Dance advice

[dabdab]

Sorry for the broad topic title-I am new to the forum and hopefully will pick it up. My dd is a keen dancer (RBS associate) but has decided not to go to ballet school fulltime-she is 15. Instead she wants to pursue Musical Theatre but is lacking in experience and confidence. She has really concentrated on the ballet til now. Whilst she has singing lessons and modern dance classes every time she goes to summer school her confidence is knocked because she says she fades into the background as she is naturally a shy person. She also says that the hip hop style seems to be the thing at summer school and she does not find this easy. Does anyone have any suggestions of workshops or any tips etc (Midlands area)
many thanks
dabdab

[Hecouldshine]

Hi dabdab. Welcome to napm

Your dd would be fine changing to musical theatre at this stage. When I go to see musical theatre I am struck by how many performers have come via dance training - WL, Elmhurst RBS associates etc. I'm not an expert on the best schools out there, but colleges like Laine, Urdang and Bird do summer school courses that demand a high level of ballet so they might be worth looking at. Although hip hop may be popular on dance courses, I can't believe it is that essential for musical theatre

Do you have anywhere she can do drama classes locally? That would be my best advice for gaining confidence.

I hope other people can help with more advice. Good Luck. She must be an amazing dancer

[riverdancefan]

I am no expert not at all, but i would have recommended commercial style training and Jazz
the ballet is fantastic, she will have a major advantage for training colleges ...but I do think a more modern style is needed too....only speaking from summer schools experiences Ds has had..
a great start would be auditioning for YMT and NYMT ?
the auditions are fab workshops in themselves, everyone is SO friendly and supportive...\ and they obviously specialise in MT. perfect for her!

and it's ne ver too late for tap!

[Flosmom]

I don't know which summer schools your DD has been to, so please feel free to disregard my comments if I'm on the wrong tack.

Many summer schools are purely commercial ventures. Of course they provide things that enthuse and inspire young people, and give an opportunity for performance that many could never dream of in a professional capacity, so they are great value in that sense. But they work by attracting and including lots of kids. There is no audition and no minimum ability specified, which is what makes them attractive to youngsters who just want to have a go. And there's nothing wrong with that at all.

But it means that they have to provide activities that everyone can join in. From a dance perspective, the hip-hop/street/urban style fits the bill because kids can join in at their own level, unlike ballet or tap or ballroom or latin etc etc which require a certain amount of technical competence.

So I don't think they are an accurate reflection of professional musical theatre.

Why not look for your local amateur theatre groups and see what they are planning? Being involved in a full production, even if its community theatre, would give your DD a chance to experience what is involved. And they'll be less interested in a starry personality and more interested in reliability, a strong work and team ethic and the ability to deliver the role she is given. Which may well be in the chorus line, but who knows....

If you let me know where in the midlands you are, I might be able to point you towards a few choices.

Hope this helps

Deb x

PS I have just spotted riverdancefan's post which is, as ever, spot on. YMT and NYMT, which require auditions for entry, are a different kettle of fish altogether from the highly inclusive summer schools that I was thinking about.

[Robin64]

If your DD is really keen to try for musical theatre she needs to look at aiming for a MT course at one of the colleges such as Bird etc or a theatre dance course which you might find somewhere like London Studio Centre (a girl at DDs school has gone to do this after 6th form - she did A level dance but also lots outside school too). Many of these colleges will also do a pre-vocational course (foundation) which prepares for interviews for higher level courses. Preston college does a course for post 16 dance which would not be fee paying because it is an F.E college. Their video on the website looks good. I think she would need to be confident because it is a competitive career. I would be looking to up her regular dance classes to include tap and jazz to go with the ballet (asap). She might need to find an adult beginner tap course because of her age. Any professional experience she can get like panto would be good as would YMT or NYMT (££!) as suggested by riverdancefan. Singing lessons or singing at a drama/theatre club would be useful and try some MT short courses - eg Bird does one at Easter, summer etc Most degree (or equivalent) courses will want a good standard of ballet so your DD will have that going for her. Oh and make sure your DD sees as many productions as she can then she can talk about them at interviews etc Look at the training section on the forum to see what other people's DCs have done too. Good luck and your DD's confidence will grow with experience.

[dabdab]

What a nice welcome-thank you for taking the trouble to reply-and you have put my mind at rest re the summer schools too. I will look into drama groups/NYMT for her to try and broaden her experience.
Thank you
Dabdab

[2dancersmum]

If you look at audition requirements for the schools offering musical theatre diplomas and degrees, either at 16 or 18 you will see that generally speaking they require a ballet class, a jazz or contemporary or both class, a dance solo, a solo song and a drama class. Her ballet will therefore stand her in very good stead. Hopefully she will be at least intermediate standard, prefereably advanced at the time of audition. My DD is in her 1st year at the Hammond in Chester- a common year for dance and musical theatre students before they specialise from year 2. She had never done tap or hip hop/street before, other than the odd bit of hip hop at a summer school and certainly was not required to do any of these at an audition anywhere. I would suggest that your DD needs to add a modern/jazz class to her schedule if possible and as others have suggested try and get more experience in drama/musical theatre to help improve her confidence, difficult I know in GCSE year. Hammond incidentally have a taster day coming up in December, which I believe is free, that incldues classes in contemporary and jazz, vocal, musical theatre and street and a chance to watch the older musical theatre students in action and that might give your DD a good idea of what to expect. Laines also have a 'pre-audition' workshop that does the same sort of thing.