Can someone explain the ballet process to me?

In which case 1/2 hour classes would need extra sessions.

Dd's classes (she is now in Grade 2 but the pre-primary classes are still the same) are 45 mins long and cost £6 (just gone up from £5.50 1st increase in 3 years).

The theatre school where I work has just started offering some free pre-primary & primary ballet classes to our existing students to give a student teacher some extra practice,they are ISTD syllabus based and are 45 mins long too.

You need to ask:

Are exams compulsory, do they have a policy of children taking every single grade, even later starters.

What is the age range in your dd's class

Is show work done in class or does that necessiate extra show rehearsals (which in many schools are held on Sundays and at extra cost)

What are the average costume prices at each Grade? Will sewing be involved. What about exam uniform costs, some schools tell their students that brand new shoes and uniform is needed for exams or a differnet type of shoe (satin instead of leather for example) though that is not actually a requirment of the exam board!

Be aware at some point there will be pressure for your dd to start modern and tap too!

dd's school doesn't have a website (bit old fashioned lol) but amongst the parents of students it has two who work at top vocational Dance colleges so it must be OK!

My dh teaches at one of the schools/colleges you mention!

Sounds like ISTD then. Dd does RAD but a colleague teaches ISTD.

It does sound like an everything is extra type of school. I guess you have to balance whether you ike a pick and choose environment or an all inclusive.

O was very picky when choosing dd's school being in the business myself I wanted all inclusive. Pupils from dd's school often go on to those colleges too, a friend of hers has a choice betwwen White Lodge (Royal Ballet Lower School) and Elmhurst this year.

Some schools are very defintaly more glitzy and glam than others. At dd's school they say the emphasis is more on the techniqThey ue and training than expensive costumes for shows and they use a smaller 200 seater theatre rather than the local 1500 seater one.

How long are the classes. Dd's classes are 45mins long and the teqcher says that having that length of class means that all the exam work can be covered in class wthout the need for extra sessions.

From what you say though my big concern is a 5 year old in with 2 year olds. I have heard of schools that make children take every single grade regardless of level of ability and it isn;t always necessary. Saying that I do think pre-primary is the right sort of level, just not with 2 year olds.

Some schools run Baby Ballet or Pre-Syllabus for the 2/3 year olds, then they move into Pre-Primary around the age of 4/5. It may be that the older children who have turned 5 have all just taken their exam and moved into the next class.

I would question the suitability of the class if a 5 year old is in with 2 year olds!

Which exam board is it, do you know? If you don't know describe the uniform.

She would probably need a good 6-12 months regardless of ability to learn to set excersises/for the exams as they have to be memorised.

My DD is doing grade 1 in June, she is 7. She did her primary exam last summer.

Her school does three different sessions of exams a year, June, January and April I think, so all the girls seem to take their exams when they really are ready.
We are expected to pay for one extra class per week for the term leading up to the exam, at a cost of £4 per session, and the exam fee was on top of that (can't remember how much though).

They run a summer school also which DD will be going to, as she did last year, and this consists of a week or two of all day sessions in dance, drama and singing, with a show at the end where they perform about five or six numbers each. They also get professionals in to work with the children, which is nice. It is very intensive but very popular with the girls and we had tears at the end of last years summer school because it was over.

In addition to this there are two shows per year, one in September and a massive panto in January. The costume bills for these shows are astronomical, my DD was in seven numbers in the recent panto and her costume bill came to £250, not including shoes- three pairs of new ballet shoes, jazz sneakers, silver tap shoes, etc, plus tights etc).

The show rehearsals are separate and these are £4 a session regardless of length- sometimes 4-6 hours!). On top of this every family is expected to sell a certain number of tickets to the shows so there is extra pressure there.

It all sounds incredibly mercenary but I can't tell you how much DD loves dancing and gains so much confidence from it. She practises hard for her exams and in this way sees the benefits of working hard towards something (she got a high distinction in her Primary, mainly because she worked so hard).
Being on stage is also so much fun, she has to learn to pick up dances and songs very quickly and as she is dancing with girls of all different ages she looks up to the older girls and it is lovely to see them 'mothering' the younger girls. Dancing has done a great job of building up the confidence and self esteem of a little girl who was quite shy and under-confident.

shock horror, our school doesn't even insist on proper uniform until they get to grade 1!!! In fact they loaned me stuff - "just hand it back when you're finished"

Have you looked around for other dance schools teaching ballet?

At the dds school she lets them move up if they are ready and doesn't even insist they do exams, in fact she says until they're able to do grade 1 it's all a bit of a waste of money!

Mine all started ballet in Feb 09, In Sep 09 she moved the 6 & 7 year old up to grade 1 and they will probably do the exam in March '11 if they're ready

Sorry, you said she is 5, in which case yes I would expect her to be in pre-primary. You can't take primary until you are age 6 and that is the minimum age, most children will be aged about 7.

Also in terms of exams being a money spinner, they are more likely to be a money loser as the princpila and teahcers have to be available at the school during the exams which can last over 2-3 dyas in the case of karger schools, feed the examiner etc etc. There is a lot of extra admin work involved.

It depends totally on the school as to what happens and you need to choose a school according to what you are looking for.

Some schools place great emphasis on yearly or twice yearly shows. The parents expect lavish costumes in a professional theatre. Costumes have to be paid for as at an average price of £20-£50 per costume there is no way the principal can finance that for each child, she would go bankrups. It costs several hundres pounds to hire theatre/lighting people etc so ticket prices fund that.

Ballet exams are usually taken whenever the principal feels the child is ready. Exam fees vary from board to board but expect around £20-30 for the lower grades. Some schools prepare children for exmas at the same time as shows in which case to acheve both extra sessions are required. That means that some schools choose to do seprate show rehearsals which are completelet independnet of their weekly sylabus classes, these have to be paid for.

Some schools charge a low weekly fee and so extras are put on top, some charge a higher weekly fee and more is included.

I chose a school for my dd where most things were included. The year that they prpared for the show it was all done in class however that meant no-one took any exams that year. The weekly fee is £6 which is higher than most in the area but the only extra session awe had to pay for was 1 esam prepartion session a bit like a mock exam. (They have to perform their exams in groups of 3 or 4 whereas they learn the stuff in the ir class group)plus the netry fee which goes to the exam board.

At dd's chool exams are optional. If they choose not to take them they progress when the teacher feels she is ready. You don't say how old your dd is. The exam boards set minimum ages for the exams, pre-prinary is age 5, Grade 1 is age 7 etc. It is possible for older startes to begin at a higher level but many teachers do like to be sure they have mastered the basic techniques taught at the lower grades so they don't develop bad habits which might be harmful in the future.

I won't worry you with vocational grades at this stage lol. They are for the serious dancer but are costly as they prepare children aged about 12 and above who may be thinking about a career in dance!