All About Ballet

[phtthp]

FantasyLandDreams:

And just to update and share.


The current teacher just told me that it is not advisable to skip grade for rad when I ask about the possibility. The only way out if I were to insist is to take both grades at the same time which is not encouraged, I.e take both grade 1 and 2 together at the same go.

She did also mentioned that this was done before previously by a girl in reality but I did not ask how long ago was this.

And yes it is too stressful for the kid too as it means 4 ballet lessons per week during the last 6 months of exam preparations.

Instead of coming down 4x per week, why not suggest that you come down twice a week, but each lesson 2 hrs instead of the usual 1 hr session?

Perhaps you may consider propose to your dd ballet Tr -
Is it possible to prepare your dd, starting from now, to take 2015 RAD both (Primary grade + Grade 1), concurrently ?
Start from now, because is sufficient time, for 8 months of preparatory ground work, to prepare for 2015 RAD April exam.

means -
a)
one weekday :
ask Tr to teach your dd RAD \"Primary\" grade, but is 1.5 hrs, not 45 minutes, due to the extra coaching lesson included inside already.
1.5 hrs = 45 minutes x 2 sessions

For \"Primary\" grade, it is only 45 minutes per session, during regular practice.

b)
another weekday / or weekend, within the same week :
ask Tr to teach your dd RAD \"Grade 1\", but is 2 hrs instead, because of the extra coaching lesson included inside.
2 hrs = 1 hr x 2 sessions

For \"Grade 1\", it is 1 hour per session, during regular practice.

If your Tr ask you why you want to do like this, explain to her the reasons :-
1)
This way, since your dd born 2007, as a parent, you are trying your best, to help to bring your dd back on par, with the rest of her peers (also born 2007 : year of golden pig), to be at the same level.

Rightfully, all those born 2007, should be sitting for 2015 April RAD Grade 1 exam, so that by the time they reach P6 in 2019, all would have attained RAD Grade 5, in order to DSA into Secondary schools, that accept ballet domain, as a viable DSA route entry.

2)
You mentioned that attend 4x per week, is stressful.
I agree.
But if can change to 2x per week, because you lengthen the hours per session, then is not stressful. Moreover, it is only for a temporary short period of time, only 6 months, or slightly more, perhaps 8 months at most.

It is only a temporary means / measure, to help your dd to be on par, with rest of the others born 2007.

You are not going to do this every year.
Once your dd manage to pass 2015 RAD Grade 1 April next year, be on par with rest of the other 2007 born kids, everything will be back to normal. Explain to Tr that is only a short, temporary 6 months or so.

If is twice a week, for 6 months period time frame or thereabout, and can enable your dd go back on par, it is worth the effort & sweat.

Moreover, emphasize to the Tr the fact that -
is not that your dd has zero ballet background.
If she really zero background, then Yes, hard to convince the Tr.
But your girl is doing very well, over at CSTD side.
So, can try.

3)
Grade 1 is not so difficult, as compared to other higher grades, getting more difficult.
So if you are determined to help your girl, should do it early, when the Grade is easier to cope with.

4)
if this ballet Tr don't agree or she is not confident to handle your dd case, look for other ballet Tr, who understand your situation, and are willing to help, and to teach.

btw, there are also ballet Tr here, reading this forum, to hear what parents say, or what problems parents face.

If there is any ballet Tr willing to help FantasyLanddream's daughter to move up on par with rest of her cohort, pls help too. Thank you.

[phtthp]

yipee:

Coaching classes for ballet RAD at Moving Arts at Bishan starts in August.


Therefore it works out to around 8 months of coaching classes. This is at junior levels only. Other centers usually run coaching classes between 3 to 6 months only.
If you do not take the coaching classes, you cannot take exams.

It does give the impression that Moving Arts teachers are not confident of their teaching abilities.
They seem to require a lot more time to coach the kids to produce the same results as other centers.

Coaching classes also means extra fees (2x) and extra lesson applies (twice a week) for 8 months every year.

In fact, there are some other private ballet centres in Sg and in some community centre(s) -
That require girls to come down twice , whole year round, regardless of whether RAD exam is 6 months before hand, or not.

Yes, even if no exam, some centre make their students come down, twice every week, to practise ballet.
I find this inefficient.
Because children also got to attend other enrichment or tuition lessons, on weekend.
Where got so much time, to attend ballet twice a week, the whole year round ?
It is very tiring, to come down every week, for twice a week ballet practice.
It certainly does give parents the impression, that they are not efficient, in coaching their class, for exam.
If the Tr are efficient, why can't they follow other centre, 6 months of coaching, will Do ?
If for 6 months, still ok.

So parents, before you even enrol your dd , start asking out front during Registration / payment of ballet school fees time, to confirm -

- how many times need to practise, per week ?
The number of times to come down for practice, During normal practice, and closer to exam time ?

- which ballet syllabus is the school teaching your dd ?
RAD or CSTD ?
What is the name or title of the ballet certificate your dd going to get ?

- what exam is your dd going to take, in April ?
Which level ?

There was once I enquired at a ballet school.
They said theirs is not RAD, not CSTD.
Is Something else.

Don't blindly enrol.

[FantasyLandDreams]

Hi phtthp

Thanks for your advice and kind words. Crestar is rather rigid when it comes to extra coaching. Must and can only stick to their timing, thats why the 4 lessons per week. Also i also find it unbelivable that 8 months to prepare is too late. Even though the extra coaching for the 6 month have not started, the teacher claimed that she already started teaching the exam stuff in may and i cant add my daughter to take grade one as well on top of her current primary grade. And then to our horror when we ask at the counter, they still have one teacher who teach cstd but did not let us know and just push us to this current teacher as she has less student last year perhaps and make us switch to rad. Actually my daughter is not the only one affected, 2 other frens as well. So yesterday three parents stand at the door to discuss and negotiate with teacher and the counter staff
but answer is still no. We all were disappointed with the way the school handled us as no advice or explanation was given previously at all.

And if really there are ballet teachers who happen to read this forum and can help or advise me, please do pm me as well. We have 3 stranded parents here and all our 3 girls achieved high honors in cstd pre primary exam this year. All 3 are born in 2007 and had ballet since 2012. And coincidentally all 3 girls go to the same primary school we can switch to another teacher or have same timing of extra class if needed if any ballet teacher can help us the next 8 months. Thanks.

[bebe]

sembgal:

bebe:

I am not sure if you can skip grade but I know of a girl who did 2 grades in one year and so she is now 1 grade in advance compared to her peer.

That girl you mentioned should have taken old syllabus RAD exam.

The new syllabus RAD exam is more challenging and it is not advisable to skip grade but to build up the foundation first. The ballet teacher can do internal promotion to next level if child shows competency. It is not compulsory to take ballet exam too. There are primary 6 girls doing RAD grade 4 ballet too. If you rush through the process, the child may not do well in advanced stage of ballet grade if the foundation are not built up from Primary grade.

It will confuse a child to learn 2 different grades of RAD ballet at the same time.

That gal is a dance prodigy..already won several dance championship (ballet/Jazz/tap dancing) in international competition. She is doing both RAD and CSTD too.

[sembgal]

bebe:

sembgal:

[quote=\"bebe\"]I am not sure if you can skip grade but I know of a girl who did 2 grades in one year and so she is now 1 grade in advance compared to her peer.

That girl you mentioned should have taken old syllabus RAD exam.

The new syllabus RAD exam is more challenging and it is not advisable to skip grade but to build up the foundation first. The ballet teacher can do internal promotion to next level if child shows competency. It is not compulsory to take ballet exam too. There are primary 6 girls doing RAD grade 4 ballet too. If you rush through the process, the child may not do well in advanced stage of ballet grade if the foundation are not built up from Primary grade.

It will confuse a child to learn 2 different grades of RAD ballet at the same time.

That gal is a dance prodigy..already won several dance championship (ballet/Jazz/tap dancing) in international competition. She is doing both RAD and CSTD too.[/quote]Amazing!

[phtthp]

RAD Grade 1 to 3 marking scheme :-

http://www.rad.org.uk/documents/exam-do ... cation.pdf

Grade 1 dance steps :-
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DtLw9MIVRts

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7aW12PQ_dMY

[Oh My Gosh]

Ballet is like piano… you can skip grades, but your DD must shows that she is capable of dancing the steps required at a higher level. It requires more leg/ calf power. A fren of mine - her DS started ballet at 8 years old and went straight to Grade 2 exam when her DS is 9 years old, i.e. 1 year practice to take Grade 2 from scratch. She is really an amazing dancer - I watched her dance, she’s like a born dancer. So it all boils down to the child’s skills and if the Tr is flexible.

[sembgal]

Oh My Gosh:

Ballet is like piano.. you can skip grades, but your DD must shows that she is capable of dancing the steps required at a higher level. It requires more leg/ calf power. A fren of mine - her DS started ballet at 8 years old and went straight to Grade 2 exam when her DS is 9 years old, i.e. 1 year practice to take Grade 2 from scratch. She is really an amazing dancer - I watched her dance, she's like a born dancer. So it all boils down to the child's skills and if the Tr is flexible.

If ballet teachers in Singapore are so flexible, parents will not be left stranded thinking How Huh How Huh ??!!! My child needs to try for DSA. If there are ballet teachers who can prove me wrong, you pm me and tell me that you allow your student to take 2 grades at the same time. How much updates knowledge does a ballet teacher have of the new RAD ballet syllabus and how much do they know of what is DSA? The main motive of teaching is still to earn profit. The younger generation of ballet teachers certainly need to be fed with a huge dose of flexibility. Don't you think they are too rigid?

[sembgal]

Oh My Gosh:

Ballet is like piano.. you can skip grades, but your DD must shows that she is capable of dancing the steps required at a higher level. It requires more leg/ calf power. A fren of mine - her DS started ballet at 8 years old and went straight to Grade 2 exam when her DS is 9 years old, i.e. 1 year practice to take Grade 2 from scratch. She is really an amazing dancer - I watched her dance, she's like a born dancer. So it all boils down to the child's skills and if the Tr is flexible.

If ballet teachers in Singapore are so flexible, parents will not be left stranded thinking How Huh How Huh ??!!! My child needs to try for DSA. If there are ballet teachers who can prove me wrong, you pm me and tell me that you allow your student to take 2 grades at the same time. How much updates knowledge does a ballet teacher have of the new RAD ballet syllabus and how much do they know of what is DSA? The main motive of teaching is still to earn profit. The younger generation of ballet teachers certainly need to be fed with a huge dose of flexibility. Don't you think they are too rigid?

[phtthp]

Come to think of it, if the new RAD syllabus change, how do we parents know that the ballet Tr bother to constantly upgrade themselves ?


Will our dd enter RAD exam, dancing the old syllabus’ dance steps, instead of the current most up to date syllabus new dance steps ?

How does the ballet industry regulate the ballet Tr ?