Dance course alongside A levels at 16

[Carladance]

Hi, is there an option anywhere to do a professional dance course alongside A levels? We can’t afford for our daughter to go to a costly school such as Tring Park and also couldn’t afford for her to live elsewhere really as we’re already supporting her sibling who’s at uni. We live in the north west. She’s quite academic (all 8’s in GCSE mocks) so we feel it would be a pity not to get some A levels behind her but she loves dance too, wants a professional dance career and wants to do it alongside. Obviously she could do A level dance alongside other subjects in a local college but dance never appears that strong if it’s not a conservatoire. She’d prefer a dance course rather than just ballet! She could also do A levels first of course but she’s wanting to move to a professional dance course after school if possible although she’s very level headed and knows it would be good to get A levels too! Any advice gratefully received!

Edited July 25 by Carladance
Missed a bit!

[Fiz]

Stage Right in Royston, Herts offer this option. I don’t know if that’s of any use to you. 

[Jan McNulty]

Hello @Carladance and welcome to the Forum!

[Jewel]

There is The Hammond but there will still be costs involved and I can not personally recommend it.

[Carladance]

16 minutes ago, Jan McNulty said:

Hello @Carladance and welcome to the Forum!

Thank you 😊

[Carladance]

13 minutes ago, Jewel said:

There is The Hammond but there will still be costs involved and I can not personally recommend it.

Way out of our reach unfortunately! We wouldn’t be eligible for a CAT and if she got DADA we’d receive one of the lowest amounts. She’d also have to board as we’re not close enough 😣 They are starting part time 10 week blocks of courses though on Sundays which are a lot more reasonable and accessible but my daughter has been to an associate class which she loves once or twice a month and that’s on a Sunday too 🤦‍♀️

[Kerfuffle]

If your daughter isn’t planning on a classical ballet career there is no rush to be at a vocational school at 16, most other dance disciplines allow you to train from 18. Your best bet is to get as good training after school as possible - I know of several girls who were successful post A Level in getting places at top colleges. CAT schemes are good as well as associates. 

[Farawaydancer]

Dd has the same dilemma after being at vocational lower school. She’s decided to come home and focus on getting her A levels done, before deciding at 18 whether she wants to do more dance training or go to university. Thankfully she has a CAT place for September for contemporary and we’ll fill the ballet gaps with privates and holiday intensives. 

[Farawaydancer]

1 hour ago, Carladance said:

Way out of our reach unfortunately! We wouldn’t be eligible for a CAT and if she got DADA we’d receive one of the lowest amounts. She’d also have to board as we’re not close enough 😣 They are starting part time 10 week blocks of courses though on Sundays which are a lot more reasonable and accessible but my daughter has been to an associate class which she loves once or twice a month and that’s on a Sunday too 🤦‍♀️

 

When you say not eligible for a CAT do you mean that you wouldn’t get a funded place? We don’t get the funding either but we’re happy to pay for it because it’s relatively inexpensive for what they get. 

[Allwrong]

Agree with Kerfuffle and Faraway. Even for ballet, DD started ballet training (abroad) post 18 with A Levels and dance school friend has since applied for post A Level ballet and had offers from Central and RCScotland. And plenty going to Bird, Arts Ed, Laine, Urdang post A Level, all doing conventional A Level or similar and dance classes after school/ weekends. Depends on keeping up good training locally, but very possible.

[Carladance]

5 hours ago, Farawaydancer said:

 

When you say not eligible for a CAT do you mean that you wouldn’t get a funded place? We don’t get the funding either but we’re happy to pay for it because it’s relatively inexpensive for what they get. 

Sorry I meant MDS that funds CAT schemes. We earn too much to get a funded place but have too many outgoings to be able to fund a place at The Hammond - as I said we’re already funding her sibling to live away from home for uni! 

[Farawaydancer]

13 minutes ago, Carladance said:

Sorry I meant MDS that funds CAT schemes. We earn too much to get a funded place but have too many outgoings to be able to fund a place at The Hammond - as I said we’re already funding her sibling to live away from home for uni! 

We don’t qualify for the MDS funding for the CAT programme, we just pay the full fees anyway. The CAT fees are a fraction of the cost of a school place, and more like what we would be paying for that amount of hours of dancing anyway. 

Edited July 25 by Farawaydancer
Typo

[dancefanatic]

There is also the new associates scheme being run under the GradPro umbrella with classes in Birmingham and Leeds that I would suggest you look at.  https://www.gradpro.co.uk/yns  Although currently no audition process, I have been told the standard is very high and I know personally that the ethos behind all the GradPro initiatives is second to none.  No funding but the price does seem comparable to the RBS associates scheme and I know the standard of teaching will be equally as good.

[glowlight]

What about Northern Ballet School in Manchester? Maybe you would be close enough to commute.

 

They don't offer A Levels but some students do A levels at local colleges I think (although my DD decided that would be too much for her. We agreed that you can always do them later. She's now early 30s, works in IT and the lack of A levels has never been a problem to her.)

 

Also there are plenty of students who start NBS at 18, so she could consider completing her A levels first.