Back to School - Back to Dance

[calamitous]

My DD started back to school this week. Ohio is on the early end of school start ups, but I thought I would get a thread started to discuss how the new year is going.

 

DD is at a performing arts school, so she dances at schools from 1- 4:00 then rehearsals starting yesterday, academics in the morning. Her dance level lost LOTS of kids this year, of the 21 from last year they are down to 11 this year. Three of the 5 boys moved out of state, and one switched to a straight academic school, and the last boy got moved up a level. This has left some gluminess in the performing ensemble and for DD, both loosing friends, the one boy was her very good friend (he will be starting at The Rock, our loss is their gain) and changes the outlook for possible performances. It does make DD's dance class small, whcih is both good and bad, depends on the day. She is the youngest in the class this year but not the youngest /newest in the school's dance ensemble, so she is very happy to "know the ropes."

Casting for 2 of the 3 pieces for their first performance went up yesterday and rehearsals started immediately after. DD was thrilled her best friend got a solo part and suggested maybe she would have had a better chance if she had danced over the summer as her friend did. DD is cast in a piece from Swan Lake which she is satisfied with. Nutcracker auditions for non-ensemble kids are next week, but that won't start rehearsing until after the Oct. performance. The ensemble kids don't specifically audition for parts, so I guess that makes every class an audition.

 

DD is in 9th grade this year and due to a new prinicpal who decided the school had to get into compliance with state time requirements for academics she is without lunch again this year. (Although the no lunch is problematic, the overall good from the switch should out weigh this.) She is generally happy with her academic schedule. Her math class is first thing with only 10 kids and she says the teacher is in such a good mood! (Well what teacher wouldn't be with 10 honors kids first thing!) Other classes are OK and she likes the fact that she is now a HS student not one of the "little ones." (The school is grades 4 to 12.)

 

So after one week life seems pretty good. Yeah. However, the big conflict is looming the third week of September when the auditions for the school's musical take place, then double sets of rehearsals until Thanksgiving.

It all seems to arrive normally, but then takes off at full speed.

 

I hope others will pitch in with how things are going for their DKs. It gives me strength, hope, and consolation to hear how others are keeping their workds in balance.

[Gracey]

We are not back to school till the 7th of Sept. Today is the final day of a 3 week August Intensive, then we are on a 2 week break.

 

She is looking forward to the school year, but it will be hectic. She is in school from 8 am to 4pm for academics only then afterschool 4pm to 9:30ish will be ballet, with a dinner break of course!

[tutumonkey]

Summer has gone really fast! DD has her last day of a 3 week SI tomorrow with a performance. She gets her school schedule next Thursday, classes (ballet and school) start on September 5. Nutcracker auditions are on the 9th and rehearsals start on the 16th. From there its a roller coaster ride to the first performance in December. Whew! And she's also starting high school this year ACK!!!! Tutumonkey

[dance1soccer1]

DD is a senior this year. Yikes! She turned down a nice residency offer (we let her make the decision, which was SOOOOOO hard to do!) and is back to both school and dance this week. She flew in from CA on Sunday night, and began school and dance Monday, so today is a very tired week. She is greatly enjoying being back at her "home" studio, and back in school with her non-dance friends. She's in a very academic public school and has four AP classes this year, so that plus 3-4 hours of dance six days a week is going to be quite a handful. I'm glad to have her home, as she was gone for 9 weeks this summer, but I'm sure I'll be thinking "ahhhh, residency would have been so nice" after a month or so of this schedule. Still, we keep saying to ourselves in awe, we only have one more year with her, so we're trying to enjoy every minute. Enjoy those freshmen - I well remember those days!

[livers]

My dancing daughter started High School this week-we still have a week off from dance so she gets to get settled in at school before the madness starts! All of our requests for her high school to have her schedule adjusted to accommodate her dance schedule were flatly denied so this could turn out to be a long year!

[quill]

No school as yet for dd--older s has gone back to high school but eighth grade does not go back until next week. Dance starts again then as well, although Nutcracker audition was last Sunday and callbacks are this Sunday. Just when the lack of structure was beginning to wear on me, I'm going to have plenty of structure returning. This is good, I think, although I could do without Nutcracker rehearsal cluttering up every weekend in the fall. I kind of dread hearing the music.

[joyellen]

My DD is a senior this year too! School starts early here in Az, so she was only back from her SI for two days before going back to school and her home studio. It's already been two weeks! I think it is going to be a fun and exciting year for her. She's got a great school schedule (heavy on the arts and not as overwhelming as last year) and she will be in the professional division at her school, so she will have more performance opportunities. The school recently announced that Amanda McKerrow and John Gardner will be joining the artistic staff and Jeffrey Graham Hughes will be coming on as Exec. Dir., so that is an exciting development as well. Obviously, the uncertainty that comes with senior year is something we have to deal with, but I am determined to see that it doesn't put a damper on what should be a really fun year!

[dance for me]

DD is homeschooled so started her senior year work back in May before leaving in June for a 6 week SI. She got home on a Sunday and started a 1 week workshop on Monday then ended the summer with classes at a new studio 1 hour and 15 minutes away. Their summer session ends this Saturday so she will have a 1 week break before the fall session starts. She is already complaining about the break but will fill in with working out at our local gym which has a dance studio. She has already been invited into the company at the new studio and is lookin forward to a heavier dance schedule this year.

[ElphieBean]

Sorry...I started posting in the wrong board!

Edited August 26, 2006 by ElphieBean

[Taradriver]

DD started her senior year this week, and is taking interim classes 3x a week at her usual ballet school. Ballet term doesn't begin until 5 September. Because of the hectic schedule of college admissions/auditions, DD will take only 5 ballet classes a week for the first semester, and 1 private. She'll resume her 6 classes a week after the new year.

[dancemomCA]

Here in Canada, no school yet, until Sept 5 or 6th - DS is working for 2 weeks for his dad to earn spending $$$ for next year and to pay me half for his absolutely necessary UGG boots. Two weeks of NO dance. Will he survive - YES!

 

DS will be in his Senior Year - we are already researching post-grad auditions and airfare to Europe during our March break. It will be a hectic year. My oldest son leaves tomorrow for a year of university study in France - they all grow up so fast!!! Sorry, I'm a bit teary today...

 

Good luck to all BTer's dance children for the upcoming year and MERDE for all those Nut auditions!

[topazio]

Dd started her freshman year 2 weeks ago. Homework has been heavy and I'm glad that she has had time to adjust without the added stress of ballet. Auditions for company and a Fall performance of Swan Lake were on Sat. She will be an understudy for a part. Then Nut. auditions are in Sept.

[Pasdedeux]

After an intense SI, then daily maintenance classes, we are now back at school faced with 5 AP classes and 20 hours of ballet per week. I am praying my dd keeps her sanity better than myself as we begin the whole college process on top of that! Is it easier to have to have a driven or non-driven child, I am wondering...

[vicarious]

Wah who! First day is done. DD had her freshman/new student orientation for the day ballet class. She's homeschooled for the rest of her classes but she's so excited to finally be in the High School day program. DSs had their first class and got their schedual (see Parents of under 13). DD got her class schedual and rehersal schedual. The first performance is in less than 3 weeks! Fortunatly almost everyone has been in this production so they know thier parts. Rehersals are starting up on Saturday. Nutcracker auditions are in a week and a half. Zoom! "And they're off!"

[Redstorm]

DD started school back on July 31st. She is a sophmore this year and opted for a change of highschools. She is now at an Independent High School. She attends classes 4 days a week but only an hour to 2 a day. The rest of her work is done at home. It is a great school (accredited) and allows dd to take some fun electives on top of her regular work load. (drama, art and drivers ed. )She will be taking some tougher classes next semester (Trig and Chem.) at the local junior college since her HS doesn't have the more advanced classes. She will earn not only highschool credits but college as well. She can also work ahead. She plans on finishing her sophomore and junior English requirements this year as well as her history for both years.

Ballet doesn't start officially until next Tuesday. DD was moved up to level 8 (the highest) but has to wait until she goes back to classes to find out if she made company. She isn't too concerned whether she makes it or not. Her main goal this year is to focus on stregthening her technique and getting stronger. She said the other day...I am tired of hearing everyone say I have potential. I told her, you are now 15, it isn't about potential anymore. You have got to have something to back it up now. Auditions this year seem to be weighing more on her mind than in the past. She is already researching schools and getting a tentative list to discuss with her teachers. She is also considering competing in YAGP this year since it will be in SF. She realizes that at 15 and in the senior division, she will not make the finals, but feels it is time to start getting out there. We will see how she feels as time gets closer.

She will be dancing a total of 19.5 hours a week not including rehearsals. The increased dancing combined with the decreased time at school will make everyones life a lot less stressed.

DD will be participating in her very first Nutcracker too! Casting goes up at the end of September. She is so excited she doesn't care what part she gets.