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British ballet students training abroad


aileen

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Well I can think of two terrific dancers who came from Tring: Tyrone Singleton (BRB) and Carrie Johnson (currently touring with Matthew Bourne's Nutcracker and a real favourite when she was at BRB)!

I am sure I read in one of the programmes for the BRB that Tyrone also trained at the Royal Ballet School, I am not sure at what stage of this training........

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I am sure all the main school provide excellent training, and the success or otherwise of students and their employment rate will depend on lots of factors, one of the first being the quality of the intake. As someone pointed out, the reason RBS have such a high employment rate as they will usually have first pick of students.

The Dancing Times dancer of the month in March trained at Dance school of Scotland and Millenium College of Performing Arts. He now has a contract with Scottish Ballet.(Not the usual 'route' to a highly prized contract with a British company. ) But presumably if someone has true potential and the drive it can be realised, without going to one of the big four.

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Re Tyrone Singleton: I believe that he was at RBS before he was at Tring.

 

I would have thought that Scottish Ballet counted as one of the BIG FIVE of BRITISH ballet.

 

There is one dancer at BRB who trained at the school in Washington and came to BRB straight from school. I am sure there are other dancers in companies who did not come through British companies but who did not come direct to British companies from school.

 

 

edited to add additional detail.

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Wow, JulieW, thanks so much for taking so much trouble to post all this information. It must have taken you ages! It's really useful to have all this information in one place. Thanks again. Could it be added to the "Anyone looking at vocational schools for 2012" topic?

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I was trying to put a video of the third year graduation students at the Bolshoi Ballet School doing their acting exam piece. Some of these students are still only 17 years of age like the lovely Joy Womack from America. This is the link hope it works. I

 

1,166

 

by ilyaballet 23 hours ago

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Just thought I would try and show you another video of 3 rd year student Mario. Mario Vitale Labrador Bolshoi Ballet Academy Recital Paquita Pas De Deux Variation and Coda . Again I dont know if this will work. I am told that this international student already has offers for lots of different companies. I am hearing but not sure if its true that he is destined for the Bolshoi company itself.

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I know this is off topic but I had to share this, my husband and I are going out to Moscow on Wednesday to visit our dd. My husband has just suprised me with tickets to go and watch the Marinsky ballet perform at the Bolshoi theatre, I am so excited I cant wait.

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This is our second visit, we took our dd out in September, its getting very stressful for her at the moment with the pressure of exams, and appraisals so we are fortunate enough to go out and visit her this week to offer her our support.

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Good luck Primrose, hope you have a wonderful time. Our most recent visit to see DS perform was SO reassuring- it makes a real difference to see them on 'home turf' and get a sense of the camaraderie and support they have from their peers and teachers- felt so much happier about him being there. Am sure you you have a similar experience. Will you get to see DD perform? Good luck to her from us x

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  • 5 weeks later...

It seems that more children from Britain are now seeking their training abroad. Another 16 year old girl will join my dd at the Bolshoi School this year. I have just been told of another who has just accepted a place at one of the top American schools. I dont know if its true or not but I have also just read in the Mail online that a boy from Warrington will also be going out to Russia to continue his classical training. I dont know if that is the Kirov or at the Bolshoi. Good luck to these young brave dancers.

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I am full of admiration for these 16 year olds that go abroad to train. Goodness knows it's hard enough in this country. I don't think I would be brave enough to let my DD go, even she were brave enough to say she wanted to!

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Primrose, that will be nice for your DD, and it must be reassuring for the new girl to know that when she joins the School there will be another British girl of a similar age already there. Is this the beginning of a trend, I wonder? I'm still surprised that, with the exception of Afab (whose DDs already live in France), we have not heard of any students training in Europe eg at the John Cranko School in Stuttgart which is quite well-known. As I said in an earlier post, I assume that British students would pay the same as home students wherever they studied in the EU and, if France is anything to go by, it looks as if the costs of training can be lower than in the UK.

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There have certainly been applications from UK for Stuttgart and Hamburg schools, but I don't know of any successes. A couple of years ago the Hamburg school actually held a preliminary audition in London - I am not sure whether this was advertised or just by invitation through schools and associates. A few dancers were invited to the finals in Hamburg, but I don't know if any were accepted. Does anyone else have more information?

 

The standard of these schools is very high and the applicants come from all over the world. This is one of the reasons UK dancers now find it hard to to gain contracts. At one time the UK dancers who didn't get a job here went to Europe and found work in the companies there. Nowadays there are many good schools in Europe turning out excellent graduates so competition is fierce.

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Pas de Quatre, it's interesting what you say about the standard of some of these European schools. There seems to be a widespread belief in the UK that we have the best vocational schools in Europe, and I've always suspected that, just as our state schools don't fare well in international comparisons, our vocational schools may not be as good as we think they are. I'm expecting to get a barrage of criticism for saying this but so be it. I can assure you that I have absolutely no axe to grind here. My DD is not attending and has never attended or applied for any vocational school.

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I know of two boys (young men) at Hamburg. One was formerly at ENB and the other at Elmhurst. I was fortunate enough to watch a demonstration by a group of Hamburg students led by Kevin Haigen some 4 or 5 years ago. It was watching that class that inspired my DS to want to dance professionally.

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