Dance*is*life

I have enough problems teaching one level properly,especially if it's exam work, because there are always mixed abilities even in girls working at the same level. I can't imagine trying to teach Grade1, 2 and 3 together. The new work is really difficult and there is a huge difference in the abilities of a six year old to absorb and execute new steps and a ten year old. I think it is extremely unfair on the Grade 3s. Even if she is just teaching non-syllabus work, I don't see how it would work. By the way, we offer hour long twice a week classes from Grade 1 upwards, but our Grade 1s are older than six. Surely six year olds would be doing Primary or even Pre-Primary?

Honestly your teacher is being rather unhelpful to say the least! You do not have to take IF - it's like AF - an extra exam that's optional. Under the circumstances, I think I would go with taking the IF in March and finding an alternative date for the IDTA Inter so as to get them both out of the way and on to the more advanced work. I think you need to be at the highest level you can to give you the best chance to be accepted to vocational school. There are so many applicants.....

Harrods is also lovely at Christmas time! Last winter my son and I stood at Picadilly Circus by Eros and looked up Regent Street - it was super! Also the streets around Covent Garden all had Xmas lighting decorations, not just the actual Plaza.

I too have fingers crossed that she will be okay. Here's a few suggestions. Did you know that you are allowed to wear an elastic support bandage under the tights? That might help her on the day. Also if you don't mind her using it, there are cold aerosol sprays that you can spray on the problem spot to numb the area a bit. Pros use them if something happens mid-performance. She could also take a simple pain-killer beforehand, and then hopefully the adrenalin should help her get through it. Of course, it would be a shame not to take the exam after she has got so far, but honestly, in the worst case scenario that she really can't take it, you should know that the exam result is not the be all and end all of everything. In my opinion the process of working for the exam is what's important - all the extra energy and concentration and practise that the students put into the preparation for the exam - this is what makes them improve and advance. Anyway, a lot can happen in 12 days - you've still got time for her to recover!

You don't need to pass the IF in order to take RAD Intermediate, which is another reason why it would be stupid for her to stay down in IF another year, if she doesn't take the exam. If she's exam ready but does not in the end take the exam, why not just let her go up to the next level? Not all our students choose to take the exam for various personal reasons. We don't force them (it's a lot of money - some parents can't afford it/some kids don't want the pressure) but if they are competent in the work, they go up with the rest of the class. Why penalise them?

If the exams were on an equal level she should surely be in Intermediate RAD as well. As she's not, I'm inclined to think that the expectations are higher in the RAD system, which would suggest to me that it's more important that she take the RAD Intermediate Foundation exam, in order to advance properly in that. Our IFs are usually between 11 and 13, but my Intermediates this year are all 13 and 14, which is how I like it, so that by 16 they'll be well versed in the Advanced level work You really don't want your daughter stuck in IF now - she needs to get on to Intermediate and start working on more advanced pointe work, double pirouettes and a wider vocabulary in allegro. I personally don't see any point in her remaining in the IF class if she's ready for the exam. I have to admit that I have no idea what the IDTA syllabus consists of - possibly she is indeed working at a much higher level there, which makes the decision even more difficult. However, as someone said, the vocational schools are more likely to offer continuing classes in RAD or ISTD. Which level does your daughter find more challenging and interesting?

How do you enter for it? Do you have to send a video?

I too think it's the off centre roll that's the problem not the heavy hair. Our older students make wonderful buns by making several plaits out of the pony tail and twisting them into the bun, pinning each one carefully. Plaits condense the hair and the buns are not very large even when they have a lot of hair. It does take time, but the result is very impressive!

I certainly have no objection to men getting flowers too, but I have to say that I really adore that little curtain call tradition, where the ballerina takes a single flower from her own bouquet, kisses it and with a small curtsey hands it to her partner, who then bows and kisses her hand. Oh - that is so heart melting and olde worlde gracious! And I really do miss those bewigged, red coated major domos!!!!

I foresee a huge entry for Advanced 1 old syllabus this month and then probably nothing for at least two years!!!!!! Anyway, hope the exams go well for those taking it now. Keep calm and look on it as a performance rather than a test. The examiner does want you to pass and often helps out in the unseen work at IF and Inter level, although at this Advanced level their expectations from the students will be higher too...........

2dancersmum, that's an interesting observation that it may be easier than I think. I do hope so!

Yes I have put students in for the old Advanced 1 a year after Intermediate and two got Distinction, but I honestly can't see that happening with the new syllabus, so I can well understand your teacher wanting your daughter to have a go before the syllabus changes, even if it's a bit rushed. I did that with a beautiful student who was not quite 14 when I put her in for Advanced 1. I knew that if I didn't she wouldn't take it, because the class beneath were not suitable candidates for it even if she waited a year. She ended up passing with Merit for the first time in her life, but I still considered it a great achievement at that age. And she only had 3 lessons a week at that time. I have a feeling that the Academy will see a huge drop in Advanced candidates with the new syllabi. For heavens sake they used a professional dancer to demonstrate the new Advanced 2 on the DVD! I am very upset because I have a super batch of Intermediates this year and I would have sent them for Advanced 1 next year, now I don't know how to continue with them. Sorry, I digress!

Judging by the Corsaire clip, I should think she'd have no problem dancing a male variation!!!! She'd probably out jump most of them! I agree that what's so incredible is that she has such speed as well as huge jumps - they don't always go together. I presume it's because she's quite short - 5ft 2in. However brilliant tall ballerinas are, it's harder to do be speedy with long legs! Here's an interview with her which explains it a little - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/dance/10662694/Natalia-Osipova-I-have-never-lost-the-feeling-of-flying.html

Yes one lesson a week is certainly enough to learn the syllabus - provided that a student is taking several other lessons of free work at a similar or higher level. Lilac noted that her daughter "has one ballet lesson locally per week and attends Tring CBA" I don't know how many classes she takes at Tring, but if it's only one extra ballet class a week that's still hardly enough for Advanced 1. It's not just a question of learning the syllabus, but of being able to perform it well even under the pressure of exam conditions. Of course your daughter may be super talented and have been working on the syllabus for a couple of years, but even so with less than three weeks to go you really do need to start pushing - even a "laid-back" teacher should see that!

What an interesting article! I also enjoyed the comments (almost as long as the actual article) by Mary Tomlins. Of course it is right to give encouragement and a platform for young, less experienced choreographers, but I do feel that the Covent Garden stage should be reserved for ballets worthy of it . By the way no-one has mentioned Boris Eiffman and his ballet company. He comes up with a new narrative ballet every year or so and they are usually riviting. He uses a collage of music, inventive scenery and dancers who are actors as well as brilliant technicians and I have become a groupie!

Just wondering what level exam he's going to take?

Well, I think you should ask again. It's the teacher's responsibility to make sure that her students are ready for their exams and if she has agreed to enter your daughter for such an advanced exam on one lesson a week (which IMO is nowhere near enough at that level) then she needs to find time to work with her. Does your daughter feel ready? Has she practised all the "unseen" work? There are either 2 or 3 exercises that the examiner makes up on the spot and your daughter will need to know the vocabulary for that - allegro and pointe work. Honestly - don't feel uncomfortable - go and nag until your daughter gets what she needs! If you can get up to the Academy in Battersea you can arrange for private lessons there, but they are very pricey.

I have a delightful anecdote about keeping warm which that reminds me about. When I was at the RBS senior school, we were forbidden to watch company rehearsals through the glass windows in the doors - of course we all did - what ballet student could resist such a treat? Anyway, one day I was peeping in to watch the divine Beriosova when she came out. I jumped away from the door and tried to look nonchalant, but as she passed me she suddenly turned to me and said " You know you should wear your legwarmers between classes to keep your muscles warm" and walked off, leaving me practically fainting from relief and pride that she had spoken to such a lowly person as myself! Of course I always did after that.........

I haven't seen much of Neumeier's work, I'm afraid and I am sorry because I have loved the few extracts I have seen . There was a Eurovision Young Dancers Ballet Competition some years ago (don't think it survived - unlike the song competition which refuses to lay down and die) with an absolutely beautiful variation that he choreographed. I have it on video somewhere - must try and find it and transfer it to DVD.

What's interesting is that some of them are doing the frappes with pointed feet throughout and some aren't - did you notice? Different system of training? In my day you would not have had such diversity, because dancers had to have been trained in the school and have British nationality in order to be eligible to join the company - unless you were Nureyev of course! Didn't you love the way the ballet master demonstrated with his hands and voice and everyone knew what he wanted? It's like having a secret language! In the RAD system, petits battements serres are always done with fully pointed feet as are petits battements battus. Also regular petits battements are performed on demi-pointe in the RAD Advanced Vocational Grades with a fully pointed foot and not wrapped.

There's a spray called Fabreeze which makes the smells go away or is supposed to. Don't know if you can get that in NZ, but possibly something similar. We ordered twenty blue romantic tutu skirts for our younger students and the net was far too stiff - the girls lifted their knees and the net stayed up! I tried washing them in the bath and it made no difference at all. In the end I stuck them in the washing machine and that finally did the trick. I suppose it does depend on the stiffness of the net as to what it can withstand from a washing point of view.

Grishkos have to be the hardest shoes on the market. I had a student who was very easy on the pointe shoes - she managed to keep using her first pair of Grishko pointe shoes for 6 years until she left school! And they still clonked till the end - even though the blocks by then were totally soft! She was determined to dance in her last school recital in them and she did!

I was searching for variations to teach in senior pointe class and came across this. I just sat there stunned - she hovers in the air! It's of Natalia Osipova in Le Corsaire. Amazing! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLNW3aioL1w

You don't need to wear soft blocks for RAD Intermediate Foundation, which is the first exam where pointe work is introduced, but there are still some teachers who require this. I don't know if it's a good idea or not as it's very hard on the feet, but even though I understand the reason for using them and I myself had to wear them for years when I was training, I don't like them. I have students who are really strong on pointe - able to do double pirouettes - but in demi-pountes/soft blocks find it difficult to do a double. The vamp prevents them from going on to demi-pointe properly and one poor girl has terrible pains, just where the vamp cuts in. They are learning variations in pointe class, so are jumping and balancing with no problem in real pointe shoes, but are finding it really hard to jump in soft pointes. I don't know why this is - I don't remember they're being so uncomfortable when I used them. Ready made demi-pointes didn't exist then, so we just removed the backs of pointe shoes. I wonder if the trend nowadays is to make shoes with longer vamps and that is the problem?

Thank you! Wonder if the whole thing is on youtube?