Anyone else feel their life is dance crazy?

[devoniandarling]

Dd1 has been at dance today. She started at 9am, helping with the baby classes, had a two hour break at 1pm after her major ballet lessons and then had group rehearsals from 3pm to 6:30pm.

Tomorrow she is there 10:30-6pm.

Monday 9am- 8:30pm.

Tuesday 9:30-12noon.

These are all group rehearsals for next weeks dance festivals. The festival starts on Thursday. We are there everyday for 9 days.

Dd1 is 11.

[KatyMac]

Yep

Since January, apart from 7 days at halfterm, today is our first dance day off

[morethanpotatoprints]

Not anymore, but can sympathise.
Its part of the course isn't it.

[KatyMac]

I have a DH who does too

[PandaNot]

Yes, it's just ridiculous. Monthly associates class tomorrow, associates residential next weekend and then we have a whole week off with no classes at all. Stupid thing is we all miss the routine when we're not there!

[Picturesinthefirelight]

I found a solution to the madness

Sent her to full time dance school for Year 7!

[PandaNot]

I have the y6 auditions to look forward to next year, eek! Even if he did get a place for y7 I still would have his sister to run around after.

[Picturesinthefirelight]

Where is he thinking of auditioning Panda?

[PandaNot]

Elmhurst and Hammond at the moment. Tring takes too long to get to and I'm not sure he'd have a chance at White Lodge but it's hard to tell!

[KatyMac]

Wish I'd sent her for yr10 Pictures; ah well yr12 here we come

[devoniandarling]

Dd1 won't consider boarding ATM. Believe me, I've tried!!!

Ds1 will probably audition in yr6 tho. Just seems like I have no life away from the studios. We never seem to get any time off and when it's the holidays it seems to double!

[Picturesinthefirelight]

Dd is at one of those schools. She's not strictly a classical dancer, she wants to do MT but knows she needs the ballet too so she didn't audition for the ballet

[Picturesinthefirelight]

She didn't audition for the pure ballet schools.

[Picturesinthefirelight]

Dd commutes.

[HercShipwright]

Well, I did think we were. But compared to your schedule we aren't even when we had our festival at half term. This week DD2 has had 3 hour long lessons (not doing an exam, festival over with) and 2.5 hours of MT and today she's doing MT rehearsals 1-4. She's also had 4 separate music lessons and another hour for music theory. It's clearly v little compared to your DD, but she's 10 and I do think she's at peak capacity. Dd1 doesn't dance but she's had 6.5 hours of music lessons and ensemble work, 2.5 hours of MT and the same 3 hours this afternoon. She's 15 and again I'm thinking peak capacity.

[HercShipwright]

The good thing for us is there are no rehearsals or classes over the hols. But the big MT production is in June, the dance show is in May and there's definitely at least 3 exams next term between them, possibly 5 ( two grade 5s and a grade 4 for for definite, then maybe a grade 8 and a grade 2. But we shall see. No dance exams till autumn though. Oh and in addition to the big MT production DD1 has a big music festival thing which will involve driving 50 mikes or more for rehearsals at weekends in July. I do question my sanity in letting them do all this. :(

[devoniandarling]

Dh questioned my sanity today

Dd1 didn't even come home from dance in her two and a half hour break... She went into a mt workshop that I'd thought she'd give a miss (due to the horrendous rehearsal schedule this week!!!)

Normally she dances about 18 hours a week (classes) and then group rehearsals on top but our dance teacher seems to have lost the plot this term and we have 23 groups entered in the local festival. Dd1 is in 11 of those!!!

In May we have a modern exam, in July the annual show, and we are entered in another festival in June and another in July. Even in the summer holidays some classes continue and she is doing two week long summer schools.

I really wish she would consider boarding but at the moment she isn't interested and I'm loathe to force the issue.

[teacherwith2kids]

Can I join in? DD broke up on Friday, it's not a holiday when there is a festival, but tomorrow is the first day she will have without a dance-related activity - exam, lesson, group class. She has another lesson on Friday, and two full days next week.

Not as bad as term time - which varies between 10.5 and 13 hours per week - but still bad enough. As she was in the panto over Christmas, and festivals over the autumn and spring half terms, this is actually her first 'holiday' since last summer ... and even so she is dancing 6 days out of the 15 she has off.

[HercShipwright]

teacher - yes, this is the first holiday Dd2 is getting since last summer - big MT production whole of autumn half term, professional panto Xmas, dance festival February half term. She hasn't had a weekend off since last August. This coming weekend will be the first one without at least one rehearsal since the last time we were in Cornwall. We will be in Cornwall again! Actually, she did miss rehearsals the weekend of the dr who 50th anniversary because we had tickets for the big event in London so we got special permission for her to miss that weekend's rehearsals. So she's not as hard done by as I thought! ;)

[Picturesinthefirelight]

Did never did festivals so things went quite that mad.

We couldn't commit to the time it expense. MT shows, panto, classes & RAD associates were quite enough for us.

[devoniandarling]

Today was the first day almost off for dd1. She had one lesson for her ballet solo for an hour. And ds1 had a duet rehearsal. Crazy week!!!

[Theas18]

Not dance but boy can I identify with it taking over your life!
(See my post re singing)

You'll miss it....eventually.. Maybe !

[shebird]

Yes...just been through months of exams and festival rehearsals now a few days off before another set of exam practices and more group rehearsals

[KatyMac]

DD wants to go to a class on Saturday

"Maculele Dance/Stick Fighting Workshop - come and join in Maculele is a Brazilian dance that looks like "mock stick combat". Each person brandishes a pair of long sticks, traditionally made from biriba wood from Brazil. As the Maculelê rhythm plays on the drums, the people in the circle begin rhythmically striking the sticks together and create a dance out of striking at each other to the rhythm."