JCS

I can recommend 

http://www.balancesportsmassage.com

Jambaal is amazing. She works in several places including Covent Garden.

Now in queue 

I am gazing at a field of white where the performances should be.

I know the autumn half-term break is going to be the week of 21 October in at least four London boroughs and for some of the Central full-time students so I think it is likely most courses will be that week. (Half term has seemed unusually early for the last few  years.)

I was taught by Alex when I was doing the adult Intermediate Foundation class at the Royal Academy of Dance. I enjoyed being taught by him. 

I have been thinking about doing that for a while. However not sure how to do it!

That is  great news @The_Red_Shoes

Good luck, and enjoy!

Well I have my results and  I got Merit. Just over the threshold but I am thrilled. 

One of my local dance schools where I take pointe and floor barre classes is offering an Adult intermediate level class next term. Although it is not a syllabus class the teacher hopes to give a taster of some of the RAD Intermediate exercises, and it could become an RAD Intermediate syllabus class if there were enough interest.

I am registered for the class, but even though it is a small class (pointe class has a maximum of 10) it needs enough numbers to go ahead. I am interested in the syllabus work, but equally happy with a free class.

Classes are held at The Dance Lab, 63 Upper Richmond Rd, London SW15 2RD (very close to East Putney tube and not too far from Putney railway station). They start on Monday 8 January 2018. The time is 8.15pm to 9.30pm. It is not a drop-in class, but taster classes are available if there is space, and payment is half-termly.

If anyone is interested contact carmelaguidaballet@hotmail.co.uk (http://www.carmelaguidaballet.co.uk).

Hi Youngatheart

Yes, the exam was on Monday.

I had never done an exam before so it was an interesting and (relatively) enjoyable experience. I know I didn't do my best, what with nerves, a cold and having pulled  something in my back slightly when I coughed a few days before! There were lots of silly mistakes with the setting, and I have no recollection of thinking about turnout. I just hope somethings are in my body at this stage.

I knew the two of us that were taking the exam from our class were in together, and it turned out that it was just us. So I think there was less rest than there might have been. I was glad I had been doing interval training based on the length of the allegros.

The examiner was nice and made us feel comfortable. I liked the free enchainment even though I realised part way through the actual run some of my assemblés  derrieres had become assemblés  over. The music was Scott Joplin's the Entertainer which was very familiar. It was start left foot in front, arms bra bas; breathe the arms; glissade derriere - arms to first; assemble over - arms to open fourth; glissade derriere - arms to first; assemble over - arms to open fourth; assemble derriere; changement; stretch bend; repeat to the other side and then repeat the whole thing again.

Results by 29 January. If I pass I can go on to Intermediate, as long as there is space in the class.

That is brilliant!

@BalletRocks1 Glad to hear it went well. My exam is just under two weeks away!

@Viv All the best for tomorrow.

On 01/10/2017 at 08:59, balletgremlin said:

Are there any of you who started pointe as adults? Please let me know it gets easier because at the moment it's practically impossible. My teacher has given me ankle/foot strengthening exercises I've been doing religiously and my progress is still negligible.

I got my first pointe shoes when I was 50. For me the biggest jumps in progress I have made have been when I have changed to a different shoe. That is probably partly because my  feet have changed and also because I have more of a idea of what I need in a shoe.

Unfortunately I have strange feet and most shoes twist off at the back when I am on pointe.

@Viv I was persuaded to get over my panic. I had a private lesson when my teacher went over everything she had reservations about and she decided I was okay to go for it. I handed in the form and payment yesterday!

Sorry to hear your back is not better. I wish you all the best for the final push.

The possibility of doing the exam is still there; final decision next week. But I did the first session of the exam intensive at the RAD yesterday and there seemed to be so much more I could add. Also the exam could be as little as five weeks of lessons away and I only did allegro 2 full out for the first time on Saturday! I am thinking I will wait - although that does mean handling the Christmas break.

I am going to follow Sophie Rebecca's example and be videoed.

@Viv  it is so difficult to deal with injury. I hope all goes well with the final preparations for your exam.

Well I have been quiet on the board because I got injured just before half term in the summer. There was a lot of marking and adapting and watching for the rest of the term.

If I am going to do the exam I need the go ahead at this afternoon's class so I can get the application in before I go on  a long-booked, ill-timed holiday.

Next stop on train Clapham Junction for the RAD. I will update this evening!

I am so sorry. 

Have you contacted any local animal shelters in case someone mistook old age for being stray and whisked her off?

When doing glissades I get "it's not where you start, it's where you finish" coming into my head. I suppose because glissade is about what position the starting leg ends up in relative to where it began.

I suspect this may only make sense to me!

In the classes I go to we just do the syllabus as set, but those classes include students who are getting close to being exam-ready and students who are just starting to learn the syllabus.

However, I did follow as much as possible when there was a vocational class straight after my regular adult general class, and I know that they just did the allegros as set - plus free enchainments. 

Jetes devant! Our teacher said she didn't understand why adults struggled with them so much and ending up doing jete en avant (I think that's the one). The theory I offered was that we are taking the same route as for jete derriere - ie slightly forward - because we are so used to them. Very impressed with 5/10. Last week we did a free enchainment and I couldn't pick up the music on the second side and just ending up standing there, hoping that I would work out where to come in and with what step.

And of course Allegro 2 - considered the benchmark for being ready to do the exam! I am doing a lot of supplementary exercises for the allegros (I have been taking inspiration from this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HU1cbiSp4A&t=13s&list=PLVYzKialQysab6BPDLc0X3OLYSnhqwHTv&index=31) I think they are helping. In Allegro 2, with each repetition I am covering less ground. Closing to fifth would also help.

I can see from other threads I am not the only adult who is doing (or has done) RAD Intermediate Foundation, and I thought I would start a new thread for sharing experiences, past and present.

I started studying the syllabus in the autumn term 2015. Having started with one Inter Foundation class, I am doing two classes each week at RAD HQ and having a private lesson with my local teacher. I had hoped to be able to do the exam in this summer, but my teachers don’t think I am quite ready. I am really hoping for the November/December exam, but it does mean keeping everything up over the school summer holiday.

Pirouettes and allegro are my main problem areas (and also not looking tense!) Pointe work in the centre also needs work.

For those of us in the UK, I found The Ballet Master: Sir Peter Wright at 90 (as well as Dancing the Nutcracker - Inside the Royal Ballet and Darcey Bussell: Looking for Margot) available for purchase as a download in BBC Store.

Belated congratulations!