Going for Ballet Examination by Clarice Jena Luo

Going for Ballet Examination
The Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) Examinations for Classical Ballet (Vocational Studies) is a series of exams taken by individuals interested in pursuing further career paths in ballet (such as teaching). Although many students might not end up in the dance industry, these vocational exams provide excellent training and open up several opportunities for an individual should he or she decide to fall back on dance in a later point in life. In certain ways, the vocational exams are the more accurate gauge to a person's technical capability in the classical form and it is a step up from the graded examinations which are targeted at recreational dancers or younger dancers.

The last exam I took under the RAD examining board was my Intermediate exam, after which I am now eligible for the RAD teaching certificate course which will take up another 1.5 to 2 years.

Preparing for any exam is never an easy task, and preparing for a classical vocational exam is no different. Sacrifices have to made and investments such as time, commitment and money are played up once the exams draw closer. On a normal basis, a typical ballet student at Grade 7 or 8 would spend approximately 1.5 to 2 hours per week on regular ballet class. These classes include barre work, stretching, centre work, jumps, pirouettes and the set dances given by the examining board. For a student at the vocational levels such as Intermediate Foundation, Intermediate and Advanced Foundation, he or she would spend about 2 to 3 hours a week on regular classes with the given set of exercises as prescribed by the RAD. These exercises would only vary slightly from the graded ones since they are designed in such a way that they are progressive and they are based on the previous years' work. The only main difference between the graded and the vocational examinations is that the vocational studies require Pointe work (dancing on tiptoe) and the graded examinations have a separate skill for Character Dances. Character Dances are stylised representation of a folk or national dance such as Polish, Hungarian, Russian, Spanish and Italian. They train the young dancer to interpret music and movement accordingly to the type of folk dance specified in the syllabus. The vocational syllabus is generally more technical and less expressive, with a higher concentration of marks given to the technicality of the dancer rather than the performance aspect. Examiners also tend to look out more for the candidate's technical potential and accuracy rather than the candidate's ability to interpret music or their artistic presentation.

About 4 months prior to the examinations, ballet mistresses would decide on the list of candidates to prepare for the examinations. This marks the start of extra training classes which would be focused on first finishing the syllabus and then polishing up the exercises and adding in aspects like hand and head placements. During this period, the student may be required to return to the ballet studio 3 or 4 times a week depending on the intensity of the class, each class lasting a minimum of 2 hours which includes Pointe work.

The preparatory period before exams are especially important and require the most amount of commitment and effort on the student's part as he or she will have to make the conscious effort to come for classes more frequently and sacrifice other commitments such as school CCAs, religious commitments and family. An important part of preparing for an exam is also to make sure that the candidate's family is aware of his or her commitment, and hopefully be able to provide support for the dancer. This is especially true in ballet when the students are mostly young girls and boys who are schooling and still dependant on their parents.
Although classes get more frequent closer to the exam period, dancers must be prepared to work on their exercises outside of class time. Fortunately, my ballet teacher made the effort to create several copies of the RAD syllabus CD and distributed it to each dancer for us to practice on our own. Furthermore, she took the effort to sit us down and brief us on what exactly the examiners are looking out for according to her experience from previous years and what the examiners' comments were. Copies of the syllabus outline and pointers were made for the class so that we could get a better idea of what we should emphasise on during the execution of certain moves such as when to hold the count and where to look during a centre work port de bras (carriage of arms) exercise.
The examination attire for RAD graded exams are usually more colourful and aesthetically pleasing with regards to choice of design and colour of leotards, chiffon skirts, scarfs and character skirts. The RAD vocational exams follow a standard basic attire of black leotards, demi-pointe shoes (pointe shoes without the hard shank) and proper pointe shoes with good arch support. Hair is always gelled down and pulled tight into a bun with massive quantities of black hairpins.
The overall atmosphere of entering a ballet exam is always tense and highly-strung especially during vocational examinations when you are graded together with other dancers from other schools. It is always a tough challenge to focus on what you have learnt so far and execute them to the best of your ability when nerves get the better of you, therefore it is imperative never to compare yourself to the other candidates in the exam room even if they seem to be doing an entire different take on an exercise you have learnt before. Every school interprets the RAD syllabus differently and thus the other candidates might have practiced the same written steps with different travelling steps, hand placement, port de bras and head placement. It is important to not be distracted by the other candidate's level of skill or presentation as that will only serve to create more pressure that will cause you to perform worse than expected.
In all, from beginning to end, a ballet exam is a very serious commitment that will prove to be a very fulfilling event that will see your efforts come into fruition especially after you get out of the studio and heave huge sigh of relief and happiness.