17 replies to this topic

[Miss Persistent]

Actually pirouettes from 5th are first introduced in Grade 5 and before that an exercise for quarter turn pirouettes is introduced in Grade 4.

I do think that you are missing the point with RAD. The teacher is not supposed to teach just the exam syllabi, but to prepare the children slowly with introductory exercises until they are ready for the finished.....

What is important to realise is that the RAD system never stops evolving and every dozen or so years they completely rethink their exam syllabi. A lot of people remember the old style RAD, which was very pedantic and stiff, with every move set down exactly. They dismiss the system based on what they remember and have no idea how much it has changed since that period. A syllabus is only a piece of paper and a guide line to what is considered appropriate at each level. The teacher has to bring it to life and any teacher worth his or her salt is going to "play" with the syllabus in order to do just that.

And now with the new grades 1-3, spotting and turning actions are introduced right from grade 1! There is a truly throughout progression throughout all the graded and vocational graded systems. It is designed to prepare students to be dancers, the syllabus books are not a training system.

I must agree with Hamorah, I think RAD is stuck in a lot of people's mind as stuffy and old fashioned and un-flexible, but the truth is it is not. The amount of preparation, thinking, planning and development that goes into the RAD syllabus is phenomenal, and it gives such a fantastic framework for teachers to work with, but it is a framework, and every good teacher teaches the students infront of them with a goal in mind and is adaptable.

And Swantobe, just a little note, you would not be able to promote yourself as an RAD teacher even though you have been trained in it without becoming an RAD Registered Teacher. You can get in trouble for that ;)

[swantobe]

I do think that you are missing the point with RAD. The teacher is not supposed to teach just the exam syllabi, but to prepare the children slowly with introductory exercises until they are ready for the finished exercise...
...A syllabus is only a piece of paper and a guide line to what is considered appropriate at each level. The teacher has to bring it to life and any teacher worth his or her salt is going to "play" with the syllabus in order to do just that.

I think what I am trying to explain here is that, in my country, in recreational schools, the only thing that is taught are the exam syllabus exercises. That's it. Students are often (most usually) taught the exam syllabus exercises, no training exercises, and that's it. I know it is different elsewhere in the world and I know that the RAD intended it to be different. It has just, unfortunately, become the way recreational ballet is taught here.
Good studios will do some petit allegro free enchainements for the vocational levels (and grand allegro and pointe enchainements for Adv 1 and 2) as exam preparation (in the weeks prior to an exam) but exposure to any non-exam-syllabus exercises is very limited.
It is a big problem in this country that students are not exposed to non-exam-syllabus exercises - it is a definite weak point about which examiners comment.

An example of this would be: there are no real grand allegro (across the floor) exercises in the Advanced 1 exam syllabus. As a result of this, I do not ever really do grand allegro because our classes consist of the Advanced 1 exam exercises only. Very, very occasionally (once every two months or so, literally) we will be given a grand allegro enchainement.
I know that many people will say that I should change studios. But I have attended various studios in the past and my current main studio is one of the better ones in my area. Many, many studios teach ballet this way here.

So to clarify: my criticism is not of the RAD. Or of the RAD examination system. Or the RAD syllabus or exam exercises.
My criticism is of the way in which ballet is taught in my country: as a set of exercises to perfect and to perform once in an exam.

And yes, I like the fact that the RAD system is continuously evolving and I am aware that it is doing so.

My apologies regarding the pirouette from 5th mistake - it has been quite some time since I did grade 5! But I still feel that it would be important for students to continue to practice pirouettes from 5th whilst doing Intermediate Foundation, Intermediate and Advanced Foundation. With the way in which ballet is taught in my country (only exam exercises taught), students do not practice pirouettes from 5th at all whilst in those levels.

[swantobe]

...the syllabus books are not a training system.

Exactly.

Oh and don't worry, I would never try to pass myself off as an RAD teacher without doing the CBTS and being a registered RAD teacher!