Multiple ballet levels in 1 year

[jandalsinsummer]

Dd has had a significant health issue (think 12 months + off dance) she is just getting back in to it and whilst we are going slow there have been discussions about studying RAD advanced 1 and advanced 2 at the same time and then maybe taking the exams 6 months apart. I’m wondering if anyone has any experience of this and any thoughts to share please? For context she was previously high distinction and heading to full-time classical training so we have also had discussions about just doing a couple of classes and no exams (most of her ballet training is not RAD) we have time to decide but I know the need to make decisions creeps up on you! Thanks

@jandalsinsummer How old is she, and how long has she got before vocational auditions?

She probably needs to be able to do around 10 hours a week of training, ideally spread over 4-5 days, and yes it is possible to do two vocational grades concurrently. Quality of training over quantity though, and she will need to build up her strength for pointe again. Do bear in mind that the Adv 2 new syllabus is seriously tricky.

Was she an associate anywhere previously? Perhaps it might be worth investigating if anywhere will take her for some additional coaching.

Hi @taxi4ballet thank you she’s 14 we’ve probably built up to about 7/8 hours of pure ballet but it is a wee bit bunched which is annoying but we can’t do anything about that!
She left our associates programme (swiftly followed by most others) it was rubbish. She does however have an excellent non RAD teacher and will likely join an associates in a different city next year. We are overseas so it is a little different.

Do you have any comments on split of RAD classes if you are doing 2 levels at the same time? Eg here we do 3 classes a week plus a group pointe, I’m thinking if she is going to do a daily non RAD advanced (open) class she doesn’t need 6 RAD classes on top especially because timetable wise on 2 days they will be consecutive. I was thinking 2 of the exam she is sitting first then 1 of the other (we’re thinking the exams will be 6 months apart) so for the final 6 months she can do 2 or 3 of advanced 2! We will discuss with her teacher again obviously but keen to get experience of what others do.

I had missed that there was a new advanced 2 syllabus so thank you for pointing that out I will look into that a bit more. Dd had muttered something about lots of jumps or hard turns and I had just agreed without paying much attention (I’m really trying to keep things low stress)

When I say 'new' syllabus, It isn't all that new, but it is more challenging than the old Adv2 my dd took a few years back.

Whereabouts in the country are you?

I did google and didn’t see anything so did wonder! We’re overseas.

@jandalsinsummer It might be worth you asking on the 'Doing Dance' section of balletcoforum.com as although it is UK-based, there are a number of posters on there with knowledge of overseas training.