How important is it to go to an 'accredited' school?

[woody]

Funnygirl, don't really know the answer to that, it is what we were told by one of dd's teachers. It is probably worth doing some research into the various companies you're interested in and looking at where their dancers trained. For instance, Matthew Bourne's New Adventures Company has a fairly high proportion of dancers from RBS, Rambert, Central and Laines.

For the major classical companies in the UK and abroad, they would probably have their own preferences, and some AD's do visit the major schools and observe class as well as watching their end-of-year performances. So student dancers at RBS, ENBS, Elmhurst, Central and co may well already have been seen/noticed by the time company auditions are in the offing.

Don't know all that much about contemporary companies though.

[funnygirl]

Oh yes, plenty of research underway - I was just interested in other peoples gut feel or experience as to which schools garner the most attention! Thanks for getting the ball rolling!