Royal Ballet School Statement on Ballet Competitions

[L_One]

https://www.royalballetschool.org.uk/2018/11/07/ballet-competition-culture-are-we-putting-young-dancers-at-risk/

[ballet1310]

I’m so glad they posted this . Great for the younger dancers and their parents to read and take to heart .

[Miss Persistent]

I absolutely agree.  Competitions have great value when used correctly as part of training but I have also seen this blurring of the lines between training for competitions and training for a career.

In my school there is increasing pressure from parents for more and more intensive training at younger and younger ages.  My personal opinion is that most times, parents asking for individual coaching at ages 10 and 11 are genuinely trying to help, fast-track, do the best for their child (regardless of if it is for competitions or not) however it creates an unrealistic environments in the long term.  Students I have seen who go have been through this process can miss out on learning how to motivate themselves, be responsible for their own corrections and goals, loose perspective on their own progress and position within the school, and often - it is just not necessary.  We all know ballet training is a slow, careful, and long term process.  Why the need to push so hard so young?  Besides, even if all that work gets you a job in a company there is no private coach there to motivate and correct you in daily class - you're on your own!!  Yes, at certain stages or for specific things some individual coaching is fine - dancers get coached on roles and variations but let's refocus on creating resilient, motivated, initiative filled dancers who will have long careers, be able to handle themselves socially in a group, work with others, have a healthy view of themselves, and enjoy their chosen career simply for the love of dancing.

[Noodles]

I loved this so much!

 

[Eligus]

15 hours ago, Miss Persistent said:

this blurring of the lines between training for competitions and training for a career.

This is a fantastic, cogent and concise articulation of what I've seen as an unhealthy trend in ballet training. 

[learningdance]

I concur with all. . .Wondering if Powney will show up in NYC for YAGP Finals?

[Ballerinamom2girls]

I used to think competitions were absolutely necessary to "get ahead".  I was simply ignorant at the time.  Good for the Royal Ballet.  I'm also glad SAB/NYCB never gave in to the hype.

[Eligus]

26 minutes ago, Ballerinamom2girls said:

never gave in to the hype

hmmm.  I'm not sure I'd go THAT far, but perhaps I'm not clear on what you mean by this statement.... 

[cchow]

SAB/NYCB is a different style/repertoire than what is performed in these competitions.  

Seems that the SAB graduates that do not get into NYCB are somewhat limited in employment opportunities - I think mostly they go to Dresden, Los Angeles Ballet, maybe a few other smaller regional companies.

I am not sure I would say they never gave into the hype - they kind of orbit different ballet worlds.

[Ballerinamom2girls]

The hype that looking at a 2 min varation is a good way of finding students and giving them scholorships.  There are many NYCB dancers with non-Balanchine training backgrounds that only attended SAB as a "finishing" school.  No reason they couldn't give scholorships to YAGP students 14+ just like they do at their SI's.  

[Penderac]

Learningdance,

Royal ballet will not be returning to yagp... they have pulled out starting this year

[learningdance]

I would agree with [cchow’s] characterization.  I think that SAB kids tend to go to the companies run by ex- NCYBers  (Weiss, Boal, Tomasson, Lopez, Liang). Most SAB kids don't get into NYCB. They seem to take 3-5 women per year.  A bunch do seem to land in LA Ballet (Neary).