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Elmhurst Junior Summer school 2014


Balletdancer22

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My dd went this year as well as last year and enjoyed both. There have been discussions before that may be worth looking up through search function. This year there seemed to be focus on performance/acting skills which was excellent.

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My dd went to the junior summer school. She had a great time. Great timing (back to school) but 2.5 days not enough

 

She felt the classes were of a good standard although no one could fathom how the groups were decided. Dd was in Group A. One of her school friends seemed to be in a slightly lower level class than her whereas dd considers her friend to be the stronger dancer.

 

As a parent I liked the atmosphere of the sharing. I've never been to Elmhurst before & was impressed by the enthusiasm & attitude of the artistic director.

 

Dd was disappointed that she was in a single room. She finds socialising difficult & would have preferred to have been sharing with someone.

 

She really enjoyed the jazz class but I didn't get to see that.

 

From a parents point of view would have liked a more formal introduction to a houseparents or someone in charge. Dd enjoyed the food but preferred the food at her school.

 

I would send her again.

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My dd was at the younger Elmhurst SS. I managed to glean a bit of information from her. She's not very forthcoming with the 'what did you do in school today?' sort of questions though...

As a lover of ballet, she's always been adamant that she wouldn't want to learn other dance styles. However, Jazz, Flamenco and Contempory (?) were all on the curriculum and she seems to have come away very inspired by them all. She especially enjoyed the Jazz class and the Jazz teacher, and has demonstrated a bit of what she learnt!

She said that in her ballet group the other girls knew straight away what they were supposed to be doing when directions were given, and it took her longer to work it out. IMHO it didn't show on stage and I was quite taken aback with the amount she seemed to have learnt in 3 days.

She liked what she described as the 'expressive and free' style of ballet at Elmhurst. Interesting comment I thought, from a child who sometimes needs encouragement to 'perform'.

Evening entertainment included a demo and talk from two BRB dancers. I'm sure she enjoyed it but I've heard more about the child she watched doing the ice bucket challenge!

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Pictures, I did ask how the groups were decided and was told it was by date of birth.

I also thought that the artistic director was brimming over with enthusiasm. Instantly recognisable as 'the smiley one'' IMO!

Non dancing son was watching how the boys teacher directed them from the side of the stage and thought he was amazing. Not usually an easily impressed teenager!

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My younger DD went to the junior SS and had a great time.  She was also in group A like PITF's DD and I too was confused about the groups.  There seemed to be a range of abilities in most groups and also a range of ages. That said, My DD and PITF's DD were both born in October and were in group A (I personally thought your DD was fabulous in the presentation PITF.  She has made wonderful progress this year).

 

There were several vocational children there and DD's at that level.

 

If date of birth was generally the way they grouped the dancers I think that is the one thing they should consider changing next year. The twice a week dancer isn't likely to be at the same grade or capability as a vocational student and that can impact on either side.  I saw DD's clearly struggle in one group although they appeared older than others in the group and those at the higher grades doing quite basic dances. 

 

Group A did some of he most challenging repertoire in the presentations so I was definitely pleased.  They had learned more during the 3 days than I've seen on some SS in a week.  What I also liked is the fact that at least my DD was given lost of personal corrections.  That doesn't always happen in Summer Schools when there are large groups and lots of repertoire to learn.

 

My DD loved the jazz too.  She would have liked to do more of that.

 

She would definitely go again.

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My DDs have done 3 SSs between the 2 of them (2 senior and 1 junior) and each time I noticed the grouping was not made solely by DOB. My eldest DD who was 13 and 14 when she did the senior SS was put in groups with some girls up to 2 years older than her. I think they also use the number of dance classes they do a week and how long they've been dancing... But it's only my reading of things!

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afab at Elmhurst junior it didn't seem to be the case that it was to do with hours danced as all the vocational students and higher grade dancers would have been together. I'm not criticising. I felt my DD was in the appropriate group for her ability. My DD's have done several summer schools this year and me and little DD would rank this as highly as ENB and OPES.

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There was one poor girl in one of the groups who was clearly struggling. I'm not meaning to put anyone down & she gave it her all - all credit to her but it could so easily have caused a child to lose confidence & no one wants that I'm sure.

 

Dds friend who was in a lower group is both vocational & in a higher grade (Inter rather than IF) & they are the same school year.

 

Dd too mentioned personal corrections. Although she personally feels she got more out of Moorland as the groups were very small, dh & I disagree from watching the sharing. I think she got more out of Elmhurst.

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Yes, I thought that the girl who was struggling could have changed groups as she looked very uncomfortable.  Also, there were other girls who were capable of more in the lower groups.  One particularly comes to mind who I had seen only a few days before at OPES doing very challenging repertoire.  That said, if a class is 'easy' I encourage my girls to focus on good technique. That is never time wasted as long as corrections are being given of course.

 

Pictures..thinking the combination of the two might have been perfect for your DD  :)  The group the other girl was in wasn't much lower.  It didn't feel like it went A-E in level….or did it?

 

My DD did ENB…the standard was very high with lots of foreign students. It was a tough two weeks for her but valuable in terms of perfecting technique.  At OPES they taught very challenging repertoire.  A lot of the girls in the Inter group were struggling with it.  I'm sure that they were taught well in the classes though. 

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What house was she in? Dd was in Hetherington.

 

Grouping unknown children will never be an exact science & I think the important thing is that it seems that most of us feel our children got a lot out ofvthe summer school. I could tell that within the groups the teachers had differentiated for example

 

I also agree with Angels comment about concentrating on perfecting technique in cases when "easier" exercises & choreography is given

 

I felt that dd performed better at Elmhurst than she did in her other 6 day summer school. However my view was probably distorted as at the other one she was moved up a group a day or two before the sharing so wasn't as familiar with the work.

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DD was in group E and really was underwhelmed by the challenge Elmhurst SS set this year for her.  I think she was in the wrong group as I saw other DC who are her level perform much tougher dances.  There were quite a few children struggling in some of these groups and I felt they should have been moved. Maybe 2.5 days wasn't enough time to sort this out although other SSs usually do!

 

On the whole DD had a lot of fun and met some wonderful friends and loved the teachers especially Mr G who apparently made muffins for them!  She also loved the performance by the two BRB dancers.

 

For DD she preferred OPES and Tring Easter week as she felt stretched.  We will def. do OPES next year and may try ENB or Central next year if the pennies can stretch a bit further.  :mellow:

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