RAD Graded vs Vocational

[mumofdd]

Hi,

 

My 12yr old DD has just taken her RAD Inter Foundation exam after 14/15 months of study.  However, on the graded side, she is only in Grade 4...  Is it quite common to be in Grade 4 and Intermediate, or is my DD going to find the Grade 4 work too easy now that she has taken her Inter Foundation exam?

 

Everything I have read puts Inter Foundation at a Grade 5/6 level, so I'm a little confused!

 

TIA

[invisiblecircus]

Has she been taking grade 4 classes alongside the IF classes? How many classes per week of each?

[The_Red_Shoes]

Inter Foundation is a Level 2 exam, so in that sense equivalent to Grades 4 and 5 whereas Grade 6 is Level 3. I know that at my last school students started IF work in parallel with Grade 4 but because it takes longer to prepare for than a Graded exam they continued in parallel with Grade 5 and often did both exams in the same year. However at my present school some students were taking Grade 6 and IF in the same session this month.

[mumofdd]

So, my daughter was in Grade 3 when she started the Inter Foundation class.  She took her Grade 3 in April and has just taken Inter Foundation.  She hasn't taken Grade 4 yet but is now moving into the Intermediate class which is level 3.  That's why I'm wondering if she's going to find the Grade 4 work tedious now that she has taken the Inter Foundation exam and is moving into Intermediate. 

[Dancing unicorn]

I’m not sure about RAD but in other associations, if you’ve taken a higher grade as an exam, you can’t then take a lower grade as an exam! If that makes sence 🤣 if she were with me, I’d have worked/taken exams upto/and  including grade 5 before taking IF! But worked parallel with IF! 
So I would now say she’s Intermediate! But, I don’t know if they do this in RAD, or if they can still take grades after taking IF 💗

If in doubt, ask her teacher 💗

[Horsellian]

Not sure if this is useful, but my DD started grade 5 and IF at the same time, when she was just turned 11. She took grade 5 (age 11), IF the next term (12), did grade 6 two terms later (12) and intermediate the term after (13). 

 

I know a most girls in our dance school start IF and grade 4 together, but DD was 10 when she started grade 4, so wasn't invited yet.

 

I would guess that your DD would be able to get through grades 4 and 5 quite quickly, as I think inter is a lot harder than either of those.

Edited December 5, 2022 by Horsellian

[Dance*is*life]

I have to say that I find it rather wierd for your daughter to have taken IF and still remain in Grade 4!   There is absolutely no comparison!  If she's good enough to have passed IF then she should definitely be working at a higher level than even Grade 5 in order to bridge the gap between IF and Inter.  Where a school only has once a week Vocational level classes then I know they often offer alternate level classes to add dancing and training hours.  However, if she is to reach Intermediate level, she needs to work on far more advanced exercises than are in the regular grades.  Once they have passed IF our girls get 3 ballet classes a week of 90 minutes - 2 syllabus and one non-syllabus.   For a start pointe work needs to be developed, along with double pirouettes and numerous other more advanced elements.  As someone mentioned Grade 6 or 7 would be a good transition level to Intermediate.  

[mumofdd]

She does 2.75hrs of ballet a week (45 mins G4, 1hr vocational, 1hr private) plus a 30 min stretching class. I think G4 is going to be far too easy for her now!

[EverHopeful]

I don’t think there’s any harm in doing lower grades alongside your current level as it allows time to really focus on and perfect the technique of steps that are already familiar. 
Similarly, it’s probably a good idea to also do some work at a level above as well, to understand what you’re working towards and begin to get used to more complex vocabulary