Brit school dance strand

[Mad house]

Hi I'm a newbie to this site and wondered if anyone has any advice on Brit school dance strand aged 16 ?

[FelixGirl]

Hi Mad house!

 

We don't have direct experience, but DD auditioned two years ago and was offered a place, and she does have friends on the course, so we might be able to help! What do you need to know?

[Mad house]

Hi Felix girl

I was wondering how likely you are to be offered a place if you live out of catchment area?

How good the dance strand is ?

[Jan McNulty]

Hello Mad House.  I can't answer your questions but would just like to say welcome to the Forum!

[Mad house]

Hello and thanks for welcome

[Katymac]

At the open day they said last year in Musical Theatre there were 70 places & 7 were available to out of catchment areas; in dance the class size was smaller & I think there were about 4/5 out of catchment places

[Mad house]

Thanks katymac,

I thought there would be a few more places than that :/

[2dancersmum]

Don't know whereabouts in the county you are but BOA (Birmingham Ormiston) is the midlands equivalent to the Brit school.  They have a catchment area of a radius around Birmingham itself (their website gives details) and take 10% roughly from out of catchment - usually further afield in the West Midlands region.

[Katymac]

Thanks katymac,

I thought there would be a few more places than that :/

 

So did DD

 

& she thought she would maximise her chances and apply for Dance & MT but you can't - it's either/or

[Mad house]

Hi 2 dancersmum

I'm in East Sussex near Ashford

So Birmingham would be too far

 

Did your daughter enjoy the open evening katymac?

We missed it unfortunately

[Katymac]

She did - I wrote a full thingie about it on 'NotaPushyMum' forum as it was more MT than dance for us & a comparison with Arts Ed

 

I'll copy it over, hang on, here it is

"Brit was very busy, vibrant & hectic, but the organisation was very slick - It was big, very big! The teachers & kids were lovely.

The classes we saw were excellent - the head of MT was inspiring and charismatic; but she also said that some of the people in the room were already beyond what Brit had to offer. Which I thought was a brave statement.

DD really quite loved it

Arts Ed was less organised, a bit more stand-offish (particularly support staff rather than teachers & the kids were lovely) & maybe a bit more formal; the show was amazing, but I think we would have an issue with grades as you need As to study A levels & they suggest you do 2.......which scared DD

& she really quite loved it too

But I don't think she 'sees' herself at either place - Brit was very hip & up to the minute and we live in the sticks, Arts Ed was very academically focused and as we have discussed before DD isn't; the BTEC will be a reach for her

So I suppose it was useful in a negative way - whether she will audition or not, we haven't decided"

[Mad house]

Thanks katymum

That's interesting to know.

I think the audition process is a minefield.

I will just have to let my dd decide I guess .

Thanks again

[FelixGirl]

We do live in catchment for the Brit School, so it was a back-up plan for DD in case she didn't get into the colleges she'd applied to! Having said that, DD loved it and would have been very happy to go there. She has several friends who have been or who are there (on either dance or musical theatre strands) and they are all very good dancers.....but they do all seem to go on to vocational colleges afterwards....so I would suggest that it is a good stepping stone.

 

When we went to the Open Day DD felt that she was possibly beyond what they were offering grade-wise (she was already in Advanced 2, Ballet, Modern, Tap and equivalent Jazz) ....but that it would consolidate her dance, offer her greater contemporary and choreography training, and she would be able to do A levels if she wanted to. Also there were a considerable number of performance opportunities!

 

Not sure if that helps or makes it worse....but if you like it, I think it is probably worth auditioning anyway.....someone has to get those out of catchment places!!

[Mad house]

Yeah thanks felixgirl,

I think we will apply and see where it goes from there.

I'm sure my dd would enjoy it there it's just the logistics of commuting every day that may cause her a problem.

[CeliB]

I don't know if it is of any interest but I remember when DS did some associate classes at Legat there were scholarships available for dancers/MT and they have impressive facilities (fully equipped theatre etc). No idea of the quality of training for MT as DS has only ever been interested in classical ballet.

Not sure if that's any easier a commute from your bit of East Sussex.....

http://www.bedes.org/legat-school/about.aspx

[Mad house]

Thanks celiB

I will look at legat too I think it's quite a good school academically too.