Dance Exams?

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eleanorrigby66
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Dance Exams?

Post by eleanorrigby66 »

Hello there,

I'm just wondering whether there's a way to take dance exams (Grade 1, 2, 3 etc...) externally or privately from any performing arts school? My DD attends two performing arts schools but neither does the formal examinations. She's 8 and a very strong dancer but with nothing formal to her name I'm starting to think this could hold her back and it's something I should look into.

Help appreciated.
2dancersmum
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Re: Dance Exams?

Post by 2dancersmum »

As far as I am aware a student can only be entered for an exam by a registered teacher/school - so an RAD teacher for a RAD exam. The grades obviously follow a syllabus so your DD would have to learn the syllabus. It is doubtful that the performing arts schools are teaching your DD according to RAD, ISTD, BBO syllabus. If they are then the best thing to do would be to talk to your teacher as some schools do allow students from elsewhere to take exams with their own students. However, your DD has to be registered with a teacher who is themselves registered for this to be possible.- this to the best of my knowledge

If your DD is strong in dance and interested in further classes I would look at finding a local school where she can take the grades. At her age, for RAD, she is likely to be primary/grade 1 class wise and would probably only do 1 x 45 mins class a week (though all schools differ). At our local RAD school children do 1 class a week until grade 3 when it increases to twice a week.
quietattheback
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Re: Dance Exams?

Post by quietattheback »

Hi,

i have a similar problem but with singing. School dont do exmas but make a big thing about me understanding how strong hewr voice is. when i joined i was very clear in asking if they do exams and they said they do (they also said the do drama exams which they dont and that they are lamda whoich they are not). DC is no very settled there and loves it so i am not going to move her as her enjoyment it the priority but i have spoken to a local music school and am organising for her to do a block of lessons and an exam privately. maybe you could contact some local dance teachers and ask if that is a possibility with dance?

if she attends two schools would you consider changing the one she is less keen on to a school that works towards exams?
eleanorrigby66
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Re: Dance Exams?

Post by eleanorrigby66 »

quietattheback wrote: if she attends two schools would you consider changing the one she is less keen on to a school that works towards exams?
Well ironically she did used to attend a school which was more focused on formalised dance training but she loves the two she attends now much more, which are more focused on musical theatre. I've also found her dancing has improved tremendously with these other schools, rather than the previous formalised tap/ballet/jazz training.

I'm torn really. I noticed on twitter that the Matilda ensemble had to be Grade4+ for example, and it was inferred that they'd consider boys without formal grades (because there's less of them) but would really prefer girls with the formal grades to audition. Obviously this isn't the sole reason for my wanting her to do grades, but it did make me wonder if they're perhaps more important than I originally thought. :-k

I wouldn't like to take her from the school's she loves. It's a shame her normal academic school doesn't do them.

Once again we find there's just not enough hours in the day to fit everything in!!
mrs_lovett
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Re: Dance Exams?

Post by mrs_lovett »

[/quote] At her age, for RAD, she is likely to be primary/grade 1 class wise and would probably only do 1 x 45 mins class a week (though all schools differ). At our local RAD school children do 1 class a week until grade 3 when it increases to twice a week[/quote]

They really do all differ- if your dd is strong in dance she may well start higher up than this and there will probably be an option to take more classes. My daughter is 9 and at an RAD school doing 4-5 hours of ballet a week in grade 3, 4, inter-foundation and repertoire. I wouldn't recommend it though as I barely see her! I personally think grades are really useful if your child takes dancing seriously as they have to work so hard to get their technique as perfect as they can. They become more disciplined dancers. She also attends a theatre school that do dance classes as part of their training but they are nothing like the level of her ballet classes. It's also nice for her to get a certificate and some formal feedback every once in a while! Perhaps she could try out a different dance school to the previous one as they can really differ in teaching standards, policies and general enjoyment value!
2dancersmum
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Re: Dance Exams?

Post by 2dancersmum »

Since your DD has done some previous more formal dance training she could well enter the RAD system at a slightly higher grade. I imagine the teacher would place her with her peers. For RAD minimum ages to take an exam are age 7 for grades 1-5, age 11 for grades 6-8, age 11 for foundation and age 12 for intermediate. Pointe work is introduced at foundation but there should not be any rush to go on pointe at a young age. A keen and talented student may well do classes in more than one grade at a time and hours will always increase considerably when the vocational grades (foundation, intermediate etc) are introduced. A lot of the schedules for dancers will depend as with most things on how keen they are and how much time they have. Our studio has a mix of dancers with some aiming for vocational school at 16/18 and others happy to stick to 2 or 3 classes a week and leave at 18 having completed grade 8 & intermediate. Studios will push younger ones more if they are hoping to go to vocational school at year 7.
2dancersmum
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Re: Dance Exams?

Post by 2dancersmum »

There was a thread quite recently about number of classes for an average 9 year old on balletcoforum. Bearing in mind that the majority on that forum aim to have or have ballet dancers in vocational training it was interesting to see how much variation there was both in grades and numbers of classes.
eleanorrigby66
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Re: Dance Exams?

Post by eleanorrigby66 »

I've decided to find a local dance class for DD but it's so hard to work out which are good, disciplined worthwhile classes and which are the old 'have fun and chatter with your mates' classes that seem to be on every corner these days. For example, when doing google searches for 'dance classes', Stagecoach always comes up, which is not what I'm looking for.

I don't suppose anyone can offer any advice of what I should be looking for when searching? DD would like to do grades but more than that we'd like her to go somewhere where they can take her potential and hone her skills. Sounds obvious but I've been disappointed by performing arts schools in the past who don't seem to push the kids, just take the money and leave them to it!

Anyway, tips are appreciated. :)
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riverdancefan
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Re: Dance Exams?

Post by riverdancefan »

Where do you live ? :D
Do you actually google RAD classes in your area?
You may need to go to more than one school for different genres of dance. For example DS had one ballet school, then another for contemporary
"Tall and proud my mother taught me, this is how we dance" - RIVERDANCE
mrs_lovett
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Re: Dance Exams?

Post by mrs_lovett »

Yes, I would agree riverdancefan. My daughter's school only does ballet and I really think that it is a great school for technique because of this. She goes somewhere else for tap and modern. I would try taster classes and then go for the place where the dancers are the most focussed. I can watch the classes at the ballet school whenever I want and the teacher has them all exactly where she wants them with excellent discipline. Results are obviously a good thing to look at but I would avoid those schools that seem to charge extra for exam preparation classes which I think are totally unnecessary if they have been taught well in their normal graded classes.
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