BA / Foundation MT courses Sept 18

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Munchpot
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Re: BA / Foundation MT courses Sept 18

Post by Munchpot »

rhythmanddreams wrote: Hi Felicity, she got an email through, offering Sat 24th or 4th April. Will have to be sat 24th I think, we simply cannot do 4th April due to a prior commitment on that date. Looks like I will lose another saturday at work. :roll: Currently at premier inn in Basildon, and all set for tomorrow's audition at Performers. Will let you all know how it goes!
Good luck for the Performers Audition . Hope all goes well
Felicity
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Re: BA / Foundation MT courses Sept 18

Post by Felicity »

Dancemum22 wrote:
Harry2003 wrote:
Dancemum22 wrote:Hello all, after some advice..does anyone have any experience of the gsa foundation course in musical theatre? My dd was lucky enough to be offered this in her interview at her recall last sat, she is a dancer with not much experience on singing and acting (although has a good voice) she has already secured places for 3 year courses at bird, performers and Laines (although can’t afford that one) and waiting to hear from urdang...we weren’t looking for a foundation course but gsa is her dream place to go and she’s loved her auditions there as so many others so should we consider it?
I am really struggling to understand why you would be considering a foundation year when your dd has been
offered a 3 year course at some of the best dance based MT collages around. A foundation is to help those who are not yet the standard, to reach the required standard for a 3 year course. Your dd will have to audition all over again with no guarantees of a place anywhere. GSA is good but not THAT good to give up the offers you have. Many MT dance students would give their left arm to get offers from Bird, and Laine. Perhaps your dd is more interested
in drama?
This is my thought process too and I don’t think she will give up those offers...was only tempted by the gsa foundation offer as it’s her dream place to go and with the thought that she would get some excellent training in singing and acting ...good luck and happy mother’s dsy to all :(
Well done to your DD on all the offers. I have no experience with Foundations etc as my DD is a first time applicant too but I think a 3 yr offer at Bird etc would out trump any Foundation place, even GSA. My DD has a Foundation offer at Arts Ed but it is no guarantee of anything the next year and she may end up with nothing after going through all the auditions again. But with a 3 yr offer from really well established schools on the table, it would be a no brainer for us, especially as Foundations are not funded. Good luck with all the decision making!
rhythmanddreams
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Re: BA / Foundation MT courses Sept 18

Post by rhythmanddreams »

Munchpot wrote:
rhythmanddreams wrote: Hi Felicity, she got an email through, offering Sat 24th or 4th April. Will have to be sat 24th I think, we simply cannot do 4th April due to a prior commitment on that date. Looks like I will lose another saturday at work. :roll: Currently at premier inn in Basildon, and all set for tomorrow's audition at Performers. Will let you all know how it goes!
Good luck for the Performers Audition . Hope all goes well
Thank you! We are back a the hotel and trying to relax now, before our early start home tomorrow.

My daughter has mixed feelings about the audition today, she said that the ballet class was hard (as expected) and the jazz was challenging and in a commercial/hip hop type style, which is not her strongest style of jazz. She felt more confident about the singing and drama part of the audition. Approx 15 students out of over 100 were recalled to stay later for physio and an interview (my daughter was not one of them) but they said that no recall doesn't mean that you haven't got in and that everyone will hear in due course?! I had assumed no recall = not in, but they said otherwise. Whether that's something that they tell the students on the day so that they don't leave the audition too disheartened, or whether it is actually the case, I am unsure what to think on that. They have 80 places for the degree course, but are seeing 800 applicants with the last auditions in a fortnight, so it's very competitive.
I suppose we will have to wait until she receives a letter from them. They said it would be at least two weeks, as they will not send out any acceptances until after the final round of auditions. I also wondered if they have a reserve list, as some of the students auditioning were outstanding (according to my daughter), but after talking to them they told her that Performers was not their first choice of college, and they were also doing the rounds of Laine, Bird, Urdang etc. If they are offered a place and they turn it down to go elsewhere, will that place be offered to someone else? Or do the colleges initially offer out more places that they actually have, knowing that some students will end up choosing another college?
Other than that, I was quite impressed with Performers. 8 dance studios, 3 music/singing rooms, several physio rooms a gym with gymnastics training area. They had their show video playing on a TV in the common room where parents could wait and get a coffee if they wanted to and I thought the standard was really good and with a variety of styles shown in the choreography.

Now to rearrange this Chchester audition! Good luck to everyone whose children have auditions coming up, and well done to everyone whose children have an offer of a place for September xx
Dancemum22
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Re: BA / Foundation MT courses Sept 18

Post by Dancemum22 »

Thankyou felicity for your words...a foundation for arts ed is an amazing achievement O:) my dd got to interview stage but then a no...good luck to her and you wherever she decides to go xxxx
rhythmanddreams
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Re: BA / Foundation MT courses Sept 18

Post by rhythmanddreams »

Update everyone - my daughter received an offer today from Performers College for their one-year Pre-Vocational course. I am very proud of her, but this unfortunately means that she cannot go, as we do not have that sort of money to pay for this course and I don't think there are any other funding options. So we're back to the drawing board for now, and am still waiting for Chichester Uni to get back to me with regard to their april audition date. Looks like a year out, working and continuing training is going to be more than likely for her.
Munchpot
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Re: BA / Foundation MT courses Sept 18

Post by Munchpot »

rhythmanddreams wrote:Update everyone - my daughter received an offer today from Performers College for their one-year Pre-Vocational course. I am very proud of her, but this unfortunately means that she cannot go, as we do not have that sort of money to pay for this course and I don't think there are any other funding options. So we're back to the drawing board for now, and am still waiting for Chichester Uni to get back to me with regard to their april audition date. Looks like a year out, working and continuing training is going to be more than likely for her.
Congrats on the offer, sorry to hear it's not an option. Good luck for Chichester
dancemom43
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Re: BA / Foundation MT courses Sept 18

Post by dancemom43 »

rhythmanddreams wrote:Update everyone - my daughter received an offer today from Performers College for their one-year Pre-Vocational course. I am very proud of her, but this unfortunately means that she cannot go, as we do not have that sort of money to pay for this course and I don't think there are any other funding options. So we're back to the drawing board for now, and am still waiting for Chichester Uni to get back to me with regard to their april audition date. Looks like a year out, working and continuing training is going to be more than likely for her.
Not sure if this makes any difference for you but the accommodation around Performers is quite cheap and you would be entitled to about £84 per week housing benefit (which you have to fight for off local council) so just paying the course fees of probably around £8000 ?

We always said no to a foundation but when we looked into it we felt it a better option that a year out unless they are part of an outstanding dance & drama school ?

Performers is really on the up and at Move it a couple of years ago were my favourite.

My DD was offered foundation and was going to take it but managed to get off reserve into Bird.
rhythmanddreams
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Re: BA / Foundation MT courses Sept 18

Post by rhythmanddreams »

Munchpot wrote: Congrats on the offer, sorry to hear it's not an option. Good luck for Chichester
Thank you!
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Candafitt
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Re: BA / Foundation MT courses Sept 18

Post by Candafitt »

Does anyone have any advice regards Trinity Laban Conservatoire?
The dilemma we have (well, we don’t but fingers crossed we might!!) is that my DS has been offered the BA Hons MT for September, which we are over the moon about! He also has his recall at GSA soon. But were he to be offered GSA, initially we thought ‘of course we would go for that’, simply because you get trapped in this belief that to succeed in MT you need to be attending GSA, MV or ArtsEd. But is this really the case and is GSA the better choice?
Strangely although Trinity is in London, it looks as though financially for him it’s the better option. The maintenance loan is higher being where it is but accommodation in halls at both schools is relatively similar and with receiving less maint for GSA and Trinity offering an additional bursary of £1250 (means tested) it’s seems a no brainier to make Trinity the one??
Obviously GSA MT course has been established for many many years, versus Trinity (I believe around 10 for MT) and as I mentioned earlier, it may not even be an issue! But I’m trying to cover all bases!!! Hope someone can give me an opinion or has any experience with either school?? TIA :)
Sherbert
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Re: BA / Foundation MT courses Sept 18

Post by Sherbert »

I think your last paragraph sums it up really
GSA have been going for donkeys as has MV and ARts Ed so their name is out there on lots of west end programmes - Trinity are only 2 lots of graduates deep at the moment so it’s a difficult comparison - both have west end showcases in London with all the right contacts/agents etc so it shouldn’t really make any difference - if you work hard :)
I think if your DS is lucky enough to get into GSA as well then maybe his heart will tell him which one is right for him...
Good luck xx
Felicity
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Re: BA / Foundation MT courses Sept 18

Post by Felicity »

rhythmanddreams wrote:Update everyone - my daughter received an offer today from Performers College for their one-year Pre-Vocational course. I am very proud of her, but this unfortunately means that she cannot go, as we do not have that sort of money to pay for this course and I don't think there are any other funding options. So we're back to the drawing board for now, and am still waiting for Chichester Uni to get back to me with regard to their april audition date. Looks like a year out, working and continuing training is going to be more than likely for her.
Congrats on the offer but such a shame these Foundation courses are not eligible for student loans. Hope you hear back from Chichester soon. Btw DD said that PPA are still auditioning for the funded MT BA, if that is an option. DD really loved the vibe when she auditioned last week. She said it was the most well thought out and challenging monologue workshop she has done. She also liked the fact that the dance call including a proper ballet class as well as jazz (my DD is a stronger ballet dancer).
rhythmanddreams
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Re: BA / Foundation MT courses Sept 18

Post by rhythmanddreams »

dancemom43 wrote: Not sure if this makes any difference for you but the accommodation around Performers is quite cheap and you would be entitled to about £84 per week housing benefit (which you have to fight for off local council) so just paying the course fees of probably around £8000 ?

We always said no to a foundation but when we looked into it we felt it a better option that a year out unless they are part of an outstanding dance & drama school ?

Performers is really on the up and at Move it a couple of years ago were my favourite.

My DD was offered foundation and was going to take it but managed to get off reserve into Bird.
Hi, thanks for the suggestion. If our financial situation was different, I would snap their hand off for a place for her at Performers! Unfortunately, I am a single mum with my own business, I don't make an awful lot of money. £8000 is completely not an option so we are going to have to turn the place down.
Have heard from Chichester at last - they have offered an alternative audition on 14th April, still a Saturday but it's more do able as it's after Easter so gives me a bit more time to spread the losses (I couldn't afford to lose two Saturday wages so close together in March). She will definitely be attending that one.
rhythmanddreams
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Re: BA / Foundation MT courses Sept 18

Post by rhythmanddreams »

Felicity wrote:
Congrats on the offer but such a shame these Foundation courses are not eligible for student loans. Hope you hear back from Chichester soon. Btw DD said that PPA are still auditioning for the funded MT BA, if that is an option. DD really loved the vibe when she auditioned last week. She said it was the most well thought out and challenging monologue workshop she has done. She also liked the fact that the dance call including a proper ballet class as well as jazz (my DD is a stronger ballet dancer).
Thanks for the suggestion Felicity, I have looked into it and they have auditions on 6th April, which would be very convenient for us as we happen to be down in London that weekend already anyway, and with no plans as such for the Friday, so it would be very convenient as it would be fairly easy to get to Surrey from there. They have 3 places for the Fri afternoon, so I will get her to take a look at their website today. I feel that if she applies to several and gets into none, at least we have tried, but by going down to 2 options she wasn't giving herself a fair shot.

Does your daughter have any more info about what was involved in the ballet class? My daughter did find the one at Performers quite hard, but then again she has trained in the RAD Higher Grades (currently in Grade 8) rather than the vocational grades as it is her least favourite thing in the whole world (with regard to performing), and she has only stuck at it to help her with her dance in general . I wish I had pushed her a little more in ballet now, it seems that Grade 8 isn't a high enough standard for Musical Theatre triple threat courses, which I have found quite surprising as I thought that they would be looking for a reasonable standard for the ballet and a very high standard for jazz. She is much higher levels in modern, tap etc. but they seem to really want the high ballet standard above anything else (this was the impression we got from Performers). Of course, we knew that if she got accepted onto a course that ballet would still be a must, and quite possibly a class ever day, but thought that they would be looking at their singing, drama and jazz work before anything else. Now if only the ballet class had been a tap class!! She has had to cut some of her ballet back this year to attend her drama / musical theatre & private singing classes as the lessons clashed, and we felt that these would be more beneficial to her auditions, but possibly not! I will certainly get her looking at PPA, but any advice on the audition would be so helpful.
Felicity
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Re: BA / Foundation MT courses Sept 18

Post by Felicity »

rhythmanddreams wrote:
Felicity wrote:
Congrats on the offer but such a shame these Foundation courses are not eligible for student loans. Hope you hear back from Chichester soon. Btw DD said that PPA are still auditioning for the funded MT BA, if that is an option. DD really loved the vibe when she auditioned last week. She said it was the most well thought out and challenging monologue workshop she has done. She also liked the fact that the dance call including a proper ballet class as well as jazz (my DD is a stronger ballet dancer).
Thanks for the suggestion Felicity, I have looked into it and they have auditions on 6th April, which would be very convenient for us as we happen to be down in London that weekend already anyway, and with no plans as such for the Friday, so it would be very convenient as it would be fairly easy to get to Surrey from there. They have 3 places for the Fri afternoon, so I will get her to take a look at their website today. I feel that if she applies to several and gets into none, at least we have tried, but by going down to 2 options she wasn't giving herself a fair shot.

Does your daughter have any more info about what was involved in the ballet class? My daughter did find the one at Performers quite hard, but then again she has trained in the RAD Higher Grades (currently in Grade 8) rather than the vocational grades as it is her least favourite thing in the whole world (with regard to performing), and she has only stuck at it to help her with her dance in general . I wish I had pushed her a little more in ballet now, it seems that Grade 8 isn't a high enough standard for Musical Theatre triple threat courses, which I have found quite surprising as I thought that they would be looking for a reasonable standard for the ballet and a very high standard for jazz. She is much higher levels in modern, tap etc. but they seem to really want the high ballet standard above anything else (this was the impression we got from Performers). Of course, we knew that if she got accepted onto a course that ballet would still be a must, and quite possibly a class ever day, but thought that they would be looking at their singing, drama and jazz work before anything else. Now if only the ballet class had been a tap class!! She has had to cut some of her ballet back this year to attend her drama / musical theatre & private singing classes as the lessons clashed, and we felt that these would be more beneficial to her auditions, but possibly not! I will certainly get her looking at PPA, but any advice on the audition would be so helpful.
Just asked DD and she said it was a “typical” (not sure what this means tbh as she fired off some terms that mean nothing to me) ballet class with about 20 mins at the barre then 30 mins or so centre work. DD is RAD grade 8 ballet plus 2 yrs pointe experience and the class was perfectly doable apparently. DD’s strength is singing and she has little formal jazz training, only what she has learnt through the theatre company she is with outside of school. DD would say that dancing is probably her weakest of the 3 disciplines and she is keen to build up her skills in this area.
rhythmanddreams
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Re: BA / Foundation MT courses Sept 18

Post by rhythmanddreams »

Felicity wrote:
rhythmanddreams wrote:
Felicity wrote:
Just asked DD and she said it was a “typical” (not sure what this means tbh as she fired off some terms that mean nothing to me) ballet class with about 20 mins at the barre then 30 mins or so centre work. DD is RAD grade 8 ballet plus 2 yrs pointe experience and the class was perfectly doable apparently. DD’s strength is singing and she has little formal jazz training, only what she has learnt through the theatre company she is with outside of school. DD would say that dancing is probably her weakest of the 3 disciplines and she is keen to build up her skills in this area.
Ok great thanks. I was previously thinking that my DD's weakest bit was her drama/singing, but she has been having private lessons since Jan in both and loving it. She said this part of the Performers audition went really well, (much better than expected) and it was the ballet class that was uuurgh!! She doesn't do pointe now, as her feet are just not right for it, but did do it up until about two years ago.

Do you know anything about the funding for the BA Hons at PPA? The tuition fees are £10,500 per annum. I am guessing that some of this is top up fees on top of the student loan, but do you have any idea how much the student loan is for the tuition and how much of that figure is top up fees? I can't see this anywhere on the website. This amount could be the deciding factor for us whether to audition or not.
Does your daughter have any/many more auditions left to go?
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