Ballet Girls Billy Elliot

[proudmum1]

Has anyone ever auditioned for the part of a ballet girl in Billy Elliot? I'm looking for any tips/advice on rehearsal schedules, papprox how many performances a week etc, in fact any info would be greatly appreciated.

[*Cazzy-Lou*]

not sure about rehearsal schedule but performance schedule is

week 1 - mon & tues
week 2 - wed, thurs mat & thurs eve
week 3 - fri, sat mat & sat eve

[Emmy101]

Rehearsal scedules varie alot depending on what intake you are (e.g when you join the cast) ... Rehersals are held at Sylvia Youngs but not sure if that is still the case x

[Livy]

Hi

Do the girls have to have tap experience? My dd's agent won't put her forward as she only has ballet, jazz and contemporary experience. Only I thought I had seen previous listings where tap didn't matter.

[*Cazzy-Lou*]

Yes they do have to have tap experience as well as ballet!!!

[Emmy101]

TRhats a shame

Yes you have to be grade 4 or above in tap AND ballet x

[proudmum1]

Yes i was going to say the same, its a minimum of Grade 4 ballet and tap, also Tap needs to preferably be ISTD as other examining boards ie: IDTA are not as highly regarded, the 1st part of the audition when my daughter went was tap, then if they got through that it was ballet, (90% didnt) then if they got through that they came back to match up on sizings etc, My daughter found the Tap stage very easy, She also got through the ballet stage though it was more grade 5 work that they were doing, also they asked which girls were en Pointe and asked if they had their pointe shoes with them!!.....i was surprised by this as this was not a requirement in the audition details. Unfortunately my daughter turned out to be a little tall, despite them having her exact height measurements before we attended the audition, but right at the beginning as the girls were going in they did say that they were only replacing a few girls and if you did not fit the costumes then you would not get a place, it was a good experience, my daughter was not upset as she knew she had a good audition, + with 2 daughters in Pantomime again this year maybe it was a blessing in disguise for me!! lol

[nextinline]

Proudmum, this is what I like to hear about all the ds's and dd's on here, that despite the outcome of each audition they are always happy for the experiences and not worried by the outcome . I think that doing auditions is proving to be a very useful educational experience as it is helping our kids realise that you can achieve a lot through learning without winning the job each time. Sounds like you will be really busy with the pantomimes anyway. Well Done to your dds I think that all of our kids will be really resilient and very employable.