Advanced Ballet & Physiotherapy in South Wales

[Twirlygirl]

Hello,

 

I would be very grateful if anyone could suggest (preferably tried and tested) ballet teachers who can teach the pre-vocational exams up to Advanced (any syllabus) in class and/or privately. Someone who is known to be good with dancer rehabilitation after injury would be even better.

 

I will also consider a good open access type advanced adult ballet class, both with pointework and without, as well as the syllabus classes.

 

I am in Cardiff but willing to consider teachers in South Wales or Bristol area if necessary.

 

Also if anyone can recommend a physiotherapist in Cardiff who is experienced with dancers that would be very useful.

 

Thanks,

 

Twirlygirl

[Anna C]

Hello Twirlygirl and welcome to the forum. I can't help re. Physio but for Vocational Syllabus classes have you tried the RAD "find a teacher" search function on their website? Might be a good place to start. :-)

[Lisa O`Brien]

Welcome to the Forum,Twirlygirl

[lollylamb1]

Hi Twirlygirl I moved from London to Cardiff for university and to be honest finding a good advanced ballet class (I was studying RAD Adv 1 at the time) was near to impossible and even after 4 years, I never really found enough good classes to keep up my technique. I did not have a car either, so this made everything much more difficult! There are many classes I would definitely avoid! However what I can recommend are the following:

 

Open Classes: Rubicon Dance, Cardiff - classes with Patricia Vallis and/or Kathleen Rylands both ex-professional dancers http://www.rubicondance.co.uk/community-classes. However, there is always a mixed ability, so the pace can be slow.

 

RAD Classes: I contacted the RAD and used the find a teacher search function before I moved, but the schools I tried lacked the disciplined and focus needed at vocational level and one school would not take me because I was not a toddler! Ultimately I was never able to take my Advanced 1. You can send me a private message about this if you want! Mandy Morris does classes outside central Cardiff (Chapter Arts) and in Aberdare and she had many promising pupils - however a car was needed to get there! https://www.facebook.com/MandyAndShirleyMorrisSchoolOfDance

 

Other Places: There are few good teachers, but they tend to move around and work in different places. Company members from Ballet Cymru (Welsh Ballet) were teaching a few classes in different places when I left Cardiff last year. The following are a list of places that do ballet classes, but I am unsure who is teaching (so best to trial and see if it is worth it) - Chapter Arts, The Gate, Wonderland Studios and although I never tried: National Dance Company of Wales do company classes (contemporary)

 

Physiotherapist: Catrin Evans works for the NHS as a physio and trained and got injured at Rambert School herself, so might understand dance injuries better than others. However I do not know anyone specific who specialises in dancers.

 

Bristol, on the other hand has a lot more to offer and I am sure someone on here will be able to help you out with that. 

 

Good Luck and feel free to ask me anything about ballet in Cardiff, if only there was more!

Edited May 25, 2014 by lollylamb1

[BankruptMum]

Bristol school of dancing teach very successfully up to Adv 2 and Bristol university have a very good sports physio department also in the Clifton area.

[sugarplumsmum]

Hi twirly girl I'm from Cardiff and my daughter is currently having rad advanced 2 classes and as she's the only one of this level its private so I'm sure she wouldn't mind some rest between exercises if you would like to join her, and even better is her teacher is a sports rehabilitation physiotherapist  pm me if you want any info x

[sugarplumsmum]

Lollylamb1 I second catrin as she is my daughters advanced 2 ballet teacher, my daughter started with her and within 6 months was put in for the advanced 1 exam and she come out with the highest vocational mark she had received to date although I wont knock her previous dance school as she's always been lucky enough to receive good strong distinctions in all her exams, she needed to go to the next level and as you know all the teachers you have mentioned don't teach to that level. classes with catrin are personal, approachable, young enough to understand the stresses but mature enough to have experienced the dance world and all its up's and downs. I am truly indebted to her as she brought a spark back to my daughter. x

[sleep123]

Where does Catrin teach sugarplumsmum? Just googled but couldn't find any listings of schools. Also where does she practise her Physio? Thanks for your help.

[sugarplumsmum]

Catrin works for private clubs but does her classes from Radyr and Pentrych, but if you want you can forward me your number in a pm and I will pass it on to her to get hold of you x

[Twirlygirl]

Hi everyone, sorry thought I'd already posted to say thank you but evidently not.  

 

Thank you for all the info. Not ready to go back to class yet but might PM some of you who have answered, when I am, for further details.

 

Any more names for either the physio or the private ballet classes most gratefully welcomed if anyone thinks of anyone else.

 

THANKS and good luck with all your dancing this term!

[Lottie]

Have a look at these for injuries and follow the links. Cardiff to Bath takes just over an hour by car depending on the traffic.

 

http://www.bathchronicle.co.uk/Left-dead-gala-star/story-22042620-detail/story.html

 

http://www.danceagain.org

 

Hope you find what you're looking for.

[Mummy twinkle toes]

On 30/05/2014 at 17:07, sugarplumsmum said:

Catrin works for private clubs but does her classes from Radyr and Pentrych, but if you want you can forward me your number in a pm and I will pass it on to her to get hold of you x

Hi,

I know this is a very old thread but I just wondered if Catrin is still teaching? Dd1 will be beginning Advanced 1 and eventually Advanced 2 but current teacher does not offer. She has suggested she could offer a class but feels Dd would need up to 3 a week for Advanced 2.