Placement levels are used to ensure that dancers are placed in classes suitable for their skill set and abilities. It is very important that a dancer is not enrolled in a class level for which they are not placed, due to learning skills which build on not yet mastered proficiencies. The purposeful order of the curriculum keeps injury prevention top of mind and guides students through the most effective and efficient way to progress through the levels. Levels also aid in class flow since stopping to instruct a student who should be in a lower level will impede the overall growth of the class. Conversely, if a higher level student is in a class with a majority of dancers at a lower level, level advancement may be hindered as the student will not be exposed to the higher level skills necessary to move to the next level.
Split Levels
On occasion, a student has mastered the majority of the skills necessary to advance to the next level but may still may lack some key skills important to fully master before moving on to the next level. In cases like these, a split level will be assigned which means that the student is still technically the lower of the split level, but is allowed to take a class labeled for split level students. For instance, a class named “Ballet L3 (L2 with approval)” is a level 3 ballet class which allows level 3 dancers AND level 2 dancers who are noted as level 2/3. This “2/3″ label means the dancer is approved to take Level 3 ballet classes, as long as the class designation indicates acceptance of level 2 dancers (but not a straight “L3 ballet class”). In cases like these, we ask that the dancer additionally sign up to take a class in their true level (if the scenario described above), in an effort to ensure mastery of any of the skills preventing the dancer from progressing to the next full level.
Dancer Levels
Every leveled genre has skills associated with each level, and our teachers have been teaching off of a syllabus, which caters to those skills, depending on the class level. Our (numerically) leveled genres are Ballet, Jazz, Tap, Hip Hop and Acro.
Progression from one level to the next generally takes 2-3 years. Please note that absences in excess of 3 per class, per semester (Aug-Dec & Jan-May), without make ups, can/will result in a dancer being moved to a lower level.
Many factors have been considered in this assessment process:
- Age – the student’s age will not be the dominant deciding factor but, as a general rule of thumb, the below are considered the most common average age groups per level:
- Level 1 – 6-8 yo
- Level 2 – 9-11 yo
- Level 3 – 11-14 yo
- Level 4 – 13-15 yo
- Level 5 – 15-18 yo
- Maturity and application of proper etiquette
- Recognition of terminology
- Comprehension of individual skill elements
- Proper and skillful technical execution of level material
- Consistent attendance
Placement assignments are based on collaborative evaluations. Our genre leads met and collaborated with all of the instructors teaching that genre, in order to come to an agreement on the level assignment that was determined would be in the best interest of each dancer moving into the next season. We ask that you please trust the integrity of this process.
Any student is welcome to take any classes at their level and any level leading up to their level. They will NOT be permitted to take any classes higher than their level.