How long to do RAD ballet exams?

[agenvoca]

A dance school my DC goes to seem to take approx two years before they do an exam, and that includes the early pre and pre primary exams. Some parents with older girls complained that their children are behind other similar aged children, in terms of technique when doing auditions. Also seem to delay exams while waiting for newly joined people to reach standard, so as to take the exam together (very small class sizes).

When queried have been told that their children are not ready and so on. I wonder if this is normal, as I'm considering looking elsewhere if this is really the case.

I have never heard of BATD but I am fairly new to this.

I don't think taking 2 years to take an exam at grade 5 level wold be that unusual. dancing twice a week is 2hrs? which isn't actually THAT much, compared to say a gymnast who was at that sort of level or a musician or swimmer and if she does a show once a year then that probably means a loss of half a term to a term a year. So the timing sounds ok to me for that.

I gave up ballet as a younger child but quite frankly if I had had to learn French words I would have had to give up anyway as I never got to grips with foreign languages.

drivin, to give you a bit of context, DD dances, in some form, every day except Sunday - ballet, tap, modern, groups x2, solo class, stretching, ballet x lots, pointe. She dances, generally, with girls about a year older than her (she's a tall 11 year old, her duet partner is 12, her trio contains an 12 year old and a 13 year old even though she is the tallest). She is being actively accelerated to take her grade 5, in order to formally 'catch up with' these dancing peers in grade terms, and after that will doubtless slow down again considerably.

She would defintely be taking longer over each grade if she only danced twice a week.

We have 11 year olds just taken their grade 5 exam this year at one of the schools my DC go to. Once a weekers, but have been in a class of one and two and have managed to reach a good standard that way.

Personally I'd always like to keep a RAD class I decided (in addition to another syllabus) as I think it has the polish and finish and attention to detail that other syllabuses/syllabi don't.

French terms are learned very early on, with lists and illustrations given to memorise. It's advisable for the parents to know and learn them too I think.

Kew, we don't have RAD available, as I mentioned above (schools run by teachers high up in ISTD ballet heirarchy would find it 'impolitic' to then take RAD exams I suspect)- but I do also think it depends on the rigour of the teacher as well as the syllabus IYSWIM?

So a 'less attention to detaill' syllabus, taught by a fanatically rigorous teacher (we have one of those) may impart as much polish and attention to detail as an 'attention to detail' syllabus taught by a less fanatical teacher, perhaps? Certainly ex pupils have gone to White Lodge and on into the Company without issue, while at festivals ballet is usually won by pupils from 'the better taught schools', not 'those schools that do RAD' [though I appreciate that is a slightly different measure].

French terms have bnever seemed to be an issue - they use them, from pre-primary onwards, and seem to learn them just like any other new voabulary. At the ISTD Ballet awards, was struck how the instruictor for each class could simply reel off a series of French terms and all the competitors (Senior awards, so Grade 3 upwards, don't know about the littlest ones) knew exactly what to do.

Personally I'm not a fan of the BATD syllabus, but that's just my preference. It is less common, it's not one of the 'big' boards like RAD, ISTD or IDTA. There is a mix of different boards in DD's associates class and in general the quality of the teacher matters much more than the syllabus.

drivin two years for an exam is what I would expect for any of my students dancing twice a week. By Grade 5 almost all of our recreational students are doing a minimum of either 3 hours of ballet a week or 1.5 hours of ballet and then at least an hour of lyrical/jazz, most are doing more than that. Most of them will take a ballet exam every two years. I have a lot of students who come twice a week and are good dancers for their grade, but they are not good dancers in an advanced grade for their age, if that makes sense. And that's fine, because I would never expect all of them to go on to dance professionally.

My DD is 10 and does 3 hours of ballet a week at our studio. She also does about 9 hours of rhythmic gymnastics a week, which from a technique point of view is very, very balletic- they do an hour of ballet at the start of each session to warm up. She then does lyrical and contemporary dance at our studio (4 hours ish) which is more like rhythmic gymnastics style-wise, quite different to ISTD modern etc. She also taps twice a week, and does as many other dance classes as she can fit in. She has recently dropped figure skating because it was ruining her feet for pointe and will probably drop aerobic gymnastics and some of the dance in favour of more rhythmic next term. I would be very surprised if she went on to dance professionally- the dancing is just something she loves and she sees as fantastic cross training for rhythmic gymnastics. She is doing grade 5 ballet this term, which might sound quite impressive out of context, but against everything else she does is really what I would expect at 10.

Most of the girls at grade 5 or above in my DDs dance school are dancing at least 5 hours a week. DD has just taken her Grade 6 exam and dances 14 hours a week.

DD dances twice a week, 5 hours in total. 1 hour tap, 3 hours exam ballet work & 1 hour en pointe.
I have had a look at the ISTD syllabus and shown DD1, she's told me that ISTD grade 5 is what she did for BATD grade 3.

It's a shame there isn't a more standardized approach.

She's 13 but the ISTD syllabus says grade 5 is taken, on average, by kids of 9/10yo. There was no way at that age DD would have been physically strong enough to take BATD grade 5 at 9.

DD2 is not such a strong ballet dancer & is just taking her grade 1.

More confused than ever.

And don't even get me started on the hair! 10 years on and I still struggle with a bun, and french plaits for shows throw me into a cold sweat!

ISTD Grade 5 at 9/10 years? Not at my DDs dance school- even the most accomplished dancers hoping for a career as a ballerina won't sit grade 5 till at least 13- and that includes the ones who are also training with the Royal Ballet.

Hmm. ISTD syllabus says minimum age fior Grade 3 work = 8.

So allowing a year per exam (which I would say is a general 'minimum' guide), that would be Grade 3 exam at 9, Grade 4 at 10 and Grade 5 at 11. Even if treated as a minimum age for the exam of Grade 3 of 8, minimum age for Grade 5 is 10.

Minimum age for Grade 7 is given as 13, and for Intermediate (vocational pathway) as 12, which again working backwards would suggest a 'normal' minimum age for Grade 5 of around 11.

Certainly when DD was at the ISTD ballet awards this year, at just 11 she was amongst the youngest in the Grade 4 class (for those who have taken Grade 4 but not Grade 5 yet). Those of her height and thus working around her were up to 14.

Slightly off-topic, but is 7 too late to start ballet for a child who is unlikely to be exceptionally talented? I'm looking into signing DD up for ballet but have been told by other parents at her primary she would have to work through all the grades and so would be behind her age group, as most children start much earlier.

No, of course it's not too late at all. I wouldn't take any notice of this thread. There's only the teeniest tiniest minority of children who will ever make it to dance professionally, less still principal dancer level. So no harm in doing it for fun and for all the other benefits ballet gives. She might even have a natural talent!

Cosmic,

No, it should be fine. However, I would research your ballet school a little. Your DD might have more fun at one that isn't too 'serious', and where there are likely to be others of her age doing similar level work. IME at 'serious' schools, (ones which send children every year to continue dance studies with a view to professional careers) those who are more 'recreational' dancers feel more like 'second class citizens' than at schools which are perhaps less perfectionist and where the focus is on having fun.

[My advice comes from slightly bitter experience - DD started dancing when we lived in a little village with a 1-lady dance school in the village hall. We moved, but DD (then coming up to Reception age] wanted to continue her dancing. All unwittingly, i managed to roll up at the doors of a very 'serious' dance school, just because it was very close to where we were living.

DD turned out, to everyone's greast surprise, to have a genuine aptitude for dance, and therefore my accidental selection of a dance school that cherishes and extends its able dancers was fortuitous. However, had DD been 7, my selection would have been disasterous for her.]

Cosmic - DD1 started at 6 and a bit and she has overtaken almost everyone in her group for both ballet and modern (obviously still only at preprimary/primary level but she learns the dances quicker, remembers them and performs them better apparently) and is level in tap having never danced before 6 1/4.There is an older girl who is in the preprimary group and the primary group but won't take the preprimary exam, she is just catching up some of the background I presume and is taking primary with the rest of the girls her age.

I would be very, very surprised if the average age to take grade 5 was 9/10- out of associate schemes at a push, but certainly not country-wide. DD's grade 5 class ranges from 10 to 15, most are 12/13.

cosmic if your DD was a prospective student with me, I would ask you to drop by with her and spend 15 mins or so going through some basic positions and steps with her and decide which class to put her in initially off of that- most likely grade 1. My DD was the same age when she started, it absolutely isn't too late :)

That's my experience too, of grade 5. In real life anyway, seems to be different case on talk boards like this.

Not that I'm implying any exaggerating is going on, would add!

My DD's friend did grade 5 at 10, but she was also junior RBS associate.

Dd1 is 11. She took her grade 5 exam last year (when she was 10) and is expected to take grade 6 in November and also her Inter foundation at the same time. She has been en pointe since her eleventh birthday and is flying with that. These are RAD exams and she usually achieves distinction.

Having said that dd1 has danced since she was two, is at an exceptional school and calls dance her "vocation"! She does a minimum of fifteen hours a week of dance. Of that about six hours are ballet. That's just classes. On top of that she has festival groups (I think at the last count she was in about ten) and solos (she has 9 at the moment). She is also keen to do duets and trios but its fitting it all in!!!

She is in lower grades for modern (grade 5) and tap (grade 3, but she is taking that exam in July).