Ballet Junior Associate Path

[LiliaCuciuc]

Hi everyone,
My LO is currently in Year 5 and attends the Junior Associates programme at (LVBS), where she trains about 3 hours per week.
I’m wondering how other families manage training at this stage.
Is 3 hours per week typical for this level, or do most children also attend additional classes elsewhere?

I sometimes worry there might be a big gap compared to children who go full-time into vocational schools at 11, so I’d really value hearing how others approach this. Thanks

You might be interested to know that as of this September the Royal Ballet School will no longer be taking full-time pupils into years 7 and 8. They will now be starting intake at Y9. If they don't think it is essential to start full-time training at the age of 11, then it probably isn't.

Does your dd just do the three hours ballet at LVBS, or does she do any other dance styles such as tap, jazz or contemporary? What about exams and grades and such like? Do they do annual school shows or anything like that?

Is your DD only doing the associate class? The Associate classes are supposed to be in addition to the child’s normal ballet class. Most children will be doing at least 2 more classes a week, some a lot more, especially in London.

A lot of students do so many hours/ different dance styles that I know some actually drop in hours once they start vocational school!

I think doing a variety of styles is helpful, it doesn’t need to be all ballet. Tap/ contemporary (or lyrical) / acro/ jazz/ even drama would all be good.

I think it is a good thing that RBS are starting in Year 9. They have a very bad track record of picking the right students at 11! Most years only one year 7 girl would make it to the end of Upper School. And especially as bodies can change so much with puberty I think it makes sense to wait. Though perhaps tough on children from more rural areas/ boys who do not have the same access to training available in London.

My 13 year daughter does a junior associates ballet programme at the local conservatoire 2 hours a week. She also does about 10 hours of other dance classes a week - 1 hours of ballet, 30 mins pointe work specifically, modern, acro, comp team stuff… and she’s starting an extra ballet class next month. I’m assuming you do other things besides this class so are you asking about other ballet specific training?

My daughter was on an associate programme age 9/10. It was around 3.5 hrs 6 x per academic year, plus all her usual classes.

I agree. Most dancers on an associate programme will be doing classes at a regular dance school, and do associate classes on top of their usual classes. They would be having a ballet class more than once a week.

From vague memory in around Y6, my dd was doing four ballet classes a week (2x grade classes plus inter-foundation and a free work class), plus tap & modern at her dance school. She was then accepted onto an associate programme and did that as well.

Thank you everyone for sharing, it’s really helpful.
One thing I’m still a bit confused about is where all these extra hours come from. At our local dance school the ballet class for her age is only once per week, so I’m trying to understand how other children manage to do several ballet classes weekly.
Do most children attend more than one dance school, or do some schools offer multiple ballet classes for the same age group during the week?
I’m wondering if parents usually add extra training somewhere else after school, because at the moment I don’t quite see how to increase the hours within one school.

At the moment she only does the Junior Associates class at LVBS (around 3 hours a week) and an online pointe/strength class with Luke from Ballet Physio. She doesn’t currently do other styles.
I’m mainly trying to understand how other families increase training hours at this stage, as at our local schools ballet classes for her age seem to be only once per week.

Thank you! Yes, at the moment she only does the Junior Associates class and an online pointe/strength class with Luke from Ballet Physio.
I’m trying to understand how families structure the additional classes. At the local schools near us ballet for her age seems to be only once a week, so I’m not quite sure how children end up doing several classes weekly unless they attend multiple schools.

Thank you, that’s really helpful to understand.
Just out of curiosity - are all those classes at the same dance school/conservatoire, or do you attend different schools or studios for the extra classes?
At the moment my daughter only does the Junior Associates class and an online pointe/strength class with Luke from Ballet Physio, so I’m trying to understand how families usually build up more weekly hours.

Thank you, that’s helpful. Just out of curiosity -were her usual classes at a local dance school alongside the associate programme? I’m trying to understand where most children take their regular weekly ballet classes.

That’s really helpful to hear, thank you. It sounds like her dance school offered several ballet classes each week for that level.

Are you in London? Can you give a vague location? There are so many options in London. Your child must be have a lot of potential to be keeping up with so little ballet! Assuming you are in London, given you go to LVBS, look at the Academy of Balletic Arts (based in Covent Garden), Natalia Cremlin (Kensington), Masters of Ballet Academy (East Acton). These are the sort of more serious training schools you want to go to, if your child is serious about ballet. Multiple classes at each level, and a proper training program. Lots of children at the same sort of level as your daughter.

Avoid going to a small local school where they only do one class at your child’s level, it won’t be enough.

If there is no other option, then yes, attend 2 different schools, though at 10 I would try to make sure they were the same style of ballet (RAD/ Vaganova/ ISTD etc) as it can be a bit confusing early on. Less of a problem when a bit older.

In Year 6, DD was doing 2 Grade 4 classes, and one foundation pointe at the RAD and one RBS Junior Associates class.

But having access to the RAD was amazing!

No, they didn't. She was doing a class for the grade she was in, plus another class the grade above hers, and also Inter foundation + pointe prep. The teacher also had an 'invitation' non-syllabus free work class and that was a whole age range, mostly teenagers.

Her school did not have classes by age range, but by the grade they were working in.

Just to add, she was also doing tap & modern at that school as well.

When she was 11, she auditioned for the Classical Ballet Academy at Tring Park School (their associate programme) and was put on their waiting list. One of the teachers took me to one side and told me that she had a lot of potential but wasn't 'using' herself properly and the teaching at her current dance school wasn't good enough, basically. We changed dance schools and she took off like a rocket.

She has a weekly class with the conservatoire and the rest are at the local dance school. She’s just been invited to join their intermediate ballet class as well as her weekly class so that’s why there’s extra ballet soon.

She’s not good enough at specifically ballet for a ballet career but is hoping for dance college after high school so having lots of different styles is really important.

At our ballet school the year 5 children may be doing 2-3 ballet classes a week, plus conditioning/stretch, plus 1-2 classes or more of other dance styles

@LiliaCuciuc Maybe have a look at the 'Doing Dance' section of the website balletcoforum.com which is a forum dedicated to all things ballet. Lots of people on there could advise.

Thank you, that’s really helpful. We live in North London (N17).
To be honest, I feel like I might have messed up a bit by not researching the training structure earlier. I didn’t fully realise how many weekly classes some children are doing at this stage. Hopefully it’s not too late and we haven’t missed the boat.
I’ll definitely look into the schools you mentioned.

That sounds like a great structure. Do you mind me asking where she was doing the Grade 4 classes - was that at a local dance school or also at the RAD?
I’m also curious how the week looked in terms of schedule- were the classes mostly after school during the week? Thanks

Thank you!

We are lucky enough to live near the RAD in Battersea. Both DS and DD took classes there from when they were little.

DD had a Grade 4 classes after school on Tues and Thursday and either an Inter Foundation or Pointe on Sunday morning. The RBS Associates class was Saturday pm.

We also employed one of the RAD teacher training students as an after school nanny and she did fun conditioning stuff with both DC most nights.

That sounds like an amazing setup - you were very lucky to be so close to the RAD. Well done for managing to organise all of that during the week as well, it must have taken quite a bit of planning.

Yes weekly term time classes at her local dance school (only one hour of ballet though and sure it was the same for others her age) plus the JA classes in London as additional.

I agree with PP, associates has to be on top of a regular class.
At this age my DD was doing 2 grades classes a week and one vocational class (RAD inter foundation). She was doing modern, contemporary, hip hop, tap as well (45 min class each). A lot of children would do more with competitions and going by social media posts of several schools/private coaches, they would have lots of private coaching on the side.
All I would say is that the level of training is meant to be irrelevant for y7 entry. It's meant to be about having the potential (turn out, flexibility and so on). I would focus on finding a good coach who can prepare your child for the y7 auditions. Most children at our school who successfully auditioned for vocational school at 11 only did the regular classes once or twice a week, but did JAs and had private lessons with teachers and coaches who understood the vocational school requirements.