Auditioning for Associates-when/how to know?

[Caithoven]

Hi, 

I am new to the forum and I have a question regarding applying/auditioning for an associate program.

My child is 8 and has just started Grade 1, doing ballet for 2 years Pre Primary and Primary.

I was wondering whether your child's dance teacher tells you to apply for an associate programme? Or do you decide yourself ?

I'm unsure of how to know whether to or not and how to judge it .

 

Thanks in advance !

[Jan McNulty]

Hello @Caithoven and welcome to the Forum!

[MissEmily]

@Caithoven You apply yourself, with your teacher’s permission. Some are very encouraging of Associate Programmes and will recommend your child applying if they think have the attributes a certain programme is looking for. Others are less proactive but would still be encouraging and others still disapprove of their pupils taking classes elsewhere. So in short, it’s best to sound your child’s teacher out sooner rather than later. Different Associate Programmes look for different things and some are much more competitive than others. I don’t know if you have a specific one in mind yet. There is a plethora of useful information on this forum but I’d be happy to give you my input if you would like it!

[glowlight]

I didn't even know associate programmes existed until my dd's teacher suggested she apply for one, but I think parents on this forum are much more savvy than I was back then. I would speak to your child's teacher, tell them your child would be interested in doing associate schemes and discuss whether and when this would be a good idea. Most schemes have a lower age limit, so that may be your starting point.

[Ruby Foo]

If your dance teacher doesn't participate in Associate Programs or rather have students already attending associates then she might not suggest it as a matter of course. Then you may need to suggest it's something your child could be interested in.

If your child is super keen to do more dance with other children who are also super keen then it might be a consideration. As Miss Emily says, there's lots of discussion about pros and cons on this forum.
 

[Caithoven]

 

 

His dance school do have children that have been accepted onto associates this year when I looked on the school website and so I wondered if that meant that his teacher would let someone know if they should audition.

I wouldn't want him to or to ask about it if he was really not at the right level for it!

I don't have a good idea really as I don't have experience of dancing myself.

 

We are based in Glasgow and it was the Scottish Ballet Junior Associates that I had a look into. 

 

He currently attends two Grade 1 classes a week at the same dance school but has recently asked if he could go down to 1 class a week (maybe that's a sign that he isn't super keen for more dancing!) he also does tap and acro . 

 

He used to attend 2 Primary classes last year however they were at two different schools(a crossover period between original school and new one) which he said felt different because they were in different places with different children, different teacher etc and in fact he ended up doing that for most of the year as he didn't want to leave his old dance school but liked his new one too.

 

Thank you to everyone that has replied so far 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited 17 hours ago by Caithoven

[AllAboutTheJourney]

I would highly recommend Scottish Ballet associates for a boy - it starts from P5. The benefits of being in a class with a decent amount of boys in it can be really huge.
 

Happy for you to DM me if you want some more info but in the first instance I would mention it to his teacher and get a feel for where she thinks he is at.
 

Most associate schemes at this age though are just looking at potential so it’s more about whether he enjoys dancing and would want to do more of it - if yes, then it’s always worth auditioning to see how it goes. 

[Caithoven]

11 minutes ago, AllAboutTheJourney said:

I would highly recommend Scottish Ballet associates for a boy - it starts from P5. The benefits of being in a class with a decent amount of boys in it can be really huge.
 

Happy for you to DM me if you want some more info but in the first instance I would mention it to his teacher and get a feel for where she thinks he is at.
 

Most associate schemes at this age though are just looking at potential so it’s more about whether he enjoys dancing and would want to do more of it - if yes, then it’s always worth auditioning to see how it goes. 

 

This is what prompted me to look as he is the only boy in his ballet classes (there are another few boys in the school just not in the ballet classes he attends) 

He seems happy enough at the moment but I do think he would benefit from being around more boys, he has a big group of boy pals at school and I know there is a lot of talk about what boys do and what girls do etc. 

So far it hasn't phased him but I definitely feel that being around more boys doing the same thing would be great for him. 

Perhaps I should ask his teacher then to get an idea 

If I think of any more questions related it would be great if I could DM you

 

[Ruby Foo]

51 minutes ago, Caithoven said:

 

 

His dance school do have children that have been accepted onto associates this year when I looked on the school website and so I wondered if that meant that his teacher would let someone know if they should audition.

I wouldn't want him to or to ask about it if he was really not at the right level for it!

I don't have a good idea really as I don't have experience of dancing myself.

 

We are based in Glasgow and it was the Scottish Ballet Junior Associates that I had a look into. 

 

He currently attends two Grade 1 classes a week at the same dance school but has recently asked if he could go down to 1 class a week (maybe that's a sign that he isn't super keen for more dancing!) he also does tap and acro . 

 

He used to attend 2 Primary classes last year however they were at two different schools(a crossover period between original school and new one) which he said felt different because they were in different places with different children, different teacher etc and in fact he ended up doing that for most of the year as he didn't want to leave his old dance school but liked his new one too.

 

Thank you to everyone that has replied so far 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My daughter did SB associates for 1 year when she was 11yrs. She found it really fun in an unpressurised environment and made lots of friends. They did lots of strength and flexibility training and fun stuff to build creativity. So there was  diversity in the class and not just ballet. 

Edited 16 hours ago by Ruby Foo

[taxi4ballet]

Associate programmes can be particularly beneficial for boys I think, as so often they are the only one in the class in their regular dance school. It is good for them to be able to dance with other boys, and of course some of the exercises differ from the girls' syllabus anyway.