English youth ballet-is this a ridiculous idea

OP- have sent you a PM.

oh no - that is really bad they made a mistake like that, poor girl. We were at a festival once where she gave the medal to someone and then took it off them when she realised she had made a mistake, they were only 8! She will have learned a lot just from the experience of doing it though and often children do take mistakes and things a lot better than us.

Op have you changed your name?
How did she get on?

Thanks for the tips! Definitely don't want her to be girl no.1!!! Aiming now to hit the middle of the queue! Enough time for her to get the feel of it and perform with confidence, but not enough time for the panel to feel tired and wilted! I feel happier with a strategy, even if is a nonsense one! We'll see what happens...

That's funny Binger because mine always insisted on getting there early so she could be No1

Sorry, only just saw your question Ilove. But Baldrick has already answered it. My one tip would be don’t arrive super early, as then your dd won’t be in the front row to start with (they rotate rows to the front, but less scary if you’re not first!).

The audition takes the form of a ballet class, so no practising is needed, ilovesushi and all the steps are demonstrated by the member of EYB staff taking the class. Everyone is in rows, and take turns at the front, with the front row moving to the back at the end of each exercise. They adapt the steps to suit the age groups, and if you don't know something, then just give it a go with a smile. Lots of others will be inexperienced too, and most of the time you will have people in front of you to copy.

Parents watch the whole thing.

Binger good to hear they have parts for the littlies. Any tips for the audition? Are there any particular steps or terminology I should run through with her? I noticed from the videos on facebook that there are lots of waltz steps in the Coppelia, so we've been doing those in the kitchen. Her ballet vocab only goes as far as plie. Absolutely don't want to overwhelm her, but at the same time, I'd like her to stand a decent chance. She's grade 1 RAD soon to do exam. Thanks!

Which ballet is it OP?

Ilove They have roles especially for the youngest ones who have done relatively little ballet, so not to worry about that. It’s definitely worth a go - though I would say that it is pretty gruelling if you do get in. My dd was 9 and had done youth ballet before, but she was physically and mentally tired and very hungry after rehearsals. So you might need to think about ramping down other commitments during the rehearsal period, if your dd is one of the youngest there.

I've entered my daughter and she is the minimum age and grade, so not sure if she stands much of a chance. She loves performing and I thought the audition sounded like a fun experience in itself. Her knowledge of ballet terms is very limited, but hopefully she can copy with style and confidence! Our approach is going to be very much enjoy it and if something comes of it great, if not that's fine too. x

It will depend how many children go to the audition. My DD1 auditioned a few years ago and didn't get in - she was very good (also spotted although we didn't go down that route in the end). There were literally hundreds of children when she did audition.

If I remember correctly there were a lot fewer of the older ones, so they had a better chance. I would go for it even just for the experience!!

Go for it - they aren't expected to do things on their own in the audition so there will be people to copy, and parents get to watch the whole audition as well. If she doesn't know some of the steps, then tell her to give it her best shot and keep going with a big smile. They like that.

At the end, everyone sits down on the stage and then numbers are called out. If your number is called then you have a place and stand up. All those not selected go onto the waiting list. They usually take about fifty or so from the junior audition, and usually have well over 100 auditioning.

Your dd sounds great! She might like to watch some of the rehearsal videos EYB put on YouTube, it’ll give her a sense of what they do.

I have no idea about ballet but I say go for it! Wanting to give something a whirl for the sheer experience of it and being prepared to shrug off failure are two very admirable qualities I think are worth nurturing if you can. Let her do the audition, tell her how proud you are and go for ice cream. She sounds great!

My dd never auditioned as the first time it came we couldn’t afford it and the second time it clashed with other commitments but lots of her friends did.

At our local theatre they take about half to two thirds of the auditionees. I’ve heard they really look for stage presence.

And Miss Lewis hates purple!

She said if she can’t keep up she’ll just ‘smile and wave’

Your daughter sounds awesome. I hope she really enjoys it.

when they had auditions near us they actually didn't have enough people to get the 100 in total they wanted so they basically took everyone. They say they want to offer an opportunity and include all levels of ability so I think she should give it a go. certainly they do have a wide range of levels in their shows but it proves everyone can take part

Seriously though-is she expected to know and follow all the French names of the moves? She could probably recognise the very basic ones but if they start asking for sequences without anyone to copy she’ll be screwed.

Just asked dd - she says that most of the moves (but not all) were demonstrated at the audition, but that if you couldn’t see the demo then you’d need to rely on the people in front of you getting it right. And she added that the rehearsals were quite fast-paced and the choreography was taught using the French terms rather than demonstration. When she did EYB she was nearly 10, working on G3, and was in the youngest / easiest group.

So I think if your dd got in, it might be worth having a few extra lessons, just to make sure she knew the French terms she might encounter.