Auditioning for 2021 entry

[Moonfaery]

Thank you, will try again tomorrow. Good to know it’s not just us! She’s tried 3 times today with no luck.

DS’s took forever to upload. He tried multiple times and it just randomly uploaded on one of the times.
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[anastasia79]

Hi Everyone, this page has been a lifesaver for me going through the audition process this year with my DD (17). I’ve learnt so much, and it’s helpful to know that other parents are going through a similar anxiety and stress as me. DD has only submitted one online application so far for Urdang and has received a recall. Can anyone explain to me what happens here if your DD or DS has been through it before? She’s now working on her next batch of videos for Performers and Laines who still haven’t sent us the exercises for the ballet or jazz and she needs to film and submit these in 3 weeks. Trying to keep her sane and motivated has been so challenging while she’s also juggling her final year of A’Levels.

Hi Anastasia79, DS also has Performers (6/3) and Laine (26/2) auditions. If I can wrangle the exercises out of him then I can send them to you by email. So pleased this is helpful. I went through the process 2 years ago when DS was 16 so this is the 2nd time which does make it easier, but I have no idea how he will make a decision if he gets multiple offers!! His Urdang audition was last Thursday and Italia Conti this coming Tuesday. He hasn't had recalls before, only offers and rejections so I can't help with that, but I guess the recalls will also be online? Yes, final year of A levels and trying to film multiple audition pieces is challenging. DS is struggling with screen lessons followed y screen homework so he's started getting migraines from too much screen time. For auditions we have to film everything several times so he can pick the best one so it takes ages, but at least some of them are repeated for other auditions - mainly songs and monologues which helps. The Performers audition requirements are challenging to say the least. DS might withdraw from that depending on what happens before 6th March - I don't think it is in his top 2!! The very best of luck to your DD - I think boys have an easier time with auditions as there are less of them. To quote the lady at Laine when we went to the audition support day - "if you have a boy - congratulations!" Keep us all posted on your DD's offers and recalls x

Wow, what are the chances, those are the date DD has for her her Laines and Performers auditions which are now online. It does freak you out a bit when you hear Performers saying that they’ve had over 1000 applications for 150 degree places. That’s the same with us, DD films videos multiple times and then spends ages choosing and editing them where needed. I have to give her space as she likes to do it on her own. Fortunately her monologue and solo can be reused for Performers but she’ll need to redo her song for Laines as it needs to be max 2 mins.

I feel for your DS with all the screen time, it does wreak havoc in their eyes etc. Yes, any tips would be really helpful. I wish him all the best of luck this time round with his auditions. I’ll post here once we know what offers (if any) that she receives. If not, she’ll try again next year xxx

[anastasia79]

Interested reading about securing offers as we are wondering the same. Urdang want £100 and DD is only at the beginning of this audition process. We've decided to pay as, although it is not DD's first choice, it's a great backup for her and she would be very happy to go there if her higher choices don't give her an offer. Not sure how it works with UCAS but we are assuming you can accept mutliple offers and decide later...

I never knew that some schools requested payment for securing offers. That’s one more thing I’ve learned today. Besides Urdang, are you aware of any others that charge for accepting an offer?

[MygirlsloveMT]

Both years my dd applied at Performers there were over 3000 applications for less degree places!

Also, a Wilkes charged a fee to secure the place, thankfully we paid and she decided she wanted to go there over Performers anyway so we didn’t lose it, I think the colleges have this notion that all performing arts students are wealthy which is most definitely not the case! I always wonder how many truly amazing performers there are out there who can’t even afford the audition process, I know this happened to one of dd’s friends.

[anastasia79]

Both years my dd applied at Performers there were over 3000 applications for less degree places!

Also, a Wilkes charged a fee to secure the place, thankfully we paid and she decided she wanted to go there over Performers anyway so we didn’t lose it, I think the colleges have this notion that all performing arts students are wealthy which is most definitely not the case! I always wonder how many truly amazing performers there are out there who can’t even afford the audition process, I know this happened to one of dd’s friends.

That’s one thing I found out yesterday, that not only do you have to pay to audition, but also to secure your space. That’s one thing that isn’t advertised by those schools that charge thus. I fully agree that there are so many talented dancers that will never get the chance to attend dance college. Some because the audition fee cost is too much, not to mention the travelling, hotel costs etc. But also the cost of paying for the diploma if a DADA isn’t awarded or they aren’t able to do the degree option. It is really unfortunate that an option for a student loan is not available for the Trinity Level 6 Diploma.

[amo185]

Totally agree that Trinity Diploma should be eligible for a loan. Or the course needs to be realigned to become a degree. Even with a DADA many families are excluded as they can't afford their share of the fees or the accommodation costs. Thankfully more courses are degree courses now. For most of us it is affordability that will dictate where our children train.
DD's friend has been asked for £200 from Wilkes. Urdang have offered DD more time to decide.
Most colleges are quoting 3,000 or so auditionees. I am surprised that some do not ask for personal statemenets or references along with self tapes this year.
As for uploading problems, DD needed to compress her videos so they'd upload. Poorer quality but worked. Also, sometimes the music they use doesn't pass copyright on Youtube. DD's thought hers hadn't but on further reading of her "alert" it was only one track barred in Austria and Switzerland, so as long as there was no staff member looking from their private alpine chalet she decided she'd be allright!
Filming, cutting, labelling, uploading takes ages - but seems to take even longer for those looking at ballet school places! Good luck to everyone.

[Louisedunn]

Is anyone having trouble uploading to Arts Ed?
My dd has been trying all evening and it just says ‘uploading please wait’

Same thing happened to us. I think I tried two or three times. I emailed them the next day to explain and asked if they 'could check at some point...i know you're extremely busy... would be very grateful...' to see if they had a complete upload. They emailed back within the hour to say it had all been received.

[Moonfaery]

Is anyone having trouble uploading to Arts Ed?
My dd has been trying all evening and it just says ‘uploading please wait’

Same thing happened to us. I think I tried two or three times. I emailed them the next day to explain and asked if they 'could check at some point...i know you're extremely busy... would be very grateful...' to see if they had a complete upload. They emailed back within the hour to say it had all been received.

How long did you wait with each attempted upload?
My dd is waiting 1-3 hours each time and then starts again. Been trying for days now! Not sure what to do.....

[Louisedunn]

Is anyone having trouble uploading to Arts Ed?
My dd has been trying all evening and it just says ‘uploading please wait’

Same thing happened to us. I think I tried two or three times. I emailed them the next day to explain and asked if they 'could check at some point...i know you're extremely busy... would be very grateful...' to see if they had a complete upload. They emailed back within the hour to say it had all been received.

How long did you wait with each attempted upload?
My dd is waiting 1-3 hours each time and then starts again. Been trying for days now! Not sure what to do.....

Just checked with the husband who I left it with , he said there’s a green button in the bottom right corner that you can press after a while? It should say that your video has been uploaded. We left it all night in the end and then he clicked the green button in the morning and that message came up, altho the cursor was still circling and saying uploading!! Maybe try again tonight and leave it if you can? Hopefully will work for you xx

[Moonfaery]

Same thing happened to us. I think I tried two or three times. I emailed them the next day to explain and asked if they 'could check at some point...i know you're extremely busy... would be very grateful...' to see if they had a complete upload. They emailed back within the hour to say it had all been received.

How long did you wait with each attempted upload?
My dd is waiting 1-3 hours each time and then starts again. Been trying for days now! Not sure what to do.....

Just checked with the husband who I left it with , he said there’s a green button in the bottom right corner that you can press after a while? It should say that your video has been uploaded. We left it all night in the end and then he clicked the green button in the morning and that message came up, altho the cursor was still circling and saying uploading!! Maybe try again tonight and leave it if you can? Hopefully will work for you xx

Will give that a go, thank you.
The green button is there and it says ‘upload’ on it but it also says on another bit of the screen ‘files still uploading’
She’s emailed them as well so hopefully will get sorted.
The whole uploading to different colleges is proving less than straightforward. They all do it differently on various platforms. The one to Bird was via you tube and was grainy
despite various attempts at uploading different ways. It’s going to be a long few months......

[anastasia79]

How long did you wait with each attempted upload?
My dd is waiting 1-3 hours each time and then starts again. Been trying for days now! Not sure what to do.....

Just checked with the husband who I left it with , he said there’s a green button in the bottom right corner that you can press after a while? It should say that your video has been uploaded. We left it all night in the end and then he clicked the green button in the morning and that message came up, altho the cursor was still circling and saying uploading!! Maybe try again tonight and leave it if you can? Hopefully will work for you xx

Will give that a go, thank you.
The green button is there and it says ‘upload’ on it but it also says on another bit of the screen ‘files still uploading’
She’s emailed them as well so hopefully will get sorted.
The whole uploading to different colleges is proving less than straightforward. They all do it differently on various platforms. The one to Bird was via you tube and was grainy
despite various attempts at uploading different ways. It’s going to be a long few months......

Gosh, how frustrating. Hopefully it will upload for you soon. We had some challenges uploading with Urdang where it simply kept failing. After reducing the length of each video and file size to a poorer quality it eventually worked. We have just been told by Laines that they can no longer accept videos by YouTube due to some issues with copyright. They have now moved to using Dropbox like Performers. Hopefully the YouTube situation won’t affect our Bird uploads. Good luck with Arts Ed and all others that you’ll be doing

[Louisedunn]

How long did you wait with each attempted upload?
My dd is waiting 1-3 hours each time and then starts again. Been trying for days now! Not sure what to do.....

Just checked with the husband who I left it with , he said there’s a green button in the bottom right corner that you can press after a while? It should say that your video has been uploaded. We left it all night in the end and then he clicked the green button in the morning and that message came up, altho the cursor was still circling and saying uploading!! Maybe try again tonight and leave it if you can? Hopefully will work for you xx

Will give that a go, thank you.
The green button is there and it says ‘upload’ on it but it also says on another bit of the screen ‘files still uploading’
She’s emailed them as well so hopefully will get sorted.
The whole uploading to different colleges is proving less than straightforward. They all do it differently on various platforms. The one to Bird was via you tube and was grainy
despite various attempts at uploading different ways. It’s going to be a long few months......

Morning! Hoping Arts Ed upload is sorted now?
And yes youtube made our Bird uploads very grainy, but I think it’s happening to everyone’s tapes. We really had to compress files for Urdang so that was very reduced quality, but it worked out ok.
Yes, you’re right, a long few months ahead!! 🥴🥴

[MTDreams]

Hi, I haven't been on here for a while. I Just wanted to pop onto this thread and say hi and well done to everyone for the offers so far! My DD is auditioning again this year so I will no doubt find this thread very helpful, especially as the audition process is going to be very different than usual!

[Moonfaery]

Just checked with the husband who I left it with , he said there’s a green button in the bottom right corner that you can press after a while? It should say that your video has been uploaded. We left it all night in the end and then he clicked the green button in the morning and that message came up, altho the cursor was still circling and saying uploading!! Maybe try again tonight and leave it if you can? Hopefully will work for you xx

Will give that a go, thank you.
The green button is there and it says ‘upload’ on it but it also says on another bit of the screen ‘files still uploading’
She’s emailed them as well so hopefully will get sorted.
The whole uploading to different colleges is proving less than straightforward. They all do it differently on various platforms. The one to Bird was via you tube and was grainy
despite various attempts at uploading different ways. It’s going to be a long few months......

Morning! Hoping Arts Ed upload is sorted now?
And yes youtube made our Bird uploads very grainy, but I think it’s happening to everyone’s tapes. We really had to compress files for Urdang so that was very reduced quality, but it worked out ok.
Yes, you’re right, a long few months ahead!! 🥴🥴

DD emailed them and they said they’re having IT issues and will get back to her....

[Louisedunn]

Will give that a go, thank you.
The green button is there and it says ‘upload’ on it but it also says on another bit of the screen ‘files still uploading’
She’s emailed them as well so hopefully will get sorted.
The whole uploading to different colleges is proving less than straightforward. They all do it differently on various platforms. The one to Bird was via you tube and was grainy
despite various attempts at uploading different ways. It’s going to be a long few months......

Morning! Hoping Arts Ed upload is sorted now?
And yes youtube made our Bird uploads very grainy, but I think it’s happening to everyone’s tapes. We really had to compress files for Urdang so that was very reduced quality, but it worked out ok.
Yes, you’re right, a long few months ahead!! 🥴🥴

DD emailed them and they said they’re having IT issues and will get back to her....

Oh no, what a pain!! Fingers crossed it’s sorted soon and you can get it crossed off the list. Wishing you lots of luck for all your DD’s submissions