Senior School

"The Vocational Graded Examinations in Dance Syllabus provides an in-depth study of ballet, developing students’ technique, music and performance skills and introduces pointe work for female candidates. This highly-focused and practical training prepares students for a dance, or dance-related, career. Students wishing to study for Vocational Graded examinations should have the maturity and technical aptitude for demanding study." - The Royal Academy of Dance (RAD)

To learn more about the RAD please see here.

The Vocational levels progress through 5 levels as students age. All levels and areas of examination must be passed before the student progresses on to the next level (except for foundation levels). These levels are:

Intermediate Foundation (Inter Found)

Intermediate (inter)

Advanced Foundation (Adv Found)

Advanced One (Adv 1)

Advanced Two (Adv 2)

 Throughout these levels female students progress onto pointe and male dancers progress their allegro intensity and technical ability, and all students learn a greater repertoire of steps, variations, and dances. To help students progress through these levels we expect students to attend an Open Stretch Pointe class, to aid in developing the flexibility, strength, and knowledge required. Exams are more rigorous and expectations are set higher of what each individual students must accomplish.

Higher grades are also available. These continue on from the Junior school RAD syllabus, and can either be done alongside the Vocational levels (from Intermediate upwards), or for students who do not wish to study pointe who are unable to attend the more demanding Vocational classes.

Students may also wish to enrol in Progressing Ballet Technique.

Intermediate Foundation is the first level in the RAD vocational levels. Here students learn the foundations of what it means to be a vocational student, and begin the process onto pointe. Once completing and passing Intermediate Foundation, students move into Intermediate where the syllabus becomes bigger, and expectations are again higher.

Work is done on strength, flexibility, musicality and performance, to set students up well for their advanced levels.

Students sit a closed exam in August with other students from around the Waikato and Bay of Plenty area. Students are also invited to participate in an end of year 'Big Ballet,' where a guest choreographer is flown in to teach repertoire from a specific ballet.

Requirements: 

• Students must attend 2x 1.25 hour classes in Intermediate Foundation, or 2x 1.5 hour classes in Intermediate per week. They must also attend Open Stretch Pointe B.

  • students may also want to attend Progressing Ballet Technique Senior, and/or a Variation class.

• Students must be strong enough to transition onto pointe, at the discretion of teachers and the director. A 'pointe license' is gained to show this.

• Students will need to wear a regulation navy pleated uniform; see here for details. Students may also begin to wear open gear in specific classes.

Class Cost: Please contact us for more information about fees.

When: Please see our timetable

Where: Limelight Dance Academy, 144 Rototuna Road

Advanced levels in the RAD syllabus are preparing students who may be wanting a career in ballet or dance, or who wish to obtain qualifications from their ballet training. Students are expected to be able to not only perform the steps well, but also perform with maturity and well-established musicality.

Students sit a closed exam in August with other students from around the Waikato and Bay of Plenty area. Students are also invited to participate in an end of year 'Big Ballet,' where a guest choreographer is flown in to teach repertoire from a specific ballet. They are expected to perform this work en pointe, and once reach Advanced 2 levels, are invited to audition for solos and small group roles.

Requirements: 

• Students must attend 2x 1.5 hour classes per week. They must also attend Open Stretch Pointe A

  • students may also want to attend Progressing Ballet Technique Senior, and/or a Variation class.

• Students will need to wear a regulation black uniform; see here for details. Students may also wear open gear in specific classes.

Class Cost: Please contact us for more information about fees.

When: Please see our timetable

Where: Limelight Dance Academy, 144 Rototuna Road

The higher grades of Grade 6, 7 and 8 are are continuation of the Junior School grades 1-5. These classes incorporate three unique parts;

• Ballet - the foundation and the most important part of the syllabus. The classical ballet side focuses on the romantic era of the 15th and 16th century, where softer lines were more popular. You may associate this with ballets such as La Sylphide and Giselle.

• Free Movement - influenced by and incorporating movements in common with other dance styles such as Natural Movement, Contemporary and Classical Greek Dance.

• Character - the theatrical presentation of national dance using original ethnic dance and music which has been freely adapted for the theatre. The three styles — Hungarian, Russian and Polish — were selected because of their historic importance in the development of the nineteenth century full-length classical ballets.

There is no pointe work involved in the higher grades.

Limelight offers the higher grade of Grade 6, 7 and 8 to students at Intermediate level or higher, or to students no longer wanting or able to to continue with their Ballet training at vocational levels.

Requirements: 

• Students must attend 1 class per week. Grade 6 must also attend Open Stretch Pointe B, and Grades 7 & 8 must attend Open Stretch Pointe A.

  • students may also want to attend Progressing Ballet Technique Senior, and/or a Variation class.

• Students will need to wear a regulation navy pleated uniform; and have appropriate character gear; see here for details. The studio provides the necessary exam skirts for a hireage fee.

Class Cost: Please contact us for more information about fees.

When: Please see our timetable

Where: Limelight Dance Academy, 144 Rototuna Road

Open, Stretch, Pointe (OSP) is a compulsory class for all LDA vocational students, or higher grade students wishing to sit an exam.

This is an open class that works alongside exam classes, working on open vocabulary steps, technique, repertoire, pointe work and conditioning. The class is split into 2 levels; B for all Intermediate students (all Inter Found, Inter and Grade 6) and A for all Advanced students (Adv Found, Adv 1, Adv 2, Grade 7 & 8).

Requirements: 

• Students must attend 1 A or B class per week. If a class is missed students may make this up by attending the other level class later in the term.

  • students may also want to attend Progressing Ballet Technique Senior and/or a Variation class.

• Students may wear open ballet gear to these classes.

Class Cost: Please contact us for more information about fees.

When: Please see our timetable

Where: Limelight Dance Academy, 144 Rototuna Road