Hi Guys!

RE: Royal Academy of Dance’s New Direction, and New Syllabi – Thoughts?


► To RAD Dancers: Have you started learning the new syllabi yet?

If you have started learning the new examination syllabi, do please write to me and let me know what you think – if you like it, if you enjoy it, if you think it’s easier/harder than the old one – and anything else you can think of!



► To all RAD teachers: What are your opinions on the new syllabi?

Due to personal reasons I have not yet had the privilege to attend any of the RAD courses to launch their new syllabi for Pre-Primary, Primary, Grade 1-3, Intermediate Foundation/Intermediate. I would be extremely interested to hear your thoughts on the new work, particularly concerning the following:

• How have the students taken to the new work? (Do they enjoy it? Find it easy/hard?)

• How easy/challenging is the new work to teach?

• Is the use of so many additional props etc enjoyable and enriching, or merely a chore?

• How easy is it for an established teacher to essentially ‘re-learn’ their entire teaching repertoire?
(NB: Although I am aware that it was not the intention of the RAD, many teachers have found that they are so restricted by studio time etc that they have been forced into the position of exclusively teaching the examination syllabi in class, with little room for anything else. Many such teachers I have met have subsequently - if inadvertently - essentially grown ‘reliant’ on teaching the old syllabi over the last couple of decades, which may now feel like second nature. I therefore wonder how these teachers feel about being ‘forced to start from scratch’ – depending on your point of view.)

• How have students with learning difficulties or disabilities taken to the new work?

• Do you agree with (and like) RAD’s ‘new direction’ i.e. “Feeling before form”?



Many thanks everyone - I can’t wait to hear from you and read your opinions!

Kindest Wishes,
Elida

Hello, Elida, and welcome to CriticalDance! I am sorry to say that I do not have a background in RAD, so I cannot comment on many of your posts which specifically relate to RAD in the UK. My training and performing background is very different, and I am from the West Coast of the U.S. Perhaps others who may be more familiar with your syllabus and location will give some input. Again, welcome!

Hello Elida, I really like all you questions. I am a life teaching member of the RAD and have to say that I LOVE the new Intermediate Foundation and Intermediate syllabi, as do my students. So glad we finally got rid of all those endless boring set exercises. No problem for me learning and then teaching all the new work. Looking forward to a new Advanced 1 and 2.

My feelings are that teaching the 'new' work requires an 'old' way of thinking and that is that one teaches solid technique before you teach the set exercises.

Personally I was very disappointed with the new Pre-primary and Primary syllabi when it first came out, feeling it was not setting any standards or strong foundations to build upon, but the children seem to like it.

I really like the new grade 1, 2 and 3 and looking forward to teaching it in September. I find it interesting that it contains some elements from the Red Book syllabus which goes back some 50 years!
It will be interesting to see how all this develops...will the Primary's of today be able to do the grade 3 work in a few years? The children used in the RAD DVD displaying the new work all have the old syllabus as their background . Only time will tell.

The disappointment for me in these 3 new grades is the lack of character work.
I just cant fathom why after building the character syllabus on Polish, Hungarian and Russian style for the last 40 years the RAD would switch ( without any training exercises) to Ukrainian!
I think all the new and upcoming teachers will have to enroll in the ISTD National and Greek syllabus classes to understand what they need to teach in the Free movement and Character for the new RAD grades!
Hope I have answered all your questions.
Gina
www.GinaSinclairDavis.com

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