hfbrew

So sorry to hear this cornish princess. Good luck for remaining auditions.

Running time 2 hours including interval as ever. Cant comment on suitability for children as Ive not yet seen it. But Btuks productions are normally suitable for all the family. One thing I do know is that this retelling of the Little Mermaid is based on Hans Andersons story and therefore absolutely nothing like the Disney version..

He he, Im given to understand that this production is tough on the male dancers! Lots of lifting so the mermaid looks like shes swimming possibly from the little information gleaned from ds.There are photos on Btuk facebook page which are very intriguing! Im dying to know how it all works but cant go until April so would welcome spoilers disguised as reviews!

Indeed a wonderful photo of a charismatic young man but he graduated from Tring 2 years ago!

Btuks latest show starts tomorrow at The Albany Theatre, Coventry. Tours dates can be found on the Ballet Theatre UK website. I have tried pasting a link here but to no avail today,sorry! I do hope that anyone who goes to support this young British company will report back here as I don't get a chance to go until after Easter and I do so want to know how "the ship" works!! (been hearing about it from my ds!)

Well it is possible to go quite a long way. My ds has always had confidence issues and once said he was scared of being good which was quite profound from a young child. He is now a professional ballet dancer. The thing is though is whether dancing makes your daughter happy? Could it be that at the moment she is out of her comfort zone thus causing her to doubt herself. Sometimes students look like they are accomplishing steps easily but in actual fact they are inwardly struggling and need reassurance. It might be an idea to take some pressure off her for now and just let her enjoy dancing without worrying about festivals. Could she be a "helper" for a younger class? Some children gain confidence by having little ones look up to them! Not sure Ive been much help. Us teachers often say that a child needs more confidence but we are not always very good at instilling it. But my first question still stands, does dancing make your daughter happy? Exploring the answer to this question may help you find the right way forward for her. Good luck!

Stick to your guns. You do know whats best for your daughter and so does she by all accounts. From all your posts you come across as one of the most clued in parents around and you have clearly left no stone unturned in researching the possibilities for your daughter. Some people, in trying to help do make matters worse dont they? Whats best for them wont necessarily work for you and vice versa. Good luck to you and your dd in all your endeavours and I am so glad she got a confidence boost at MoveIt, that at least is a positive! Edited to add that for many people the brain retains its capacity to study for A levels long after the body loses its capacity to undergo full time dance training...

What a stressful weekend for you. Hope you will all recover quickly.

Get him to buy Just Ballets entire stock....

To anyone there today please give Ballet Theatre UK a big cheer. They have taken time out of rehearsing Little Mermaid to come and perform at Move it. Shame I cant get to see their performance today but at least I get ds home tonight. And his washing no doubt...

Ah thank you Marianne!

And surely anyone in 6.2 is too old anyway? I thought you had to be under 17? Or am I having senile moment? And Ruth Bailey was in year 10 when she won wasnt she? Edited to add Ruth!

Dear Swanprincess Firstly I wish to say how in awe of your bravery I am in being so frank about your illness. I hope you continue to recover well. I cant help you re bmi, sorry but yes I agree with previous posters about the need to look after your body and eat well. Many dance schools teach nutrition now, there is far greater awareness of the importance of staying healthy now. So yes, many schools would these days be wary of taking on someone who is too thin and therefore in danger of not being fit enough for full time training. Have you seen Ballet Theatre UK? They are a shining example of wonderful dancers who are very talented but have varying physiques. More importantly they look healthy and in fact its a condition of their contract that they look after themselves properly. Its possible these days to be a professional dancer and be healthy! Good luck, I hope others can help you more.x

It has to be said that every year the majority of finalists are RBS so yes I agree it doesnt seem like an open competition especially as it takes place on the schools premises. However the judges are not involved with the RBS school and do not know when they are judging (prior to the final) which candidates go to which school. At least this was the case when my ds took part.Even his teachers were not allowed to go if I remember rightly so as to keep proceedings as neutral as possible. So the fact tht independent adjudicators end up choosing RBS dancers is a good testament to their training. It also means that those who got through to the semis who are not at the school know that it really was on their own merits so especially well done to them. As to competitions well there are plenty all round the UK that RBS students are not allowed to take part in. YBDY is actually the only one they can do now as they no longer do RAD exams thus preventing them from Bedells or Genees.

Its an excellent scheme, Ive had a few past students on this and I actually felt that its one of the best around. There are others on this forum who will be able to enlighten you further with more up to date information but as far as I remember there was just one audition. If they are doing an Easter course Id recommend going to that too.

And occasionally they spot something they want the physio to check out. They need to be sure a physique will withstand full time training and the physio will advise the panel if there is a problem. I was at a talk years ago in which they said that if in a rare case there was cause for serious concern they would inform the candidate but I have to say I have never heard or known of this actually happening to anyone!

Lucky HRHs seeing my little pupil as a page.....

I think it would be best to try now as the odds are very heavily stacked against getting a place anyway! If your daughter loves the experience regardless of outcome then you know that in the future she may want to take her ballet more seriously. There are far fewer year 4 places and my guess anyway at this age a fortnightly place will be regarded as more sensible anyway. I know that my ds was offered weekly because as he joined in year 6 it was felt he would benefit more and have more of a chance of catching up with those who had been jas for longer. Incidently whats wrong with going to the centre closer to home? The Royal Ballet programme of training is the same in each centre and all have good records of students going to White Lodge or other places. I know of some years at WL for example in which nearly all the girls were non London JAs. A two hour train journey is a bit much if you have a closer option. And even if you do tick the London box they may still offer a place in you nearest centre anyway. I sympathise with your dds teacher to an extent though because going to Covent Garden is fab. But I dont think settling for a more local option would be the end of the world! However theres really no point in worrying too much about logistics yet. Most applicants are unsuccessful anyway! And you can always turn down a place....

I am sad for you but good on you for having a go! Maybe you could treat yourself to something now you wont be paying out for NYB? People I know really enjoyed being with NYB but also found the commitment expected very demanding at times. I hope you get other opportunities very soon!

If you are lucky enough to get offered a place then you can fill in a means tested form to ask for financial assistance. We discovered this when ds was offered a weekly place over the phone (we had applied for fortnightly) and were sent a form when we said money was an issue. We got a third off the fees and a uniform allowance. And one of my pupils who is a JA gets financial assistance too.

Third years have to find their own accomodation. There are boarding houses in town for those in the 2nd year of sixth form. However some are sometimes accomodated in the main building especially if they are prefects or head boy/girl. Lower sixth are housed by and large on site unless of course they are with host families.

Totally agree, even by just stating numbers , people in this situation will recognise themselves. My heart goes out to them.And its really no use looking at numbers anyway as they are not consistent each year. My ds year had no one assessed out in year 7 but unfortunately this wasnt the case for some of the year groups that followed. If anyone had used my ds year as a benchmark they will have been lulled into a false sense of security. Fact is is that at WL you really are only "safe" once you reach year 10. This really bothered me when ds decided to take his place so I understand prospective parents concerns now. However what I could have done with knowing then is that those who choose to continue training still do very well. A WL teacher at the time did say that the students assessed out are still among the best and get snapped up elsewhere. At the time I wasnt reassured but Ive seen with my own eyes that this is the case and some ended up becoming professional dancers earlier than those who made it through to upper school. And the early WL training still made a difference. Had I been reading these posts 10 years ago I reckon Id have been a lot more relaxed about sending my ds in the first place.

True, every year and every situation is different. Generally though I would say that those who wish to continue training do find good solutions be it at another full time school or with good local teachers. And they often do very well indeed, WL doesnt suit everyone and assessing out can be a blessing in disguise although it wont feel that way Im sure. We are so lucky on this forum to have people share this experience with us (there was very little information on this topic 10 years ago!) Thank you those who have shared the not so nice part of the system here. However we must remember that many people wish to move on quietly and put assessing out behind them so I am not sure its wise to refer to recent cases (as interesting as it is!) because the Ballet world is so small and people are easily identifiable. They may very well read this thread themselves and not wish to recognise their own personal situation, never mind see it being discussed. Obviously its a different matter if they themselves have shared their stories. There really is no set pattern as to numbers assessed out from year to year, the reasons why or what happens next other than things generally do work out for the best. My heart goes out to all having to make hard choices at the moment.good luck to you all.

Yes its nothing to worry about and is not a test of intelligence, as said above more a chance to find out about the child. Its all very informal and friendly. I remember how my ds wrote about wanting an elephant for a pet.... We got him a little black dwarf rabbit instead who is still with us 10 years later!

Thank you for taking the time and trouble to write such an informative post. I am sure it will encourage many young dancers to investigate! So lovely to read a straight forward post about what this school has to offer.