Both children love performing but cost of all the classes is out of our price range!! Help

[aladdinisalive]

I have 2 kids who both attend MT classes at an independent stage school. They are 13 and 14 now so have moved up to the Elite class for the two of them for musical theatre it costs us £650 a term and now they want us to add advanced dance, singing and acting on plus modern and ballet. Another thing I have noticed with this school is the big parts in the main shows only ever go to the children who attend all the classes as these children show commitment to the industry and obviously doing further dancing, signing and acting classes they are going to be all round better performers. The principal has said that without these extra 5 classes if my kids want to study dance/drama at 18 plus at drama school they will not be considered for auditions. Our problem is we really can't afford it for everything that they say they need it will be £1,530 a term. There is no way we can do this. I am looking at a second job to fund this but then I also can't work too much as somebody needs to be about to ferry them to classes. Also they are going into yr 9 and 10 so very important years at school but I feel guilty for jeopardising their chances of entry to drama school by not letting them do this broad range of classes. Their drama school is brilliant but mainly very wealthy families who have the money to fund the classes. I keep being told that the 13 yr old could possibly get a scholarship to one of the London stage schools but never take it further as my youngest probably isn't scholarship material and I would feel guilty for choosing one over the other. It would be much easier if they had different interests but no they both want to be west end/ Broadway performers!!!! They are both very committed and very competitive with each other but without a bottomless pit of money will they ever succeed!!! I feel like I am letting them down.

Where are you based op? As an ex-actress and parent of a performer I feel you are being taken advantage of by the current dance school. I don't think dance schools offer the best drama training facilities-you would be better sending your dc to a reputable dance school that focuses on training rather than competitions and a separate local drama centre such as a youth theatre. Also keep your eye out for any amateur dramatic company who are looking for kids to be involved.
My middle daughter is a performer who has been in west end shows , films,ads etc however it's been driven by her completely. I have been thought of as a pushy mum by other parents who don't know us but having been in the industry myself I have tried to distance all my children from it and won't allow her to do certain projects that I feel take the piss. Thankfully she is now too tall for kids theatre (5ft ) and so is focusing on film/camera work and her writing which is equally as important in this business. She is due to return to dancing next week but it's more a social for her now. We would rather she opted for uni rather than a drama school as I don't feel it's important now to have a formal 3 year theatre training- it's almost antiquated with the amount of good camera based work on Netflix and independent online channels etc. Personally I wouldn't consider a full time stage school as the academic side of them is generally poor compared to the local Comps round here. I feel parents are pressured into continuing paying huge fee's on the promise of "professional " training especially in musical theatre-so my advice is to step away from the dance school for a few weeks, take a breather let the kids go back to school. Find a good singing teacher-teenage voices are very changeable and you will need to look into someone who knows about vocal breaks and techniques rather than just a general singing teacher.
Then look into local youth theatres which have an active teenage group.
Good luck and don't feel the pressure to sign up for more and more-do what's right for you as a family. You will not damage your kids future chances of performing by stepping back from all these classes.

£650 is £325 each child each term for 3 hours. 1 hr dance, 1 hr singing and 1 hour acting but the majoirty of these kids in the "elite" also do the exra advanced class. I just wish the ordinary 3 hours was enough! There alumini is very successful and they have several students each year gaining places at Mountview, Birds and GSA. The teachers are highly trained in their own discipline. Alot of the children are privately educated and doing six or seven different classes is no problem for them. Thanks for the comments about ballet I will look into this I know there are a few girls from the elite class who study ballet at a local dance school - I had no idea it was so important.

So that's over £100 a term per each 1-hour class.

You are being ripped off. What sort of dance is it? Are any of the classes split by ability or level of training, not just by age?

I suggest you look at the prices for 1 hour lessons in dance at other local dance schools. One of the dance schools my dd went to charged about £400 for unlimited classes - they could go to as many as they wanted. Mine did about 5 ballet classes, one modern, one jazz and one tap a week. Several of the ballet classes were for 1.5 hours each.

The reason those girls are in the 'elite' class is probably because they also take dance classes elsewhere. It is highly likely that the successful alumni did too. Most serious performing arts students do exams in the dance genres at a dance school and do shows with a theatre school as an extra on top of their usual classes.

I know several youngsters who've gone to bird and Laine with only dance experience (just a local dance school doing modern/ballet/tap) followed by a two year performing arts course at the local F.E. college, so I guess it depends whether your dc are more interested in the dance or drama side of things. One is a dancer in the west end, another on a cruise ship, the other is still at Laine.

Be realistic in how much people earn.

I remember one of dcs dance teachers telling the parents that whilst it is fantastic to be in a West End show not to be under any illusion that to be a dancer or background person is not in any shape or form a well paying job.
If you are only in it for the money then take a job in an office as you will probably earn more.

Dd knows some of the entertainment crew who have been stranded on empty cruise ships out at sea. They were there for months.
The situation was completely dire.

One of my friends is an ex actress. She has kept in touch with a lot of people from her quite prestigious drama school. One of whom is quite famous.
A lot have gone on to have quite ordinary jobs and businesses out of the industry as she has. Those that have continued with the business get enough work so they could buy a house, get married, have children and live.
You will never have heard of them but they do have an income but it is more a voice over here or a part in a play for a suburban theatre company there.

Dancers do have a limited span.