beaglemum Posted March 6, 2015 Share Posted March 6, 2015 Hi; Am new on here and just wanted a bit of advice. My DD has been asked to join the Pre-Intermediate Foundation ballet class at her dance studio and I just wondered if any of you had any experience of what it involves. She is just over a year into Grade 2 RAD attends 2x45 min classes of ballet. 45 mins Tap and 45mins Modern a week. Thank you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisa O`Brien Posted March 6, 2015 Share Posted March 6, 2015 Can`t help you out with your query i`m afraid,but just wanted to welcome you to the Forum,beaglemum. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beaglemum Posted March 6, 2015 Author Share Posted March 6, 2015 Thank you, thequays Ive been reading through the messages and I think I might be here for a while. Its very interesting 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna C Posted March 6, 2015 Share Posted March 6, 2015 Welcome, beaglemum. :-) Our school does not have a pre-inter foundation class; they are invited to take Inter Foundation but study it for a couple of years. Do you mind me asking how old your dd is? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Picturesinthefirelight Posted March 6, 2015 Share Posted March 6, 2015 How old is she? There is no such thing as Pre-inter foundation so I can only assume that her dance teacher has put on a pre-pointe class perhaps or a class that aims to prepare children for Inter F Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anondancer_15 Posted March 6, 2015 Share Posted March 6, 2015 I did a pre inter class before I started intermediate foundation, and it was just a slightly higher difficulty level than the graded syllabus, acted as an extra training session that focuses on technique before starting pointe work as well. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piccolo Posted March 6, 2015 Share Posted March 6, 2015 That sounds about right. Our school has something similar. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swanprincess Posted March 6, 2015 Share Posted March 6, 2015 Welcome to the forum! At my old dance school, there was a pre inter-foundation class; the students learnt the steps and simplified versions of the inter foundation enchainements, to prepare them for studying the syllabus. Those students were aged between eight and eleven, most spent a year in the pre inter foundation class then two years studying the syllabus before doing the exam. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dance*is*life Posted March 6, 2015 Share Posted March 6, 2015 (edited) I can see that it would be a good idea to do a preparation for Intermediate Foundation after Grade 4 - instead of Grade 5 perhaps - but personally I cannot envisage a Grade 2 child, who only does 2 x 45 min classes of ballet a week, being ready for that. To me it sounds rather too ambitious a jump, but maybe your child is ready for it - without seeing her of course we can't know. There is no pre- Intermediate Foundation level officially in the RAD. Edited March 6, 2015 by Dance*is*life 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anon2 Posted March 6, 2015 Share Posted March 6, 2015 Why not ask if your dd can sit in and watch the class before the Easter break? Give her some idea of what she might expect If she joins the ckass. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxi4ballet Posted March 7, 2015 Share Posted March 7, 2015 Beaglemum, I wonder how old your dd is, and when she is likely to take the Grade 2 exam. Are both her current classes Grade 2 or is she doing Grade 2 + 3 or non-syllabus? Personally, I think joining a pre-interfoundation class would be a good idea, as it will introduce new work and will be a good starting point for the vocational grades. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 7, 2015 Share Posted March 7, 2015 I only did 1 hour a week of ballet before starting inter foundation. It was a big jump so I think the pre inter class is a good idea:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 7, 2015 Share Posted March 7, 2015 I can see that it would be a good idea to do a preparation for Intermediate Foundation after Grade 4 - instead of Grade 5 perhaps - but personally I cannot envisage a Grade 2 child, who only does 2 x 45 min classes of ballet a week, being ready for that. To me it sounds rather too ambitious a jump, but maybe your child is ready for it - without seeing her of course we can't know. There is no pre- Intermediate Foundation level officially in the RAD.I was only doing one hour a week of ballet before starting inter foundation, so was my sister Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beaglemum Posted March 7, 2015 Author Share Posted March 7, 2015 Thank you all for replying: taxi4ballet she is 11 and will be taking her grade 2 exam before the summer holidays, both her current classes are Grade 2. Her school likes to keep them on a particular grade for anything between 18 months to 2 years before doing exams. She is the only one from her class who has been invited to do this class, which seeing from the answers it sounds like a good introduction to the vocational grades. Dance*is*life I trust that her teachers have made the right desicions, If she doesn't like it for any reasons then we can always withdraw her. A lot of girls who have done this class previously have been Grade 2 who are close to taking their exams. I will let you all know how she gets on 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dance*is*life Posted March 7, 2015 Share Posted March 7, 2015 Good heavens - you must all be tremendously talented if you can cope with IF without going through all the grades and having so few hours training! Perhaps it's because our Grade 2s are quite a bit younger that I have difficulty picturing them making that giant step! Anyway, I have to say that I am impressed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
youngatheart Posted March 7, 2015 Share Posted March 7, 2015 The RAD do have a class like this in their own dance school - it is a non-syllabus class offered to students deemed to have the potential to do vocational grades in the future, and would be taken addition to their graded class. Personally I too am surprised that she would start it in Grade 2 as well - I would have thought that the appropriate time to start would be a couple of terms into Grade 3, moving up into IF proper no earlier than a couple of terms into Grade 4. However since she is already 11, it does make sense for her to be given the chance to move on faster, as this age is rather late to still be in Grade 2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxi4ballet Posted March 7, 2015 Share Posted March 7, 2015 She will get a lot out of starting vocational work now, and many start in inter foundation at 10/11 so she should be fine. If the teacher keeps them in each grade for 18 months plus, it makes sense to do more classes. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
annaliesey Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 My dd started inter foundation two terms after grade 2 exam as teacher wanted her to get to grips with a lot of G3 first and said terminology confusing between start of G3 and IF. Alongside that she also started a pointe prep class. She explained IF really a two year syllabus or at least at our dance school and I think there is minimum age with IF of 11 years Our teacher said she preferred doing this than either skipping grades or rushing through them or learning two grades at same time as she felt other schools sometimes did Hope that helps 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
youngatheart Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 Yes IF is a 2-year syllabus, with the exam intended to be taken after Grade 5. Hence why IMO partway through Grade 4 would be the most appropriate time to start, assuming Grade exams are taken each year. Pre-IF (or Vocational prep) would be teaching technique & some of the extra vocabulary but not the full syllabus proper and yes, could be started earler. IMO there is no point starting IF before 10 due to the pointe work element - otherwise the student could be ready to take the rest of the exam but then have to be held back until they are ready for pointe. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beaglemum Posted March 24, 2015 Author Share Posted March 24, 2015 Thank you for all your replies I really appreciate you all taking the time to comment. She is now taking her Grade 2 exam in July and will be starting the pre inter class in April after the Easter break, She is one of 3 out of her class that are doing the pre inter class but so far the only one doing her exam ( that may be a whole other thread topic lol) thanks again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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