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  1. Not necessarily - yes US is filled with students who have trained elsewhere and lots are from overseas, but that doesn’t mean they’ve trained in ways that are arduous, excessive or harmful. It may even be that they’ve already experienced several years of this type of fantastic quality, well-rounded, periodised training which is in line with the recommendations from dance & sports scientists meaning that they’re ahead of the schools that are only just implementing it! (Not likely, I realise, but not impossible either!)
  2. About time!! Some of us have been saying words to this effect for 10 years or more! But in all seriousness, I’m pleased he’s put this out there as many more people will listen to a person in this position rather than a bunch of “know-it-all” dance scientists.
  3. UGH!!!! Well, as you said, it's usually down to their own insecurities and their feeling the need to justify their childs' achievements/existence.... There is so much more to life than being selected for a school or a college....for any reason!
  4. I do wonder whether a lot of us assume people have an ulterior, negative motive when asking questions like this.... sometimes the question really isn't negative at all (as MAK says). I think in this day and age, our own insecurities and comparisons about our own lives (ie am I doing a good enough job? Are my children as successful as X/Y/Z? Is so-and-so's life better than mine?) can lead us to assume that everyone else is being critical in comments which may well be completely innocent. My philosophy, which is not easy to follow btw, is to be aware of my own personal 'bias' when considering other peoples' comments, and to also consider their own personal 'bias' (or lack of). It's very easy to think that someone is saying one thing, when actually they are saying something completely different. By considering the bigger picture such as how we're feeling on the day, or how they might be feeling on the day can help. No-one needs to justify any of their life choices, or their family's life choices, to anyone else - but it's also just as likely that no-one is asking you to.....
  5. It has really exploded recently - branches popping up all over the country. Seems to be quite commercial-heavy and very “on trend” social media wise!
  6. Perhaps there was literally nothing behind the comment other than “she chose uni over dance” because [by getting good grades] she could. In the same way your DD chose dance over uni, because she could.
  7. Thank you for the recommendation @joyofdance! As well as having my own school (Warwick School of Dance) I run MIDAS which, when it began almost 10 years ago, was the only 'independent' associate scheme (an oxymoron, I realise!) ie the only scheme offering additional, supplementary training that was not attached to a school or pre-existing system of training. While the affiliation/connection to a big school was and still is a big draw for many people, what we wanted to deliver was a bit different in it's approach, taking up-to-date research in dance medicine and science into account. Fast forward to today and it does seem like 'associate' schemes are cropping up everywhere! Some do fill a genuine gap in training and are fantastic and others do appear to be 'more of the same' type classes. Therefore my advice to any parent looking at additional training schemes is will my DC get something there that they do not get at their normal dance school. That 'something' might be different for one person to the next. It might be the chance to dance with a live pianist, to do more strength and conditioning if their dance school doesn't offer specialist classes, to do a different dance genre such as jazz or commercial, or to learn a particular schools' system of training in preparation for future audition.
  8. Maybe if it's modern ballet or stylised ballet but if it's a pure ballet solo then it must be up.
  9. Just because someone works for NIDMS doesn't mean that they don't work elsewhere too - might be worth contacting either of those people to see if they do anything additional.
  10. Also - no need to panic just yet as this doesn't change until 2021.
  11. The current grade boundaries are 40-55 pass, 56-75 merit and 75+ distinction so they haven't changed the grade boundaries around at all, just added in high merit and high distinction. As HowMuch says, lots of people use those terms unofficially anyway so there's not much difference. A merit is still a merit, it just identifies those who are closer to distinction. A distinction is still a distinction, but those exceptional few who get the higher marks are also recognised.
  12. Another recommendation for Gedling Ballet School from me. As an associate scheme director for almost 10 years (😱) I have encountered lots of students training at various schools in the Midlands area and the students from GBS are well trained. I also have positive experience of students trained at Ogando School of Dance and Southwell dance school.
  13. Where in Wales are you? If you're in North Wales and can make a trip to Warrington I can strongly recommend Rupert Wiltshire (Science in Dance) as a strength and conditioning specialist dealing with rehab and training of pre-professional dancers.
  14. Looking for a DVD of the ISTD Intermediate modern syllabus please
  15. While the numbers thing makes total sense, I'd question why the teacher is not letting her move up to grade 1, especially due to her age. Fair enough, she probably wasn't ready to do the exam last March but to hang around for another year seems odd to me. But out of fairness to the teacher, I don't know your daughter nor her teacher so I can't really comment. Only you know your daughter well enough but as a comparison, my bunch of 'very average' grade 1 children are 7-8 years old.
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