Reply to Washington School of Ballet Auditions?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My daughter auditioned at 5 when we moved here and was accepted to Pre Ballet 1.  So she started in Kindergarten.  She is now 8 and entering third grade and will begin level 1B in a few weeks.  When we started, the school offered two years of Pre-Ballet and two years of Level 1.  Now there is a third year of pre-Ballet, so that may make the point I am about to make moot.  She is younger than many of the girls at her level and it does show.  In retrospect, starting a year later would not have been a bad thing.  The current third year of pre-Ballet (which we did not have) may take care of that issue for younger girls, but i really don't know.  I would not be surprised, if she sticks with it, if they eventually hold her back a year.  That said, she has really enjoyed it. The classes from what I hear, are much less fun than Ballet Petite but that's not necessarily a bad thing.  By Level 1, the classes are an hour and a half and involve a lot of repetition and focus.  Parents can only watch the class twice a year, and on one of those days, I found my self marvelling at how hard the class was for a second grader. Some girls my daughter's age dropped out this past year because the WSB classes were too serious and they went to ballet petite for a more relaxed environment.  WSB is very strict about the uniform and the hair, and I will admit that it is not the most parent friendly environment (not only can you not watch the classes, at the studio where most younger girls take classes, you can barely enter the building).  My daughter oddly enjoys the rgidity even though I don't think we are in this for the long haul.  I suspect we have one or two more years left in us and then she will decide to focus on other activities.  I agree what the previous poster said about the auditions.  They have an aspect of formality to them (the children wear numbers, etc.), but I think that spooked me more than my daughter.  I have no idea how competitive the audition process is for younger girls.  I hope this is helpful.  [/quote]

Not the OP, but as a current wsb parent, I found this helpful.  A slightly different perspective -- it seems my dd auditioned the same summer pp's did; she was four turning five early fall.  Same grade as pp's dd, but a bit younger.   She was placed in Creative Movement; creative movement followed by two years of pre-ballet was an age-appropriate sequence for her.  (Might the new pre-ballet 1-3 sequence be a rebranding of the cm, Pre-ballet 1-2 sequence?).  My daughter is set to start 1a this fall, so thanks for the heads up on increased difficulty.  She enjoys classes so far; I agree with pp that wsb is strict wrt hair, uniform, class protocol, need to focus, all of which has been good for my dd.  ditto also on the not parent friendly.  trying to figure out whether to audition for nutcracker.  PP, did your dd do nutcracker?  What was that like?

To respond to op's question on auditions.   I told my daughter that this was going to be a fun dance class, and that she should enjoy herself, listen and obey.  (The last two exhortations are always necessary for my dd, ymmv.).  if your daughter has been dancing since the age of two, she knows the routine.   Sometimes the wait at the audition can be a little long, so bring a book for your daughter or anything else that might help.  I am not sure what they look for -- I have seen varying body types in my daughter's classes; my own daughter is agile and energetic, but not particularly flexible.

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