2littledancers

Thanks all for your comments , It wasnt so much my daughters score that i was querying , as even though its the lowest she was received , you can hardley grumble at a Distinction with 86 , but like Snape said many of the other dancers who would normally achieve a reasonable merit only just scraped one or got a pass .I think It just seemed to me that the Benchmark had not quite been set yet and the examiners were being over cautious , or in fact maybe the new syllabus truly highlights strenghs and weaknessess in a child ability. Aurora , your right the work is a great deal more difficult and lovely at the same time and so much more enjoyable to watch , my daughter loved it , and is now thoroughly bored in grade 4 ( back to plinky plonkey boring work she says!!) She took 18 months to study it so wasnt rushed through the exam. Although DD teacher is thinking of doing just that with grade 4 , so once the new grade 5 comes out in Jan , she can commence with learing that straight away , taking her time to perfect that over the next 18 months , but im also very reluctant to push her through as she is still very young. Snape , we used the cd s for the music . 1st time , as had a great pianist playing the old stuff , but actually the students preferred it. I do think your right grumpybearzuk , it depends what examiner , they are all human at the end of the day. What are the solo performance awards , our school doesnt do these , it would be something my daughter would love as loves performing , ie festivals etc , speaking of which , got the All England semi finals to take up the whole of my half term , oh the joys !!

I was wondering if anyone has had any recent experience with the examining of the new grade 3 syllabus ? My Youngest daughter has recently been examined on it and although the result was good , compared to other exams I could not help but feel that it had been examined rather cautiously. Approx 20 pupils took the exam from my daughters dance school and although the marks crossed the whole of the marking spectrum , they were all slightly on the low side. I was just wondering if any other people had experienced similar

We are also waiting for Grade 5 results , exam date was the 1st July. Had alL ISTD results for Tap Modern and Jazz that were taken after that date , My eldest daughter asks every day , although youngest , most interested daughter tries to change the subject everytime it is bought up as she still has the 'hump,' as she was unable to take her grade 3 and has to wait till January as learning the new sylibi , which i must say is beautiful and she is absolutley loving.

You can indeed pick up incorrect technique , and the examining board (i only have knowledge of ISTD) can be very strict on that . Also they can be very strict on the candidates having enough strength and maturity to perform the exercises. There are no age limit s on taking the modern exams , but as we know 1st hand most teachers will not let you progress to far too soon as you will be marked down in exams if the examiner feels that the strength and maturity is lacking ! ( this will be probably happen to my daughter age 8 , she has just taken grade 3 but she will be made well aware that she will not progress through grade 4 and 5 quite so quickly for these reasons. Similar situation applies to the jazz , although ISTD have recently lowered the age you are able to take bronze jazz from 10 to 9 . The ages are set for a reason in all styles , modern and ballet included, to enable the technique to be adhered to , although not as complex as ballet modern certainly has a technique .

Hi aileen , yes the standard is extremely high , put it this way , what my 11 year old DD is doing in her grade 3 is equivelent to what i was doing in elementary and intermediate when i was dancing ( i know that was some time ago ) !!! And flowerdew , i do agree , my youngest has only ever known the new syllabus and knows no different ! so its the norm to her. Think ISTD felt that to compete with other syllabus s and examining boards they had to review and move with the times , as it was pretty dated - this was noticable at festivals and competitions etc .

If the school follows the ISTD syllabus for tap , then im not surprised your DD has said she doesnt like it , as it is probably way too hard for her and she feels like she is sinking , my 8 year old is taking grade 2 and my 11 year old is taking grade 3 , they are both quite good tappers but have found these grades quite a challenge. The new ISTD syllabus s are very very hard compared with the old grades these being equivilent to grades 5 and 6 before the syllabus changed! I cant think of a worse style of dance to feel like a fish out of water in than tap. Your school seems very relaxed with there modern/jazz and tap , do they take exams?

My DD started dancing at the age of 2 1/2 at the same dance school , with the same teacher as myself!!! The teacher spotted her very early on ( prob as she knew she was my daughter ) and really pushed her through as she has a very good head on her shoulders and absorbs instructions like a sponge for one so young.She couldnt have been more pleased with herself as she ran on stage in her first show age 3 as a dove ( she told everyone she was a duck , i did try and tell her , but she was having none of it !!!) Still being to young to take the primary and grade 1 , DD went to all the exam classes with her friends , just couldnt take the exam ( RAD rules )so just moved up after a in house exam . Finally , at last , the excitment was more than xmas ,she got to take her 1st exam - grade 2 and passed with a Distinction with 92 ! the same year she reached the finals of the All England with her ballet solo . It s funny how dedicated she is to her dancing and how much she enjoys it , all this has come from just sending her to baby ballet lessons , as " isnt that what little girls are supposed to do"

Can anyone tell me what age the Junior section is ?

It is right that they are like Marmite , you either love them or hate them !!! Our dance school does enter festivals involving solo s , duets and groups and both my DD S love them . My eldest doesnt ouse confidence so she is happy and enjoys dancing in groups such as Tap , song and dance and modern, My little one (age 8 ) on the other hand has 5 solo s , duet and numerous groups and would do more if i allowed it or could afford it , she loves the festival scene , loves performing and people watching her. It is correct that people can take them a little to seriously thinking they are the most important thing in the world , but you get that with alot of things not just festivals . It is very easy to get carried away and the progression from the regionals to the semi s to the Finals is very exciting as we found out last year when my DD made it to the All England Finals last year with her Ballet Solo, the experience of dancing on a west end stage at that age is second to none . The adjudicator s are mostly lovely and are very knowledgable in the world of dance and for the most part give constructive critisism The competitors especially the ones aged 14/15 plus looking to go on to further training find this valuable. It is very sociable , you get to know a great deal of people from different areas and different schools and my DD S have made many friends , it also improves confidence. Our experienece of festivals is a very positive one but im sure as with anything peoples views will differ.

Hi Im wondering if anyone can assist be with a calendar typical to one issued by Tring CBA , I am aware that it is only 6 sessions per term , i was just wondering timings ,dates etc . Need to assess whether we can fit this in , as our dance school commits to festivals , Sunday rehearsals etc . I am finding it very difficult to find extra ballet for my DD on an associate basis , as dancing all day on a saturday seems to put pay to this . Tring sound perfect as not too far .

It is very difficult to judge whether you are doing enough, this is often a sore point between my daughter and husband in this house he feels she is doing too much and she believe s not enough - im caught in the middle Hers schedule is as follows Monday - nothing Tuesday 1 hour non syl ballet followed by 1 hour grade 3 RAD Wednesday 45 MIns Tap Thursday 45 mins Tap Friday nothing Saturday 45 mins Jazz , 1 hour RAD Ballet , 1 hour modern. Also festival rehearsals are put inbetween these classes ... she has just turned 8 .

Hi taxi4ballet , i did think about this option , do you or anyone know much about these classes ??

No not in Leeds , in Bedfordshire , so the Northern schools however brilliant are a tad too far !! Its very difficult to know what to do for the best , although not saying she would be accepted .

Im still in two minds whether to let my DD audition at all , as her normal classes are on a saturday , meaning she would miss her RAD ballet , modern and jazz . This would mean at the age of 8 i would be limiting her avenue s somewhat .. Also i dont want to stand in the way of her ballet which she adores . Decisions decisions .

Hello , I m a newbie !!!! 1st post ! I took my youngest daughter to the JA for a day , it was lovely , quite informal and a really nice atmosphere. The little ones (mine was 7 at the time) seem to have a lovely time although i would say that a huge amount of the children , if they were to audition would find the dicipline side a bit of a shock !! They did bar work and a little in the centre with stretching to finish. There was a productive Qand A session at the end which children and parents/teachers are encouraged to participate.And once everyone got involved answered a great deal of those questions you have always wondered . Very difficult to determine the standard though.