Idta gymnastics dance syllabus grade 2

[Beckettsartre]

Can anyone give me any info on this? I've searched internet and found nothing. Daughter just completed grade 1 and got 88/100 was very pleased until dance teacher said that while one of the girls (it's a group of 3) will take the exam next year she doubts other 2be ready. I'm so upset she's written the girls offa year before it's due to be taken. She's always got distinctions in exams?!

Just want to have sight of syllabus so I can see what is required.

IDTA don't seem to have a lot of information available, their website is pretty minimal. The best port of call would be the dance teacher - if you ask what is required at that level, and get them to explain what your dd needs to improve on in order to speed up progress.

How old is she and how long has she been dancing? Does she do any other styles?

as an ex gymnastics coach I don't personally like acro dance but I don't know the IDTA syllabus. my guess would be that there is a bigger expectation in terms of flexibility or srength for the next grade and the teacher can see your daughter doesn't have the natural flexibility or strength required whilst the other child might already have this.

How old is she? There is a point at which some dance styles require a level of physical strength and development rather than dance and musicality. Is your dd somewhat slighter or shorter than her class mates or is young for the year?

acro is also quite different to other styles of dance. I have one daughter without much flexibility. she always scores well in her dance exams as still on lowish grades so flexibility isn't being tested so much yet but she couldn't do acro at all.

I don't teach the syllabus, (I teach Acrobatic Arts) but I have it as I teach other IDTA syllabus. It is definitely a gymnastic dance syllabus, and doesn't require the high levels of precise technique that acro does. Looking through the syllabus, it seems that there is quite a jump both in the required movements / strength / flexibility content between Grade 1 and Grade 2 and also in the content of dance vocabulary. The exercises seem to be quite long, and there are more of them.

Could it be that the other student is already fairly consistent in the Grade 2 required skills and so just has to learn the exercise settings in order to take the next grade, whereas your daughter and the other girl have a number of skills in grade 2 that they need to work on or that they cannot do yet?

My DD did gymnastic dance for a bit and has changed to Acro Arts now. It was a requirement to already be doing ballet and modern for the gym dance, does your DD do those as well - are those the other exams she has done?

I say this as a dance and acro teacher though - don't just work on the tumbling and flexibility skills!! Strength and endurance also vital if your child wants to achieve a high level in acro. So many parents focus on whether their child can do handstands, cartwheels, splitswalkovers, etc etc but it's no good by itself if they cannot hold a solid plank position for more than ten seconds, or if they can't touch their toes from standing.
Don't overlook the importance of strengthening rather than focusing just on turnout and flexibility as well. So many children will practice their high kicks, backbends or splits regularly, but don't stretch their hamstrings or work on core strength.
And I am suggesting this for the more ambitious young dancers out there, not saying that every child who goes to a once a week dance class for a bit of fun HAS to stretch at home!

There isn't too much difficulty in the Gym Dance grade 2. As far as I recall it only gets more difficult from Grade 3 onwards, with back bend and recover, that sort of thing. I happen to have a copy of the syllabus so I'll look it up for you.

Quick summary of grade 2 exercises, though you also have the dances:

Arm circle
Exercise for strenghtening the spine
Rhythmical set ex for muscle co-ordination
Exercise for strengthening arms and shoulders

BARRE EXERCISES

Exercise for back bend
Exercise for spine and back of the legs
Arabesque
Arm exercise
Leg raising to pattern and direction
Extended walks
Extended runs
Swift run ending in poise
Spring points

Back bend and recover (ah it's in this section, not grade 3 as I thought) at the wall or in the centre
Box roll
Front splits
Head stand to wall or centre
Cartwheel development
Balance on one leg
Kneeling split development

PERFORMANCE

COMBINATIONS

So while simple, quite the list there!

strengthening*

You don't seem to do walkovers, front and back, until Grade 4.