All About Ballet

[Yngmng]

Cool hi, thanks for sharing. And congrats on your dd results. I always thot not easy to get distinction for ballet.

[Vodkaelle]

Hi, i am looking to enrol my 5yrs old gal for ballet. Any gd recommendation for cc/ dance sch near CCK or any teachers?

TIA.

[cool_hi]

Hi, Cynk,

received your PM… i typed my reply to u but not able to send out,
& it was stated that u had "disabled the receipt of PM" for yoru account!

Btw, the school my gal is attending now is:
Attitude Perfoming Arts studio at Bt timah Plaza…
if u need more info, can pM me with your contact…
or can also ask me in this thread…cheers!!

[cool_hi]

Yngmng:

Cool hi, thanks for sharing. And congrats on your dd results. I always thot not easy to get distinction for ballet.

hi Yngmng, :thankyou:
it was unexpected as we only finally found a school in late nov, just before the school register exam in Dec..
so she had a lot to catch up..it was tough but it's her passion thus she practised very hard for the exam(amidst psle stress..)
glad that her hard work pays off!
& also have to thank her teacher who had been very welcoming,encouraging & motivating,
though she is a new student!! & also the very nice gals in her class!!
Praise God for all these, that helped to make her disticntion possible!!

[xuanting]

cool_hi:

Just Sharing:
my gal and her 2 other classmates, went for trial for Grade 5 class, but all 3 were rejected right after trial..& Ms Sylvia never bother to speak to us, the parents...
we asked receptionist, she merely say teacher say their 'styles' are different from her class/her teaching...
...
anyway, when we were asking the receptionist why we were rejected, another gal who was an existing student there,
was crying when receptionist told her no need to pay for next term's fess. coz Ms Mccully wants her to stop class coz she is not up to her standard...
Me & the other 2 mummies were :yikes:

Wow. I've been under the impression that schools are fighting very hard to keep their existing students as well as to recruit new ones! There are so many choices nowadays and studio hopping is becoming increasingly common.

[chapmummy]

Hello everyone! My girl just left ballet at the ballet school @ amk . They are not very flexible about make up classes and we have been at that school for about 1 year. I will not encourage you to join that particular school. However, the teacher was very good and my girl could do well in her recent RAD examinations (distintion) she is a grade 4 (primary 3) . Her academic school also offers ballet . We left bcos there is a school ’ Jeffery Ballet academy ’ if i am not wrong. They offer RAD and my friends daughter trains there as well

[Guacamole]

Hi all ballet moms and dads


DD is currently in grade 1 RAD ballet and she enjoys it very much. At the moment she takes 2 x 1 hr class per week. However something that made me feel quite uncomfortable happened. So DH and I think it's probably time to move to another studio.

I'm fine with RAD system, but I've been reading about Vaganova/Russian based curriculum. Apparently not many ballet schools in Singapore doing this. One school that's quite close to our place is the Little Dance Academy in Pandan Gardens.

Does anyone have any comment on that school? And what kind of difference should I expect between RAD vs Vaganova system in Singapore (learning environment, opportunity to pursue higher education in Ballet, scholarship opportunities, etc)

Thanks!

[FantasyLandDreams]

It is here again:


http://singaporeballetacademy.com.sg/2017-11-20-dance-masterclass-series/

[xuanting]

Hi Guacamole,


I’m not an expert on the topic but I’d like to share what I know as a dance parent. I think the training method does not matter as much as whether you are able to find a very good teacher for your daughter. At the end of the day, the basics and steps are the same, but the teacher’s insistence on small details can make a world of difference in your daughter’s training.

I guess one difference between the two will be that students attending an RAD school will learn a specific set of exercises and dances for the RAD examinations every year whereas the Vaganova-based school will conduct its own assessment for promotion to the next level.

Vaganova videos on Youtube will not be able to tell you very much about the Vaganova-based local schools you are interested in since Vaganova itself is a full-time boarding school and it only selects students with a very specific ballet physique as well as other characteristics that make them highly suitable to train in the Vaganova method. It has no affiliations to schools anywhere.

In terms of opportunities to pursue a higher education in ballet, I think all such schools require an audition, whether in person or via video recording, so back to quality training again with little regard for which syllabi the applicant is trained in.

As for scholarship opportunities, dance competitions seem to be the way to go. Dance competitions normally offer a wide range of scholarships/apprenticeships to winning/selected candidates. These can be long term or short term (one/two weeks, summer intensive etc). The more prestigious the competition, the more highly sought after the scholarships/apprenticeships are.

If you haven’t already settled on a school, I’d suggest taking your daughter for trial classes to experience the learning environment in some of your short-listed schools. Hope this helps. All the best to your school-hunting!

[Guacamole]

Thanks a lot Xuanting!


I googled some ballet forums and apparently Vaganova curriculum itself starts only for 10 yr old and older dancers. Before that the classes are for building basics and pre-conditioning to prepare the students for the real Vaganova.

I guess since my knowledge is limited, probably it’s best to stick with RAD. As you were saying it’s indeed easier to find youtube videos for my child to learn from.

Any of your children here going to smaller school? DD is currently joining this school with many branches across the island and I’m thinking to move her to a smaller school (personal preference). 2 names that looks promising are Palais Dance and Young Dancer Academy in Ghim Moh. Anyone’s got any experience there?