RAD and russian techinique

[elie]

Hello!

I know this might sound sort of ignorant, but I have never taken anything else but RAD syllabus classes in my life and thus I have never been familiar with the russian ballet techinique. Some time ago a girl in my class told me that it's much more difficult..Could anyone tell me some basic differences between the two techniques?

[Mel Johnson]

It's an apples-and-oranges comparison again, but - both systems were formed during the 1920s. The RAD method originally contained a lot of Cecchetti, just as it came from the old man, elements of the old French School, as taught by Edouard Espinosa, a good dollop of Bournonville, as taught by Adeline Genée, quite a bit of the Imperial Russian stuff from any number of different emigrés, including Nicolai Legat, and residual training from the days of Petipa, Ivanov, Johannson and Pavel Gerdt.

 

The Vaganova method was instituted by Agrippina Vaganova, who personally overhauled the teaching curriculum of the Petrograd Choreographic Institute, re-inventing the lexicon (the dictionary of ballet terminology) as she went. She took the previous Russian mix, as stated above, and made her own system from it. Because of the emphasis on "central planning", her method became the standard for the former Soviet Union.

 

The RAD was, and still is, was intended as a responsible and safe method of teaching classical ballet to a market that could show up and pay for their own classes, and screening of students was inadvisable. The Vaganova method was built on a pre-supposition that the applicants for instruction would be carefully vetted, and only students "built for success" would be accepted. The State would pay for all their expenses. Perhaps if your friend is finding Vaganova difficult, she is not one of those students "built for success"! Both systems have the production of students into entry-level professional dancers as a goal, but RAD also adds a track for those dancing just for recreation.