Question for RAD students/teachers

[sapphirenite]

i've noticed that most of the adult RAD students here did the higher grade exams before moving onto the major syllabus so maybe someone can help me here.

 

i've been wondering, what do the teachers do if the student (who had been taking graded exams) does not have the turnout (etc.) required for the major syllabus? do they recommend that the student not continue with the RAD but move on to open classes, or do they allow the student to take the major classes even though they may not be able to take the exams?

[Mel Johnson]

In the RAD, a teacher is not supposed to recommend anyone who does not meet the standards for an examination on which he or she signs off. What the teacher does with the student depends on the curriculum of the school and what other options are open there. Personally, I'd let the student audit Intermediate Foundation or Intermediate, but the exam days would be over, unless they had more Higher Grades to complete.

[Kate B]

It probably depends on the teacher.

 

I was allowed into the Elementary class at a theatre school for 2 and a half years, but it would probably have been another 2 and a half years before I would have been ready for the exam. I think the lower major exams are very good for getting technique, and as an adult beginner it was very good for me that I was allowed in to the class. I wasn't bothered that I probably wouldn't do an exam, I was just happy to be in the class learning.

 

I did grade 6 before I went into the class, though. It was a good introduction to RAD and working for exams, and it was quite 'dancey'. I think most of the adults who do RAD here on the board have started on the higher grades and then used the majors as an extra challenge or something to do after grade 7 or 8. I could be wrong, but I think that's been the general pattern.

 

I think if you get the opportunity to do the major grades you should go for it! You learn so much.

[skippy]

I studied the majors before i did anything else, my teachers asked me to go for grade eight as i needed something fresh to work on having worked on the intermediate so long. I failed intermediate twice mainly because of turnout so for a year and a half i did everything at 45 degrees (which was very frustrating) but i enabled me to keep my turnout at 90, and passed my exam with flying colours this summer.

 

My teacher encourages students to take the intermediate class, one girl who has not yet taken her inter joins our advanced foundation, as it gives them something to work at and when they have found the strength and turnout which does come eventually, she then sends them for the exam. My teacher only puts students in for exams when they are ready.

 

Go for it is what i say, what harm can it do (hopefully make you stronger).

 

Skippy

[Guest beckster]

I used to do the RAD intermediate class at my old school sometimes, and now occasionally do it as a "make-up" class at my current place. I find it a challenge and it's good to do something different from the higher grades I am used to. I think the majors are more traditional settings, like tendus will simply be tendus on croix and that will be the whole exercise. The setting is very simple, unlike the grades where the technique doesn't have to be quite so perfect and a combination will include several different steps and perhaps a port de bras. I am certainly not in a position to take the major exams, and a couple of others in the intermediate class are probably about the same as me.

 

If a student wants to have a go at the intermediate for the purposes of improving their technique, even if they will never take the exam, it can only be beneficial, in my opinion. I think a teacher should be happy to let them in the class as long as they don't "hold back" those who are going to take the exam.

[Kate B]

Aha, yes, there are lots of ways of joining in with RAD classes when you are an adult dancer.

 

By the way, please can someone tell me how the majors work now? Are the exams the same as when they were Ele, Inter and Adv, or have the exercises and things changed?

[Mel Johnson]

The game's pretty much the same, but the names are different. Elementary is now Intermediate, Intermediate is now Advanced 1, and Advanced is now Advanced 2.

 

It's a needed change, I think, as I have felt for years that any student successfully completing grade 5 was indeed functioning at an Elementary level, as I see it.

[Guest beckster]

I think there are a few differences, you know they make modifications every few years or so. I remember my teacher saying things like "you don't have to do that one any more ..." and so on. I think one recent difference is that not all the allegro is set - some exercises are made up by the examiner based on a set vocabulary. I'm not certain of that, though.

[sapphirenite]

thanks all for the helpful replies.

 

skippy, what did you mean by doing everything at 45 degrees and how did it help with the turnout? it sounds like something i could work on

[Mel Johnson]

I think that what she means is that she worked on everything with extension at 45º in order to develop rotation in both legs. As the rotation improves, the extension can go up, first to 60º and then to 90º, and so on.

[skippy]

Mr Johnson you took the words right out of my mouth, i did exactly that and it really did help me.

 

They changed the RAD layout as the government said that it was not in line with other cirriculams in the UK and they are now marked so you can add it to your cv. Each one of the majors is now an equivalent to an NVQ, for example the intermediate (formerly ele) will be a NVQ level two, or something like that. I am working on the advanced foundation at the moment which would have been intermediate before the change. If anything i have found the changes a lot better.

The levels now go; ELE- Intermediate

Inter -Advanced Foundation

Adv - Advanced

 

I think this is correct if not i am not far off???????

 

Skippy x

[Mel Johnson]

Sounds like they regularized RAD in order to parallel General Education curricula. It's a welcome change, even though the content didn't actually change any more than the usual annual adjustments. The academy is a dynamic institution, and changes with the culture around it. Because the culture doesn't change that rapidly, the Academy curriculum doesn't change that rapidly. The Intermediate I follow now is a really different thing from the Elementary I used over thirty years ago. Some is the same, some is different. Just the same way that the world society is mostly the same, but there have been developments, both positive and negative. The Academy responds to these changes on a worldwide scale.