A Case Study On The Royal Academy Of Dance Syllabus Practice In The Steps Dance Studio To Create Professional Dancers

University of the Philippines
A Case Study
on the Royal Academy of Dance Syllabus Practice in the Steps Dance Studio
to Create Professional Dancers
A Thesis
Submitted to
The Department of Voice, Musical Theater and Dance
College of Music
In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements of MuD 200
By
Regina Angelica S. Bautista
2009‐14182
Diliman, Quezon City
December 2014

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APPROVAL SHEET
The thesis hereto entitled, A Case Study on the Royal Academy of Dance Syllabus
Practice in the Steps Dance Studio to Create Professional Dancers, was prepared and
submitted by Regina Angelica S. Bautista, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
degree of Bachelor of Music, Major in Dance.
_____________________________________
Prof. Basilio Esteban Villaruz
Adviser
Accepted as partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Music,
Major in Dance.
_____________________________
Dean Jose S. Buenconsejo
College of Music

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
To Ms. Sofia Zobel‐Elizalde, visionary, founder and teacher at Steps Dance Studio, thank
you for supporting this thesis whole‐heartedly;
To my dancer informants, thank you for answering my questions and sharing so much
of yourselves and your passion. Steps Alumna: Corinne, Monica and Madge, my BP
friends and co‐dancers, thank you for inspiring this thesis; Montsie and Bianca with
whom I was only acquainted before this thesis, thank you for being readily open and
honest;
To my teacher informants, Raul Sauz, Marion Ignacio, Ed Malagkit, Tita Radaic, Liesl
Laforteza and Sonia Domingo‐Orevillo thank you for sharing your experiences and
expressing so much enthusiasm and zeal about teaching. It inspires me to know that
teachers have so much commitment to teaching and imparting knowledge of our art
form;
To my CCPDS and BP ballet teachers, Victor Ursabia, Gina Katigbak‐Garcia, Katherine
Trofeo, Monette Victoria, Ruby Gomez and Jeff Espejo, thank you for giving me the
capacity to understand ballet technique and the demands of a ballet company, thus,
giving me the means to study this pedagogical method and syllabus. To Gia Gequinto,
thank you for introducing me to BP and CCPDS. To Paul Morales, thank you for
welcoming me into BP;
To the UP Dance Company, Herbert Alvarez, Elena Laniog and Angel Lawenko‐Baguilat,
thank you for welcoming me into the world of academic ballet and keeping me on my
toes throughout my self‐imposed ballet drought. To the UP Dance Majors, thank for
your sincere friendship and concern. To Marla and Mika, thank you for willingly
discussing with me any part of my thesis I would randomly bring up;
To Desiree Peralejo, thank you for helping me sort out my ideas and for sharing your
insights on the RAD;
To my parents, thank you for your thesis‐coaching. To my siblings, thank you for
patiently (and impatiently) listening to all my questions;
To my classmates at Steps Dance Studio, thank you for welcoming me into your school;
To Vella Damian and Sonia Domingo Orevillo, thank you for introducing Ballet to me;
And to our beloved Sir Steve, thank you so much for being my adviser. This is something
I will cherish for the rest of my life. Thank you for ceaselessly and tirelessly correcting,
commenting and discussing all the aspects of this thesis and other subjects that did not
end up here. Thank you for guiding me through this meticulous academic milestone.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 7
I. Background of the Study 7
II. Statement of the Problem 9
III. Significance of the Study 10
IV. Objectives of the Study 10
V. Scope and Delimitation of the Study 11
CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE 12
I. Classical Ballet Education 12
In understanding the RAD (Royal Academy of Dance) syllabus and method, it is important
to discuss the context in which it was created for dance education. With the
professionalization of ballet dancing, there was a demand for dance education that aptly
trains ballet dancers. 12
A. History of Classical Ballet Technique Education for Professionalism 12
B. The Teacher to the Student to The Professional Dancer 14
C. The Ballet Methods and Syllabus 16
D. Ballet Syllabi in the Philippines 19
II. The Royal Academy of Dance Syllabus 20
A. History of the RAD 20
B. Classical Ballet for the Royal Academy of Dance 22
C. Structure 24
D. Content 27
E. The Maintenance of the Syllabus 28
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 33
I. Conceptual Framework 33
CHAPTER 4: STEPS DANCE STUDIO IN PHILIPPINE DANCE 36
I. History 36
II. Sofia Zobel‐Elizalde 37
III. The Steps Ballet Program 38
IV. Alumni 40

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V. Competitions 42
VI. Teachers 43
VII. Contribution to Society 45
CHAPTER 5: TEACHERS OF THE RAD METHOD 47
I. Teaching the Syllabus 50
A. The Teacher 51
B. Repetition 57
C. Open Class 60
II. The Standardized Outcome 62
A. Developmental Structure 63
B. Comprehensive 65
III. Quantitative Assessment 67
A. Examination Requirements 67
B. Motivation 68
IV. The Environment/Institution 70
V. Criticism 72
CHAPTER 6: THE PROFESSIONAL DANCERS OF THE RAD PROGRAM 74
I. Learning the Syllabus 77
A. Repetition 79
B. Open Class 81
C. The Teacher 83
II. The Standardized Outcome 85
B. Comprehensive Vocabulary 88
A. Motivation 91
B. Exam Details 93
IV. The Environment and Institution 94
CHAPTER 7: SUMMARY AND CRITICISM 97
I. Teaching and Learning a Syllabus 97
A. The Teacher 98
B. Repetition 99
C. Open Class 100

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II. Standardized Outcome 100
V. Criticism 102
CHAPTER 8: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 105
I. Conclusion 105
II. Recommendations 106
CHAPTER 9: BIBLIOGRAPHY AND APPENDICES 108
I. Bibliography 108
II. Appendices 112

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
I. Background of the Study
When I told my thesis adviser, the venerable Basilio Esteban “Steve” Villaruz, that I
wanted to study the different syllabi available in the country to make consolidated criteria for a
consistent assessment of technique classes in the UP Dance program, he suggested that I limit
my scope to just one syllabus. Clarissa Mijares, notable for being the first cum laude of the UP
Dance Program, then suggested to Sir Steve that I study the Royal Academy of Dance syllabus
and practice in Steps Dance Studio (See Appendix A). I happily took their advice because I had
already been curious about the school.
The first time I ever saw a product of the Steps Dance Studio was in a UP Dance Co.
company class as a high school student. I was in class with Mary Beatrice Saludares and was
immediately taken by her clear execution of steps. As she was doing a series of turns from the
corner with a smile on her face, I remember that exact moment as the first time I ever saw a
ballet class combination danced so joyously and effortlessly. In another instance, I remember
watching a video of her dancing and hearing my teacher say how graceful and lyrical she was.
From that point on, my view of ballet changed. I understood then that ballet steps were to be
really danced, gracefully, musically, etc., and not just executed.
I later learned that she was from a school called Steps Dance Studio. Around that time I
also heard about a Filipino ballet dancer, a Marcelino Libao Jr., who had just won a scholarship
at an international ballet competition and was also from that school.
When I entered the University of the Philippines Dance program, I discovered more and
more about the professional ballet world and ballet companies. I acquired the habit of watching
productions of the various ballet companies, especially Ballet Philippines (BP) because a dear
friend at UP was then a scholar of the company. When I read BP’s 2009 The Nutcracker

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program, the Steps Dance Studio came into my consciousness again when I realized that the
apprentices, Anna Margarita Reyes and Emmanuelle Guillermo, were both from Steps.
In 2012, I was exposed to Steps talent again, this time in BP. I had auditioned for BP and
CCP Dance School (CCPDS) and received a scholarship, becoming part of BP2 in 2011.
At that time, Jeffrey Espejo, a teacher at Steps, was teaching both CCPDS and Steps
advanced levels. He invited his students at Steps to take class with us because they needed the
extra training for the then upcoming National Music Competitions for Young Artists (NAMCYA).
We were joined by: Montsie Guerrero, whom I noted for her strength; Rudolph Capongcol,
whom admired for his multiple turns; Corinne Siniguian, who caught my eye for her well‐
articulated and quick feet; and Monica Gana, who was most endearing for her persona and
technique. I later watched them onstage for the NAMCYA semi‐finals at the University of the
Philippines, during which time some of us correctly observed that Gana, with her secured
technique and artistry, was a clear winner. The seven or eight other competitors from Steps
were also noticeably strong, clean and confident onstage. So it was no surprise that not only did
Gana win 1st place, but Capongcol won 2nd place, and another Steps dancer, Sean Pelegrin, won
the male special prize.
When Gana and Siniguian joined Ballet Philippines and were both promoted from
company scholars to junior company member and apprentice, respectively, in 2013 (joining
Reyes and Guillermo), Steps Dance Studio’s credibility as a good training ground for
professional ballet dancers was solidified in my mind. This was coupled by my direct
experience in training and performing with them: dancing with Reyes (whom I later learned
had also won an award in NAMCYA) in Sleeping Beauty where, as the Lilac Fairy, her port de
bras and épaulement was elegant and eloquent; seeing Gana in her solo roles, and watching
both Gana and Siniguian rehearse once for a dance in Giselle side by side, with clean and

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synchronized arms, feet and heads. My belief in the school was further strengthened by the
Steps’ victories at the Asian Grand Prix from 2012‐2014.
Powered by my exposure to Steps graduates and my curiosity about the success of
Steps Dance Studio in producing professional dancers through the years, this case study
investigates the ballet training at the Steps Dance Studio. It specifically looks at the school’s use
of the Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) as it’s primary teaching method. Each one of the
aforementioned dancers had trained under this method and took at least the Advanced 1 level
exams. It investigates the concepts, system and beliefs of this method that are beneficial for the
student’s professional ballet education espoused by the school, its teachers and students
themselves. Furthermore this case study looks at these concepts and values that are considered
essential to the RAD method and practiced by Steps, such that it may be applied to any other
school, teacher or student undergoing classical ballet education.
Like how Saludares opened my awareness of ballet dancing, this case study may open
the minds of individuals in the ballet world, to RAD concepts and values that are implemented
not only to train professional dancers but ultimately for professional ballet teachers to teach
ballet well.
II. Statement of the Problem
1. What are the benefits and competencies gained through training under the RAD method, with
its concepts of standardization, qualitative assessment and developmental learning?
2. How are these benefits and competencies seen by way of Steps’ use?
3. How are these benefits and competencies to training applied in a professional ballet company
setting?

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4. What are the overall values and beliefs of the RAD method that produce professional
dancers?
III. Significance of the Study
The Steps Dance Studio has been producing professional ballet dancers and successful
competitors, locally and internationally. The ballet training in the school operates mainly
through the RAD. Classical ballet classes are based on the RAD method, setting a standard
outcome per level that develops throughout the progression to higher levels. The required
outcomes per level are tested through examinations conducted by the RAD.
This study is significant because it presents how the Steps Dance Studio operates with
the RAD method to produce professional dancers. It illustrates the aspects, beliefs and concepts
of the RAD method that are beneficial to creating a professional ballet dancer. The
characteristics of how the school operates and the values, which they adapt from the RAD, can
be applicable to any ballet education, regardless of whether or not they undertake the RAD
syllabus.
IV. Objectives of the Study
This case study aims to:
1. Present a classical ballet education framework/ model for professional dance training
2. Present the competencies achieved and benefits gained by a student of the RAD curriculum
3. Analyze how these competencies function in the professional world.

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4. Summarize the values, practices and concepts that the Steps Dance Studio adapts from the
RAD method, employed to create professional dancers
V. Scope and Delimitation of the Study
This case study investigates the professional ballet training of the Steps Dance Studio
through its implementation of the RAD syllabus method. It investigates the concepts of the RAD
training that is beneficial to training a professional dancer while recognizing the competencies
– the abilities and skills – achieved within the student to become a professional dancer.
It is limited to the RAD practice in the Steps Dance Studio. It covers the concepts of the
RAD’s training method that is beneficial through the eyes of the founder of the school, its
teachers and its students who have gone on to professional companies. Being a case study, it
also takes into account my own observations in class and performance.

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CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
I. Classical Ballet Education
In understanding the RAD (Royal Academy of Dance) syllabus and method, it is
important to discuss the context in which it was created for dance education. With the
professionalization of ballet dancing, there was a demand for dance education that aptly trains
ballet dancers.
A. History of Classical Ballet Technique Education for Professionalism
The first forms of ballet in France began with the Italian Catherine de Medici, the regent
queen, as court entertainment in the sixteenth century. It was during the time of King Louis
XIV, between the seventeenth to eighteenth century, that the art form was “developing a
definite technique.”1
With the growing distinction of ballet from Medici’s court entertainment, the ballet
comique, and noble dance, La Belle Danse, the ballet moved from the royal court setting to a
proscenium, a theatrical stage in a public setting, which was an Italian innovation on
performance and entertainment. Ballet first appeared on stage as divertissements to operas and
eventually as stand‐alone entertainments, such as comedia dell’ arte, ballet d’ action and the
ballet that we see today.2 Because of its growing popularity, the French created the Académie
Royale de Musique et de Danse, later the Paris Opera Ballet, to oversee the ballet’s education,
performance and growth as a dance form for a paying public. This academy thus started the
“transformation of dancers from amateurs to professionals.”3
1 Hammond, Sandra Noll. Ballet Basics. California: Mayfield Publishing Company, 1974. p. 6‐7. Print.
2 Homans, Jeniifer. Apollo’s Angels. New York: Random House, Inc., 2010. Print.
3 Hammond, Sandra Noll. Ballet Basics. California: Mayfield Publishing Company, 1974. p. 6‐7. Print.

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The ballet technique, with a fundamental basis of five positions of the arms and feet, and
fundamental movements (plier, tender, glisser, jeter, elancer, tourner, sauter) was developed to
create a means to effectively present a body in a proscenium. The French adopted the
proscenium and started to produce dances in such a setting. This separated the dancers from
the audience, and professionals from amateur noble men, during dance performances. People
then started to see how the concept of turn‐out used before by King Louis as a way to show off
the dancers’ legs, were necessary for such a setting that elevated the dancer for better viewing.
“The dancer, wishing to face his audience, needed to move sideways as well as forwards and
backwards, and for greater visibility he needed to lift his leg to the side rather than the front.” 4
The formation and use of technique is important in classical ballet as much as it is in
other specific art forms. 5 Today, to become a good professional dancer, one must have good
technique to visually express the drama and aesthetics of ballet clearly and eloquently. Forming
the body to become a medium of such expressions is achieved with the guidance of good
teachers. Thus, through the teachers, ballet has continued to flourish in each generation,
producing dancers; and has subsequently “withstood the test of time.”6
During the nineteenth century, the trend of dancing on the tips of the toes, initiated by
Marie Taglioni in the Romantic ballet La Sylphide, was becoming a norm. So, “a new kind of
training was required to prepare these ladies for such arduous activity.”7 Because classical
ballet education functions for the art form, the demands of its instruction evolve as ballet
technique evolves.
4 Kraus, Richard, Sarah Chapman Hilsendager, and Brenda Dixon. History of the Dance in Art and Educationi. New
Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1991. P 74. Print.
5 Hillard, Evelyne, Foreword. Fundamental Barre Work and Ballet Technique. By Florence Campbell, A.B. M.A.. New
York: A.S. Barnes and Company, 1923. Print
6 Warren, Gretchen Ward. The Art of Teaching Ballet. Florida: University Press of Florida, 1996. p. 4. Print.
7 Hammond, Sandra Noll. Ballet Basics. California: Mayfield Publishing Company, 1974. p. 12. Print

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Another revolution in ballet happened with the ascent of the Imperial Russian ballet
when French ballet “dimmed” in choreography and style.8 With the Russian‐based French
choreographer Marius Petip who created ballets with diversity in dance styles and roles,
Russian ballet raised the technical demands of the art form. According to Jackson, Petipa
“constructed whole universes of movement” that “replaced the softness and fragility of
Romantic ballet with diamond‐edged sharpness.”9
Whatever norms of ballet technique exist today, dance education must cater to the
demands of the ballet standards and landscape of the time and continues to spread through out
the world. It needs technique like the other visual and musical art forms but unlike such forms,
“dance suffers as the fashions of the times change.”10
B. The Teacher to the Student to The Professional Dancer
As mentioned, it is the teacher of classical ballet that passes the art form to succeeding
generations. In its entirety, the role of the classical ballet teacher is to teach the student how to
dance classical ballet as the teacher, from the literal meaning of pedagogue, leads the student.
For Stuttgart Ballet’s Alexander Ursuliak moreover a pedagogue is not a title but is a “service
being given.” 11 The teacher then produces dancers, teachers, dance scholars and
choreographers or simply educated members of the audience (“balletomaines”) in the dance
world.
For the purpose of the objectives of this case study, the purpose of the research is the
role of a teacher to produce professional dancers for a ballet company.
8 Anderson, Jack. Dance. New York: Newsweek Books, 1974. Print.
9 Anderson, Jack. Dance. New York: Newsweek Books, 1974. Print.
10 Villaruz, Basilio Esteban. Treading Through. Quezon Ciry: The University of the Philippines Press, 2006. Print.

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According to the pedagogue Gabriela Darvash, in order to uphold dance as a profession,
every teacher “must be dignified by strong theoretical basics that every teacher must know.”12
This includes knowledge on “how the body is build; how to develop its mobility, strength and
stability; how that body must move after it has been developed; and finally, how all of this
serves an artistic purpose.”13This is needed to form the ideal in aesthetics, strength and ability
within a dancer. As is expected, for a student to become a professional dancer for ballet
companies, the student/dancer has to be well trained in classical ballet.
Moreover, because dance as a profession also entails hard work from the students,
according to Hammond, “It is a teacher’s job to guide that work soundly, and the good teacher
can often make it exciting and enjoyable.”14 Stemming from this enjoyment and love of ballet
and ballet training, the teacher must also hone artistry in the student. Creating dancers who are
creative and confident is important because dancers are of utmost influence to choreographers
and the ballets they create. Ursuliak points out that creating mechanical dancers will result to
mechanical choreography “so the ballets will come out mechanical.”15
In order to achieve the ideal and artistic purpose of ballet, the teacher must develop the
student from a child to a ballet dancer. The goal should be “related to the development of the
student and increasingly demanding of the student.”16 Teaching the vocabulary of steps and
exercises in classical ballet that is the fount of all ballet performances, according to Hammond,
needs to be “broken down into basic movements” before the whole movement is executed. 17
Ballet syllabi were then created as a training system and teaching method to ascertain that
technique and vocabulary were all properly taught according to the style the syllabus was
13 Warren, Gretchen Ward. The Art of Teaching Ballet. Florida: University Press of Florida, 1996. p. 78. Print
14 Hammond, Sandra Noll. Ballet Basics. California: Mayfield Publishing Company, 1974. Print.
16 Hayden, Melissa. Dancer to Dancer: Advice for Today’s Dancer. New York: Anchor Press, 1981. Print.
17 Hammond, Sandra Noll. Ballet Basics. California: Mayfield Publishing Company, 1974. p. 30. Print

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created on. In order to monitor the student’s progress and uphold the proper use of the syllabus
as a training system, examinations are held by the syllabi’s organizing bodies.
Ultimately Melissa Hayden, an American ballerina and teacher, describes good or “best”
training, in any “creative activity” as something that exists through both the teacher and
student, and not the teacher alone. It is achieved with “a good teacher teaching a dedicated
student” with a teacher who “encourages discovery” upon a student who is “open to new
experiences.”18
C. The Ballet Methods and Syllabus
Dance is “a skill that demands a system of teaching just like an other profession.”19
Throughout ballet’s history, different methods of instructions evolved in different countries.
Most systems or methods of teaching ballet possess syllabi, by which classical ballet instruction
is guided. Most common of these teaching methods are the Bournounville method, the Cecchetti
Method, the Vaganova method, and the Royal Academy of Dance.
The Danish dancer Agust Bournonville created the Bournounville method during the
late 1800s. He was trained by his father as a child and was greatly influenced by the French
Romantic ballet and Auguste Vestris. After a career in France with the Paris Opera, he returned
to Denmark to take up the ballet master post at the Royal Theater. Though his style is in a way
was reflective of the French and Vestris with technical feats, turn out and noble épaulement, it
was “more contained, less inclined to spectacular tricks and overextended movements.”20 Taste
and musicality were magnified over virtuosity and acrobatics.

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Enrico Cecchetti created the Cecchetti Method in the early 1900s. Though he was born
in Italy and trained in the Italian style, he moved to Russia “at the height of his [ballet] career.”21
He was part of the generation of Excelsior performers – Italian dancers who would perform
across Europe. Through his later involvement with the Imperial Ballet and Ballets Russes, he
influenced and shaped the ballet technique of some of the preeminent dancers during his time.
Some of them were Anna Pavlova, Tamara Karsavina, Vaslav Nijinsky and George Balanhine. He
developed a breed of dancers who “used their technical powers to sculpt their bodies” and
move more fluidly and malleably.22 Today, it is the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing that
organizes dissemination of and examinations of the syllabus. The Royal Ballet’s school also uses
this method.
The Vaganova method on the other hand is steeped in the traditions, enhancements and
progression of the Russian ballet style. Agrippina Vaganova, unlike Cecchetti was not involved
with the Ballets Russes, but worked “directly with [Marius] Petipa and [Lev] Ivanov”23– two
great choreographers who lay the foundation for Russian ballet. She published the
Fundamentals of the Classic Dance as way of exhibiting the “Leningrad school and style of
ballet.”24 Ingrained in this style is the mechanics and science in ballet technique, along with a
holistic approach to coordination of the head, eyes, arms and legs while focusing on the details.
However, there seems to be no Russian institution that disseminates a syllabus and conducts
examinations for this method outside the established Vaganova schools such as the Vaganova
Academy of Russian Ballet, Bolshoi Ballet Academy, Perm State Ballet School and Kiev State
Ballet Academy. The teaching method is passed down from teacher to student aided by
numerous published works on the method and by a vocabulary of steps. According to Lisa
Macuja in a personal letter to Clarissa Mijares, the Vaganova method is “different combinations
21 Minden, Eliza Gaynor. The Ballet Companion. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2005. Print
22 Homans, Jennifer. Apollo’s Angels. New York: Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2010. Print

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of movements using a particular vocabulary of dance in a particular technique and style.” Unlike
the RAD, there are no set exercises prescribed by the authorities of the method.25
The RAD (Royal Academy of Dance), which this case study focuses on, was created by a
group of teachers in England from different schools of ballet. (The History of RAD is discussed
in Chapter II.A of the Review of Related Literature). Their objective was to promote and uphold
proper ballet teaching through a syllabus. The syllabus is a means to measure the achievement
of a student per level. The difference in the RAD syllabus lies in its versatility: it can be used to
train either professional dancers or recreational dancers, and it caters to any type of body. In
order to uphold proper ballet training, the organization equips the teachers they certify with
knowledge on anatomy, child development, music and the like.
The aforementioned methods however are not the only means of teaching classical
ballet.
Some renowned pedagogues have also taken the liberty to create their own syllabus for
their own use, tailor‐made to their preferences and what they deem important and necessary.
Gretchen Warren in The Art of Teaching Ballet writes that for one, Willam Christensen, one of
the founders of San Francisco Ballet, does “not believe in the exclusive use of any one teaching
system” because “each system has its valuable aspects.”26 The technique he imparts on his
students consists of all these valuable aspects of each system. Marika Besobrasova, a
pedagogue and dancer from Monte Carlo, also created a program of her own for ballet schools
in the provinces of France, spurred by the Russian’s syllabus’ arrival there, in order to establish
“graded teaching and examinations” to ballet schools that were not the Paris Opera School.
Darvash also created her own program, one that “rectified” problems she “observed in Soviet
25 Mijares, Clarissa. How National is the National Ballet Syllabus?. Diliman, Quezon City: UP College of Music, 2005.
Print.

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ballet training.”27 Her main purpose in creating her own method was she notes, “to help
students master technique easily and securely in order to become great performers.”28
Some teachers have also ventured to merge two syllabi or methods. Both Janina
Cunovas of Australian Ballet and David Howard of New York City, use the RAD and Vaganova
methods concurrently. Cunovas acquires the steps from the RAD syllabus but teaches the way
to do the steps from the Vaganova method. RAD trained Howard on the other hand felt that he
took the RAD and filled the gaps in the syllabus aided by his Russian training. Moreover, he says
that his RAD training was ultimately an education.
Regardless of the method by which a teacher trains her student, Hayden stresses that “it
should be properly taught.”29
D. Ballet Syllabi in the Philippines
The international syllabi available in the Philippines are the Australian Conservatoire of
Ballet (ACB) the Cecchetti Method, the Commonwealth Society of Teachers of Dancing (CSTD)
and the Royal Academy of Dance (RAD). Every year or so these syllabi and teaching methods
employ examinations or assessments on the students conducted by the international
organizations of such syllabi. The Vaganova method is also taught in certain schools and
companies, such as Ballet Manila, but unlike the three aforementioned syllabi, there are no
regulations or examinations held to assess the students.
The ACB syllabus was created by former ballerina Christine Walsh and is relatively new.
It is an offshoot of the Vaganova method, created for students who do not have the opportunity,
means and time to train daily. In the Philippines, most of the schools in the Association of Ballet

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Academies, Philippines (ABAP) use the ACB method of training. The CSTD method is used only
by the Shirley Halili Cruz School of Ballet.
The RAD syllabus was established in the Philippines by Felicitas Radaic. The RAD
network grew under the leadership of her students, including Sonia Domingo‐Orevillo. (The
history of RAD in the Philippines is discussed at length in Chapter II.F of the Review of Related
Literature).
The local ballet syllabus in the Philippines is the National Ballet Syllabus created by
Felicitas Radaic, together with Vella C. Damian, a strong proponent of the ACB in the
Philippines, and Noordin Jumalon, the first Filipino scholar sent to Russia to study at the State
Institute for Theatre Arts of Lunacharsky (GITIS).
II. The Royal Academy of Dance Syllabus
The Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) uses a method of teaching classical ballet known as
the RAD syllabus. As an awarding organization, its members are able to assess achievement
through implementing yearly examinations. This enables them to uphold and maintain a
standardized system of teaching and learning. 30 The accreditations given by the organization
are universally recognized.
This case study investigates the RAD because of the comprehensive view it takes when
training classical ballet dancers.
A. History of the RAD
The Royal Academy of Dance was created at the time when England was forging its
identity in the ballet world. Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, the most prolific and cataclysmic
30 Royal Academy of Dance: Examinations Board. Examinations Information, Rules and Regulations. 2014. PDF file.

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ballet company during its time, was disbanding following his death and England found itself
lacking a native ballet company to patronize. There were numerous ballet schools but there was
no assurance that these schools were efficient 31. Proper training and extensive education of the
dance steps32 was needed to supply the country with good dancers and eventually a British
born ballet company.
Édouard Espinosa ventured to address the problem by disseminating prescribed
exercises that both the teacher and the student are assessed upon. He “compiled a syllabus for
operatic dancing”33 and published it through Philip Richardson. Richardson, as editor, published
it in the Dancing Times magazine. This was well received by a handful of teachers
including Adeline Genée of the Danish school, Tamara Karsavina of the Russian school, Phyllis
Bedells of the English school and Lucia Cormani of the Italian school. These teachers, together
with Espinosa and Richardson, eventually formed the Association of Operatic Dancing (AOD) in
1920 to promote and disseminate this syllabus. With a representative for the dance schools and
styles present in Europe, they discussed and brought forward the best elements of each school.
Their objectives were:
Improvement of the standard of teaching of operatic (ballet) dancing in the country (a)
by seeing that all teachers adopt similar methods and (b) by accepting into membership
only those teachers who, in the opinion of the committee, are properly qualified to teach
elementary operatic (ballet), and (c) by undertaking from time to time such activities as
may help to bring about these objects34. The overall goal was to raise the standard of
31 Franks, A.H. Approach to the Ballet. Great Britain: Pitman Press, 1952. p. 125. Print.
32 Guest, Ivor. Adeline Genée: A Lifetime of Ballet under Six Reigns. London: Adam and Charles Black, 1958. p. 164.
Print.
33 Guest, Ivor. Adeline Genée: A Lifetime of Ballet under Six Reigns. London: Adam and Charles Black, 1958. p. 164.
Print.
34 Guest, Ivor. Adeline Genée: A Lifetime of Ballet under Six Reigns. London: Adam and Charles Black, 1958. Print.

22
teaching35.
Genée, a newly retired ballerina at that time, was elected President of the association.
Under her guidance, the association gained support. With her persistence, the association was
granted the royal charter in August 1935, renaming the association to the Royal Academy of
Dancing.
The legendary ballerina Margot Fonteyn became the next president after Genée in 1954
and Antoinette Sibley succeeded her in 1991. In 2000, the Royal Academy of Dancing was
renamed the Royal Academy of Dance through the Privy Council. In 2012 ballerina Darcey
Bussell was appointed President of the RAD.
Today, the organization has spawned to 88 countries in Europe, North America, Latin
America and the Caribbean, Asia Pacific, Africa, Middle East and South Asia.36 Its headquarters
is located in Battersea Square in London. Its global reach is evident in that “approximately
230,000 candidates take the RAD examinations worldwide”. 37
The organization has also educated some dancers in internationally known ballet
companies who first rose to fame through the Adeline Genée competitions, a competition
exclusive to RAD students. These include principal dancers, soloists and artists from the Royal
Ballet, English National Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Australian Ballet and San Francisco
Ballet among others.
B. Classical Ballet for the Royal Academy of Dance
The Royal Academy of Dance organization understands that classical ballet is influenced
by and involves all other art forms as well as the “sciences of human movement.” 38 Because of
36 Royal Academy of Dance. Find Us. Web. 16 Sept. 2014.
38 The Royal Academy of Dancing. The Foundations of Classical Ballet Technique. United Kingdom: Hartnolls Ltd.,
1997. p. 4 Print.

23
this integrative characteristic, the organization believes that:
“Education for classical ballet is broad. It is the teacher’s role to address this broadness
that requires a student’s “total commitment and dedication;”39
As the educator, it is “important for the teacher to impart accurate information on the
basic building blocks of technique;”40 This accuracy is what the original AOD strove to
achieve with a standardized system, a system that dictates what to teach the student per
level with a year‐end assessment or examination as the indicator;
The educator must also consider classical ballet’s artistic attributes. The “individual
expression and artistry” needed in the dance must not be overlooked.41 This is why
artistry, musicality and performance are important competencies an R.A.D. student
must learn and is graded on.
According to the documents the RAD distributes on the examinations and regulations,
the RAD as “the professional membership body for dance teachers” that upholds “the highest
standards of teaching and learning” envisions that the individuals involved with the RAD will
contribute to “dance and dance education throughout the world.” Its main mission is to educate
and train teachers and students to preserve the “value of dance for future generations.”42
1997. p. 4 Print.
1997. p. 4 Print.
1997. p. 4 .Print.

24
C. Structure
As a method of teaching, the RAD provides their accredited teachers with set exercises and
dance studies that she/he must teach a student according to his/her level. This information is
coupled with the right music for each exercise and pertinent information for the level such as
the vocabulary, learning outcomes and assessment criteria. The student is then assessed or
examined and receives a mark for his/her performance in the examination.
Accreditation to the RAD Method
Accreditation to teach the RAD syllabus begins with an application to the RAD
organization with either the credential of passing at least the Intermediate level of the RAD or
with a video of the applicant in a ballet class. Once accepted, the teacher undergoes a 2‐year
teacher‐training course with the RAD organization termed the RAD Certificate for Ballet
Teaching Studies (CBTS).43 During the teacher‐training course, the teacher learns not only what
he/she needs to teach the RAD syllabus correctly but also undergoes courses in anatomy, child
psychology and education.44 The RTS and ARAD titles are then applied for.
The organization’s thorough way of training teachers maintains a standardized teaching
method so that all RAD teachers teach the same and therefore all accreditations a student
receives signifies the same global technique.45
The CBTS is a new program however. Before the CBTS, there was the Teaching
Certificate Program.
43 Zobel‐Elizalde, Sofia. Personal Interview. 17 October 2014
44 Ignacio, Marion. Personal Interview 29 October 2014
45 Zobel‐Elizalde, Sofia. Personal Interview. 17 July 2014

25
Levels of the R.A.D. Syllabus
The RAD organization has three syllabi programs that are taught to the students
depending on the age range, dancing ability and goals of the individual. These are: Dance to
Your Own Tune, The Graded syllabus, and the Vocational Graded Examinations.
The Dance to Your Own Tune syllabus is for children between the ages of 2 ½ to 5 years
old. The Graded syllabus encompasses the Pre‐primary in Dance, Primary in Dance and Grades
1 to 8 levels. The Vocational Graded Examination encompasses the Intermediate Foundation,
Intermediate, Advanced Foundation, and Advanced 1 and 2. The highest level that students can
attain in the R.A.D. system is the Solo Seal Award. It is not a syllabus but the dancer must be
graded and judged in three classical variations.
The Dance To Your Own Tune syllabus is a method to introduce dancing to a child and is
taught in a two‐year span. The teaching of this syllabus is also a way for a dance school to build
relationships with parents and children so that they may become future students of dance as
they grow older. At the 2 ½ to 5‐year range, the syllabus develops a sense and awareness of
movement, as it exists through space, executed with “increased control, coordination and
confidence.” 46
The Graded syllabus is a method of teaching dance to individuals who may either
pursue dance as a profession or as a leisurely activity. It promotes movement and dance as a
source of enjoyment and exercise while developing ballet technique. Because the study of dance
is accompanied by music, it also fosters music appreciation. Moreover, it is a measuring tool to
see if a student’s progress in his/her technical, musical and performance skills. 47
46 Royal Academy of Dance: Examinations Board. Specification: Dance to Your Own Tune Demonstration Classes. 2014.
PDF file.
47 Royal Academy of Dance: Examinations Board. Specification: RAD Level 1 Award in Graded Examination in Dance.
2014. PDF file.

26
The Vocational Graded syllabus is a method to instill in an individual the “technical,
musical and performance skills in ballet.”48 It is a syllabus that aims to prepare a student to
qualify for a dance or dance related career or for further training in dance. In order to achieve
such aims, this syllabus was made to challenge and inspire the students while encouraging
critical thinking. It develops the skills and knowledge needed for a career in dance.
The last level of the RAD method is the Solo Seal. Only students who received a grade of
Distinction in the Advanced 2 level are able to take the Solo Seal exam. The exam consists of
center practice that includes a lengthy adagio and grand allegro.
What is constant in these different syllabi level of the RAD system is its developmental
characteristic. It is developmental in the way that competencies of higher levels build upon its
lower levels. There are six aspects of classical ballet that are developed at each level. These
aspects are the technical, musical, artistic, vocabulary, performance and professional aspects of
the dance genre to be studied.
This case study focuses on the classical ballet dance genre of the RAD.
Examination Awards of the R.A.D. Syllabus
Once the syllabus has been learned, assessment takes place at the end of the year of
training. In the Philippines, exams usually take place in April.
There are different types of assessing the student in the RAD system. The
Demonstration Classes, the Presentation Classes, the Class Awards, Solo Performance, Graded
Examinations and the vocational graded examinations.
This case study focuses on the Vocational Graded Examinations (VGE) of the RAD.
1997. p. 4 Print.

27
In the VGE, “candidates perform prescribed exercises, studies, variations and free
enchaîments which are assessed by the RAD Examiner.”49
After the examination, results are sent to the students. There are four result
classifications or awards that are based on the total numerical marks received by the student
from the RAD examiner. The lowest is the “Standard not attained” which is in the range of 0‐39,
“Pass” with 40‐54, “Pass with Merit” with 55‐74, and “Pass with Distinction with 75‐100. These
qualifications are standardized and signify the same technical achievements and abilities
throughout the world.
Aside from the marks given by the examiner during the exam, past records of the
examiner, teacher and student also affect numerical assessment. The organization takes into
consideration the examiner’s extent of appraisal – if he usually rates high or low –as well as the
teacher’s student records – if her students usually receive high or low marks – and the student’s
past examination results.
D. Content
Vocational Graded Examinations
The objective of the graded vocational examinations is to provide the dancer a means to
move onto the professional world of dance. It contains the Intermediate Foundation,
Intermediate, Advanced Foundation, Advanced 1 and Advanced 2 syllabi.
As mentioned earlier, learning of classical ballet through the RAD considers six aspects
of the ballet that a student must possess and espouse: the technical, musical, artistic,
vocabulary, performance and professional aspects. In the VGE, learning of these aspects are
1997. p. 4. Print.

28
divided into four levels, parallel to the different syllabus levels. With each level, such aspects
must be manifested in “knowledge and understanding”, in “application and action” and in
“autonomy and accountability”. 50
Competencies a student must achieve in each level in terms of the six aspects, are
stipulated in the syllabus.
The Syllabus
The exercises of the syllabus are written in tabular and Benesh Movement Notation
format. It specifies the count to the music, the movement and positions of the head, the
positions of the arms and the positions of the feet. The barre exercises are made up of
combinations in the order of: plié, battement tendu, battement glissade and battement jeté, rond
de jambe, fondu, rond de jambe en l’air, adage and grand battement. After the barre exercises are
center exercises in the order of: tendu, pirouettes, grand battement, adagio, waltz with travelling
turns, sauté, brisé and battu, sisonne and grand allegro. Then pointe work commences with
exercises in the barre made up of pliés and relevés, and piqué exercises. This is followed by
exercises in the center that include echappé and passé relevé, and pirouette and fouetté
exercises. The exam concludes with either of the two required variations or dances
choreographed by the academy. One variation is characteristically classical, the other neo‐
classical.
E. The Maintenance of the Syllabus
Updating the Syllabus

29
Lynn Wallis is the current Artistic Director of the RAD. Like its president, Darcey Bussel,
she was trained at the Royal Ballet School. As a professional dancer, she performed with the
Royal Ballet Touring Company and later became its Ballet Mistress.51 With her experience, she
understands that the demands of ballet companies and choreographers always change and
evolve. So she sustains that the RAD work then must “reflect that.” 52
Thus, the RAD regularly updates its syllabus content. For the past 15 years, RAD has
experienced changes. Under Wallis, the RAD according to Zobel‐Elizalde, became “up to date” as
she “tweaked and modernized it.” 53 Whenever the syllabus is updated, a representative of the
organization or Wallis herself comes to the country to conduct workshops that teach the new
RAD syllabus to the registered teachers.
At this writing, the RAD is in the process of updating the syllabus, introducing this new
syllabus and the set of exercises of certain levels each year.
Examining Process
AN RAD exam includes only up to four candidates in the exam room with the examiner
and the pianist. The students taking the exam must follow the strict requirements in uniform
and look. Numbers are pinned to the candidates for proper identification. The examiner
announces the exercises that she wants to see the students to perform. The pianist plays the
corresponding music.
Like the syllabus, there is also rigorous vigilance for the examiners. The RAD
organization maintains that every examiner across the world must look at a student the same
51 Royal Academy of Dance. Lynn Wallis. 2014. PDF file.
52 Daniel, Smriti. “RAD Keeps in Step with Changing Society”. Sunday Times. Wijeya Newspapers Ltd. Colombo. Sri
Lanka, 6 March 2011. Web. 13 Oct. 2014.
53 Zobel‐Elizalde, Sofia. Personal Interview. 17 July 2014.

30
way. They want every examiner to have the same perception in assessing what is correct or
incorrect, good or bad with a student.54
In order to maintain standardization of assessment every year, the organization sends
its examiners a video of a child they need to assess within a 24‐hour period. It is a way for the
organization to ensure that every examiner has the same perception of a dancer’s abilities to
keep quantitative assessments universal and the same.
Continuing Professional Development
According to the RAD website, the RAD necessitates each registered teacher to
continually update his/her knowledge and skills through “some form of training or learning
activity.”55 Then, “at the end of the year, [they] will be required to return a Continuing
Professional Development Declaration Form as part of the RAD membership renewal process.
You may also apply for an exemption if you meet the criteria.”56
F. History in the Philippines
It was Anita Kane who started teaching the syllabus in 195057 but it was Felecitas L.
Radaic who established the RAD in the Philippines in 1968. She was first introduced to RAD
when Kane, with the support of the Music Promotion Foundation, recommended her to go to
London to study at the Royal Academy of Dancing (now Royal Academy of Dance) in 1964.
There she studied the RAD for four years with Phyllis Bedells, one of the founders of the
academy who was of the British school style. She studied the Elementary major, Intermediate
major and the Advanced major levels and supplemented it with Cecchetti training. When she
55 The Continuing Professional Development. The Royal Academy of Dance, 2013. Web. 13 December 2014.
56 The Continuing Professional Development. The Royal Academy of Dance, 2013. Web. 13 December 2014.
57 Jacinto, Joelle. The Ballet Company:A Philippine Experience Through Repertoire (MA Thesis). Diliman, Quezon City:
University of the Philippines, 2007. Print.

31
graduated, Margot Fonteyn, the president of RAD then, encouraged her to bring the RAD in the
Philippines and establish an RAD center in the country.
At that time, a teacher or dancer needed only an Advanced certificate of the RAD to be
accredited to teach the syllabus. Incidentally, when Radaic returned to the country in 1968,
Sister Nievez Valdes of St. Theresa’s College invited her to put up a ballet studio in the school.
There, she taught her first batch of RAD students. They were Julie Borromeo, Tina Santos,
Noemi Estrella and Lucy Layag and were examined by Joan Marshall. From that point on, her
classical ballet instruction was guided by the RAD syllabus.
For 11 years Radaic headed RAD operations in the Philippines. When the operations
interfered with her teaching, she passed it on to Sheila Pavit, an expatriate’s wife who took over
for as long as her husband was in the country. It was then passed on to Sonia Domingo‐Orevillo
Radaic’s student at St. Theresa. She handled the RAD in the Philippines for six to seven years.
Under her leadership, the RAD network in the country grew because she gave non‐RAD trained
teachers the opportunity to learn and teach it.58
After Domingo‐Orevillo the Cultural Center of the Philippines handled it for several
years. Then, it was passed on to Malen Claravall, after which Zobel‐Elizalde handled the
operations for four years. There after it was passed on to the British Council which now
handles it and is the Philippine center of the RAD.
Aside from professional dancers, Radaic produced RAD teachers from her RAD trained
students that continued to teach through this method. Domingo‐Orevillo‐Orvillo studied further
in the RAD in London under Ruth French. Malen and Nila Claraval have their respective schools
in Paranaque and Iloilo. Cherish Garcia has her Academy One.
58 Sonia Domingo‐Domingo‐Domingo‐Orevillo. Personal Interview. 09 November 2014

32
During the mid 90s however, Radaic decided to shift the basis of her ballet training to
the National Ballet Syllabus she created along with Nordin Jumalon and Vella C. Damian. She
created this syllabus because the RAD method was becoming too expensive for some of her
students.
Today, there are 11 schools that offer the RAD syllabus for their classical ballet
instruction.

33
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY
This case study employs the grounded theory method which produces a theory
grounded on data. Data is collected through primary and secondary sources. Primary sources
include interviews, observation, and participant observation. Secondary sources include
literature on dance education and the RAD paraphernalia.
Interviews were conducted through person to person communication and technology‐
assisted communication. Person‐to‐person interviews were held in various venues as
convenient to the interviewee. Technology‐assisted interviews were held by telephone
conversation and email correspondence. Observation and participant observation were done in
Steps Dance Studio.
I took the class of the RAD Advanced Foundation (as I had already passed the RAD
Intermediate examination with a mark of Distinction) and Advanced 1, and observed the
Advanced 1 and Open class taught by Jeff Espejo who had been one of our teachers at the CCP
Dance School. During those times, I had the chance to interact with current Steps Dance Studio
students.
To organize the data, I created my own conceptual framework based on the emerging
concepts and values of the RAD method that I initially encountered and understood from my
initial interviews with Sofia Zobel‐Elizalde.
I. Conceptual Framework
There exist numerous methods of teaching classical ballet to uphold the standards and
demands of the art form and its performance, and to continue the tradition.
The RAD’s method involves the integration of three concepts operating through the
syllabus that achieve the method’s objective of training ballet dancers. These are the

34
standardized outcome, quantitative assessment and pedagogical guidance. This case study
investigates the way in which these three concepts are taught in the RAD program in Steps
Dance Studio. Furthermore, it investigates how these concepts function in the professional
world and how these concepts can function without the RAD syllabus. This study also looks into
the undertakings and principles that make these concepts work in Steps Dance Studio.
The standardized outcome of the method is demonstrated in the exercises the academy
prescribes and details per level in the syllabus. By delineating the specific exercises a student
must perform each level, the standard of such level is stipulated. These standards are created by
the academy in accordance to and in sync with the present global caliber of ballet. The
achievement of these standards is strengthened through developmental training that involves
building on from the standardized outcome of previous levels. Effectuating a standardized
outcome works hand in hand as well with the teaching of ballet vocabulary of steps per level –
the end goal of which is to ingrain in a student a comprehensive vocabulary of classical ballet.
The ultimate objective of a standardized outcome is to create a dancer who knows most if not
all the ballet vocabulary and has the capability to execute it.
This standardized outcome performed by the dancers is presented to the RAD
examining body that quantitatively assesses the students through assigning numerical scores to
the exam criteria. These measures determine the type of award received by the students. This
exam is a means for the academy to ensure that the standards, competencies and objectives of a
level are secured and achieved. It gives a reading of the student and teacher’s capabilities and
areas for improvement. Because the student and the teacher are aware that performance in an
exam is quantitatively assessed and scrutinized, there is strict adherence to the syllabus’
delineated exercises and details such as the port de bras and rhythm.
All these are achieved in the student through the teacher and the students themselves.
In order to ensure the correct execution and teaching of the standardized outcome before

35
quantitative assessment, the RAD provides pedagogical training to its certified teachers. These
training programs are the Certificate in Ballet Teaching Studies and the Continuing Professional
Development. These programs teach the proper teaching of the syllabus, anatomy, and child
psychology among other things – something that other training methods do not offer.
It is the effects of these concepts on the student that are investigated, seen in the context
of entering and working in the professional world to provide some light on how the RAD
training in the Steps Dance Studio is able to produce professional dancers.

36
CHAPTER 4: STEPS DANCE STUDIO IN PHILIPPINE DANCE
I. History
When Sofia Zobel‐Elizalde retired from Ballet Philippines as a soloist in 1994 and
wanted to continue to be in the world of dance, she founded the Steps Dance Studio. Moreover,
she wanted to start a family and knew that having a professional dance career would not be an
ideal situation.
In Steps, she chose to implement the RAD syllabus that she learned during her years at
Elmhurst Ballet School. The credible and “tried and tested” method to teach her students gave
her the assurance that what she taught was correct. She started teaching classes on her own,
but eventually gained a partner in Raul Sauz. Today her faculty has expanded with six fulltime
ballet teachers in order to operate her school well.
The school has grown from offering only pre‐primary classes to offering all the RAD
levels from Pre‐Primary to Advanced 2, open classes in classical ballet, modern/contemporary,
jazz and street dance to over 300 students annually enrolled for the June‐March school year.
During the summer term, the school holds additional classes in ballet partnering, Pilates, ballet
master classes and music classes.
The studio itself has moved from Estrella Street to Mayapis Street then to Karravin
Plaza and now to Kalayaan Avenue (all in Makati), in its permanent home known as Steps Dance
Centre, which houses four studios. The largest is the BMZ room, named after her mother
Beatriz, with a stage that is about the size of that of the Little Theater at the Cultural Center of
the Philippines’. 59
59 Manahan, Tats Rejante. “Welcome to Sofia Elizalde’s Dance Dream Come True”. Philippine Daily Inquirer 8
December 2013. Print

37
II. Sofia Zobel‐Elizalde
Sofia Zobel Zobel‐Elizalde was born in Manila on November 4, 1968. She is the daughter
of Jaime Zobel de Ayala and Beatriz Miranda Zobel de Ayala. She is an Associate of Royal
Academy of Dance (ARAD) and has the honor of a Registered Teaching Status (RTS) for the
syllabus. She started dancing at the age of four with Chloe Cruz Romulo for once a week ballet
class. She supplemented her training by enrolling at the CCP Dance School and having
additional training with Felicitas Radaic and Effie Nanas. Later she trained under William
Morgan, Scottish ballet master of Ballet Philippines. As a young child, she performed Clara in the
CCP Dance Company’s The Nutcracker, 1976.
During her teenage years, she studied at the Elmhurst Ballet School in England. In
Elmhurst, she completed her RAD examinations in Elementary, Intermediate and Advanced.
Moreover, just like her young self, she was exposed to other teachers and styles of ballet. Aside
from RAD she learned the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancers and Cecchetti syllabi at
Elmhurst. She also experienced studying at the School of American Ballet in New York, San
Francisco Ballet School and got a taste of the Russian style through tours with Elmhurst and
Ballet Philippines.
When she returned to the country at the age of 19, she joined Ballet Philippines. While
dancing with BP, she earned her bachelor’s degree from the Assumption College. Soon after, she
was promoted as soloist. With BP she performed roles in Swan Lake, Giselle, The Nutcracker, La
Bayadere, Cinderella, Snow White, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Itim Asu. She was most
memorable for her Carmen in Alice Reyes’ Carmen.
Ayala‐Elizalde retired in 1994 and put up the Steps Dance Studio.60 Her school has
evolved from having only a handful of students to having more than a hundred students every

38
year. Throughout the 20‐year existence of Steps Dance Studio, its students have gone on to
professional companies.
III. The Steps Ballet Program
Zobel‐Elizalde’s goal of “never letting a child fail”61 seems to have been fulfilled in two
decades. She created a ballet program with a mission to prepare young talented dancers to
become professional dancers.
The Ballet Program in Steps
Every student enrolled at the Steps Dance Studio since 1994 is placed in an RAD level
and undergoes RAD training. The Steps Dance Studio student is required to attend at least two
ballet classes a week of his/her RAD level. Once a student reaches the Intermediate Foundation
level, one open class a week supplements the ballet training. As the student progresses to the
Advanced 1 and 2 levels, open class training increases to at least three times a week.
Additionally, ballet training at Steps also coincides with training in modern/contemporary, jazz
and/or street dance to promote versatility in dancers.
For the 2014 RAD assessment, Steps entered 130 students, with 121 students entering
into the examinations and nine entering the class award assessment. Out of the 121 students
entering the exam, 63 students received a grade of distinction while 58 received a grade of
merit. All surpassed the grade of pass, as has been the case for the past 20 years, with the
exception of only one failure at the major levels in two different years.
There are exceptions to the RAD‐centered ballet training when students who are
already proficient in ballet enroll in Steps. Competition winners Jasmine Pia Dames, Jessica
Pearl Dames and Kevin Cascano are Steps Dance Studio scholars who are not under any RAD

39
level. Steps alumni PJ Rebulida, now a professional dancer, was mainly enrolled in the jazz
program. The Dames sisters and Cascano came to the Steps Dance Studio as already technically
proficient ballet dancers. Time constraints precluded the Dames sisters from training with the
RAD syllabus regularly, while Cascano opted not to enroll in RAD. Apart from them, all the Steps
alumni and current student‐competitors were RAD trained until at least the advanced levels,
although some like Sydney Ignacio and Jason Ignacio went on to professional companies abroad
before completing the advanced levels.
Steps students have ample performance experience. They have the summer recital and
the December recital, both in CCP Main Theater. They also have various shows and tours at the
Ayala Malls. Joining competitions are also standard for Steps students. They have joined the
National Musical Competition for Young Artists, Philippine Dance Cup, Asian Grand Prix and had
had entries in the Adeline Genee and Prix de Lausanne.
Once a student finishes his/her RAD Advanced 2 level, Zobel‐Elizalde lays out the
options to the student and assesses what they can do given their goals and preferences as a
dancer. Some become professional dancers, some don’t and others become teachers. Zobel‐
Elizalde helps all Advanced 2 Steps students to start on their chosen career paths in dance.
However, according to Zobel‐Elizalde, when the students leave Steps to join
professional companies, they are “not yet at a professional level.” They are “strong and well
trained” but it is the daily classes, the performances and the “sophisticated” choreographers
experienced in a professional company that make them start to blossom as artists.62
Ballet Scholarship Program
It is understood that not everyone can afford ballet classes. At Steps, the Pre‐
Professional Package fee, for students in the Intermediate Foundation up to the Advanced 2

40
levels, is P 15,000 per term. Additionally, there are the RAD examination fees that increase per
level, from the Inter‐Foundation examination which costs Php 6,650, to the Advanced 2 which
costs Php 11,100. In order to address some financial problems, Zobel‐Elizalde put up the Steps
Scholarship foundation in 1997 to provide free tuition fee to deserving and exceptional dancers.
The foundation’s patrons include her father Jaime Zobel, Elaine Marden and Gizela Montinola.
Every year before the summer workshop, the school holds auditions for these
scholarships. For classical ballet training, having a scholarship entails free RAD and open ballet
classes. However, the scholarship usually does not apply to the RAD examinations. Zobel‐
Elizalde subsidizes the examination fees of her male ballet scholars, beyond this, she seeks
funding from among the roster of her benefactors and patrons.
IV. Alumni
Within the ranks of the three main ballet companies of the Philippines – Ballet Manila
(52 Ballet Dancers), Ballet Philippines (34) and Philippine Ballet Theater (24) – there are seven
Steps Dance Studio alumni, and six others have joined any of these companies at one point or
another.
The only other training institution that is not directly affiliated with any of the three
professional ballet companies that has produced more dancers within companies is the
Philippine High School for the Arts. Incidentally, Steps alumni and current teacher Rica
Balagtas is in the PHSA Faculty. It is notable that during the 20th Anniversary summer
workshop of the Steps Dance Studio, some PHSA dance majors chose to join the school for their
summer intensive training.
At present, in Ballet Manila’s 19th season, there are Steps alumni, namely demi‐soloists
Anselmo Dictado and Roduardo Ma, and company member, Earvin Guillermo. Another Steps
alumni, Jennifer Olayvar was a soloist until she retired in 2013.

41
In the Ballet Philippines’ roster for its 45th season, Steps alumni include demi‐soloist,
Emanuelle Guillermo and junior company member Monica Gana, and apprentice Corinne
Siniguian. Madge Reyes was a soloist from 2012‐2014 (she was on leave at the time of this
writing), while PJ Rebullida was a company member who went on to dance in Germany with the
Ballet Lüneberg, and Ryan Bautista was once a BP apprentice. Principal dancer Carissa Adea
and former principal dancer Candice Adea, now solosist with Hong Kong Ballet, both trained at
Steps as children.
In the Philippine Ballet Theater roster, principal dancer Bianca Trocino is also a Steps
alumni. Others who have danced with PBT one time or another are Lea Baduria, Sydney Ignacio
and Montserrat Guerrero.
In the international spectrum, Steps Dance Studio alumni Marcelino Libao Jr.is a
member of the Hamburg Ballet, while there is Montserrat Guerrero with the Columbia
University Ballet Ensemble. Lea Baduria was a member of the Compania de Ballet David
Campos in Barcelona and is now in zarzuela productions, while Sydney and Jason Ignacio were
with Verbs Ballet Company in Ohio. Later Jason Ignacio moved to American Repertory Ballet,
then to Zig‐Zag Ballet and again to Connecticut Ballet. From Steps and the University of the
Philippines, the late Mary Beatrice Saludares was a scholar of Washington Ballet School and its
Studio Company, and of the School of American Ballet. 63 She is also the only Filipino dancer to
have passed the Solo Seal Examination of the RAD.
Among these alumni, I have chosen Monica Gana, Montserrat Guerrero, Madge Reyes,
Corinne Siniguian and Bianca Trocino as my cases and primary sources in investigating how the
conceptual framework of RAD functions in the professional world. They are the five female
alumni who graduated from the Steps Dance Studio, within the past decade who are now part
of professional companies.
63 “Alumini.”Steps Dance Studio. Steps Dance Studio, n.d. Web. 6 October 2014.

42
V. Competitions
Students and alumni of Steps Dance Studio have garnered numerous awards in local and
international competitions.
At the National Musical Competition for Young Artists, Ballet Division, seven dancers
who were trained under the Steps Dance Studio earned awards. While most of the NAMCYA
winners were affiliated with any of the three professional ballet companies between the 2004‐
2012 competitions, Steps Dance Studio has been the only independent studio school that
produced this much number of winners. After Steps, Philippine High School for the Arts and
Dance Theater Arts have each had two winners respectively.64
In the first ever NAMCYA Junior Ballet competition in 2004, Trocino won the 3rd place
award while Saludares won the Luva Adameit Special Award. Then in 2007, Libao also won 1st
in the Junior Ballet division, while Reyes won the Luva Adameit Special Award as well. Another
fruitful year for Steps with NAMCYA was in 2011 when Gana won the 1st place award, while
Rudolph Capongcol and Sean Pelegrin won the 2nd place award and the Manolo Rosado Special
Award. Both Capongcol and Pelegrin, at the time of this writing, were trained and are still with
the Steps Dance Studio.
Internationally, at Adeline Genée International Ballet Competition, Saludares was also
the first Filipino entry to the competition. She competed in 2006. 65 Then at the 2008 Prix de
Lausanne, Libao was the first Filipino finalist in the competition. From that, he won a
scholarship from the Hamburg Ballet School in Germany. At the Asian Grand Prix from 2012‐
2014, the Steps Dance Studio has won a total of 24 awards. [66][67][68] In 2012, all the six
64 “NAMCYA Winners”. National Music Competitions for Young Artists Foundation, Inc., n.d. Web. 1 Sept 2014.
65 “Alumini.”Steps Dance Studio. Steps Dance Studio, n.d. Web. 6 October 2014.
66 “Triumph for young Steps dancers in Hong Kong”. Philstar.com. The Philippine Star, 8 Oct. 2012. Web. 1 Sept. 2014
67 “Steps Dance Studio students triumph in HK”. Philstar.com. The Philippine Star, 4 Nov. 2013. Web. 1 Sept. 2014
68 “Pinoy Dancers Win at Asian Grand Prix”. MST Life. Manila Standard Today, 2 Oct. 2014. Web. 12 Oct. 2014.

43
dancers entered by the school placed and/or won an award. Megumi Nishimori and Capongcol
won the silver and bronze medals respectively while Gana and Pelegrin both placed 8th, and
Samantha Libao placed 7th in their respective divisions. Julio Laforteza and Nishimori were also
awarded scholarships to the Asian Grand Prix Summer Intensive Program. Then in 2013, five of
its students won awards. Capongcol and Jasmine Pia Dames won the gold medal for the Pas de
Deux division, while Capongcol won the silver medal as a solo dancer and Dames the 5th place
recognition. Additionally, Jessica Pearl Dames and Raye Vince Pelegrin placed 6th and Laforteza
5th in their respective divisions. Samantha Libao, Lope Tobias and Elwince Magbitag were
ranked as finalists. Lastly, in 2014 all six entries of the school once more placed and/or won an
award. Pia Dames won the silver medal, Pearl Dames the 4th place and the Fonteyn Special
Award, Kevin Cascaño the 5th place title, Tobias the silver medal and Kirov Scholarship Award,
Vince Pelegrin the 7th place title and AGP 2015 Scholarship Award, and Magbitag the 8th place
title. Of these competitors only Nishimori, the Dames sisters (who at that time just graduated
from PHSA) and Cascaño (formerly from the Ballet Manila School) were not introduced to and
trained with the RAD method of the school.
Sofia Zobel‐Elizalde describes the merits of competition, “They improved tremendously
and greatly matured as dancers and performers. Competing can bring about many different
emotions; they learn how to manage these emotions and turn them into positive feelings.”
VI. Teachers
As a child, Zobel‐Elizalde experienced different kinds of ballet teaching in the country
and abroad. She had the means to go to several schools in Manila, something she understood
was not the case for a lot of dancers. She always dreamt of a school that provided all the needs
of the students and housed a handful of some of the best teachers in the country.

44
Raul Sauz was one of the first teachers Zobel‐Elizalde worked with for her school. He
taught the RAD and classical ballet at Steps for 14 years from 1995‐2009. He is now an RAD
examiner.69 Alice Ledesma also taught the lower levels of the RAD.
Today the teachers in the Steps Dance Studio reflect what Sofia sought for in a ballet
school as a child. Steps has a roster of six ballet teachers, two of whom teach jazz and tap dance
as well. They also have two street dance teachers and one modern teacher. Out of the six ballet
teachers, three are ARAD and RTS certified. At this writing, another two are enrolled at the RAD
Certificate for Ballet Teaching Studies.
The three ARAD and RTS certified teachers are Eurica Balagtas, Marion Ignacio and
Edward Malagkit. Balagtas was Zobel‐Elizalde’s student and has been a registered teacher of the
RAD since 2006. Ignacio was a scholar of the school and later became company member of PBT
from 2001‐2003. He graduated at the RAD in London receiving his Certificate in Ballet Training
Studies. Malagkit studied ballet with Gener Caringal at the University of the East Dance Troupe
and later became a principal dancer of Ballet Philippines and Director of the Far Eastern
University Dance Troupe. He finished his RAD Certificate in Ballet Training Studies in 2013.
The advanced open class ballet teacher and coach to competitors is Jeffrey Espejo.
Espejo was a scholar of PBT under Lisa Macuja and Osias Barroso and later became a company
member of Ballet Manila. With Ballet Manila, he trained in the Russian style. He is the official
coach of the school for competitions and teaches the open classes.70
My primary sources for understanding the RAD method’s educational system and its
efficacy are Sofia Zobel‐Elizalde, Raul Sauz, Edward Malagkit, Marion Ignacio, Liesl Laforteza
and Jeffrey Espejo, as well as Felicitas Radaic who brought the RAD to the country, and Sonia
Domingo‐Orevillo, a student of Radaic who suggested the use of the RAD to Zobel‐Elizalde.
69 “Raul Sauz”. LinkedIn. Linked In, n.d. Web. 6 Oct. 2014.
70 “Teachers.”Steps Dance Studio. Steps Dance Studio, n.d. Web. 6 October 2014.

45
Zobel‐Elizalde has also had legendary dancers and teachers teach in Steps at one point
or another such as the likes of Alan Hineline, Anatoli Panasiukov, Anna Villadolid‐Mayr, Brando
Miranda, Cecile Sicangco, Ida Beltran‐Lucila, Wallis, Nonoy Froilan, Tina Santos‐Wahl, Tony
Fabella and Victor Ursabia. Since 2010, Vaganova trained Jeffrey Espejo has been handling the
open classes and coaching the Steps Dance Studio competitors. 71
VII. Contribution to Society
Steps Dance Studio has contributed to society. Throughout its 20‐year history, the Steps
Dance Studio, through the Steps Scholarship Foundation, has given scholarships to deserving
students who are otherwise unable to pay for ballet classes. Most of them are males who went
on to pursue ballet extensively like Ignacio, the Guillermos, Dictado, Ma, Capongcol and
Pelegrin.
Recently, Zobel‐Elizalde partnered with her family’s education foundation: the Center of
Excellence in Public Elementary Education (Centex), in order to handle the extra curricular
activities. At Centex, she put up a dance program, forging a partnership between the Steps
Scholarship Foundation and Centex Scholarship Program. Last year, eight students selected by
Zobel from Centex who showed potential as dancers and who completed the RAD examinations.
When they are taught classical ballet, Zobel‐Elizalde can see the children “transform.”
More than just teaching children how to dance classical ballet, the RAD also teaches
them how to cultivate discipline within themselves in order to fulfill a purpose or a goal. It is a
discipline that they can maintain and carry on to other aspects of their lives outside dance.
Achievement in the RAD examinations is a further fulfilling for them.72
71 “About.”Steps Dance Studio. Steps Dance Studio, n.d. Web. 19 October 2014.

46
The parents are also affected by this opportunity. Zobel‐Elizalde noticed that through
advising, the parents become aware of the proper nutrition their child needs in order to be a
healthy dancer and healthy individual.
Moreover, the RAD gives the students a chance to express themselves and discover their
innate creativity through movement. It explores the children’s capabilities apart from their
academic studies.

47
CHAPTER 5: TEACHERS OF THE RAD METHOD
Sofia Zobel Zobel‐Elizalde believes that molding and effectuating good ballet training is
dependent on the teachers. This understanding comes from her years of experience in training
and performing as a professional dancer. When she set up the Steps Dance Studio, she sought
for a method that oversaw and promoted correct and comprehensive ballet education.
She decided to use the RAD syllabus, at Sonia Domingo‐Orevillo‐Orevillo’s suggestion, as
a basis for her school’s classical ballet instruction. She did so not only because she was trained
in the system, but also because the organization was built on the goal of creating good
teachers73 to teach classical ballet. At the onset, the RAD only gave membership to the
organization (and in effect rights to the syllabus) to those whom they felt were “qualified to
teach.”
The syllabus, for Zobel‐Elizalde, Felicitas Radaic, the instigator of RAD in the Philippines,
and all the Steps Dance Studio RAD teachers, is mainly set as the required output of ballet
education per year level. The students must perfect and accomplish the exercises and
vocabulary in the syllabus, in order to present the output correctly. The output as a whole
creates a dancer who is adept to gratify the standard competencies in artistry, musicality,
professionalism, performance and technique of the trends and demands of ballet, and is
knowledgeable in ballet terminology and vocabulary and thus able to execute them.
The organization had the objective of improving the “standard of teaching” ballet74.
Each level in the RAD has an output that must be achieved per level. This output is the standard
for the corresponding level that is the same for the rest of the RAD practicing world.

48
One characteristic of the RAD as a standardized outcome that Zobel‐Elizalde highlights
is that it is comprehensive. A syllabus such as the RAD would guarantee that in‐depth ballet
vocabulary is learned and that such a vocabulary is universal for every RAD trained individual.
Another characteristic the syllabus possesses as a standardized outcome is that it is
developmental. For Zobel‐Elizalde, there is an assurance that what a teacher teaches in every
level is necessary and suitable for the student depending upon his/her level.75 Exercises present
in each level are anatomically suitable for the student’s age and standing and they also build
upon the exercises and achievements of the previous level. It is centered on fundamental ballet
technique foundation and proper alignment from which such succeeding levels stem.
Given good teachers and the comprehensive and developmental characteristics, the
RAD syllabus is able to teach ballet correctly to anyone regardless of the body type. Any body
type, as Zobel‐Elizalde says, “regardless of the amount of turnout,” will be able to be molded
properly for classical ballet and for training professional dancers.
All these characteristics are ultimately assessed and evaluated through examinations
that involve quantitative assessment. All these will be discussed later on in this chapter through
the experiences and beliefs of teachers who are certified by and continue to teach the RAD.
These are Raul Sauz, Edward Malagkit and Marion Ignacio. This is supplemented by opinions of
Elizlde, Domingo‐Orevillo‐Domingo‐Orevillo‐Domingo‐OrevilloRadaic and Liesl Laforteza.
Raul Sauz was a dancer with Dance Theater Philippines and trained with Vella C.
Damian. Sonia Domingo‐Orevillo‐Orevillo introduced him to the RAD when she started inviting
non‐RAD trained dancers into the organization. She opened a school and invited him, through
Josette Salang, to take classes. Along with other new teachers, he learned the syllabus and was
eventually prodded by Domingo‐Orevillo‐Orevillo to take the exam. In a span of a year, he took
the Intermediate and Advanced 1 levels (then the Elementary and the Intermediate). He was

49
then able to enter students for exams. However, a year later, the organization required that RAD
certification would only be given after a two‐year teacher’s certificate program. He then got into
program that was conducted by way of long distance learning.
In 1995, he started teaching at the Steps Dance Studio. He first taught the grades levels,
but eventually concentrated on the vocational levels where he remained during his 14‐year
tenure at Steps. He was the ballet master for the National Musical Competition for Young Artists
from 1999 to . Some of the professional dancers he has produced in Steps include Marcelino
Libao, Mary Beatrice Saludares, Bianca Trocino and Madge Reyes.
Edward Malagkit was a principal dancer of Ballet Philippines (BP). To avoid the ROTC
stipulation of cutting his air in the University of the East where he was studying, he opted to
take ballet classes instead. After three months, Gener Caringal the director of the dance
company advised some of the male dancers to audition for Ballet Philippines. In 1977 he was
accepted as a scholar. Five months later, after taking class endlessly and quickly memorizing the
repertoire of the company, he was promoted to company member. After retiring from the
company, he became the Artistic Director of the Far Eastern University Dance Company. In
2014 after years of teaching part‐time with Steps and with Zobel‐Elizalde’s help, he completed
the RAD Certificate for Ballet Teaching Studies (CBTS).
Marion Ignacio is one of the first scholars of Steps. Originally a gymnast, he was invited
and offered a scholarship by Zobel‐Elizalde to join her school in 1998. With the school, he took
all the RAD vocational exam levels. When he finished his Advanced 2 exam in 2001, he joined BP
as a scholar, staying for less then a year. After, he moved to Philippine Ballet Theater (PBT),
staying there for two years. He left PBT when Zobel‐Elizalde invited him to become an RAD
teacher with her school. At Steps, Raul Sauz trained him as a teacher before taking the CBTS in
2006. He became a certified RAD teacher in 2009. A year later, he became a tutor for the CBTS.

50
Liesl Laforteza was a dance major at the University of the Philippines, College of Music.
She has been teaching jazz in Steps since 2001. In 2012, she entered the RAD CBTS program
when she recognized that it was a reliable tool for providing her students with good basic
training.
I. Teaching the Syllabus
A dance syllabus consists of set exercises that must be taught to the dance students to
establish a basis by which technical achievement can be measured by an awarding body, such as
the RAD. As mentioned above, each level has a set of competencies a student must achieve
according to the standards set by the organization for that level. However, teaching a syllabus
does not mean that every class the teacher gives his/her RAD candidates is governed by the set
exercises in the syllabus.
The syllabus according to Zobel‐Elizalde is not the sole means to cultivate the technical,
musical and performance competencies and establish the correct execution of dance steps in
the vocabulary.76 Rather, it is the required output of a certain level and, according to Felicitas
Radaic, a guide for teaching the students.77
The role of the RAD teacher is to break down the syllabus and teach the students how
each step in the set exercises is qualitatively correct in execution. This isn’t necessarily achieved
by repeating the same exercises stipulated in the syllabus during every class but by the teacher
ascertaining what exercises she can give the students so they understand the correct execution.
This is why the RAD requires teachers to go through a two‐year teacher‐training course before
they can use the RAD method.
76 Zobel‐Elizalde, Sofia. Personal Interview. 17 Oct. 2014
77 Radaic, Felicitas. Personal Interview. 18 Oct 2014.

51
When he was still the primary RAD teacher at Steps for 14 years, Sauz created and
followed his own program of teaching the syllabus. His RAD classes consisted of exercises that
though still scoped within the RAD level’s requirements, were essentially differing from the
syllabus exercises. Rigorous teaching of the syllabus would only take place three months before
the exam. Ideally by that time, his students would be fully equipped in technique and ability to
do the syllabus, as it should be executed down to every detail and requirement. His program
was effective because of his consistent elaboration of detail in every step. Not only that, he was
a notoriously strict teacher.78 According to Sauz, the new CBTS program has also emphasized
“the breaking down of the steps.”
When Sauz left to become an examiner, Marion Ignacio took over the advanced levels.
An RAD certified teacher through the CBTS program, he received pedagogical training first
under Raul Sauz. He started as a scholar of the Steps Dance Studio, going through all the RAD
levels and eventually danced professionally with Philippine Ballet Theater, before going back to
Steps to teach. He is a product of the RAD system and a product of Sauz as a teacher. His method
is similar to Sauz in the way that steps are broken down, and not given to the students
immediately and fully. He simplifies it but remains guided by the scope of the requirements per
level.
Teaching of the syllabus entails classes that are based entirely on the syllabus and the
repetition of its exercises, and classes that are the open class type.
A. The Teacher
Teacher training in the RAD is as meticulously handled as the imparting of the syllabus
itself. Certification of the RAD has evolved from only requiring the teacher to learn the syllabus
78 Gana, Monica. Personal Interview

52
and take exams, to enacting a Teacher’s Certificate Program, and to what is now called the
Certificate in Ballet Teaching Studies.
Sauz, Ignacio, Malagkit, Zobel‐Elizalde and Domingo‐Orevillo‐Orevillo agree that the
syllabus’ success and efficacy as an output are dependent on the teacher’s abilities and hard
work. Attested by the RAD’s objectives when it was created, the RAD is well aware of the
teacher’s important role. Today they continue to monitor and support that role by educating
teachers in their numerous programs and keeping track of their progress and outputs yearly.
Domingo‐Orevillo, who succeeded Radaic in RAD operations and who advised Zobel‐
Elizalde to use the RAD method when Zobel‐Elizalde opened her school, says that “The syllabus
is just a guideline, in the end it is still the teacher.” The RAD helped her in her pedagogical
methods because the precision, placement, artistry, musicality and nuances of ballet were
present. The method’s benefits would also work well when the teacher knows how to teach the
syllabus. However, a teacher cannot solely use the RAD. What is important is “as long as you
have a basis to improve your dancers technically, if you have your own, well and good. If you
have a means from an outside help, well and good.” Domingo‐Orevillo emphasizes:
Overall, the teacher must know their stuff, they should go out of their way to learn more.
It’s not like they know everything, nobody knows everything. You should go out of your
way to attend workshops, you should also watch co‐teachers not to criticize co‐teachers
but to learn from them. Good or bad teachers you always learn something.
Sauz primarily operates with four pedagogical principles. One is having a good eye. A
good eye means that the teacher recognizes what the right posture and alignment; placement
and movement should look like and therefore must be able to see if his/her student
demonstrates it. Simply knowing the correct ballet mechanics theoretically is not enough. The

53
second is having the ability to break down the requirements of the syllabus, or any method, in
order to achieve the requirements and standards of the examination. He points out that it is an
“examination syllabus, not a training syllabus.” He advises teachers to “devise their own
training exercises to lead to [the required output].” The third is asking the right questions.
Instead of asking the typical “how” with the mechanics of a step, he instead asks “why” or “what
for”. In this way, the student knows what each exercise in the barre is needed for in the center.
This principle prevents Ursuliak’s warning of students becoming “slaves to the barre.”79 There
is the danger of the students “never seeing where those exercises were leading… the coupé is
the pushing off to jump and the fondu is the soft landing” (Ward 208). The fourth is constantly
developing knowledge. He “reads and re‐reads” books he finds insightful. Among his favorites
are The Art of Teaching Ballet by Gretchen Ward Warren and his “bible”, Body Basics by John
Byrne. The most important scheme for lengthening the inner thighs that he gained from Body
Basics is pressing the foot down before a battement dégagé. Therefore, every time a student
executes the dégagé it is “important that the floor pressure is seen in the battement tendu etc.”
The organization has also recognized the merits of constantly gaining knowledge and thus
created, in 2013, the Continuing Professional Development. He feels it is a way to “keep
teachers abreast with new information [with some] short courses.”
With the CPD Zobel‐Elizalde feels they are “not allowed to relax. So they watch us and
we pass it on to our students.” Moreover for her as a teacher, the RAD system was helpful for a
dancer transitioning to be a teacher. When she became a teacher, she faced the challenge of
suddenly having to talk clearly and coherently – something a dancer does not always have to do
on stage but was improved with the RAD. At present as the director of her school and to uphold
the quality of teaching, she occasionally observes some classes and brings up elements the
teacher may have overlooked.
79 Warren, Gretchen Ward. The Art of Teaching Ballet. Florida: University Press of Florida, 1996. Print.

54
Ignacio was trained by Sauz as a teacher and is as committed to and vocal about being a
teacher. He enumerates the advantages of teaching in Steps and being RAD certified and
trained; and the responsibilities of teaching beyond the RAD. One is that the students are open
to corrections and are aware that the teacher must correct them. He learned from Sauz the
benefit of holding the students to correctly place them. He feels that because the students at
Steps’ all wanted to improve and saw its benefits, they allowed him to mold them without any
negative feedback. Another is that RAD trained teachers know the ballet terminologies and its
definitions. He knows for example that a fondu must only reach 90 degrees, a battement jeté 45
degrees and a battement glissé slightly off the floor. He also knows the mechanics of the steps,
for example, the tendu from the ball of the foot to the tips of the toes. Because of that, he also
points out that the RAD teachers demonstrate the steps with their own bodies as opposed to
with just the hands. Another advantage of teaching under the RAD is following the correct
anatomical development of a student. For example, turn out for the student with the RAD is
never forced but slowly developed lest the student roll in and twist his/her knees. The last is
that the academy equips the teachers with the right ingredients to conduct class. This includes
the right way of dressing and even manner of speaking with the right modulation in class.
However, he also recognizes that the RAD does not teach everything. As a teacher, he then
enacts and feels the responsibility to impart on his students some knowledge or “tricks”, he
learned as a dancer with PBT. This responsibility as a teacher can sometimes take a toll on him,
especially when “a student cannot get the step.” When this happens, he makes and thinks of
various ways to make them execute it correctly. He says that in this way, teaching can be hard
and that “there is a tendency to get burnt out because it is not easy.” Nevertheless, he continues
to teach and feels fortunate that Zobel‐Elizalde gave him a chance to be a teacher.
Unlike Ignacio, Malagkit was not trained in the RAD. When Malagkit first experienced
the RAD as a student, he did not like it. But when Zobel‐Elizalde invited him to try the RAD

55
method in her school, he immediately saw the merits of the syllabus. What would, he said, take
his regular eight‐year old students two years to learn, took RAD trained students of the same
age only six months to absorb. He then applied and finished his CBTS. From his experiences, he
enumerates the values and principles every ballet teacher must have and describes how the
RAD upholds such values of a teacher and pedagogical principles. Looking back, he realized that,
though the RAD method is based on the RAD style, its success is dependent on the teacher. First,
he valued how the RAD had given him immediate results during his first time because as a
teacher, he is result oriented. He is persistent in molding his students in order to see the
improvement he expects of his students. Seeing the results fuel his enthusiasm and following
the RAD method had given him the results he sought and worked to teach. Second, aside from
being result results oriented, which lets parents “get their money’s worth,” he also believes in
being open to constantly acquire knowledge from dance and other fields. With the CPD
program, he says, “you will never miss to upgrade yourself.” With the program, he has come to
understand his students. The likes and dislikes of children, their attitudes at a certain age and
what you can expect from them. He uses this knowledge so that he can maintain their attention
throughout the class, and so he can comprehend how to innovate his teaching methods to their
preferences and better understanding. Third he deems necessary the ability for a teacher to
assess his or her students. The organization, with the exam, guides his evaluation. Also, as
someone who had a career in dance, what adds to properly assessing and training his students
is the awareness of the level of performance quality and aesthetic forms in ballet. This lets the
teacher create dancers; as opposed to “classroom dancers” that he feels is a consequence of
teachers who are “too bookish.” Fourth he maintains that the teacher must have discipline,
something that the “RAD instills to a teacher.” With this discipline, the teacher knows and
teaches how a step is properly executed, which can also come from professional experience.
After all, he feels that teaching is a discipline and with this discipline, the teacher has the

56
responsibility to uphold the creation of good and correct movement because they are “creating
future artists.” It is up to the teacher’s motivation to mold an artist through correct pedagogical
practices. He culminates he importance of motivation and knowledge saying, “What you don’t
have, you cannot teach.”
Moreover, Laforteza feels that with the RAD method, “the teacher actually has to learn
to teach.” Additionally, she points out that what the teacher is able to learn through the RAD
builds a professional portfolio as a teacher. She also perceives the RAD syllabus as an end
product, seeing that it is the teacher’s responsibility to bring the student to certain level of
dancing.
What is common in these RAD teachers is the quest for knowledge in order to benefit
the manner of training the student and to foster improvement within the student. Moreover,
they all have an understanding of what any ballet teacher must be and know and therefore
espouse as a teacher. They gain knowledge from outside sources aside from RAD stipulations in
order to teach mechanics, look and details of the steps properly, they recognize the syllabus as a
guide to what they teach and must achieve in the student (which is discussed below), they make
certain that they produce good dancers, and they are most importantly committed and
motivated. It is evidenced by their long accounts of their pedagogical methods that they are
committed that their knowledge and experience bear fruit and are motivated that they teach
the best way they can.
The academy is equally rigid and developmental with their teachers as they are with the
students. This gives the teacher a sense of the present global standards of the ballet world.
Especially with the new syllabus levels coming, every year someone from the academy comes to
the country to teach the new syllabus to the certified teachers.
In the Philippines, especially in the NCR region, given the amount of ballet schools and
ballet school brands, ballet has become very accessible. However there is no guarantee that

A Case Study On The Royal Academy Of Dance Syllabus Practice In The Steps Dance Studio To Create Professional Dancers

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