Private lesson or extra class at higher grade

[Actsingdance]

Dd has been taking a half hour private lesson in preparation for September as her dance school doesn't offer Inter Foundation.

 

However her dance teacher has said she can join in with Intermediate at no extra charge.

 

Unsure whether its too much of a jump. She needs to work on her technique.

 

Which would you choose?

[aileen]

What's happening in September?

[Actsingdance]

She's going to a full time performing arts school.

[aileen]

Is your dd aiming for a career in classical ballet or is she thinking more along the lines of contemporary dance or musical theatre?

[Anna C]

My dd does both - private lesson every other week, and she was invited to join the Advanced 1 class while completing Intermediate.

 

Both have their merits; in privates she gets to work on her specific areas for development, does non-syllabus work, and she really thrives on the one-to-one attention. In Adv 1 she gets to stretch herself and increase her ballet vocabulary while getting a feel for the syllabus. If she had to choose one or the other she'd probably choose the private lesson. However, she also has another Inter class plus Associates - you can get such a lot from working in a class with other dancers so I would never advise *only* private lessons.

 

Don't forget there isn't such a gap between Inter Foundation and Intermediate so it might be useful to get a sneak preview of the syllabus. But to be honest the teacher will be best placed to advise on which she thinks will be most beneficial.

[Actsingdance]

She has her normal grade classes as well.

 

She wants to do musical theatre but is a little behind in her ballet which she needs to work in to keep up. The potential is there but she's done a lot of drama, jazz modern etc in the past.

[Actsingdance]

I'm listening in and there are 14-16 year olds in this class, two of whom are off to upper schools in September - eek!

[Pups_mum]

Does it have to be either/or? Could she do both or maybe alternate weeks. I agree with Spannerandpony - both would have their merits and she would gain different things from each. It sounds like you feel that the Intermediate class would be daunting for her, but I doubt the teacher would have suggested it if she felt that she wouldn't cope. Could you let her go along a few times and see how she feels?

[Anna C]

I'm listening in and there are 14-16 year olds in this class, two of whom are off to upper schools in September - eek!

Don't ever let that worry you or your dd - the other two girls taking their Inter with my dd are 4 and 5 years older than her and she gets on really well with them.

[Actsingdance]

Thanks for the input. Unfortunately it wasn't an option to do both.

 

I chatted to her and the teacher afterwards and dltjough she really enjoyed the challenge in terms of improving her technique it's too much too soon yet and so we are going to stick with her normal grade classes and the private lesson.

 

Also the inter class clashed with my younger child's martial arts class in the next town.

[twinkletoes]

i have to admit to not being a fan of taking higher classes along with the normal class, both from the students and the teaching perspective, a private class is more likely to be effective, although some students are able to do this without issue more often taking the class above may mean that the student doesn't have the required pre-requisit knowledge/skill from the lower grades, its actually better to take the class below and work on perfecting underlying technique.   I am always worried that the students in the grade suffer if the teacher is having to spend more time on those who are doing the grade as an extra top up, having seen a few schools operating this I find that there is also a risk that the students who are doing the extra grade are sometimes ignored or left to fend for themselves particularly if there is exam prep going on, though i am sure that the teachers try hard not to do this.

 

it seems though that the private is the best option for you DD anyway and i'm sure she will love her time at the performing arts school

[taxi4ballet]

My dd has experienced both methods, and she much prefers to do the next one up rather than down. She gets bored and frustrated  unless she's being stretched in what she is being asked to do, and likes to have more advanced dancers to emulate. She's progressed much more quickly this way than she would have done otherwise (it just suits her frame of mind better).

 

At her previous school there would often be senior students from more advanced classes in her one, and they would usually monopolise the teacher to such an extent that she and her grade-mates felt ignored half the time. That was probably the teacher's fault though!

 

I'm sure, that lots of other students (and more understanding teachers) would find the method of consolidating work in a lower grade more suited to them, and suit their way of learning just as well.