All About Ballet

[Junangie]

Hi all. Just took my 10 year old daughter out from ballet class at crestar school of dance @ thomson plaza ' as the dance fees are very expensive and also i have not seen improvement ever since she joined early last year. She was previously in a ballet academy called first pointe located at kallang area but after we moved to yio chu kang we found it inconvient to send her to first pointe so changed to crestar. She told me last night that she wants to do ballet again so i am looking for a dance school and im clueless she is doing grade 4 cstd ballet. anybody knows of good ballet coach / school around yio chu kang , ang mo kio area?

[Yngmng]

Junangie:

Hi all. Just took my 10 year old daughter out from ballet class at crestar school of dance @ thomson plaza ' as the dance fees are very expensive and also i have not seen improvement ever since she joined early last year. She was previously in a ballet academy called first pointe located at kallang area but after we moved to yio chu kang we found it inconvient to send her to first pointe so changed to crestar. She told me last night that she wants to do ballet again so i am looking for a dance school and im clueless she is doing grade 4 cstd ballet. anybody knows of good ballet coach / school around yio chu kang , ang mo kio area?

Dance pointe has a branch at Greenwich V at Yio Chu Kang/ Seletar. Can take a look.

[ziltransformer]

hi i want to ask why some school had grade 6 after grade 5 while some straight go to intermediate level? is there any difference？

[hungrymuffin]

ziltransformer:

hi i want to ask why some school had grade 6 after grade 5 while some straight go to intermediate level? is there any difference？

hello. i assume that you are referring to the RAD syllabus and this is based on my personal experience.

the higher grades (grade 6-8) focus on a style of ballet different from the lower grades, known as the romantic style. this style requires much more maturity compared to the vocational grades, but is definitely less demanding in terms of the examiners' expectations on the technique of the dancers.

the vocational grades (intermediate foundation to advanced 2), was designed as a pre-professional syllabus for students interested to go into the professional field, or to be dance teachers (minimum requirement to apply for an RAD registered teachers status is Intermediate qualification). this syllabus is comparatively less \"dancey\" compared to the higher grades, but examiners demand much higher quality technique, inclusive of pointe work, which is not included in the higher grades.

based on my interaction with a few ballet teachers, the ideal situation will be for a student to do both the higher grades and vocational grades concurrently, to train both artistry and technique.

students who only do vocationals after grade 5 (eg. taking intermediate foundation within 1 year from grade 5 exam) may tend to see a big drop in examination results since the technique expectations are much higher than in grade 5. some peers of mine experienced drops of close to 20 marks. on the other hand, it is typically easier to score well for the higher grades syllabus, though many teachers would recommend students taking 2 years to do grade 6 to build up the maturity needed for the romantic style. from my experience, peers who did both syllabi concurrently or did the vocational syllabi after completing grade 8 tend to do better in the vocational examinations because the additional classes/time is good for technique building.

schools who choose vocational syllabi after grade 5 may do so to prevent students from quitting (since many do grade 5 close to psle year) since the novelty of pointe work may interest the students to stay on. on the other hand, schools may choose the higher grades because they may feel that the students may not have strong enough technique to pull off the vocational syllabus at this point in time, and would rather them wait a little longer, maybe after higher grades (which I actually am in favour of).

hope this helps

[Lucida]

I’m new to this post. My girl currently 7 yrs old and now she is in grade 1. She had completed a pre primary RAD exam. I am now thinking of changing her ballet school as i felt the current school lacks skills and exposure for students to acquire good technical skills in ballet. My girl is very interested in ballet and started since 4yrs old.


Currentlt i’m looking at Cheng Ballet and SBA. She did a trial in Cheng and we quite like the environment and teacher. Howver my only concern is that Cheng does not have RAD. SBA follows RAD but i have a feeling that the school is quite competitive and my girl might not get the necessary exposure. In additiin SBA requires the girls goes twice a week for her level. Cheng ballet does too but its more like encourage them to have 2 sessions and it starts at the next grade.

So now i in a dilemma… Would SBA be very taxing? I am concern it would affect my girl studies… if i go for Cheng and no certificatr, to what extent it would affect my girl in the future if she really develops a serious interest in ballet?

Any advice appreciated.

[Cynk]

Junangie:

Hi all. Just took my 10 year old daughter out from ballet class at crestar school of dance @ thomson plaza ' as the dance fees are very expensive and also i have not seen improvement ever since she joined early last year. She was previously in a ballet academy called first pointe located at kallang area but after we moved to yio chu kang we found it inconvient to send her to first pointe so changed to crestar. She told me last night that she wants to do ballet again so i am looking for a dance school and im clueless she is doing grade 4 cstd ballet. anybody knows of good ballet coach / school around yio chu kang , ang mo kio area?

Sylvia Mccully Dance School. Just 1 level above Crestar. Very professional teachers and staff. However, a trial is required to see if your dd is suitable to join in the existing classes.

[Cynk]

Sylvia Mccully Dance School highly recommended. Very professional teachers and staff. However, a trial is required to see if your dd is suitable to join in the existing classes

[Cynk]

Try not to call during weekends. Very busy.

[Yngmng]

Cynk:

Sylvia Mccully Dance School highly recommended. Very professional teachers and staff. However, a trial is required to see if your dd is suitable to join in the existing classes

Yes, have seen the school around since I was a teenager. It is probably one of the lomgest tenant at thomson plaza.

[cool_hi]

Yngmng:

Cynk:

Sylvia Mccully Dance School highly recommended. Very professional teachers and staff. However, a trial is required to see if your dd is suitable to join in the existing classes

Yes, have seen the school around since I was a teenager. It is probably one of the lomgest tenant at thomson plaza.

Yes a trial is needed..but preferably try to join as beginner/at lower grade if possible...
Just Sharing:
my gal and her 2 other classmates, went for trial for Grade 5 class, but all 3 were rejected right after trial..& Ms Sylvia never bother to speak to us, the parents...
we asked receptionist, she merely say teacher say their 'styles' are different from her class/her teaching...
We had no choice, tried to search for other schools..I almost gave up searching...
Lucky i did not give up..
& my gal just gotten her results...distinction...

anyway, when we were asking the receptionist why we were rejected, another gal who was an existing student there,
was crying when receptionist told her no need to pay for next term's fess. coz Ms Mccully wants her to stop class coz she is not up to her standard...
Me & the other 2 mummies were :yikes:
So we comforted ourselves, if existing student can also be rejected,so we should not feel dejected hor? :xedfingers:

I think it's really NOT easy to find a good ballet school with good, experienced & sincere teachers..
BUT never give up, especially if your child is very keen