Why Ballet Boost?

As a parent new to the ballet world, you may feel overwhelmed with the variety of training programmes on offer, or you may feel disillusioned after years of running around to every class you can find!

Well, we are here to help.

Questions you might ask yourself or hear often in discussion may well be:

• Full time vs privately trained?
• Which Associate programme?
• How many hours?
• Do you need copious amounts of 121s?
• When to go on pointe?
• Which courses, when?
• Does it help to link with a full-time school associates programme or not?
• Competitions, exams, performances and festivals?
• Physical and mental wellbeing?
• Pathways and future opportunities?

Here at Ballet Boost we answer all those queries and frequently keep parents advised and updated with relevance to their own dancer; This really is key as each dancer is unique and develops on their own timeline and with their own personal set of goals.

We don’t follow the usual UK set up – we never do any syllabus work as our training is purely vocational. We move dancers up through the levels as and when they are ready. Nothing is set to age, grade or a once-a-year transition.

Our aim is to keep our dancers in line with global standards, not just UK. Therefore, when auditioning they always achieve their options and often inclusive of scholarships too.

Our dancers have a high level of success when accessing Upper Schools and invariably appear at the very top end of their full time 16 plus training. This speaks volumes for what we achieve at Ballet Boost via our various programmes, alongside the very many we get in to lower schools too.

What sets us apart?

I feel it’s important to note that what we do at BB is so unique that many at full time return in various ways as they feel they aren’t always getting what they need. This is not a reflection on those full-time schools as they have lots to consider, but at BB we have the liberty to change and adapt with the climate of the dance industry without delay, we can accommodate individual needs, provide outstanding rehabilitation, the welfare of our dancers as people goes well beyond the studio leaving behind the issues historically seen within ballet training, 121s that achieve high end vocational success alongside our ABA programme that has cultivated beautiful, well rounded professional students, all without the stress or costs of living away from home.

This formula has been proven now year after year and I am proud to say we have professional dancers across the world in top end companies who are not only excelling as dancers, but who also have the skillset to understand their world and navigate it well.

Every dancer at Ballet Boost is looked at as an individual and their pathway guided according to their own possibilities, dreams and family situation.

The ethos and true spirit of Ballet Boost is a desire to help – not to run a business, but to really help with 100% honesty, professionalism, fairness, excellent staff and constant support that goes well beyond their graduation.

Our staff are also amongst the best in the industry.

Fully qualified and highly experienced vocational teachers each chosen for their unique abilities alongside a specific nurturing quality that underpins everything at Ballet Boost.

How do these Programmes combine to replace Full Time Vocational Training?

At a brief look we can combine the variety of programmes to create a bespoke week for your child – each of these aspects are inter-changeable and especially ABA, our weekday programme, can be moved at a moment’s notice to accommodate what is happening at their school.

Example – Week one	Week Two
Tues ABA 2hrs	Mon ABA 2hrs
Wed ABA 2hrs	Tues ABA 1.5hrs
Thurs ABA 2.5hrs	Wed PBT 1hr
Friday 121/ABA 2.5hrs	Thurs 121 followed by ABA 2hrs
Sunday Ballet Boost Associate  Ballet 3hrs plus 1.5hrs Contemporary	Sunday Dance Enhance Ballet plus 2.5hrs Contemporary

Now this example is our full-time students who may still do a syllabus class at their local school, an additional ABA a week and/or attend RBS/ENBS Associates for example on the Saturday.

Additionally, they may have 121 contemporary or extra work over the holidays/term time with us especially in the year prior to auditioning.

We arrange close to home Pilates, S&C, swimming, physiotherapy and liaise directly with their academic school should that be needed.

This approach works so well without injury caused by over training and can be enhanced or reduced to suit the needs of the growing dancer as and when needed.

The Performance Platform then provides the vocational competition setting needed to practise solos on stage. wwwtheperformanceplatform.org.uk where they will be viewed by all UK schools at finals.

Students can attend YAGP also and are supported in this set up as its currently important for exposure, experience and opportunity.

For those simply wishing to enhance their Ballet and not yet sure of their pathway – we have very many options for you. Our Associate scheme alone achieves dramatic improvements for all who attend.

Ballet Boost Associates is the best place to start.

ABA is the classical extension to that.

Dance Enhance is the Contemporary extension.

Why was Ballet Boost Created?

My personal journey has been a desire to give dancers today everything I wish I had had, knowledge I wish I had been told, direction, opportunities and most of all support. I was told: “No” so many times! Yet enjoyed a great career with English National Ballet and beyond – so Ballet Boost is here to ensure fairness of opportunity and an open mind to what can be achieved.

Over the past ten years, these students have far surpassed what had initially seemed possible in their younger years and we now have very many professional dancers out there in top companies; many of whom were rejected at the age of 10-13 for full time training.

We have dancers in The Royal Ballet Company, Paris Opera Ballet Company, English National Ballet Company, Birmingham Royal, Norwegian National, Hungarian National and many more!