Ballet worry

[MillyR]

I know I am being stupid to get upset/stressed by this, but DD loves dance and so it bothers me.

DD is nearly 9 and is still in RAD Grade 1 preparation ballet class (she also does Jazz in an 8-11 class at the same school). At the earliest she will take the exam in November, but it may not be until next year. This would not matter if she was in a class of children her own age, but she is not. She used to be in a class with other children of her age, but the class was split and she was kept with the younger ones. The older ones are now working towards grade 2. Now some 7 year olds have been moved in to DD's class and so she is obviously older than the 7 year olds/younger 8s, and it bothers DD.

I asked the teacher and she said that DD was not behind, and it was just the way things had worked out with splitting the class. Then another 8 year old with no dance experience asked to join and was put straight into the grade 2 class. DD has danced since age 4 and has done RAD Primary and Pre-Primary presentation.

So I have put DD into another dance school where she is doing IDTA grade 1 in an 8-10 age group along with tap, and is happy with this. But now I have to make a decision as to whether to take DD out of the RAD school, while is a good school apart from this upset. I get the impression that RAD is more respected.

What should I do?

[QOD]

ANnoying isn't it - they wouldn't move dd up to grade 4 ballet as she#s just 11 - but if she takes 6 months out they will put her straight into grade 4........ makes no sense.
She's quit ballet and we'll see what happens!

My experience is that you sometimes only get what you want by being cross, a "friend" of dd#s always followed dd up thru grades because she would cry........
Tell them the above, give them the choice to move her or lose her

[CarGirl]

Crazy at the dds dance school if they are not good enough to do the exams when they get older they still let them move up with their friends because a big part of dance is that it's supposed to be fun!

[EggcentricaGallumbits]

I don't think it matters a huge amount whether a child does IDTA or RAD. Especially if she is doing it for fun. If she is doing it for fun then it doesn't matter if she skips some grades and moves up with her age group - in which case I'dtell her dance school to move her up with her age group or she'd be moving elsewhere.

If she is likely to be the next Darcy ten she'd be better off staying where she is and doing all the exams in the right order.

[MillyR]

I can't decide what to do. I feel slightly better on hearing that putting girls in to a class who haven't done the earlier grades happens at other places.

I am tempted to leave DD in both RDA and IDTA classes and see what happens in a few months. I can't see DD becoming an amazing dancer, but I could see her going into teaching of some kind of performing art.

[shona2]

As QOD said, you need to get the school's attention. These schools are so busy and if you don't get a bit bossy with them they won't take the initiative on their own to advance your daughter. My Dd's dance school has a lot of "power mums" that are always clamouring for attention for themselves and their children; I have observed that it gets results--not easy for more reserved types like myself but there you go!

[shopalot]

Can I help? I am an RAD Ballet teacher [hides emotion!]

[shopalot]

Nearly 9 years old does sound quite old to be doing Grade 1 RAD. As a teacher it would upset me if she was dancing at another school and you hadn't mentioned it. I would suggest phoning the teacher in the week and discussing what you have said.

[CarGirl]

I do agree on my limited knowlege - girls only dancing just over a year! Mine are 4.5, 6.5 and nearly 8 and moved up from primary to grade 1 in September I expect them to do the exam the next time they are doing them and if my older one isn't good enough to do the exam to move up on age alone tbh - the younger 2 girls are much more into it tbh.

[MillyR]

She is 9 in a week. I don't know the exact ages of every girl in her class, but all the ones I do know are in the year below DD at school. If she had said that DD was not good enough then that would be another matter, but she hasn't said this.

The only option she has given me is that DD does the grade 1 exam on her own, but the teacher didn't seem keen on the idea, and I don't know if it is a good idea about it or not.

[shopalot]

It sounds to me as if it is purely a logistics problem. I personally would have no worries about putting your daughter in for her exam on her own. The other option would be to just move her up to the next grade without taking the exam.

[MillyR]

DD did Primary exam in June. Some other girls have just done it and moved into her class a couple of weeks ago. The class DD was in split in Feb of last year, with one group being put in for Feb exam dates and the other being kept back for June. I assumed that in June the two groups would be put back together, but they haven't been. Now the Feb group have already done grade 1 exam.

Thanks to everyone who has answered this thread. It is making me feel much better through talking about it.

[MillyR]

Okay Shopalot, I will talk to the teacher about it, and ask about DD moving up when classes start after Easter. I just don't want to offend her as I think she is a good teacher.

[shopalot]

It really does sound as if it was a mistake on the teachers part. Sometimes we forget how old the children really are as they are all dressed the same. I would stick with RAD but talk to the teacher and perhaps she could move into the Grade 2 class with the girls that have already taken it. She will then need to work really hard to be ready to take Grade 2 in Feb with the others.

[Clary]

Don't know about RAD and IDTA but just to put another point of view; my DD is 9 in the summer and the youngest in her ballet class (most are a year older).

Some of the older ones have just done Grade 1; she is now working on it. So nearly 9 not way too old, not here anyway.

I remember last year showing her dance teacher the Brownie dancer badge and she expressed surprise at how advanced it was (ie Grade 1). Mind you DD will be a Brownie for 18 months yet so I hope she will get there in that time!

[MillyR]

There are two different grade 2 classes - grade 2 beginner and grade 2 exam, so she could go into grade 2 beginner and have longer until the exam. Do you think she should do the grade 1 anyway on her own first?

What do you think of IDTA? I am considering keeping DD in IDTA anyway as it is just before a tap class, so it is no hassle to take her to it as she would continue with the tap regardless. But I would see it as an extra to the RAD.

[MillyR]

Clary, the impression get is that IDTA grade 1 is done by slightly older girls, because IDTA has 6 grades and RAD 8, so there is more to cover for each IDTA grade. Maybe your DD is doing IDTA?

[shopalot]

With regards to ages for diferent Grades it all depends on the teacher. It is usual for a child to work for three or four terms max per grade until Grade 6 which takes a little longer. IDTA or RAD - it doesn't matter. There are only two types of ballet - good and bad IMHO

[Clary]

Oh yes sorry she is doing IDTA, that makes sense then.

Sorry, rather duff info for you from me .

[MuiMui1]

Hi MillyR - Not sure if your dd is still attending 2 classes but here's what I think.

I used to attend RAD classes 20 years ago (!) and what happened was that if someone was good enough to sit for and pass grade 1 exam, then we would be moved to Grade 3 immediately to save time and money. As I have to say Grade 2 was a waste of time as most kids would be able to pick up Grade 3 very quickly (I was only average but no one in our class had any difficulty in adapting).

Obviously things have changed a lot in the past 20 years but further to some investigations recently, this is what I found out .. (note this is only a huge generalization here as I haven't attended every single ballet school in the UK!)

In every single class there are always some who are outstanding and some who are not. If your dd is not outstanding that doesn't mean she's behind either. Teachers will want to please every parent but they will put more focus (perhaps not significantly) on those who have more potential / more obedient/ quicker to correct their own mistakes etc etc. The fact is it is impossible to correct every single child on their every single move. There are some kids who will need a bit more time compared to the others.

It really depends on what your dd prefers. Even though you said she may not become a professional dancer, does she actually love ballet? Or is it dancing in general that she likes? Being in the same group as other kids of the same year/ same classmates is not really that important as they shouldn't really have spare time to chat etc in class.

Please don't quote me on this but my impression with RAD is that they're more classical and formal whereas IDTA involves other dances (e,g, tap)too and focuses on performances. Obviously there are lots of other differences too but if i had to put it in one sentence then it really depends on your dd, does she like classical stuff or modern stuff ?

I have seen several IDTA classes recently and the standard is not great EXCEPT one school. Most of the girls are lay back and there's nothing the teachers can do about it. I am yet to investigate the RAD schools as there aren't many around in my area.

If you think she won't be continuing dancing once she attends secondary school (by that time she would probably be in grade 4 and she may be required to attend at least 2 classes a week), then it really doesn't matter whether she should attend IDTA or RAD now. It all depends on what she thinks now and what do you think she would like to achieve in the future :D

[islandofsodor]

I have no knowledge of IDTA only RAD and ISTD. I would say that ISTD are as respected as RAD but they don't do character. RAD focuses on technique very highly too. Most RAD schools use ISTD for tap and modern.

The absolute minimum age to take Grade 1 is 7years old so to be honest I wouldn't be too concerned at a 9 year old doing it. The one thing to conseider when attending different classes is that elements of the technique can be different between the boards so it may confuse your dd to be doing both.

[Ma45S]

Hi, I was interested in the difference between ISTD and RAD ballet syllabuses? My daughter is 16 and study intermediate alongside grade 6 but we are thinking of moving her due to the bullying tactics her teacher uses! Its a real shame as she loves the rest of the dance school and is doing A level dance at college, where the teacher thinks she is good enough to apply to dance school for contemporary dance. You wouldn't think they were talking about the same child - advice anyone?