Tap grade 1 time ....

[2stixoftwix]

Hi
My daughter has been doing tap for about 4 years, she took her primary tap exam in sept 2012 and is STILL in the grade 1 class and totally bored stiff

is this right .... 2 1/2 years in grade 1 ..... ?

The dance school owner seems to be overlooking my dd all the time and it's beginning to annoy me !!!!!!!

have others in the class taken it?

Ours seem to move up generally the whole class at a time although sometimes an odd one is pushed up earlier or if some are struggling they are usually offered some one to one lessons I think to keep up.

I do know a girl who would be about the same for having taken 1 tap exam and still not looking to be taking another one yet but I am not sure if the board her school do do preparatory/preprimary/primary or whatever so I can't be certain but I think she has done preparatory and is now in primary. their dance school do shows though so it takes them a lot longer to get through the grades and I think she has taken a similar amount of time in grade 1 ballet.

is the teacher approachable? could you ask when she will be taking it? Our school takes quite a long time with exams too but not as long as that.

2 1/2 years does seem a little excessive to me, but as a dance teacher myself, I do know that circumstances do arise that causes a group to fall behind on their exams here and there.

I've got a situation now where my Primary and Grade 1 ballet classes are well overdue for taking their exam, but they have been delayed until others in the school are ready for their exam so we can make up the minimum fee to hold a session at our studio. We are quite a small school, so we try to have everyone ready for exams at the same time, but that's not always possible and no other school has had time for us to enter them in at another session.

I have been continuing to teach them more advanced work ready for when they have done the exam, but it's a difficult juggling act as they are at an age when they have to be dancing their exam work regularly to keep it fresh in their heads.

Talk to the teacher about it, they might be having similar problems.

My daughter had a similar problem with her Grade 3 ballet. She was in the class for two years & in hindsight it was a mistake.

Her old teacher was excellent, taught good technique & is very particular but dd passed grade 2 with distinction when she was 9.

6 months later the children who had been in the grade 3 class for some time took their exam under the old syllabus & only then did Dds teacher start teaching the new syllabus.

The following year for some reason the group was not deemed ready as the new syllabus was more demanding & in the meantime the previous group took grade 4 (old syllabus)

Then their bi annual show clashed & dd left the school after being in grade 3 for 2.5 years. Her classmates finally took their exam 6 months later.

Dd found that she was very behind at her current & it caused her some loss of confidence. She's getting there now after two years.

But hindsight is a wonderful thing.

I guess what I'm saying us trust your instinct. Ask about doing a class a grade higher alongside & don't be afraid to skip an exam as long as the technical foundation is there.

Dd never did take her grade 3, she went straight to IF.