Are ISTD grades same level as RAD grades?

[Kim12]

My daughter is currently working on Grade 5 ISTD ballet. If she were to join an RAD class would grade 5 RAD be the equivalent or is RAD easier/harder? I understand they are slightly different in that one has more character, one has more set work etc but in terms of level what would be the equivalent to G5 ISTD? I heard one teacher say it’s more on a par with Grade 6 RAD but I don’t know how much truth is in this. Many thanks for any insight! Also has anyone experience of successfully studying both RAD and ISTD at the same time or is it too confusing? Thank you. 

[Blue Box Ballet]

From a regulatory point of view, I believe they are. 

The graded examinations are regularly reviewed to ensure that they are placed at comparable levels. 

 

http://www.gradedexams.com/images/Sector-report-on-graded-examinations-2018.pdf
 

https://cdmt.org.uk/validated-awarding-organisations/graded-exams-the-definitive-guide-website
 

https://cdmt.org.uk/images/gradedexams/CDMT Flip Book Output/GradedExamGuide/
 

If you’re wondering about the actual content of assessed vocabulary then I’d say the best place to check would be in the specification documents. 
 

https://www.istd.org/documents/imperial-classical-ballet-syllabus-outline-revised-2019/1imperial-classical-ballet-syllabus-outline-revised-2019.pdf
 

https://media.royalacademyofdance.org/media/2019/12/16143234/20191216-Specifications.pdf
 

 

 

[MissEmily]

Having been trained in RAD, but now teaching ISTD, I can confirm that the ISTD grades are harder than the RAD ones, so yes, Grade 5 RAD would be about equivalent to ISTD Grade 6. Studying both is useful, but requires some brains as the terminology is often different. It's good to be familiar with both in the "real world" outside ballet syllabi.

[Colman]

They're both quite different in their approach: RAD requires learning a lot of set exercises and is more "dancey" while the ISTD barre (for instance) is mostly not set at that level, which means simpler exercises but you have to pick them up there and then. There's less ISTD exams too, so they arrange the content differently.

 

Having studied both recently, I'd say the difficulty level is roughly equivalent but they're difficult in different ways. Doing Grade 5 ISTD and going straight to Grade 6 RAD would mean needing to pick up the RAD way of doing things at the same time as dealing with the technical challenges, so I'd be inclined to be slightly conservative and do Grade 5 unless there's a very long run into the exam. There are style differences to deal with too: arms aren't the same (and have different terminology) and so on.

[Pups_mum]

My DD has experience of both, and indeed ITDA, as a student and teacher. I think she would agree with @Colman that they are all different rather than easier or more difficult. Of course any individual student may find one syllabus more or less challenging depending both on their particular strengths and weaknesses and on their teaching to date.

I think I'd be inclined to start with grade 5 and see how it goes. It will take a little while to get used to the differences in terminology and structure of the exam etc. As a general rule, I think it's better with most things in life to begin someyhing new at a level you can manage without too much stress and then move up, rather than aim too high, find it difficult and lose confidence.

[taxi4ballet]

20 hours ago, Kim12 said:

Also has anyone experience of successfully studying both RAD and ISTD at the same time or is it too confusing? Thank you. 

I was wondering what the reason is for wanting to do both.

 

How old is your DD?

[Colman]

On 20/01/2022 at 22:40, Kim12 said:

Also has anyone experience of successfully studying both RAD and ISTD at the same time or is it too confusing?

Oh, I missed this bit: it’s not really that confusing, just a bit annoying. The vocabulary doesn’t overlap much, they have different names for things but don’t use the same name for different things that I can think of. The worst bit is different use of head - ISTD stays to  centre where RAD would be changing head - and arms. It can feel quite stilted. Going ISTD to RAD would be less annoying, I think. 

[SplitSoul]

Could I also ask how IDTA compares?

[Gowiththeflo]

3 hours ago, Elz said:

Could I also ask how IDTA compares?

My Dd did both for a short while- inter/adv 1 level. I think she said IDTA was more ‘performy’ and ‘dancey’, whereas RAD was more ‘techniquey’. 
🤣her words, but I will check for clarity later! I think it was confusing at first with the terminology differences etc,but she soon ‘got it’, and did very well in exams with both boards. 

[Fiz]

25 minutes ago, Gowiththeflo said:

My Dd did both for a short while- inter/adv 1 level. I think she said IDTA was more ‘performy’ and ‘dancey’, whereas RAD was more ‘techniquey’. 
🤣her words, but I will check for clarity later! I think it was confusing at first with the terminology differences etc,but she soon ‘got it’, and did very well in exams with both boards. 

That is exactly what I was told by an ISTD teacher and in fact my dds’ dance school used to teach both syllabi in the upper levels.  

[taxi4ballet]

The quality of the teaching rather than the syllabus followed is what's more important.

[Peony]

If she wants to go on to professional dance learning both techniques and the different names would probably be a big advantage. ISTD also contains more unset work which could be an advantage when auditioning. 

ISTD introduces some steps like double pirouette earlier than RAD. The big difference seems to come after grade 5 when ISTD continues to grade 6 and then IF, intermediate etc. RAD has 2 pathways either grades 5,6,7,8 or grade 5 then IF, inter etc. The RAD IF is definitely at a lower level than ISTD. If you ask the teacher I’m sure they’ll just slot her into the class according to how she works in class and I wouldn’t worry too much about what it’s called!

Edited January 22, 2022 by Peony

[Kim12]

On 21/01/2022 at 10:23, Blue Box Ballet said:

From a regulatory point of view, I believe they are. 

The graded examinations are regularly reviewed to ensure that they are placed at comparable levels. 

 

http://www.gradedexams.com/images/Sector-report-on-graded-examinations-2018.pdf
 

https://cdmt.org.uk/validated-awarding-organisations/graded-exams-the-definitive-guide-website
 

https://cdmt.org.uk/images/gradedexams/CDMT Flip Book Output/GradedExamGuide/
 

If you’re wondering about the actual content of assessed vocabulary then I’d say the best place to check would be in the specification documents. 
 

https://www.istd.org/documents/imperial-classical-ballet-syllabus-outline-revised-2019/1imperial-classical-ballet-syllabus-outline-revised-2019.pdf
 

https://media.royalacademyofdance.org/media/2019/12/16143234/20191216-Specifications.pdf
 

 

 

Thank you so much for the info and for taking the time to post links

[Kim12]

On 21/01/2022 at 10:45, MissEmily said:

Having been trained in RAD, but now teaching ISTD, I can confirm that the ISTD grades are harder than the RAD ones, so yes, Grade 5 RAD would be about equivalent to ISTD Grade 6. Studying both is useful, but requires some brains as the terminology is often different. It's good to be familiar with both in the "real world" outside ballet syllabi.

Thank you 

[Kim12]

On 21/01/2022 at 12:05, Colman said:

They're both quite different in their approach: RAD requires learning a lot of set exercises and is more "dancey" while the ISTD barre (for instance) is mostly not set at that level, which means simpler exercises but you have to pick them up there and then. There's less ISTD exams too, so they arrange the content differently.

 

Having studied both recently, I'd say the difficulty level is roughly equivalent but they're difficult in different ways. Doing Grade 5 ISTD and going straight to Grade 6 RAD would mean needing to pick up the RAD way of doing things at the same time as dealing with the technical challenges, so I'd be inclined to be slightly conservative and do Grade 5 unless there's a very long run into the exam. There are style differences to deal with too: arms aren't the same (and have different terminology) and so on.

Thank you 

[Kim12]

On 21/01/2022 at 19:14, taxi4ballet said:

I was wondering what the reason is for wanting to do both.

 

How old is your DD?

Because she’s joined a new school to do more ballet but still at her old school as well. She’s 13 

[Kim12]

On 22/01/2022 at 13:36, Peony said:

If she wants to go on to professional dance learning both techniques and the different names would probably be a big advantage. ISTD also contains more unset work which could be an advantage when auditioning. 

ISTD introduces some steps like double pirouette earlier than RAD. The big difference seems to come after grade 5 when ISTD continues to grade 6 and then IF, intermediate etc. RAD has 2 pathways either grades 5,6,7,8 or grade 5 then IF, inter etc. The RAD IF is definitely at a lower level than ISTD. If you ask the teacher I’m sure they’ll just slot her into the class according to how she works in class and I wouldn’t worry too much about what it’s called!

Thanks for the info