Dance and Drama Awards

[Anna C]

Signed!

[Dragonlady]

I have signed too.

 

This directly affect my DD as she is currently waiting for results for some of her 6th form auditions.  I cannot believe we have scrimped and saved (and ues, even downsized out house) to enable her to keep doing this, only for the goalposts to be changed at the last minute!

 

T

[Lisa O`Brien]

I`ve signed the petition, and invited old dance colleagues I`m still in touch with to sign also. Let`s hope it makes an impact.

[2dancersmum]

Lets hope it does make an impact.  I too doubt the schools will get involved unless it does impact on their numbers and applications.  It might not but I would imagine that quite a few students who have applied this year and already had offers might be unable to go with this last minute unwelcome rise in costs.  For this year at least it depends how long their waiting lists are.

 

In terms of the maintenance loan, if you qualify for the student loan you can also apply for the maintenance loan.  A proportion of it is fixed and the remaining part is income assessed so you are unlikely to get the full maintenance loan unless on a low income.  I cannot remember off the top of my head the fixed percentage but I think it is about 60%.  I know it does not normally cover all student accommodation fees in any case.  My son even had to pay for his university accommodation 2 weeks before his loan was paid to him - thats how well organised the powers that be are.

 

It is this maintenance loan that our MP is looking into.  It states that it should be available to all higher education students and she is chasing an answer as to why students on level 6 diploma courses are not included in this.

[Flowerdew]

Signed. My dd was lucky to receive a Dada for her training (graduated in 2012)and although the living costs in London cost me a fortune she would not have been able to go had she not been awarded one. It's all paid off as dd got her first contract within a month of graduating and is now earning money!!

[tomuchtallent]

This is very sad.Everyone you really need to start looking at 16+ over seas training.Much cheaper and some in Europe would be free!! Even in Turkey there are state funded ballet conservatories and you don't pay a penny!I am English and this is just a little reminder why I decided to move abroad!Absolutely disgusting!!

[Lisa O`Brien]

This sounds like a terrific idea,toomuchtallent.But upon graduating,would students be invited to attend auditions when they hadn`t received their final 2 or 3 years of training at,say the Big Four? Someone on this forum said a few months ago that Artistic Directors look at the schools people trained at,before inviting them to an audition.

[Lottie]

Signed.

[tomuchtallent]

All you have to look at is where the current top company dancers came from and unfortunately as I have learnt from this forum not many trained in the Uk! A high number of Uk graduates start their profession abroad because there is not enough jobs for dancers in the Uk! Not many from the big 4 end up in the top companies in the UK, and the Uk schools are not the only schools directors look at.

[robin64]

Signed. I know we will have to seriously consider the cost of higher education and training for our children. The thought of all that student loan debt really worries me.We fell just the wrong side of the fence for the child benefit changes and suffer because we are a one income household at present so a little means a lot to us and sometimes just the dance lesson fees can be a struggle. Definitely feel squeezed. Some people might say dance lessons are a luxury and I can understand that but dance is important to dd2 and why shouldn't she have the chance to learn to dance as much as someone who wants to take any other subject and ballet tap and modern are not offered in state schools are they? The funding should be sensible and make training possible for all not just a certain few. Getting a place is hard enough without the door shutting because of funding.

[taxi4ballet]

tomuchtalent, I touched on this already in this thread; if the government sees that they are funding people to train, who then can't get a job at the end of it (not even with a company connected to the school who trained them), then they won't think it's a good idea to continue to support these courses.

[tomuchtallent]

Taxi my point was different,

I would like nothing better for my dd to train in the Uk regardless of where she ended up working.But as it's so expensive to train in the Uk, there are other fantastic schools abroad that are affordable,I know it's easier said than done and lots of youngsters would not want to leave their families but for those feeling confident enough they should really look into it as after all lots end up working their first jobs abroad anyway!

[Belljul]

I for one am now looking abroad. Can't quite believe it but with two, perhaps three dancing children, the 'big' schools are out for us now Gutted.

[afab]

Signed by DH and I...

[Picturesinthefirelight]

I can't seem to sign it

[Mumofballetmaddaughter]

I've signed tonight as I feel so sorry for everyone who is affected by this. My daughter was fortunate to have finished vocational school in 2009 having received a dada for 3 years. Although her living and other expenses cost us a small fortune, she definitely couldn't have accepted a place without funding as under the new rules, we would have to pay full fees. The fact that so little importance and value is placed on classical/dance training by those not directly involved with it, still really annoys me. My daughter encountered a lot of negativity while she was at our local state comp as very few of her teachers were supportive of her ambition, most being quite dismissive. Her peers however, who were destined for uni, were given a lot of support. Almost 4 years on and my daughter is one of the few of her peers (from the comp) who has been in constant employment, paying tax.   

[Tulip]

I think this year the Royal Ballet Company have taken quite a few graduates from their school, some of Elmhurst have gone to BRB not sure if ENB have taken any of their young graduates this year. If our government is observing whether our students are gaining employment, then perhaps the answer should be that our companies should be taking their own graduates, that then would solve the problem of employment.

[KathyG]

No Elmhurst students have yet been offered BRB this year. 1 Royal student and 2 ENB have been offered BRB.

[Jaylou62]

Wow....already over 100 signatures on the petition and been retweeted by YMT:UK and NYMT. Earl Perkins has signed the petition (Thriller Live; Rent (West End and Broadway); Dancing in the Streets; Hello Dolly; Chicago; Ragtime; Carousel and Show Boat. TV works include Dr Who, Holby City, Children in Need and Chuggington)!!

Now looking for media interest!

[balletla]

Great progress Jaylou! Can I ask why the petition is for CDET specifically?

 

I have been targeting the Education Funding Agengy at FundingQueries.EFA@education.gsi.gov.uk

I have had a holding response but still awaiting a full reply.

[Jaylou62]

Couldn't find an address or contact basically:( If anyone does know who it should be aimed at I can edit the petition....eventually (technology's not my strongest)!

[balletla]

I think CDET is an independent organisation that accredits the quality of Dance training but I don't think they set the policy on funding. That is done by Education Funding Ageny at Department for Education www.education.gov.uk

 

However I think CDET should be using their position to lobby DforE.

 

Like I said earlier, I have been trying to find a name but they keep their people well hidden and so far only a generic email address as in my earlier post.

 

If anyone more knowledgable on education funding can comment, that would be helpful as I am only researching websites and have no inside knowledge.

[Nana Lily]

Calling the moderators!! Can we get this petition put out on the balletco twitter page please??? it will then reach a far wider audience?

 

NL

[Nana Lily]

Just a thought, any parents on this forum who also use "notapushymum" can you post the link there too?

[tomuchtallent]

What about ballet news on Facebook? Can you put it on there?

[balletla]

Also, what about everyone tweeting the link and using hashtags such as #ballet #dance etc.

[Dragonlady]

I have put it both on my website but also on my tutu business website.....this will hopefully reach a lot of ballet interested Mums.

 

DD now fully aware of all of this and is very distressed as we are certainly not going to be able to afford the full fees if she is lucky enough to get through further auditions.

 

T

[taxi4ballet]

How about sending it to the RAD, ISTD, BBO, NATD etc, as this could well affect them indirectly. People might give up ballet classes and exams at advanced level because they don't think they will be able to afford full-time training at 16...

[tutoo2much]

It does seem bizarre to have a system where one group of people can afford the first five years of training but not the next three,  As I understand it, the old dada system disadvantaged poorer people so that didn't work either.  Maybe use the same sliding scale for MDSs and Dada's.

[Millie3]

It does seem bizarre to have a system where one group of people can afford the first five years of training but not the next three,  As I understand it, the old dada system disadvantaged poorer people so that didn't work either.  Maybe use the same sliding scale for MDSs and Dada's.

 

But using the MDS scale would make far too much sense! 

 

I naively thought it would be along the same lines too.  It's so unfortunate - DD won't be attending the Dada final she gained a place at - she's accepted a place elsewhere. 

 

Dragonlady - I do hope that a way is found so that your dd can continue training.  Hopefully there may be a few more scholarships offered this year. 

 

Also I noticed that Tring were auditioning in Japan - maybe that's the new talent pool to fill the school!

[balletla]

Ribbons - this assumes that there is a sharp gradient in talent.  However, there are so many well trained, talented students looking for places, that at the top levels, i.e. those offered places and those on the waiting lists, there is very little difference.

You are right that there are a lot of talented students looking for places but only the very exceptional 4 or 5 get offered places at RB/BRB each year. These students have something over and above the other talented students. How many of these will now be lost if they can't afford to train? We could end up with our schools being full of very talented students who can afford to pay, not the most exceptionally talented students. To some extent, both Tring and Elmhurst suffer from some of this already as they already have to take a proportion of unfunded students and I think it shows up in the percentage of graduate ballet students gaining good classical contracts.

 

The schools will always be able to fill places as there will always be people who can pay, but at what cost to the gradual erosion of exceptional standards? Our ballet companies will be staffed more and more with those exceptional dancers from overseas whose governments support classical ballet training in their countries.

[Jaylou62]

The petition is already on 'Not a Pushy Mum' due to me having 1 dd wanting to do MT and 1 dd wanting to do ballet and both intending to audition for 2014:(

I'm still using Twitter and Fb and the petition has 241 signatures since 11am yesterday.

I'll try and get it to anyone else you've all suggested but probably won't be until Saturday as that's my next day off:)

[Pas de Quatre]

Tring have auditioned in Japan for many years now, this is not anything new.  I think it is moving onto dangerous ground to imply that the dancers whose parents can afford to pay are less talented than those who need funding.