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Here we answer some questions you might have about the Ballet Trust
What is the Ballet Trust?
Why?
How can I be sure this is not a scam
Is the Ballet Trust a registered Charity?
How much of the money will go towards administration?
What if the Trust cannot afford to help me with funding?
Who are the people behind the organisation?
Are you not doing this to ensure your child stays at their school?
What made you want to do this?
It's called the Ballet Trust so does that mean you only support Ballet?
Is this open to pupils from outside Britain?
My child might never need to make use of the Trust. Why should I join?
Why will you use PayPal to take payments?
The Ballet Trust was incorporated on 15 October 2008 with the ideal of helping children to be able to partake in all forms of dancing regardless of the financial circumstances of their parents or carers.
Dance is undeniably an enjoyable form of exercise and no matter how hard young dancers have worked in a lesson, we have yet to see anyone leave a dance lesson depressed and lethargic. Quite the opposite really, as parents wonder how they can bottle the excitement and enthusiasm emanating for their offspring after dancing. So it is of concern then when The Times carried articles on 4 November 2008 with the headlines "UK unemployment will top 7 per cent, says Brussels" and "Workers see hours cut as small firms tighten belts" and on 12 November 2008 claims "average daily job losses in Britain are approaching 1,000" which only adds to the every day local news of more companies going into administration. At 7% unemployment in an average dance school that means around 20 pupils will be affected by their parents losing their jobs and perhaps even more through having their hours cut. Dancing then probably becomes a luxury they can no longer afford and the pupils drop out of lessons. With that many pupils leaving it means that the viability of the school as a business is at stake and the possibility exists that it will join the myriad of other companies going into administration, to the detriment of all the pupils of the school.
All too often extremely talented children are held back from realising their dreams because their parents simply cannot afford the costs involved, even without the current economic pressures. Being part of a production by the English Youth Ballet starts with an audition that is challenging and for those good enough to be accepted there awaits a most enjoyable and rewarding experience. To partake in this experience will cost £385, which covers the cost of lessons from the EYB's professional dancers, costumes and venue hire. Those who have been part of a production will attest to what excellent value for money this is, but if a child's parents cannot afford the cost, a talented child faces the possibility of not being able to participate purely on financial grounds.
For those good enough to be selected for elite training at specialist schools, if their parents do not have the £25 000+ per annum to afford the fees, the Government has the Music and Dance Scheme (MDS) awards for under 16's and the Dance and Drama Awards (DaDA) for over 16's to study in specially designated schools and Higher Education establishments. The number of these scholarships available is very limited and they do not always cover the full costs involved - especially for the over 16's. If they do not get one of these awards, no matter how talented the young dancer is, they are not going to get the elite training required to realise their dreams of being a professional dancer.
How can the Ballet Trust help? The ultimate aim of the Ballet Trust is to assist in funding those young dancers whose financial circumstances will prevent them from participating in dancing. For dance schools this could mean the difference between staying in business or going into administration. If The Trust could fund those young dancers who can't afford to pay for lessons it means the dance school would be able to continue to be a viable business. Membership of The Trust would then become an investment in the long term viability of your dance school. For extremely talented dancers the benefits would be obvious, their dreams of becoming professional dancers could be realised.
To reach that lofty ideal is not going to happen overnight, but while we work towards actually being able to help people financially, we hope that we can assist you in making informed choices about getting elite training for a young dancer at a price that you can afford. To do that we will look into schools that offer education alongside dance training and present the details on this site for you to make an informed choice on where to go as a young dancer wishing to make a career in dance. Naturally we will not be able give you all the details about any particular school and would suggest you contact the school directly to fill in the blanks, but perhaps we can tell you about a school you had never heard about that will meet your needs at a price you can afford.
Everyone enjoys dancing, whether it is just shuffling your feet and waving your arms around in time to music or whether it is the more complex movements of Ballet, Ballroom, Modern, Tap or Jazz. It is also a valuable and enjoyable form of exercise, so when an economic downturn threatens a dancer's participation in the more complex forms of dance something needs to be done to preserve the schools giving lessons to our dancers in these dance forms.
What if a parent lost their job or had their hours cut so they can no longer afford lesson? What if a child's parents got divorced? Could you continue paying dance tuition fees at your local dance school? Typically these are only a few pounds per lesson, but it is quite possible that those pounds could become just too much and your child will have to stop dancing. If too many children have to stop dancing the very ability of the dance school to stay in business could easily be called into question. In a typical school if just 20 children stop dancing the school will lose on average £100 per week. How long will they be able to sustain that kind of loss?
What if the English Youth Ballet (EYB) comes to your area and your child is successful in their audition? The cost of taking part is £385 that must be paid within 3 months. For many this is not a problem and the experience and training the young dancer will get is worth far more than the money, but in these times of escalating prices and declining incomes that extra commitment might just be beyond the reach of some parents. Why should an obviously talented child be denied the opportunity to partake in what is an extraordinary experience? Many of the dancers who are successful in auditioning for the EYB go on to successful auditions at the specialist schools and all get the stimulus to enjoy their dancing at a higher level.
The fees of the elite schools of The Royal Ballet School, Tring Park School for the Performing Arts (formerly Arts Educational School, Tring Park), Elmhurst and The Hammond are beyond the reach of most people. The Royal Ballet school's fees are just over £30 000 per annum, though all pupils from the European Economic Area will get a Government assisted place through the Music and Dance Scheme (MDS) awards. Tring Park charge just over £25 000 per annum and are also part of the MDS scheme but the number of awards are limited. Elmhurst's fees are just over £20 000 per annum and they are also part of the MDS awards scheme on the same basis as Tring Park only having a limited number of awards at their disposal. The Hammond school is in the same position.
All of these schools, apart from The Royal Ballet School, as well as other 16+ schools are part of the Dance and Drama Award scheme (DaDA) for tuition beyond GCSE level. All of the schools have a very limited number of awards they can grant and the award only covers tuition and not all accommodation. The details on the Government website will show you how much you have to contribute as a minimum and will emphasise the absolute need for the Ballet Trust. Even with a DaDA many extremely talented dancers who have previously been getting an MDS award could see their careers come to a shuddering halt because their parents cannot afford the fees. Taking Tring's fees as an example. Parents with an income of less than £21000 will have to find a minimum of £1 226.33 per term to continue their child's education through sixth form. In contrast, under an MDS award they would have had to find about £260 per term. Could you afford the extra £3600 per year if it were your child?
If your child is good enough to get into these schools, but not able to get a scholarship their dreams could be shattered before they have even started. For some they can get started, show exceptional talent and still have their dreams shattered after GCSEs, although there are other options that make this less likely.
Once The Trust gets going fully by contributing a nominal amount of £10 per annum you not only gain peace of mind that your fees can be met, but that you could just be helping to keep your dance school in business or helping the next superstar to realise their dreams and ensure they get the right training. Who knows, that might be your child.
How can I be sure this is not a scam?
The Ballet Trust is a registered company in England limited by guarantee so that it can become a registered charity in the future when it meets the criteria for registration as a charity. Until such time the company legally has to conduct itself as though it were a registered charity. This means that the owners of the company are not able to take dividends from the company as there is no issued share capital. The Directors are also not able to benefit financially from The Trust
Please believe us that this is a genuine attempt to address a major problem facing all dance schools and young dancers, as well as to help those parents struggling to allow their child to experience the full pleasure of dancing. Please read through all of this page and especially the pages relating to the MDS and DaDA funding provided by the Government to see how woeful funding actually is and how hundreds of thousands of pounds are potentially wasted through the MDS scheme. You will also find what motivates us to want do it.
If you are still not sure, use the information under the "Contact us" section to get hold of us and discuss your concerns.
Is the Ballet Trust a registered Charity?
To become a registered Charity the organisation has to have an income of £5 000 per annum. At this point it is not a registered Charity, but in registering the name of the company as The Ballet Trust a binding obligation has been made to Companies House to register as a charity with the Charity Commission. As a company limited by guarantee it has a legal obligation to act as though it were a registered charity.
How much of the money will go towards administration?
At present the organisation is run by volunteers that do not accept any renumeration. It is obvious that in time the organisation will grow to a point where personnel need to be hired to assist with the administration of several hundred thousand members, but every endeavour will be made to limit the salaries bill. Being a Charity means accounts have to be audited and there are fees associated with that. Normal costs in running a business will also be incurred, but these will be kept to a minimum where possible.
It is obvious that the more money that is spent on administration, the less money there is to distribute to dancers in need of funding. It is the aim of the Ballet Trust to fund dancers and not bureaucrats and office administration.
What if the Trust cannot afford to help me with funding?
It is fairly obvious that especially during the start up phase while the Ballet Trust is trying to build up it's funds there may be some point where we will not be able to help you although you are a member of The Trust. If this the case we will help you as much as we can, but at worst we will offer to refund you the membership fees you have paid.
Who are the people behind the organisation?
We are concerned parents of an exceptionally talented young dancer struggling with the concept of the enormous amount of money it takes to realise that talent. Our child is fortunate enough to attend one of the top 4 Dance schools and is currently on an DaDA award so they can continue their education at the school. Without that DaDA there is no possible way they could attend the school to get the training they require to have a career in dancing.
We do not want our child to get any extra attention because we run the Ballet Trust, so if you use the "Contact us" facility we will happily disclose our names to you privately and answer any other questions you might have.
Are you not doing this to ensure your child stays at their school?
No. As directors of the Ballet Trust we are legally not able to benefit from the proceeds of the Charity, so we would not be allowed to grant our child any funding at all. This is one of the reasons for registering the Trust as a company limited by guarantee as well as our intention of registering as a charity at the earliest opportunity, to remove all suspicion that this is intended to enrich ourselves.
We will also be seeking to enlist other people with an interest in dance as trustees of the the Trust, but will have to bear in mind that they cannot benefit from the Trust, which will make selection pretty difficult as they cannot be private dance teachers.
What made you want to do this?
When our child auditioned for an MDS award there were 42 children auditioning for 8 awards. One of the children had been accepted for Tring and Elmhurst for the previous 2 years, but had failed to get an award and so was not able to attend either school. Accepted again for the third year by both schools we are happy to say the child finally got the award and is now fulfilling their dreams, but what happened to the other 34 children? Needless to say this annual heartbreak happens at all the schools except the Royal Ballet School where all children receive MDS funding.
Our child took part in an EYB production that featured an incredibly talented young dancer who was accepted to both Tring Park and Elmhurst. However, she was unsuccessful in getting an MDS award and so was not able to attend either school. She is currently a Senior Associate with the Birmingham Royal Ballet, but that only gives her once a week elite training sessions and not the 3 - 4 hours per day she would have got if she had attended either of those schools.
A young lad who attended local tuition classes with our child also gained entrance to Elmhurst and Tring and was also unsuccessful in getting an MDS award. He too became a Senior Associate with the Royal Ballet and I am happy to say is now in full time dance training at a World Class school where the fees are paid for through a student loan from the Student Loans Company. He will only have to repay this loan when he is working and earning more than £15000 per annum.
The Times reported that a young dancer gained acceptance to Elmhurst. He was not successful in getting an MDS award for Elmhurst, but his parents sold their house to ensure he could realise his dreams. Click on The Times link to read the story.
A young lady who danced with our child at a local dance school has had to virtually give up dancing because she can no longer afford it. She has been accepted into a school that isn't part of the DADA scheme and so no immediate funding is available to her. She wants to make a career out of dancing, but is not able to afford the cost of getting the training and certification needed to become a dance teacher.
A local dance school teacher complains that late payments, missed payments and non payments of dance fees are playing havoc with her cash flow and for that reason has contemplated moving into other areas of business, despite her school being an outstanding school.
Being one of the fortunate parents whose child's dreams have been rescued by an MDS and DaDA award, we don't see any reason why any child's dreams should not be realised. Do you?
It's called the Ballet Trust so does that mean you only support Ballet?
No, we will support any dance form. However, the only way for the scheme to work realistically is if dance schools join and get all their pupils to contribute to the scheme. It would be impossible for us to track down every dancer in Britain individually, though we will not discourage individuals from joining the scheme.
We know about the enormous cost of becoming a Ballet superstar and are not sure that becoming a hip-hop champion would incur quite as much expenditure. However , Birmingham based Smash Bro'z are the 2009 UK Hip Hop Champions and are hoping to get to Las Vegas in July 2010 to take part in the World Championships. These young dancers are busking in the streets to try and raise the funds to try and become World Champions (link to BBC news item). Why should these dancers be prevented from performing on the world stage because they can't afford it?
Is this open to pupils from outside Britain?
Unfortunately the answer is no. It is clear that a foreign national resident outside of Britain will only be making use of the Trust to attend one of the top schools in the country. It is clear from the prospectus of those schools that foreign nationals are expected to meet the full cost of the fees before they even audition for the school. It is not fair to expect British students to subsidise those pupils.
My child might never need to make use of the Trust. Why should I join?
We have likened the scheme to an insurance policy. We pay hundreds of pounds into car insurance because we have to, household and buildings insurance because we want to protect what we have and life insurance that we are never going to use, but we do it for those we will leave behind. In all of these insurances we hope we never have to use use them. This is slightly different It is a kind of insurance you hope you are going to have to use on the one hand, because your child is heading for superstardom!
On the other hand, The Times carried articles on 4 November 2008 with the headlines "UK unemployment will top 7 per cent, says Brussels" and "Workers see hours cut as small firms tighten belts". How certain are you that you will not be affected by this? In an average dance school that means around 20 pupils will be affected and that many students means that the viability of your school is at stake. Joining The Trust is one way of ensuring the long term survival of your dance school.
It is probably true that the majority of contributors will never use the Trust. However, your child's dance school may already being feeling the pinch in tough economic times and struggling to stay in business; your child's best friend at your dance school may need it to get to the top or you may know of someone who will need it and you would love to help them achieve their dreams. This is a way of investing in the long term viability of your dance school and and contributing to the dreams of others so you can enjoy their performances at a later date and to make a child extremely happy and their parents extraordinarily grateful.
If nothing else remember that The Trust has been set up to be a charitable organisation. Every year we give money to charities that have absolutely no direct bearing on our lives, but we believe in the cause of the charity. Our subscription is £10 per annum, but here are the annual costs of supporting other popular charities:
National Trust - Adult £46.00 - Young person £15.75
RSPB - Adult £34 - Child £15
Dog Trust - £52 (Sponsor a dog)
Guide Dogs - £86 (Sponsor a puppy - minimum 20 months)
NSPCC - £24 (regular donation recommended minimum)
Red Cross - £24 (Regular donation recommended minimum)
Surely the ideals of The Ballet Trust are worthy of financial support like any other charity? At least with this organisation there is a direct connection between you and the cause of the organisation.
Why will you use PayPal to take payments?
PayPal is registered with the Financial Services Authority in the UK and so you will get the same protections as you would get with any other High Street bank. To be able to take money over the internet the High Street banks want to charge
- £150 set-up charge
- £18 per month per standard terminal rental, plus VAT (so you can process phone transactions)
- Transaction charges of approximately 25p per transaction
- Minimum monthly service charge of £20 per month
They also want a deposit of several thousand pounds to cover charge backs on those transactions that fail to complete. The percentage of transactions that actually fail is below 0.1%, so this deposit is just another way of the banks holding onto the Trust money for their own use.
PayPal do not make any of those charges meaning there is more in the Trust for funding young dancers.