fiona4802

My DD will be starting the Adv 1 in August and she will be very happy if it suits the long-legged. She is short in the body but very long in the leg and she finds that sometimes she just can't get her legs where they need to be in the same time as the girls who are proportioned differently. I was very worried about going from old Adv Fnd to new Adv 1 but this forum has helped settle my nerves!

Thanks Legseleven. The general consensus at the studio (and reading the facial expressions of the students as they watched the DVD) seems to be that the Adv Fnd study is jaw-droppingly difficult but the Adv 1 looks easier in comparison. I do wonder if the RAD are going to notice a significant drop in the number of students taking the vocational exams. My DD (13) is not a full-time student and does not plan on a career in classical dance (although she loves choreography and teaching). If she was planning a career, she would already have to be in full-time classical coaching and doing her schooling by distance education. As a recreational student who still attends school and takes only six hours per week of dance classes, she still wants to do her best and obtain great exam results, but realistically cannot compete against those in full-time. We had always planned that she would go all the way through to Adv 2 but that may not happen now. My DD has everything in place physically and sound classical technique, but it will be a challenge to do the new syllabus justice in the time she has. Of course I realise that the Vocational grades are designed for those who DO intend on a career, but that's not very many and if only those students were to do exams, they will see a big drop in numbers.

I've been following this topic with interest. My DD has completed exams in Inter Fnd and Intermediate in the new syllabus but will be doing the Adv Found exam in July in the old syllabus. She will then start Adv 1, new syllabus. I was worried about going from new to old to new again but it sounds like we may have dodged a bullet! Watching the DVD for Adv Fnd gave us all a fright. Soooo hard. Fortunately she has time on her side as she's only 13, so if Adv 1 proves a challenge, she can do it over two years.