How do you manage dance school demands and auditions?
Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2014 4:02 am
Hi everyone,
I'm just curious about this, as we're struggling, and I'm hopeful that people here can offer ideas.
I live in Sydney, Australia. My son is 9. He loves to perform. He has done a small amount of acting for TV/video and TVCs. He has done pro-am musical theatre and is about to audition for 2 professional musicals in the next couple of weeks. He attends a performing arts school with high standards where he does a large number of classes each week (14) and is a strong all-rounder. While he is not an absolute standout performer in any one area, he would be among the strongest 2-3 in each class - and better in a couple.
My difficulty is with the performing arts school's expectations of him. We seem constantly to be in trouble for missing class (and at concert time of year rehearsal) because he is attending castings and auditions. If we chose for him not to participate in the end of year concert (we have already done this with their public performance team), there is a term of the year preceding annual concert where he would be sitting out every lesson while everyone else rehearses concert items. So, he either has to do the concert or not take class for months at a time. The only alternative I can see it having him attend class at one of the smaller, studios, where high level performance is not expected, but I think he'd be bored in such environments.
We will be in trouble when he chooses to audition for a professional music theatre role next Saturday morning rather than attending class. He may be cut from some concert items as a consequence. If he manages a callback he will also miss Sunday concert rehearsal, so we will be in deeper trouble.
What my son wants to do is to work in the industry, if possible. The training he does is to support these aspirations. What we are finding though is that people offering the training feel that the training is the end goal.
I'm sure that many of you have much more experience with this than me. We are just starting out with all of this. How have you managed? What has happened in your family? What have you learned from it please? Have you found any solutions to these problems?
Thanks so much
I'm just curious about this, as we're struggling, and I'm hopeful that people here can offer ideas.
I live in Sydney, Australia. My son is 9. He loves to perform. He has done a small amount of acting for TV/video and TVCs. He has done pro-am musical theatre and is about to audition for 2 professional musicals in the next couple of weeks. He attends a performing arts school with high standards where he does a large number of classes each week (14) and is a strong all-rounder. While he is not an absolute standout performer in any one area, he would be among the strongest 2-3 in each class - and better in a couple.
My difficulty is with the performing arts school's expectations of him. We seem constantly to be in trouble for missing class (and at concert time of year rehearsal) because he is attending castings and auditions. If we chose for him not to participate in the end of year concert (we have already done this with their public performance team), there is a term of the year preceding annual concert where he would be sitting out every lesson while everyone else rehearses concert items. So, he either has to do the concert or not take class for months at a time. The only alternative I can see it having him attend class at one of the smaller, studios, where high level performance is not expected, but I think he'd be bored in such environments.
We will be in trouble when he chooses to audition for a professional music theatre role next Saturday morning rather than attending class. He may be cut from some concert items as a consequence. If he manages a callback he will also miss Sunday concert rehearsal, so we will be in deeper trouble.
What my son wants to do is to work in the industry, if possible. The training he does is to support these aspirations. What we are finding though is that people offering the training feel that the training is the end goal.
I'm sure that many of you have much more experience with this than me. We are just starting out with all of this. How have you managed? What has happened in your family? What have you learned from it please? Have you found any solutions to these problems?
Thanks so much