Foundation Courses

[suesmith]

Can anyone give any advice on Foundation Courses please? My dd intends to audition for Nat Dip Pro Musical Theatre for intake 2014/2015 at colleges such as Laine/Bird/Urdang - I understand that if you don't quite make it you are sometimes offered a place on the one year Foundation Course - for which there is zero funding! I am interested to know how many people that have done a foundation year go on to successfully audition for places the following year - funded or not? My heart says if she doesn't get in then do A levels and reapply for degree course at 18 - probably not her choice!! Can't find any threads on here for anyone who has done a foundation year so not sure how popular they are Thanks

[pg]

I don't know much about dance training so I'm not sure how useful my views will be (though that has never stopped my giving them ).

I think a foundation course would be great experience, very enjoyable etc etc but only if you can afford it without it having an impact on your ability to afford further training. It certainly doesn't hold any guarantees for getting on to degree courses. I'm not sure that statistics will necessarily help because so much will depend on the abilities of any particular cohort of students and where they are applying - there are so many variables. In terms of acting (which I know a lot more about than dancing) I think there are things you can do that will prepare you just as well for another round of auditions and cost much, much less.

Hopefully you will get some answers from people who know more about MT and dance.

[suesmith]

Thank you pg you have put basically what i was thinking but just interested to hear if anyone has any experience of these courses I'm inclined to think just a money making exercise with no guarantees!!

[sapphire]

I think sometimes that doing a foundation course could even make it harder for you to get onto the full-time course at the same institution as it is really a year long audition! The teachers really get to know you and your strengths and weaknesses! My DD is in the first year of a 3 year acting course and only 2 of the 30 students from the previous years foundation course made it through to the full time course ...

[2dancersmum]

DD's friend did a 1 year course somewhere and then got in on a Foundation course but was unsuccessful at getting onto a fulltime course afterwards. For her it was not a waste of time because she was able to pick up various teaching qualifications along the way and she does now teach all over the country - a variety of dance styles and she loves what she does. However, she is not working as a performer in the industry and she or or parents would have gone down the route of paying for the foundation course if they had known then what they know now. There would have been much cheaper ways of getting the qualifications.

[suesmith]

Thank you all - yes think Foundation course maybe just for the rich!!

[riverdancefan]

Thank you all - yes think Foundation course maybe just for the rich!!

I think you may be right sadly

For DS unless there is a significant scholarship on offer - it will be A levels and the best vocational training outside school hours I can find, I'm afraid the standard of Btechs locally for example would send me running for the hills, at 12 he is already over the performing level of the majority of the students I have seen at showcases and performances.. Paulears has mentioned some reasons for this before.

There is so much to be said for finding the right support with dance exams, musical theatre etc etc, with vocational and part-time classes etc, I don't think we will even be going for dance GCSE ..if it fits round the academic subjects then great but otherwise no.

[suesmith]

Sadly the way funding/DADA's etc are going potentially the whole future of a career as a performer will be purely based on having lots of money or no money at all and nothing to do with talent

taken from JayLou62

http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/c ... les-fairer

this will affect a lot of us on this forum x

[Robin64]

It might be worth looking into F.E colleges that offer training because this would be free. I know that the quality of extended diplomas might vary but some colleges have good reputations eg Preston College for dance and performance subjects. There are a few F.E colleges that are solely dedicated to the arts eg Hereford College of Art which only teaches art & design, music and performance arts and has its own theatre space. It is rotten that the arts are drifting into the arena of the very wealthy again and paying for theatre/dance schools is out of our reach for sure. You might have to work out some living costs if you choose an F.E college away from your home but even for this there are some bursaries available. I know this from reading the literature for Hereford in relation to DD who wants to do art there. 2nd DD who is hoping for musical theatre will probably stay on at school and apply at 18 because her (state grammar) specialises in dance and previous pupils have successfully auditioned for London colleges. However she will still continue with dance lessons outside school - about 10-12 hours per week. I would suggest doing as many workshops and short courses as you can manage and afford eg the shorts at Bird. It might get you noticed by staff (hopefully in a good way!) and this way you can try some different colleges and get a feel and then audition for post 18. Of course if you are hoping for classical dance then many people say 18 is leaving it a bit late and the funding for these courses has been cut. I have signed the DADA petition above for this reason.

It might be helpful to have a list of decent F.E colleges offering free 16-18 training in performance subjects if anyone is knowledgeable. The principal of Hereford said there were only 4 specialist art colleges in the Midlands but I don't know the other 3 - I will post if I can find out.

[2dancersmum]

I was told Stratford-upon-Avon college, Birmingham Ormiston Academy (BOA) and I know people at both colleges. BOA is new so I do not know any graduates from them but I know of plenty who have gone onto Laines, Bird, SLP, Performers and Stella Mann from Stratford. I was told that Kidderminster was good but do not know anything about it and I have told in the past about one near Huntingdon in Cambridge - Stageworks? Starworks? Again I do not know peole who have been there. I picked up a prospectus at MoveIt after someone mentioned it to me.

[Robin64]

That's useful. Stratford sounds good and brilliant for the Shakespeare connection too. Young people are tavelling a bit further for post 16 now in order to get the training they want. Maybe it is worth spreading the net a bit wider from home town. Foundation courses sound like an expensive option and not necessarily a guarantee of getting on the next stage from what others have said.

[Caroline A-C]

I know a number of people who have done a foundation course and not one of them has then secured a full time place. Of course, there is no way of knowing whether this is down to them not being good enough or whether the fact that they have done a foundation is held against them. They are also very expensive and often quite short. I think that Mountview is only a few evenings a week (but I may have that wrong) and RADA was only about three months (again don't quote me on that).

[Welsh Mum]

It might be helpful to have a list of decent F.E colleges offering free 16-18 training in performance subjects if anyone is knowledgeable.

My Dd had this sort of training free at local (excellent) FE college where she did a 2 yr BTEC in performing arts specialising in MT. She feels it was excellent preparation for her course now and it also helped her prepare for auditions etc. The thing is to find a good one. All the Ofstead (Estyn in Wales) inspection reports are in the public domain so that is one way of finding out if the college is a good one. another is to go to some of the productions they put on. Another is to ask them how many of their students go on to vocational courses.

[Robin64]

http://www.ukperformingarts.co.uk/

Found this which might possibly be helpful.

[Tess]

I've just been told by a very well known MT School that the Foundation course my DS has been offered for a year doesn't yet have any info available, they are hoping to get it out soon. Yet I've been asked to deposit £350 by the end of the week to reserve his place....

Is it just me?