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.

If she hasn’t already I’d advise her to try and start studying for the Vocational Grades alongside (Inter F, Intermediate, Adv 1 etc) to help with familiarity of steps at audition. Dd found that most places she auditioned for were pitched at around Intermediate level.

The summer school matters

DaDA are means tested so as comefromaway says under £20ish you get accommodation over £90ish you get nothing

There are colleges that combine a BTEC with vocational dancing like stageworks near Cambridge I think there are some in london but tbh it's 5 years ago for me/DD but if remember right they are fee paying alongside the free course - you can do the free bit but you'll get no-where without the fee bit

Tbh without intense parental support you will struggle to get anywhere - once the fees are paid the uniform/extras stretch into the thousands each year alongside transport/lunches etc

Notapushymum is a great place to start

It was a very hard road for DD with full/over-invested parental/grandparental support - without that the first set of forms and audition pictures, followed by the costs of applying and getting to the auditions would have broken her and ended it - we did audition year twice!

She needs to be at least at intermediate level for ballet to be able to cope with the auditions, although if she’s only 14 she has another year to go yet. I would recommend going to as many summer schools/short courses as she can, to get a feel for the schools and the teaching. She does need supportive parents though, it’s a really tough route to follow with lots of knock backs and rejections on the way. The kids who pursue these careers need a ton of resilience.

Intermediate is only the next level up and she says she’s due to do the g6 exam at Easter.
Been en pointe for 3 years which she does an extra class for. Don’t remember what she said that was called.

Summer school was in Sussex (?) that you stay at, again I can’t remember the name, should have written it down and has done LCB a ‘few’ times - says more than twice but not sure if 3 or 4 times.

She’s been looking into being a dance teacher not just dancing herself. Either at a dance school or in a school.
I think this is a really good idea.

Modern and tap g6 also.

Emil Dale has been mentioned this is a musical theatre college which has funding, but charges top up fees. If musical theatre is something she would consider Act1 in Milton Keynes and the Institute of Contemporary Arts in Briton also have funding. If she is interested in MT many of the private colleges have Stage Scholarships available for sixth form.
She could attend Move It at excell in March where large numbers of the colleges perform and exhibit. Though not the ballet colleges.
With a DD a year older who is about to start her MT auditions I would say it is possible for her to do must of the research herself on the internet. My DD decided this path at the end of year 9, she researched and by the Christmas of year 10 she had a listed of places she was interested in and over the last year she has narrowed down to those she wants to audition for.

I don't know a huge amount about Emil Dale but to be fair to them, the top up fees for the btec covers what someone at a normal school or college would be paying in 1:1 singing lessons and outside dance classes/workshops anyway though I reckon I could source those things cheaper than what they are charging for it.

Everyone I know at either the Brit school in London or BOA in Birmingham has continued to attend and pay for their normal dance school classes outside of school. Places like Urdang, Bird, Laines, etc of course you wouldn't need to as the hours there are so intense and the level so high.

Dance teaching is very badly paid!

@Comefromaway I agree they do cover 1-2-1 and extra dance lessons, but the parents disinclination to contribute to this education seems to be important. So it is necessary to know that whilst the BTec is funded in there are additional fees.

True, but I am assuming that they are currently funding dance school/summer school/LCB fees which are not insignificant.

I pay around £20 per half hour for 1:1 sining lessons, £20 per hour for 1:1 dance lessons at a local level (normal dance school teacher) £20-40 for a West End style masterclass and £40-£50 per hour private dance lesson at higher level and that's in the cheaper North. The average non residential summer school is £150-250 and residential can be £400-500. (LCB is highly subsidised though I gather)

Incidentally OP, if she has done LCB it is pretty competitive so she must be of a high standard.

Attending Move It is a really great idea. It might also be worth looking at why the parents are unsupportive? Fees can be offset though bursaries or DaDAs or student loans. Academic education can still be provided- some will offer A levels, or you can get a degree, etc. Even if she doesn’t want pure ballet, don’t ignore places with ballet in their name. Northern Ballet School has a jazz stream. Many of the schools are geared up for having 16-year-olds living away for the first time, so she shouldn’t narrow her options to the London area.

@Comefromaway the top up fees at £4200 per year so not insignificant I certainly don't pay that in acting, singing, dancing and musical theatre fees a year and I would include two weeks residential at BYMT in my total.
Though I am outside London so probably private lessons are cheaper.