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RBS junior associates auditions


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There are lots of talented dancers chasing few associate places (see RBS annual report). At our centre, only one year 6 JA has been offered an MA place. Not surprising though, as there are 3 JA centres in the south, but only one MA centre (Bath). As others have said though, RBS is not the only route to a dance career.

 

BTW on the subject of ears... Can't resist commenting that The RB corps de ballet all have identical small neat ears. However, some principal dancers are more 'individual'. Eg. Zenaida Yanowsky, the stunning Queen of Hearts in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Still hope for my 'non corps de ballet eared daughter'!

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I must say that I have never noticed a dancer's ears!

 

Honestly, when it comes to company level, if you have graduated from a good upper school, I firmly believe that what matters - assuming that you fit into the Artistic Director's vision in terms of height - is how you dance! I can't imagine any company director examining one's ears. I may be wrong, of course. :-)

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As you say Piccolo, there are more JA centres than MA and similarly only 2 SA centres (Birmingham amd London) as far as I am aware. I think the north also has only one MA centre (Manchester) compared to 3 JA centres (Manchester, Leeds and Newcastle).

 

Just as there are many talented children chasing only a few vocational school places, there are many talented JAs and non-JAs chasing only a few MA places - then even fewer SA places.....What an rocky road DCs have chosen!

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Just enjoy it Happygirl. It is certainly an adventure. Enjoy watching your child dance and progress. There are so many obstacles along the way, and so many challenges. Whilst your child is little just enjoy it all as much as you can.

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Thanks Tulip. I'm certainly trying to. It really is a completely alien world to me, which is good in some ways as I'm blissfully ignorant, but equally it all feels quite daunting and frightening and there are so many others who seem to know so much! You're right though - for now my dd is just a little girl who loves to dance and I'm loving watching her get so much enjoyment from it. That should be my focus for now!

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 You're right though - for now my dd is just a little girl who loves to dance and I'm loving watching her get so much enjoyment from it. That should be my focus for now!

 

Absolutely HappyGirl. Maybe I have a different perspective to many others who post here, as my DD has no aspirations to be a professional ballet dancer, but I think there is a risk that you can worry so much about the future that you forget to enjoy the present.Those who have the combination of attributes that lead to a ballet career are few and far between. But does that make ballet training any less valuable to the majority? Personally, I don't think so. There are many, many benefits and transferable skills, but, in my humble opinion at least, the enjoyment is the thing that matters most. Ballet is an art form and as I see it, as long as someone is enjoying dancing, and someone else is enjoying watching, it's doing what it should, whether it's on the ROH stage or in your living room.

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Congratulations squeaky !

 

And just wanted to reiterate what pups-mum said - my daughter loved JAs and got to do some lovely things with them but turned out not to be destined to be a ballet dancer - we don't regret trying for a moment. My eldest son also went to JAs and is now a professional ballet dancer. You just never know where the journey will lead you - just enjoy the ride.

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Thank you so much - young man burst into tears and sobbed his heart out (have to say I had a weepy too!)
Its lovely news in what has been a very tough couple of weeks.
(ps it was via email)  Best of luck to everyone else too x

 

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Wow! That's lovely news Squeaky! Congratulations to your son and to you too!! You must be bursting with pride! Exciting times ahead for you!

 

Were results quite quick for you in the end then?

Again thank you to everyone :D

Bursting with pride doesn't even come close! lol

I saw the email and immediately thought the worst - opened it and had to read it twice - bursting into tears - called my son over to read it for himself and he burst into tears and sobbed - telling me that he was so happy he didn't know why he was crying!!  bless his heart

I have even printed it out just to make sure it says what it does! lol

yes results have been very quick - we were told end of june start of july - he went for audition 29th April (some of the first up in Newcastle) - so a little over 5 weeks

 

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Congratulations Squeaky! Will he still audition for elmhurst associates too?!! Jumping with anxiety every time I hear an email beep now!

I asked him if he still wants to for Elmhurst and he said yes

However I haven't heard anything back from Elmhurst since sending of the application form (although they acknowledged receipt of the application) to date

 

 

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Having just finished SAs and done the whole JA/MA/SA system.

 

My daughter auditioned in the last year of JAs and they took her and two others into the existing class that year.  The other JAs in the class (London weekly) had been there for two years previously.  Of this class (about 16/18) 6 were taken into White Lodge, with one also offer WL, two offered Elmhurst, two Tring for Year 7.

 

My daughter turned down Elmhurst and went to YDA.

 

At YDA, about half the school are Royal associates over the whole 5 years.

 

In my daughter's year 5 out of 7 are SAs.

 

Re: numbers, there used to be a weekly (about 18 students) and a fortnightly class.  Not sure if this is still the case.

 

In MAs and SAs, roughly about 16 in a class.

 

No one from SAs this year got into Royal, but a couple got into ENB, some into Elmhurst, Rambert, Central, etc., two into Laines too.

 

Definitely all different body shapes and heights.

 

Along the way, from our school they took 8 students into WL in years 8 and upwards.

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Hello, YDA is Young Dancers Academy, a vocational school in West London and yes WL White Lodge, lots of abbreviations I know, sorry.

 

We should have a little glossary, it took me ages to realise what DC meant, I kept thinking darling children, not dancing!

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A glossary would be great!! Lol, I assume I know what a lot of them mean but I could be wrong so I tend to just ask if I'm unsure. My daughter has only really got into Ballet over the last year or so and I've only been a part of the forum for about a week so I have a lot to learn!! Thanks for that :)

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