deadline too so it’s not a long wait like JAs! 

[margarite]

DD did EYB twice in 2017/18 and they take roughly 50 kids for juniors and the same for seniors. Normally around 100 audition per age group so there’s around a 50% chance of getting in, which is pretty good compared to JA’s - which is roughly 10%!

She really enjoyed it 😀. Good luck!

[Ballet_dancer2020]

Thank you both, sounds encouraging x

[SplitSoul]

My DD got into EYB and got a straight no for JAs. Luckily, the EYB result came out first, so it softened the JA result.

 

Go for it, I would say!

[Ballet_dancer2020]

Thanks @SplitSoul my confidence has just taken a bit of a knock I guess! Think I will let her try 💕

[SplitSoul]

I know what you mean @Ballet_dancer2020. I see it more like falling off a bike. Best thing to do is get straight back on it! 

[Bex]

Hi this is my first time posting. My DD got a no for EYB a few years back which I don't think was well handled. Since then she's had yeses and nos for various dance and acting related things and has been a junior ballet associate for the last two years, but that no was quite harsh and knocked her confidence. Having read other threads about EYB I don't think our experience was typical. Of course if it is an online submission you can manage how you deliver the results to her.

[Jan McNulty]

Hello Bex and welcome to the Forum!

[taxi4ballet]

On 29/06/2022 at 21:56, Bex said:

My DD got a no for EYB a few years back which I don't think was well handled. 

Was that at a live audition? 

[Pups_mum]

In my experience, EYB are looking for rather different things to most Associate schemes, plus the ratio of candidates to places is very different. It's a very long time since I was in your shoes it's true (my DD is now a teacher!) but it was something like 1:10 were chosen for RBS JAs and 1 :2 for EYB in our day.

EYB is very much about performance. They are looking for a group of children that they can basically turn into a company in a fairly short time frame, so they obviously need to have adequate technique, but the ability to perform, and willingness to have a go at new things is really important. Associates are more about the long game - what might this child eventually develop into on this programme of training kind of thing, so it's lot more about potential, what they might develop into in years to come. EYB and similar things are about putting on a performance a few months hence so they are looking for different things potentially. Of course there will be some children who tick all the boxes for both types of scheme, but there will be others who, at the time they audition, might be great for one but not the other. So success or failure in one particular programme doesn't necessarily predict outcome for another.

Of course, as ever, physique is a factor to some degree. They don't make new costumes for every show (though they do make some alterations) so they will be looking for dancers who are roughly the right age and size for the parts - just like in a real company really. I remember at one casting Miss Lewis took my DD aside and very kindly explained to her that whilst she was more than capable of a particular role she was just too short for it. It was a group of 6 if I recall rightly and the majority of the rest of the girls being considered were about 5ft5 or 6. My DD was 4ft 11 so ended up with some younger girls, which upset her a bit at the time, but she soon made great friends, had a wonderful time and learned a hard but important lesson about real life.

If your DD loves to perform it's definitely worth trying, though I do understand where you are coming from regarding the disappointment and wanting to protect her from more dents to her self confidence. 

[Ballet_dancer2020]

Thank you @Pups_mum that's so helpful and completely makes sense. Thank you for taking the time for such a detailed reply, really appreciate it. 

[NotadanceMa]

My now teen danced with EYB 3 times over 4 years and had a wonderful time.

However this is no easy option, the children are treated as though they are in a company from start to finish even the youngest. There is shouting from some teachers and Miss Lewis is very old school, and the schedule is intensive. This is for a paying audience usually in the main theatre. My child loved their experience and I loved it too, but it is not for everyone. My child has danced with BRB and that was a much gentler more nurturing experience but they preferred EYB.

 

With regards to the ‘no’s’ if the audition is live in a theatre in front of a parent audience then it really is quite brutal. Your number is called and it’s bye bye, as you would be cut often as a professional. I really felt for all the children who just had to leave the stage after a hard audition.

 

I think it is now a video audition, so maybe the ‘no’ will be via email. ‘No’s’ are really tough, repeat ‘no’s’ moreso, however this is the business. Yes that’s a bit brutal a response, talk to your daughter how will she manage another ‘no’? Is she a child that is sensitive to rejection, age has lots to do with this. Does it knock her more or you? How is she now after her JA ‘no’? Does she want to audition again?
EYB is a lovely performing opportunity and a ‘no’ is part of that process. 

 

 

 

[Bex]

@taxi4ballet yes it was live. She was one of the youngest girls and had just done her grade 1, I think. I did email in advance to check whether she was too young/ inexperienced, but was encouraged to go ahead. Very few girls were cut and they were all the little ones like her who were lovely dancers but inexperienced. Their numbers were called out they had to leave the stage one by one in confusion and shame in front of 100 plus people. Their feedback was not you are all a bit little for us and need a bit more experience. It was you are "uncoordinated". She danced beautifully as did the others who were cut but they were clearly out of their depth. She didn't know the terminology - tendu, degage, pas de chat - but did what she could and hazarded the rest. I would estimate what they were asked to do was around grade 3 to 4ish. It was actually quite traumatic and some of the other girls were sobbing. I have to say all other auditions she has ever done have been handled fantastically and the experience has been positive whether it's been a yes or a no, and she gets that sometimes she might not show her best on the day, she's not yet the right standard or they are after something different. Don't want to bad mouth the company as they clearly do a fabulous job and many kids have a wonderful time, but that was my experience from about four or so years ago.

[Bex]

When I say only a few were cut, it was literally a handful of girls. It would have felt okay if more were rejected.

[OnlyDance]

@Bex that sounds brutal! The times my dd auditioned (all live) all the yes's were called out and the no's gathered together. Naturally there were some upset dancers but in the no group the kids were told they would all be on the waiting list. 

[taxi4ballet]

Bex, that sounds like the complete opposite to the way things were done when my dd performed with them. At those auditions (4 of them) they called out the numbers of those who had been accepted, not the ones turned down. At each audition there were around 100 of them and they took around 50 because that's the number they need for the production. So it was about half and half.

 

If there had only been maybe 60 attend, then I can understand why the unsuccessful handful would have been upset.

Edited July 1, 2022 by taxi4ballet

[taxi4ballet]

Forgot to mention - having watched a number of their auditions, I have seen that they do sometimes choose candidates who are less technically adept than others, but they were able to pick up the steps during the auditions more quickly.

 

They can improve dancers' technique during the rehearsals, but they can't teach people how to learn fast and 'perform'. That ability is either innate, or is garnered from the experience of having done a number of similar auditions or workshops.

[Bex]

Sounds like we were unlucky. It was definitely a case of not being able to pick up unknown steps with unknown terminology quickly enough, which is fair enough particularly if they have a hectic rehearsal schedule. She's got decent technique from good teaching, and is the sort of kid that comes alive on stage and draws the eye. Of course I am biased! 😊

[Pups_mum]

I'm sorry to hear that @Bex

As I say, it's a while since we were at this stage but my DD did EYB multiple times over quite a long time frame, so a number of different staff over the years and I never saw an audition like that. Our experience was always the same as @taxiforballet. Everyone completed the audition and then the successful numbers were called out and those that were unsuccessful were spoken to as a group at the end. What you experienced seems quite different, and I agree, inappropriate for the age group.

The EYB staff are certainly not "soft" - there is a lot to get through in a relatively short time and they expect commitment, hard work and a degree of professionalism. My DD was quite young when she first did it and she did get a bit of a shock to the system at first as her own ballet teacher was very gentle and the EYB staff had very different style of teaching. But she came to like and respect them very much and to acknowledge that if she got criticised it was pretty much always completely justified!

Hopefully your DD's experience was a "one off" and things haven't changed permanently. I hope it didn't knock her back too much and it's good to hear that she is doing so well now.

[taxi4ballet]

4 hours ago, Bex said:

Sounds like we were unlucky. It was definitely a case of not being able to pick up unknown steps with unknown terminology quickly enough, which is fair enough particularly if they have a hectic rehearsal schedule. She's got decent technique from good teaching, and is the sort of kid that comes alive on stage and draws the eye. Of course I am biased! 😊

Oh we're all biased, I'll give you that!!  The thing is, she will have learned a lot just from participating in the audition itself. 

 

The advice we were given was to get dd out there and to do as many things as possible. Dance days, short courses, all sorts. Her teacher was very pro-active and from grade 3 up, she also did the class above her grade as well as her own, and that definitely helped with auditions, because when asked to do something, even if she wasn't yet at that level, at least she'd had the experience of having had a go at it before and wasn't flummoxed by it.

[Ballet_dancer2020]

13 hours ago, NotadanceMa said:

My now teen danced with EYB 3 times over 4 years and had a wonderful time.

However this is no easy option, the children are treated as though they are in a company from start to finish even the youngest. There is shouting from some teachers and Miss Lewis is very old school, and the schedule is intensive. This is for a paying audience usually in the main theatre. My child loved their experience and I loved it too, but it is not for everyone. My child has danced with BRB and that was a much gentler more nurturing experience but they preferred EYB.

 

With regards to the ‘no’s’ if the audition is live in a theatre in front of a parent audience then it really is quite brutal. Your number is called and it’s bye bye, as you would be cut often as a professional. I really felt for all the children who just had to leave the stage after a hard audition.

 

I think it is now a video audition, so maybe the ‘no’ will be via email. ‘No’s’ are really tough, repeat ‘no’s’ moreso, however this is the business. Yes that’s a bit brutal a response, talk to your daughter how will she manage another ‘no’? Is she a child that is sensitive to rejection, age has lots to do with this. Does it knock her more or you? How is she now after her JA ‘no’? Does she want to audition again?
EYB is a lovely performing opportunity and a ‘no’ is part of that process. 

 

 

 

Thank you! It's a good question who takes the no worse her or me! She is young and although was initially upset from her last no bounced back very quickly - this time anyway. She wants to audition again, I guess I just worry whether a second no would hurt her more and I don't want it to put her off. It would break my heart watching her try so hard and not succeed again.

I know it's life but she's only small and I still want to make it all right. Not always in our gift though I guess!! The problem is I don't really know if she has what it takes, so not sure if I'm just setting her up to fail. I would hate to think that. She just loves to dance and wants to try... She's been busy learning the audition so will let her try again this time and just keep fingers crossed I guess. It is a video audition which although a pain to film does sound like it may be easier to manage than the live process you described! Thanks again for your advice 

[Pointetoes]

My DD was a “no” 3 times, all for the senior group. She then got in off the waiting list and performed with EYB 6 times in total. She had the most amazing time, learnt so much. Her final production she and the others in her group ( 4 of them) were in cited by Miss Lewis to join the professionals classes each day once they were in theatre. Something that they knew was rare and a huge privilege. The whole team of staff including Miss Lewis were so supportive to her and to this day we will always be very grateful. They knew she was auditioning for Actor Muso and gave her all sorts of incredible advice. 

 

Yes Miss Lewis is old school but this is an opportunity to perform professional, completely different from associates. They learn so much. As for being told yes or no, my dd has just finished her degree and is auditioning. Her face to face auditions ( group ones) they are told in front of everyone if they have a call back. She said that all though it was tough being told No ( and she had it both ways at EYB) it has held her in good stead for now. Sometimes I think we as parents find it harder. 

 

I would also throughly recommend volunteer to help backstage, it’s great fun, hard work but great fun and you are really appreciated 

[Harriet75C]

Just found out my DD was successful in her audition.  Can any seasoned parents give me any information about what to expect?  Also - her regular ballet leotard is very pale pink and I don’t much fancy having to wash it more than i already do - would i be better off getting her a black one for the EYB rehearsals?

[Minnie]

23 minutes ago, Harriet75C said:

Just found out my DD was successful in her audition.  Can any seasoned parents give me any information about what to expect?  Also - her regular ballet leotard is very pale pink and I don’t much fancy having to wash it more than i already do - would i be better off getting her a black one for the EYB rehearsals?

Congratulations to your DD Harriet! My DD got in too! I'm not really sure what to expect either, it's our first time. I would probably get her a couple of leos as it will be 5 full days in a row.

[Harriet75C]

18 minutes ago, Minnie said:

Congratulations to your DD Harriet! My DD got in too! I'm not really sure what to expect either, it's our first time. I would probably get her a couple of leos as it will be 5 full days in a row.

Well done to your DD too!  We are very surprised because she’s only 8 and some of the steps were way above her current grade, but she’s very happy!  I’ve ordered her a couple of new leotards and a wrap.  Anything else can wait until we have more specific instructions!  See you in October!

[swanprincess]

A yes also for my student (8yrs old) 😁

[Ballet_dancer2020]

My DD was a yes too! Thanks so much for all your advice and encouragement earlier, so pleased I let her try now 💕

[Minnie]

Just curious... The email I received said that 140 people applied. Was this for just seniors or was it for both seniors and juniors? 

[Ballet_dancer2020]

9 hours ago, Minnie said:

Just curious... The email I received said that 140 people applied. Was this for just seniors or was it for both seniors and juniors? 

Our letter said the same and DD is a junior so assume it was the total number. Didn't sound that many to me tbh but I'm not complaining! 😊

[SplitSoul]

My DD did her first EYB earlier this summer. She is 8.

 

It was an utterly fantastic experience.

 

I would have at least 2 leos, one in the wash and one on. We had the heatwave to contend with, so was washing each day. Same with tights. Not allowed socks.

 

Lots of girls have a skirt but its not essential.

 

It's a long and intense day, plenty of snacks needed. They are so well looked after and learn a huge amount. I can't recommend it highly enough.