Dance

[ForBlueFox]

Hello everyone my DD aged 16 has just finished secondary school she was looking to do dance a level or dance betec but didn’t get in after the audition and now we have no other options as dance is the only thing she is intrested in
she dances 6 times a week commercial , lyrical ,Morden , tap ,ballet and acro
anyone been in the same boat or give us an idea on what to do

I think you need to help your daughter differentiate between a hobby and a career.

it doesn’t sound like she will make a living from dance but that’s lovely she enjoys it. I do a gym class 6 times a week and love it but am not going to become an instructor. It’s a hobby.

she needs to look to the future and find what she is good at, and what will provide her a decent standard of living so she can continue to pay for her dance lessons as a hobby.

How many places did she apply for? If several and didn’t get into any - perhaps it’s time to rethink her options? But if she only applied to one place then she could apply to others. However it is very late in the year to be thinking about the next step though. Maybe lool at some colleges offering the subject?

I think it depends. How many places did she apply too and were they specific dance colleges or just colleges that offer dance?

If she has applied to loads I think it might be time to re think her career. If she just applied to one I'd be looking to see if other colleges have spaces open.

Are you saying she didn’t get in to do A-level dance or Btec dance? That seems unusual.

Is something similar like a BTEC in performing arts an option?

Where did she apply? If she'd still like to pursue a career as a dancer she'd better get on the phone now to all the colleges within commuting distance and see if they have any availability. Or would she live away from home? There are dance schools which help place 16 to 18 year olds with local families so they have some support, and don't need to go into halls.

But is she good enough? Can this realistically be a career for her? Where does she see herself working? A cruise ship? West end?

If she can't find something this year, she could try to get relevant work experience like (assistant) teaching younger kids in her dance school and attend some workshops that focus on audition technique to help her apply again next year.

@Flyhighlittlepigeon Yes I’m going to sit with her later and have a chat about it all to be honest with you she does have dyslexia and dyspraxia which makes dancing harder for her
@Truetoself hiya she applied for 2 diffrent collages one offering a level dance which she didn’t get into and another collage to do betec dance which she also didn’t get into
@Toomanywaterbottles yes that’s right she auditioned to do a level dance but her dancing ability wasn’t up to the right standard and at another collage she auditioned to do betec dance and the lady there auditioning her said she just wasn’t good enough

She needs feedback as to why she didn't pass the audition - so that she can work on any weak areas. Does she attend a dance school after school? What grades is she working at? Has she taken GCSE dance or the lower level BTech? Does she take a ballet class as this is often something establishments look for (my daughter did her whole dissertation on this).
If you give some more info I can ask my daughter for her advice for you. She did A levels then a UAL BTech (it was Covid and she didn't want to go to uni straight away) then PA degree at uni and has just completed PGCE in dance and taught GCSE dance and BTech dance so she has good insight 😀

Sadly, if she’s dyspraxic, a career in performing dance seems unlikely no matter how much she loves dancing - just as a hearing impaired person would not be suited to being a translator no matter how good they are at languages. There’s a difference between loving it and being good enough to excel at it.
How does she do academically, with her dyslexia?
It sounds like the best thing you could do is to support her in finding other ways to earn a living, with dance as a passionate hobby.

I think you and she have to accept the feedback given. If she's not up to the standard for btec or A level now, having danced 6 times a week, then she's not going to make a career from it. It's too competitive.

Maybe A levels, apprenticeship, T levels or btec in something else? Or find a job now and take some time to think if returning to education next year is the right move and which subject would appeal. She could try some of those questionnaires like on the national career website to get some ideas of other possiblities

Were the people holding the audition aware of her dyspraxia? The realiy is even if adjustments are made, unless her dyspraxia is mild and she has the potential for excellence, she will struggle.
Eveb a performing arts degree is a degree and these days excelling in any degree and soft skills trumps the actual degree subject and institute when it comes to non vocational careers. However, getting in to do a performing arts degree is tough

@cossette the lady auditioning her just said it wasn’t at the consistent standard required she is currently doing grade 6 Morden grade 6 tap and grade 5 ballet istd but she didn’t do the last tap or Morden due to not being able to remember the steps and the diffrent rhythms but in her last commercial exams she got 86 percent
@Walkacrossthesand her dyspraxia is very mild but her dyslexia is severe she doesn’t do that well academically she barely scrapped passes in her mocks but she did try really hard in her GCSEs so fingers crossed
@Truetoself yes they were aware of her dyspraxia her dyspraxia is mild though

Has she had any advice from careers at school?

Is she interested in doing something dance or theatre related that's not actual dance? To be honest, if she hasn't got into do dance at college, by the time Uni comes around it will likely be more disappointment as it gets even more competitive so it might be a good thing to get the no now.

Is there anything else she likes or is really good at?

@SillySeal yes the careers lady just said about doing the dance course nothing really else she really wanted to dance on the west end most of all she isn’t really interested in doing anything else so I’m not sure what we are going to do

@ForBlueFox I would arrange to have a chat with her dance teachers at her current dance school. Ask them for honest feedback of her capabilities. If they say she has the potential to take her dancing further she could have extra lessons to get herself to the acquired level needed. She could also look at student teaching at her current school to get more involved. Her Acro etc is good to have but personally I'd be looking at concentrating on the main 3 subjects - ballet, tap and modern - as they give the grounding for moving upwards and forwards in her dance technique. It's her technique and performance potential that any college will be looking for.

Life is tough sometimes, and we all have to accept that we may not be able to do everything that we might really want to do. If she isn't of a standard to be accepted onto an A-level or a BTEC, then she might have to accept that performing in the West End may not be a realistic goal for her. Not saying that to be mean, but it sounds like you do need some honest conversations about next steps, and she might need to consider that dance will remain as a hobby for her and not necessarily as a career. The performing arts industry is highly competitive and lots of incredibly talented people can't make it as professionals.

Can you encourage her to think more broadly about other things that she might want to do? Are there other things that she is good at or interested in? Might there be other avenues involving dance that she could potentially explore, such as helping to run dance classes for children with disabilities or working at summer camps for children which run dance activities etc?

Is she just dance or is she triple threat? I only ask as you've mentioned west end and from experience, most dancers have to be able to sing and act now rather than just dance.

Were they local colleges or did she apply for top colleges with unis attached like Emil Dale?

What did they have her do in the audition? I ask because you say she does a lot of commercial and lyrical and that's really what they study at college along with jazz more than ballet or tap. However, the ability to pick up new routines quickly is a skill they look for and maybe your DD didn't show that, especially if she has dyspraxia.

It is one of the toughest fields to break into.

Has she thought about getting involved in the associated areas if her dancing ability isn't going to get her into what she wants? Things like choreography, teaching, physical therapy, costume design etc Unfortunately it's a tough fact that lots of people who love dancing won't be able to make a career as a dancer.

@SillySeal shes just dance unfortunately and they were just local collages she applied for , she had to do a dance with the theme energy she made one up herself spent about 5 whole days making it and then practised for a good 2 months everyday she didn’t have to learn anything or pick up anything

Okay. She probably won't like to hear this, but she cannot be a 'jack of all trades' and be good at every dance style.

Commercial dance technique will not be helping her progress at ballet in particular, and all (and I mean pretty much ALL) performing arts colleges aged 18+ will expect ballet at Intermediate level. It is the core foundation for everything else they are trained in, particularly Modern, Jazz and Contemporary. Competition for places at dance / MT colleges is incredibly stiff.

If she has dyspraxia, then ballet is even more important for her, so she gains muscle memory and core strength. The structure and repetition of exercises would do her good. ISTD ballet is probably not the right syllabus for her, because the exercises and combinations change each lesson. Good for training some to pick things up quickly, but not so great for someone who struggles to remember things. She would be better with RAD syllabus classes for that reason.

You say she dances 6 times a week. How many hours of dance in total is that?

If she is just dance then unfortunately I don't think a career in the West End is for her. I don't mean to spund harsh just trying to be realistic. Unless of course she can sing and starts lessons and is quite a natural actor.

Bless her. It sounds like she worked hard but it just must not be what they were looking for. I don't think grades really matter. Each college will have its own criteria.

My advice would be for college, to find other things she's good at or enjoys and have that as her plan B. Along side that and if she really wants the dancing I would be spending the next 2 years dancing as much as possible and also taking acting and singing lessons. Nearly all ensembles sing now. Not all MT/ dance unis require dance/ MT at A level or Btec. Unis can also be applied to year after year.

Id also look out for uni open days. Some are just tours and others are proper taster days. That might depend on what area you are. They can get decent feedback too on the taster days. It will give her some indication as to wether she would be someone they are looking for and if she would be upto standard. Even then it's brutal.

A lot of vocational dance schools and colleges do workshops and courses during the school holidays, and that is something to look out for as well.

If you live close enough to London to manage to get there even once in the holidays, then she could check out the classes at Pineapple or Danceworks - they do pretty much all dance styles at those, and at all levels from beginner to professional.

@taxi4ballet in My daughters class they do the same set exercises every week , she is now saying she wants to give up dance completely I think the thing she mostly struggles with is knowing what comes next and if moving positions like where does she go she dances for 7 hours and 15 minutes each week plus stretching and extra rehearsal and private lessons
@SillySeal she isn’t into acting or singing but she was thinking as she was talking to her sisters best friends mum who performs in the west end in billy Elliot and newsises just as a dancer yes We are going to look at unis next year she was thinking laines or bird

@taxi4ballet she has been to pinnaple dance studios last summer to do a tap kids workshops aged 5-17 but she struggled to keep up and pick up the moves she also did a Morden one but she found it too fast and struggled remembering what comes next we have also been to dance works she did a classical ballet class and I think a jazz class there she seemed to enjoy it

she was thinking laines or bird

I say this kindly, and I genuinely am sorry to have to say it, but she is aiming way too high and there is no point in her trying for those two. She needs to start managing her expectations. Perhaps you need to ring her dance teacher and have a chat with them about how to approach this delicately.