In class yesterday, Saturday, our instructor mentioned that she was substituting for another instructor's Beginner 2 and Advanced Beginner classes today. She invited everyone to come Sunday as well. In response to a question, she commented that Sunday's B2 class would be a slightly easier than her own B2 class, while the AB class would be a bit harder. This supported my own conclusion that her B1 class was more of a B1.5, and her B2 is more like B2.5. Of course I had to test my hypothesis.
Today's class was, in fact, a little easier than yesterday's. The initial barre work skipped our usual stretches in 4th. The frappés were a little slower, giving me time enough to complete the double beats rather than cheating the last one. In the center, the combinations were a little less complex. The promenade was a short 1/4 turn rather than a 3/4 turn the long way around. All of the pirouettes were en dehor rather than a mix. Having gotten used to her regular class I still felt challenged but without feeling on the edge of flailing. One of the women who also takes the Saturday class echoed the sentiment. Those who are used to the regular Sunday class offered the names of their next of kin.
In the dressing room I met a dancer from out of town who had decided to drop in on today's B2 class. He, too, has been dancing for about two years, so he makes a good point of comparison. He liked the barre, but said "the center work just killed me." Maybe RAD has a point with their standardized classes and tests. Maybe.
Oh! I almost forgot. We did the sequence I described last post. I could make the steps a lot cleaner, but otherwise I do have this combination figured out. Happy happy.
Today's class was, in fact, a little easier than yesterday's. The initial barre work skipped our usual stretches in 4th. The frappés were a little slower, giving me time enough to complete the double beats rather than cheating the last one. In the center, the combinations were a little less complex. The promenade was a short 1/4 turn rather than a 3/4 turn the long way around. All of the pirouettes were en dehor rather than a mix. Having gotten used to her regular class I still felt challenged but without feeling on the edge of flailing. One of the women who also takes the Saturday class echoed the sentiment. Those who are used to the regular Sunday class offered the names of their next of kin.
In the dressing room I met a dancer from out of town who had decided to drop in on today's B2 class. He, too, has been dancing for about two years, so he makes a good point of comparison. He liked the barre, but said "the center work just killed me." Maybe RAD has a point with their standardized classes and tests. Maybe.
Oh! I almost forgot. We did the sequence I described last post. I could make the steps a lot cleaner, but otherwise I do have this combination figured out. Happy happy.
Have you tried RAD? My friend started it this year and really liked the structure of it.
ReplyDeleteNope. My instructors have been a mix just about every other flavor (ABT, Cecchetti, and even Vaganova), but never RAD.
DeleteThere are certainly some basic steps that I need to improve on, and I have a feeling if I went RAD I'd get stuck back at the very basic level for quite a while. I'm also not fond of regimentation.
Maybe I'll try them one day.
I don't think I'd mind having a little certificate saying I'm at a certain level - I would hope it would take out the guess work of "am I a beginner in this studio, elementary in this one or dare I say it intermediate somewhere else?" :) I guess the solution would be just to get really good and go wherever. haha :)
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