Dance sixth form options

[OhMyDarling]

Hi my daughter’s best friend is a fantastic dancer. She is in y10. Her parents aren’t the most proactive and have said if she wants to pursue dance after GCSEs, then she needs to be exploring all her options herself.
She hasn’t got a clue where to start and had a bit of a cry last night when she was here and asked me to help her look.

So Mumsnetters, help me out, where do I start??

This needs to be a free place or somewhere that doesn’t involve fees being paid buy her parents as they aren’t well off.

Areas she lives near: south London, can get to places in and around Surrey or London.

Sounds like a more general dance course is what is wanted, as opposed to pure classical ballet. The obvious one is Laine Theatre Arts in Epsom, Diploma in Professional Dance. It’s on the DaDA list. There will be fierce competition.

If she wants to be a dancer then she needs full time dance school, not BTEC or a level, and these will all involve some parental commitment. Her teachers should be able to guide her in the direction of suitable schools to audition for.

Has she not discussed this with her current dance teachers? Presumably she goes to some sort of dance school, not just through her ordinary school? Has she taken exams?

My DDs dance school are really helpful to their students who want to pursue dance to the higher levels. Advice on where to study, assistance with audition pieces etc.

Do not be put off by mention of diplomas or degrees and think these are only for post-18. These are 16-plus specialist courses. All dancers I know left “normal” school, if they were at a normal school in the first place, after GCSEs.

@OnGoldenPond she doesn’t want to go to BRIT.
I can’t say this again.
I’m just repeating myself over and over.
In fact now like 6 times!

I appreciate your initial suggestion but I already explained that she is looking for alternatives.
I could be rude, I could explain her reasons explicitly, but I won’t as I realise that some people love it there. I actually do like the place- would have been great for me at 16, but I wasn’t brave enough and no one was there to encourage me. I have heard some good things too and, well, Adele. Speaks for itself!
But if she doesn’t want to go, she doesn’t want to go!

Like in everything in life, different people have different experiences. Your child obviously loves the place as do you. Not everyone has been so lucky.
This wasn’t supposed to be a thread about the BRIT school!!!

Hi- My dd is training to be a professional dancer and my dh has taught a related subject in several colleges up and down the country. Dd's fees are paid by a DaDa however it is income dependent. If her parents earn over a certain amount they are expected to contribute.

I'm not going to recommend dd's school as it would involve moving away from home for your friend's dd but I will say that we found that the standards in dance at the Brit School were not the highest compared to the other schools and colleges.

It's a real shame that she just missed the CDMT conference which was held last weekend. It's an event where all the accredited schools and colleges give talks, run workshops, mock audition classes etc and parents and potential can find about the different options available, funding etc.

My dd didn't want to go to London aged 16 so she stayed further north but colleges she would have considered (and has friends currently attending) are Bird College, Laine & Urdang. Performers College also but may be too far away. Arts Ed was her dream college but their 6th form is fee paying. If she is looking at ballet/contemporary you can add Rambert, ENB & Central to the list. As a pp said don't be put off by the fact that these courses are Level 6 diplomas or degrees. That is normal in the dance world.

A little further down the pecking order but good if she wants to apply for vocational colleges aged 18 then there are Btec courses run by dance schools in some areas. Emil Dale is worth looking into if it is accessible location wise. This then gives the option of applying to post 18 only colleges afterwards such as LSC or Chichester Uni.

@comefromaway

Thank you so much! Just what I was looking for, a starting point.

She could do drama and PE 'A' levels at college. My daughter has applied to do these as you can specialise in dance in both while still getting a useful all round education.

You have stacks of top-quality post-16 full-time world-class dance training on your doorstep in London. What does she want to do? Here’s three of each off the top of my head in London:
Ballet- Royal Ballet School, English National Ballet School, Central School of Ballet
Contemporary- Laban, London Studio Centre, Rambert
Theatre- Laines, Bird College, Millennium
There are loads more. As people have said, she needs to ask her dance teachers for advice. All of these places have very competitive entry standards and everyone wants funded places. Virtually everyone will be living away from home at 16 unless they are in the very fortunate position of living in or near London. There are lots of other places to consider around the country too. I would expect a year 10 child to be investigating not just their dream dance job - do they want to dance at La Scala, or dance in the West End, or travel the world on cruise ships, or be a backing dancer for pop groups, etc- but also what might be realistically possible.

Millennium have sadly recently lost their funding daisy )partly due to poor ofsted/hefce inspections) so is now fee paying only.

The opinions of this young woman’s friends are still only anecdotal evidence.

She has limited options, given her financial circumstances and parents’ stance. You may not be helping her by not challenging her in discounting this one.

Sounds like a key thing to investigate is costs of courses and any funding available, eg DaDa, and criteria.

If, for example, her parents’ income means she wouldn’t get financial support, that’d be a show stopper for a number of courses.

If parental income does mean that a DaDa wouldn't be enough then one course to definately look into would be Urdang's AVT course. It's a Level 3 course leading to a Cambridge Technical Diploma (same standing as a Btec but delivered by a specialist dance college) & is designed to prepare students for entry to professional degree or diploma courses aged 18. It is fully funded fee wise.

Oh, I didn’t realise Millennium had lost its funding status. Cross that one off.

@Loopytiles
She has no interest at all, zilch, nada.
They maybe anecdotes, but so are those from some posters constantly ignoring what I am saying and telling me their child/someone they know love it!
Great that they love it. Brilliant. Clearly it is like marmite then.
Not relevant to the discussion though. As I have said. So.many.times.

Going to look into those, thank you @daisypond!

I think she needs someone to support her dreams. Not have other people decide her future.

If it leads to nothing, fine, but doesn’t everyone deserve someone in their corner?

There's a performing arts course available at various colleges, a friend took it 5 years ago, did a 3 year musical theatre degree and is now in the chorus in the west end. There's only one place in our county that offers it so she will need to be flexible about where she goes. Most youngsters just continue extra curricular and do a levels, it future proofs their options.

Also, not to dampen things too much, unless she has had serious top-notch ballet training for some years, the ballet schools are likely to be out of reach - not impossible, but unlikely.

Ps my dd was funded for music which is the same scheme and it's means tested so if parents won't engage there's no point in pursuing this, I suspect they are being realistic, it's really really tough

It's even worse stuck. Most post 16 dance colleges are DaDa not MDS funded and there is no maintenance element to a DaDa so accommodation fees have to be entirely parent funded unless they earn under £20k per annum .

However if the OP could help persuade them to treat it a bit like uni just 2 years earlier where they will be expected to contribute to a student's maintenance perhaps it is do-able at somewhere within travel distance.

Or the Urdang option would be no different to an FE college in terms of funding.

The parents aren’t unsupportive if she goes on a ballet summer course in London every year.

Which summer course does she go to, and what level is her ballet (which grade)? The answers to these questions might help to narrow down which vocational schools are worth applying for.

You're very invested and rude, considering it's for your dd friend.

If she really wants to do it wild horses won't stop her and she'd look at all types of school.
Those who succeed take every opportunity they're given, and don't give up.
She doesn't sound determined enough tbh, we all want to do these things, fact is very few do.

Not everyone is lucky enough to have knowledgable, supportive parents and teachers. I’ve known (& helped in real life) lots of such children by helping them to find the information/ give them a starting point who have gone on to train. Time will tell with regards a career.

Grade 6 ballet
Not sure where the summer school is, I can ask.

Yeah I am invested, is that wrong?
Sometimes young people need support. She is determined, but she’s 14. She hasn’t done this before and wants to follow her dreams. She’s a great kid, I’ve known her for years as she is a great friend to my dd. I just know I would feel terrible if after her asking for help, I didn’t support her as much as I could which then meant she missed out on an opportunity she would be perfect for.

I’m not rude, I’m just fed up of saying one thing and having the same person/people ignoring what I’m saying, stating I’m wrong and claiming the opposite about a certain provider. She doesn’t want to go to BRIT (can we turn this into a drinking game? I’m starting to need it).