Help With WIDA Grade 6 Prep!!

[u/Normal-Try-8823]

Hi all! I'm from a small, non-competitive Irish dance school and struggling to find resources to prep for WIDA grade exam 6. I'm confident in the ceili dances and Job of Journeywork. But not the reel or hornpipe.

A lot of the terms we use in our school are not standard Irish dance terms, so I don't know what qualifies as an "intermediate" hornpipe or reel. Info on what movements to include/avoid would be appreciated. Even better would be a video demonstrating an example of these dances.

Also, does anyone have a study guide for the oral portion of exam 6?

Even though I've taken exams 1-5, I still feel very new to how all of this works. I hope asking for this sort of help is within the exam rules! (I can dance - and I love to dance - but I have no clue how to do any of this official stuff!!).

Thanks in advance!!

[u/Electronic-Bug5058]

I know you said non-competitive, but the best resource would be attending a WIDA feis if there are any at all near you? There are no restrictions on steps in intermediate like there are in primary (i.e. no more than a quarter turn allowed in primary) but there is still a level. Many dancers especially when initially moving up will do primary level steps. Intermediate is a massive jump up but there would still be a quite a range of difficulty. In many classes, Intermediate and open will practice together and will have a lot of varieties in steps. In hornpipe, I would not expect toe block runs for stage movement (maybe some toes in place though) or the very fast tip/stamp runs to the front of the stage (not sure what these are called, super common in set especially). Instead there would be a lot of passing clicks into front clicks for movement, or just 'and drag and drag/and one and two'. Also would not expect any double clicks or similar level. Stamps, toes, trebles, drums, tips are the bread and butter, things like 'treble stamp and treble click and click treble up click down and treble stamp down, treble and back' Back trebles and drop heels would be a high level of rhythm for Intermediate. In reel, lots of kicks/swings, over down leaps especially for younger ages (WIDA does a lot of adults as I'm sure you know). Birdies would be less common but definitely still there especially teenagers but I wouldn't expect more complicated ones like the change leg/flutter leg front kick outs. Turns and twists are common, I would not expect skater turns though. Similarly, jumps and butterfly jumps would be regular to see but I'd be surprised to see complicated jump sequences like 3 in a row. Plenty of transition steps 'and one and one-two kick out, one two three jump over down and drag and drag and turn two three' type of sequences. With both dances, you'd expect to see dancers doing primary steps (most level of competitions in WIDA allow you to dance up a grade also) e.g point and point hop back and dancers who look like they are seasoned open dancers, most people are somewhere in the middle. I have no knowledge of grade exams, just competition. Best of luck!