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Differences between BATD ballet and BBO ballet?


esme

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I know this has been covered many times - but - what are the actual differences between BBO and BATD?  I have BBO ballet grades up to grade 8 from a couple of years ago. When I enquired at a local dance school who do graded ballet BATD I was told that I would have to go back to Grade 2. Why? Is BBO not considered equivalent or not as good as BATD? I'm totally baffled as to what this is all about. BATD do not seem to be very open in terms of their actual syllabus, or is it just me?

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Cousin of a friend of ours who was studying RAD grade 8 and Adv 1 moved house a couple of years ago and approached a couple of local schools, one of which was BATD, and they were told she would have to go back to grade 2 as well. 

 

edited for spelling

Edited by taxi4ballet
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I'm afraid I know nothing whatsoever about the BATD syllabus as they seem to be very "precious" about not allowing non-members any kind of access to syllabus information. (e.g. by forbidding members to post anything about it on forums like this!)

 

It may well be that they have a rule where each exam is regarded as a prerequisite for the next one, but most exam boards with such a rule allow people transferring from another syllabus to commence at the appropriate level.

 

I have heard (but only anecdotally) that the content of the BATD grades is more advanced than the equivalent RAD ones, but then the same could be said for BBO (where you start the barre in Primary vs Grade 2 in RAD). So I would not know where to start comparing BBO & BATD.

 

Personally I cannot understand why some exam boards do not let non-members access the parts of their website relating to syllabus information, but this does seem to be the norm in a number of overseas countries.

 

Personally I wouln't touch a syllabus with a barge pole unless I had a chance to assess its credibility first, but maybe that's just me?

Edited by youngatheart
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I would be tempted to find another school accredited by a different 'board'. I just can't believe that the difference in the syllabi can be that great. There is only so much variation in style (it is ballet, after all) and standard. IMO, requiring an advanced student who has been studying a different syllabus to attend a Grade 2 class, which is presumably full of 9 year olds, is a bit precious.

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Just found an ad from the January 1981 Dancing Times,just the first one I have looked at here. There is an advertisement for their 89th Annual Conference in Blackpool. The President at the time was someone called Bobby Barr [Paisley]and enquiries are to be addressed to the General Secretary in Glasgow. It says "Founded 1892". Maybe it is or was a Scottish only syllabus ? Personally,I think there are too many different syllabuses out there. The same can be said for the different GCSE examination boards too. Surely it would be better for pupils if everyone was to take the one same method/style of exams as everyone else ? Just my opinion.

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Just found an ad from the January 1981 Dancing Times,just the first one I have looked at here. There is an advertisement for their 89th Annual Conference in Blackpool. The President at the time was someone called Bobby Barr [Paisley]and enquiries are to be addressed to the General Secretary in Glasgow. It says "Founded 1892". Maybe it is or was a Scottish only syllabus ? Personally,I think there are too many different syllabuses out there. The same can be said for the different GCSE examination boards too. Surely it would be better for pupils if everyone was to take the one same method/style of exams as everyone else ? Just my opinion.

I understand where you're coming from, but....;) in my opinion IDTA has always been 'top of the pops' at tap, closely followed by ISTD (which, for modern/jazz, I think is great). For ballet I'd choose RAD/Cecchetti/ISTD/BBO....Each syllabus has lots of different things to offer to different students...x

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I wasn't at all impressed with some beginners' level IDTA tap classes I saw. Perhaps IDTA tap is better in the higher grades? For ballet I would choose RAD or Cecchetti.

 

I think thequays may be right that BATD could be a Scottish exam board - I think I have seen advertisements for a BATD Highland dancing syllabus?

 

(Edited and my apologies to thequays for my brainstorm in referring to her by the wrong name!)

Edited by Legseleven
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August 1984 Dancing Times,another ad.A Programme of Dance in Manchester to include,Acro Gymnastics,Syllabus Grades and Medals,Modern Dance Routines,National Dances and Ballroom and Latin. No mention of ballet. Interestingly, at the bottom it says the local organiser in Manchester is Miss Pearl Yarwood in Northenden. That name really rings a bell somehow. 

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I wasn't at all impressed with some beginners' level IDTA tap classes I saw. Perhaps IDTA tap is better in the higher grades? For ballet I would choose RAD or Cecchetti.

 

I think LinMM may be right that BATD could be a Scottish exam board - I think I have seen advertisements for a BATD Highland dancing syllabus?

Of course, a lot depends on the teacher. :) 

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As a non dancer myself but a paying customer as a Mum I would be extremely suspicious of such secrecy. It appears defensive in the extreme.

 

My dc do BBO and other than a few terminological issues I thought the JAs who did RAD and BBO were in roughly the same place.

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Bit off topic as I know nothing re BATD.  I can see why teachers follow syllabi but I do think it's important to do a fair bit of free work to encourage quick response to different styles and combinations of steps. Ballet wise a lot of schools do ISTD grades and then both ISTD and RAD majors so I think it unlikely that BATD demand students go back to grade 2, when RAD don't make students go back and repeat grades before entering majors.

 

Think there is probably a bit of snobbery over exam boards - we used to say IDTA modern was a bit flashy and not very technical compared to ISTD, and I used to see a lot of IDTA tap done with turned out feet, but I reckon this was/is the teacher/s rather than the syllabus.  

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Ballet wise a lot of schools do ISTD grades and then both ISTD and RAD majors so I think it unlikely that BATD demand students go back to grade 2, when RAD don't make students go back and repeat grades before entering majors.

Strange but true - I thought it sounded odd too, so today I messaged the person who told me about it, and she said this particular teacher was quite insistent.

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My dds both studied ballet and jazz BATD syllabus and then younger dd also joined an RAD school and although there were variations in style I would say they were very much on a par ability wise. I think BATD intermediate was more difficult than RAD as there was a lot more pointe work, however I think RAD Adv 1 is more difficult than BATD. Hope this helps.

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I know a fair bit about BATD & RAD...I didn't know you had to go back to Grade 2 with BATD! They are pretty strict on doing grades in order though.

 

In terms of content, there is quite a lot more technically at a young age e.g. Pre-primary is quite extensive and involves turnout, quite a lot of steps and a long exam, very different from RAD. Although, it (from my experience anyway) seems BATD is not so strictly marked as RAD, definitely not the same marking scheme (more old school - watch each section, hand written comments from examiner). I've seen lots of lovely BATD ballet dancers but the best ones all seemed to also do RAD/BBO too. The syllabus definitely has gaps that a good teacher needs to plug (but I guess any syllabus isn't really a complete system, something for a teacher to use as a guide & supplement?) I do prefer the slow build up & training of RAD, however maybe a syllabus like this is more for the commuted recreational student? More accessible for all types of body? Just an idea!

 

In terms of where/how, it's HQ are in Glasgow & there are lots of schools in Scotland that teach it (more than ISTD I'd imagine) but there are BATD schools in the rest of Britain, Canada & I'm not sure where else. They do have quite an extensive list of dance styles - ballet, modern, tap, stage, disco, baton twirling, jazz, national, ballroom, Latin, cheerleading etc....not all the subjects have grades (some are medal tests)& not all do the full pre primary - Advanced 2 (ballet for instance goes pre-primary to Elementary at the moment).

 

I've been out the BATD loop for a while & just revisiting lately, but when I contacted them a while ago (10+ years!) they happily sent me a selection of syllabi that you'd normally pay for! Seems strange as mentioned not to at least outline what's involved!

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Could someone please tell me what BATD stands for?!!

I was hoping someone would reveal somewhere in the above posts!

I honestly have never heard of them either in all these years.

 

I hope there has been some misunderstanding about being required to go back to grade 2 though if already achieved grade 8 at BBO as I know this is at an advanced intermediate type level and to go back to grade 2 (unless injured of course) is a tad insulting!

Otherwise I might think the first three letters are somewhat appropriate eg batty!

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I don't know anything about BATD either, but it's possible the grades might work the other way round - i.e, Grade 1 is the highest grade. This is how it works for gymnastics levels, Or perhaps the junior grades are on a different grading system altogether, like Red, Blue, Yellow, etc, and only at a more advanced level do the actual Grades kick in. One of my children did ice skating for quite a long time, and that had a complicated system that I never quite got my head around which went from Level 1 to 10, then Bronze, Silver, Gold, then Level 1 to 10 again, but on a different system. And in the Russian ballet schools abroad, I believe they only start counting the levels from about age 11, so that would be a level 1 for an 11- or 12-year-old.

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Hello Esme,

 

I've moved your topic into the Doing Dance forum where our members are more likely to chip in.

 

Hello Esme,

 

I've moved your topic into the Doing Dance forum where our members are more likely to chip in.

Thank you. As a newbie I wasn't sure where to post it!

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Could someone please tell me what BATD stands for?!!

I was hoping someone would reveal somewhere in the above posts!

I honestly have never heard of them either in all these years.

 

I hope there has been some misunderstanding about being required to go back to grade 2 though if already achieved grade 8 at BBO as I know this is at an advanced intermediate type level and to go back to grade 2 (unless injured of course) is a tad insulting!

Otherwise I might think the first three letters are somewhat appropriate eg batty!

 

BATD is British Academy of Teachers of Dancing. I certainly did feel a tad insulted!  I've made a decision to give it a wide bearth and find an RAD school as there are no BBO schools nearby. As an adult, going into a Grade 2 class just does not cut it!

I know a fair bit about BATD & RAD...I didn't know you had to go back to Grade 2 with BATD! They are pretty strict on doing grades in order though.

 

In terms of content, there is quite a lot more technically at a young age e.g. Pre-primary is quite extensive and involves turnout, quite a lot of steps and a long exam, very different from RAD. Although, it (from my experience anyway) seems BATD is not so strictly marked as RAD, definitely not the same marking scheme (more old school - watch each section, hand written comments from examiner). I've seen lots of lovely BATD ballet dancers but the best ones all seemed to also do RAD/BBO too. The syllabus definitely has gaps that a good teacher needs to plug (but I guess any syllabus isn't really a complete system, something for a teacher to use as a guide & supplement?) I do prefer the slow build up & training of RAD, however maybe a syllabus like this is more for the commuted recreational student? More accessible for all types of body? Just an idea!

 

In terms of where/how, it's HQ are in Glasgow & there are lots of schools in Scotland that teach it (more than ISTD I'd imagine) but there are BATD schools in the rest of Britain, Canada & I'm not sure where else. They do have quite an extensive list of dance styles - ballet, modern, tap, stage, disco, baton twirling, jazz, national, ballroom, Latin, cheerleading etc....not all the subjects have grades (some are medal tests)& not all do the full pre primary - Advanced 2 (ballet for instance goes pre-primary to Elementary at the moment).

 

I've been out the BATD loop for a while & just revisiting lately, but when I contacted them a while ago (10+ years!) they happily sent me a selection of syllabi that you'd normally pay for! Seems strange as mentioned not to at least outline what's involved!

Wow - that's great thank you for that.  That is indeed the most I've ever found out about BATD ballet! I had thought about going to a grade 2 class out of curiosity but decided I didn't want, as an adult, to be in a class of young children doing things that I'd done as a child.  I still find it difficult to work out going back to grade 2, do BATD insist that you have to follow their grade system?  Is it more performance oriented? I'm kind of disappointed that it is almost like a guarded secret unlike BBO and RAD and I think I'll look for another dance school where I could, even do grade 8 again if need be.  I really appreciate your comments.

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Cousin of a friend of ours who was studying RAD grade 8 and Adv 1 moved house a couple of years ago and approached a couple of local schools, one of which was BATD, and they were told she would have to go back to grade 2 as well. 

 

edited for spelling

I just don't get it and in a way it is refreshing to know it's not just me!

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Just found an ad from the January 1981 Dancing Times,just the first one I have looked at here. There is an advertisement for their 89th Annual Conference in Blackpool. The President at the time was someone called Bobby Barr [Paisley]and enquiries are to be addressed to the General Secretary in Glasgow. It says "Founded 1892". Maybe it is or was a Scottish only syllabus ? Personally,I think there are too many different syllabuses out there. The same can be said for the different GCSE examination boards too. Surely it would be better for pupils if everyone was to take the one same method/style of exams as everyone else ? Just my opinion.

Hi - thank you for doing that.

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