Tulip Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 Yes it's completely different. It's respect for the students, teachers are available if a student needs to talk. Our year is a very happy year with students who come from lots of different countries. The teachers WANT their student to do well. The training is tough but they get a sense of achievement. Ballet Central students are allowed to attend top up classes from second year classes if they want to, so if they are not needed for rehearsal, rather than sit around they can have this opportunity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regattah Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 My DD hadn't had enough contact with her for her experience to be really effected. It was just my very limited contact with her that worried us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tulip Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 I would get lynched if I named this school there are a few others on the forum who's daughters had the same experiences as mine. Two of those girls have gone on to do exceptionally well at their other upper vocational school. Not everyone will have had the same experience as us, the principle liked their kids. But I know of lots and I mean lots of families that where in the same sutuation as us. Nothing has changed at that school, the Director knows what is going on, but he has been powerless to make changes. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tulip Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 What where your warning signs Regahtta? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FLOSS Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 The difficulties that White Lodgers seem to experience in getting into the Upper School could be the result of failings in the Lower School and its curriculum but we need to exercise a degree of caution.There are a number of things that we need to consider about the pupils from outside the UK who make it into the Upper School. Many of them have been receiving their ballet training after school.Some have come to ballet comparatively late. Perhaps because of the circumstances in which they receive their initial training and the age at which they make their decision to pursue a career in dance they do so with a greater knowledge and understanding of what it entails than someone who has been at a vocational school since the age of eleven.The fact that you are prepared to leave your family and go to live in a foreign country is evidence of tenacity and commitment and makes it more likely that the decision to become a dancer is entirely that of the student.Someone who makes that choice is going to make sure that they get everything that they can out of the training and the experience. I am not saying that indigenous students are not motivated merely that the foreign students have to do a great deal to get into the Upper School and that perhaps their experience, which does not involve assessing out, does not undermine their confidence, toughens them up and enables them to make a mature decision about their chosen career. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna C Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 Any point naming and shaming this place? If both Regattah and Tulip's dcs had a really bad time there, it might be a a public service? Forum rules would prevent this Fiz, unless the posters in question were to sign their posts using their real names - which wouldn't be fair on their children. If the posters wish to name the school to another member via PM, that is their prerogative, but they should not be obliged to reveal any information which would make them uncomfortable or put their children in a position where they could be identified. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tulip Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 It wouldn't be fair anyway as some children love it there and some parents may really be looking forward to auditioning their children there. I wouldn't want to worry anyone either, it's stressful enough when your children are leaving at such a young age. I only raised my experience because someone said about communicating with the schools. For us that was the worst thing we could have done, it would have been a lot easier to have shut up and put up. But I hear what you are saying Fiz. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aileen Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 It's best not to have fallings out, certainly public ones, with anyone in the ballet world as it's a small world and people can suddenly pop up where you don't expect them. 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
balletla Posted January 24, 2015 Author Share Posted January 24, 2015 The other issue which people seem to talk about with RBS is sponsorship. A lot of the overseas students are funded by school sponsors who may understandably want to see their students doing well and expect to see them in performances etc. Not sure if this is the case at other schools. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tulip Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 I know when our Japanese student have been selected to do something it simply is because they are the best for that particular piece. The thing is in our school no one seems to take offence because these students are so lovely. UK student also get chosen but only if they are the best for a certain piece too. I mention the Japanese students in particular because they are very very good, but the are so humble with it. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dance*is*life Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 It's not always easy for foreign students either. At my suggestion a male student of mine auditioned for and was accepted to Elmhurst. He was 16 1/2 when he went and he found it really, really hard to adjust to everything - the strict discipline and rules, the tough, demanding teachers, living apart from his family and home, even the weather! His mother and I would do joint skype calls with him, encouraging him and helping him survive the total upheaval in his life. He survived and turned into a super dancer - he's danced professionally for seven years and is now with the Estonian National Ballet - but it was a very, very tough two years. He couldn't afford to stay the third year. I managed to find him some funding, but it was not nearly enough. The grass is not always greener on the other side......... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haggis Posted January 25, 2015 Share Posted January 25, 2015 Guy...I can see that there are very strong feelings here but I do feel that some of the comments are aimed at one person who is not able to reply to defend herself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tulip Posted January 25, 2015 Share Posted January 25, 2015 No one has mentioned any names apart from ones that have publicly been published. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna C Posted January 25, 2015 Share Posted January 25, 2015 This thread has been closed as it has become unconstructive. It has veered off topic, away from discussing the article in Dancing Times, and posters have instead recounted negative experiences at one school in particular. Several posts have been hidden whilst the Moderators discuss possible breaches of the AUP. Thank you. Spannerandpony on behalf of Balletcoforum Moderators 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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