question about RB JA

[tomuchtallent]

Just wondering what do they teach in a ja class?are all the Ja classes around the country tought the same and have a certain criteria or are they free classes?Do they work alot on flexability,feet and turnout and strength?

Im interested to know because i read on here that in year 7 at WL they start completly from scratch.

[JulieW]

I believe (although of course I can only speak from experience of one centre) that they are basically the same classes wherever you take them - although with different teachers things will vary a little I'm sure. So from my own experience (and this was a few years ago now) they spend quite a chunk of time at the beginning of the lesson on their exercises that they are meant to do at home - feet, turnout, core. Then it's lots of barre work - everything's done very slowly and carefully - that was the main difference we noticed from our local classes. They do also do centre work.

 

When we talk about them starting from scratch in year 7 it's not like they treat them as if they've never done ballet before - but they do go back to basics to a certain extent to iron out any faulty basic technique.

[plie]

My daughter is a year 5 JA in London and this year they still haven't moved to the barre as yet!!

There are a lot on conditioning exercises as Julie said in the first part of the class once they are warmed up. After this they do a lot on plies and tends in the centre and lots of moving around to vary the class. They are never static for too long!

They work a lot on musicality and posture.

As a ballet teacher myself I see the JA programme as very valuable as is the time they spend getting the basic technique right.

Cant praise it enough!

[amber21]

Hi my dd is a ja they tend to do a variety of bar work, ballet in the centre along with stretching exercises. The moves are modified for varying years and I suppose having over 2 hours with the children the teacher has an opportunity to add plenty of variety in the class. I know my dd absolutely loves it and enjoys the variety compared to her regular syllabus based ballet class.

Ax

[Nana Lily]

When my DD's were JA's in Manchester they also did National. Remember my girls being delighted as they recognised the music of the Mazurka when we watched Coppelia; Miss Agar had taught them a Mazurka during their JA class. When we had the opportunity to watch class, they generally finished with a national dance, a chance to enjoy dancing and perform to their parents. The JA classes are quite long and hard, especially for the y4/5's, the national gives a different dimension and is an important part of their learning of dance styles in some of the major Ballets, and its fun!

[dancerbabe82]

The ones I've watched as a teacher (a couple of years ago now) they do a lot on posture, & turnout and their conditioning exercises are very slow and controlled. The barre work is fairly traditional (barre reverence?!) but very easy with emphasis on solid secure technique... A fair amount of focus on eye line/ projection from what I remember. National is often in pairs or 3's to encourage a bit of dance quality too. The classes require a lot of concentration and dedication for the kids as they're so young and I'm fairly sure that they look for the dedication and 'studious' type at auditions as well as those with musicalty, physique etc

[Maria]

I was just wondering what time JAs have their lessons in Birmingham - is it a morning class?

[mimi'smom]

Maria it depends on the age and whether weekly or fortnightly. My dd's weekly year 6 class runs from 4 to 6-15, the year 4/5 class runs from about 1:30 - 3:45 (I think) These times are different from last year so they can vary from year to year and are not set in stone.

 

Angela

[JulieW]

Gosh, yes, I'd forgotten about the National part of things (and on that note, I've always wondered why the RAD insist on calling it "Character")

 

Our classes in London used to vary too with my two children (both did fortnightly classes which were mixed sex) - anything from an early (ish) morning start, to middle of the day, to the end of the day. The end of the day ones worked out quite well as we went to see lots of ballet at the Opera House (£6 ish a ticket for the upper slips - bargain - and my children got to see lots of ballet)

[dancerbabe82]

JulieW it's called character because the term 'National' really applies to very traditional study of dances from different countries (and an ISTD syllabus!). 'Character' is the term for dances in the traditional ballets which aren't 100% accurate or true to the dance of the country but are much more staged for the theatre, and often quite classicised.

[JulieW]

I get that - but the "character" section of the lower grades at RAD are National steps based on a different country for each grade (or so I thought) - not rep dances which I could understand being named differently

[Anna C]

I thought that RAD character started as Russian based folk and then introduced Polish as the grades went higher? I know in Grade 6 there's an awful lot of Polish; dd has been practising the Krakoviac (sp?) :-)

[rachaelballet12]

my DD is RBS junior soon to be mid i agree the children need to be able to concentrate really hard as they are worked hard throughout their class partner and centre work is also done and yes my DD has also enjoyed national dance alot of work is done on excercises in both class and at home . MY DD also enjoys the variation and learns alot at her lessons that she does not do in graded lessons the class is set to each year groups needs . MY DD has certainley enjoyed her year as a JA and is looking forward to September when she will be MA.

[dancerbabe82]

The RAD work only covers Russian, Hungarian and Polish.... these are the only 'national' dances in the traditional ballets such as Swan Lake - Mazurka, Czardas, Polonaise etc

 

In fact, by grade 6,7 and 8 the movements are taken straight out of the ballets (a lot from Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty). It's lovely for the kids to see the movements they learn on stage, being done by the professionals!