London Children's Ballet?

[SE13]

I've had a bit of a look around the board to see if there's any recent discussion about the LCB and haven't found anything....yet!

DD is 8, has been doing ballet for a year and has just passed her RAD grade 1 with a distinction. Although she loves anything musical theatre related and performs well on stage in the small scale productions she's been in, she doesn't present as an initially confident person in audition/similar scenarios which isn't exactly a recipe for success . Having seen her dance in her first ballet show back in December both DH and I were struck by how confident and natural she looked when dancing (we don't see her in ballet lessons). Since then her ballet teacher has told us that DD has a good ballet body, is a musical and thoughtful/intelligent dancer and that she (the teacher) has high hopes for DD. She also said that DD has the potential to excel in musical theatre too (DD goes to MT at the same dance school) and that at some point in the way off future it may be that DD has to choose which path to follow.

It's lovely to hear that DD is doing well at ballet as it's something she loves doing. We live in London and she's signed up for the RAD teachers' diploma classes (as a guinea pig student I believe!) this July because she loved dancing at the RAD HQ for her exam. Years ago, before DD was born, a colleague mentioned that her DDs were in the LCB and I thought it sounded like an amazing opportunity then. Almost a decade later and I'm wondering if it's something my own DD might one day be able to audition for...

My question to all you NAPMers is, have any of you had DC involved with the LCB? If so, are you able to offer any insight into the audition process beyond that which is available on YouTube? Do you have any idea if a 'late starter' beginner would be a complete disaster at the audition?

Thank you!

[Hecouldshine]

Hi SE13. I've no experience of LCB, but there is a thread about it and the auditions on the ballet forum, which quite a few of us haunt in addition to this one

http://www.balletcoforum.com/index.php? ... +%2Bballet

The dilemma over ballet/dance versus musical theatre is one that a lot of our dcs face Nice to have a talented dd that has a choice though Good Luck to her and you

[JayLou62]

My dd auditioned several times for LCB (unsuccessfully). She enjoyed the audition which was like the You tube auditions. She did do the LCB Summer School and loved it and did a masterclass with Fiona Chadwick.
Another one to consider is NYB (National Youth Ballet). Dd has auditioned for this too again unsuccessfully but wasn't as keen on the auditions for this (her personal opinion as her friends have auditioned and have really enjoyed the experience).
Also look out for EYB (English Youth Ballet) which travel around the UK and take around 100 local young dancers aged 8-18 to dance in full length ballets. Dd successfully auditioned and took part in 'Coppelia' in 2011.
There are some good associate schemes which run alongside your child's regular ballet classes. My dd does one on alternate Sundays and has performed in 'Swan Lake' in April with her ballet school and Youth Ballet Company and will perform'Cinderella' next May.
Hope this helps.

[SE13]

Thank you both for your replies.

I'd tried looking around the balletco forum but haven't got the hang of navigating it The EYB looks good too...shame that I only found out about today i.e. the day of this year's auditions. Oh well, DD is only 8 so I'll bear it in mind for the next 10 years (if she's still interested!).

[beanie-bean]

Hi SE13
My dd auditioned for LCB twice. She was unsuccessful but really enjoyed the audition. The children are grouped into ages. If I can remember rightly it went like this:

The preliminary audition lasted about 1 - 1.5 hours and then some children are recalled that day.
The recall lasted about another hour or so and then letters were sent out a week later with the outcome.
We got a 'no thank you' letter and an invitation to a masterclass and a summer school. My dd did the masterclass and enjoyed it, but the summer school was a bit expensive for us.

The other letter is an invitation to a casting day. That is when children are picked for the main production. Some children at the casting that do not get into the main production may be given a part in the LCB2. I do not know for sure, but I think the LCB2 tour and perform at schools and hospitals. My dd would have really liked to have been part of LCB2.

The standard is very high, there were over 100 girls in my dd's age group and they only pick around 7 children from each group. All in all it was a lovely experience and my dd enjoyed the day. The people there were very nice and she found the other girls friendly too. I would ay that if your dd loves her ballet (which by the sounds of it she does) then I'm sure she would enjoy this. Good luck xxx