From the age of 7 upwards, students at Shore Dance are taught the Royal Academy of Dance Graded Syllabus. These classes are one hour long. Students have the opportunity to work towards an RAD examination in August of each year.

The Graded syllabus consists of three different components; classical, free movement and character dance:

Classical
The Classical work is the foundation and the most important part of the Graded Syllabi.

Free movement
The free movement section incorporates movements in common with other dance styles such as natural movement, contemporary based dance and Greek dance.

Character dance
Character dance is the theatrical presentation of national dance using original ethnic dance and music which has been freely adapted for the theatre. There are three styles - Hungarian, Russian and Polish - and these were selected because of their historic importance in the development of the traditional full-length classical ballets.

For more information on the Royal Academy of Dance syllabus, please visit the following websites:

RAD New Zealand: www.rad.org.nz

RAD UK: www.rad.org.uk