HOW WE PLACE DANCERS
Supporting Every Dancer’s Journey
At Reach For The Barres, we believe every dancer deserves to be appropriately challenged, supported, and positioned for success.
Our leveled curriculum is designed to create meaningful opportunities for growth while ensuring dancers develop strong technical foundations, confidence, and a lifelong love of dance.
Because growth is not about moving through levels as quickly as possible.
It’s about continuing to learn, improve, and reach higher.
WHY DO WE USE LEVELS?
Levels allow us to group dancers with peers who are working on similar skills, concepts, and developmental goals.
Rather than focusing solely on age, our leveled curriculum helps ensure dancers are placed in an environment where they can:
✔ Feel confident and successful
✔ Be appropriately challenged
✔ Develop strong technical foundations
✔ Progress safely and effectively
✔ Continue growing at a pace that supports long-term success
Just as children develop at different rates academically, socially, and physically, dancers develop at different rates as well.
Our goal is not simply advancement.
Our goal is meaningful growth.
HOW ARE PLACEMENTS DETERMINED?
Dance placement is both an art and a science.
When determining placements, we consider a variety of factors, including:
- Technical skill development
- Movement quality and body awareness
- Strength, flexibility, and coordination
- Musicality and performance skills
- Ability to apply corrections
- Focus and classroom readiness
- Consistency and training history
- Confidence and emotional readiness
No single factor determines placement.
Instead, we look at the whole dancer.
ARE PLACEMENTS BASED ON AGE?
Age remains an important consideration, particularly in our Introductory Program and younger levels.
However, once dancers enter our leveled curriculum, placement is based on a combination of age, experience, technical readiness, and developmental readiness.
This allows us to create class environments where dancers can continue building confidence while being appropriately challenged.
CAN A DANCER BE DIFFERENT LEVELS IN DIFFERENT STYLES?
Absolutely.
Every dancer develops differently across various disciplines.
A dancer may be ready for a higher level in one style while continuing to build foundations in another.
Because each discipline develops unique skills, it is common for dancers to have different placements across Ballet, Jazz, Tap, Hip Hop, Acro, Lyrical, Pom, and other training opportunities.
UNDERSTANDING PLACEMENTS, OPPORTUNITIES & RECOMMENDATIONS
Because every dancer’s journey is unique, families may occasionally see different placements, opportunities, and recommendations throughout the enrollment process.
Understanding the distinction between these can help make enrollment decisions clearer and more meaningful.
Placement
Placement reflects where Reach For The Barres has determined a dancer belongs within our curriculum based on age, experience, technical readiness, developmental readiness, and overall growth.
Placement serves as the foundation for all future recommendations and opportunities available to a dancer.
Examples:
- Primary Program
- Ballet Level 2B
- Jazz Level 1
- Hip Hop Primary II
Opportunities
Opportunities are additional classes and programs a dancer may be eligible to participate in based on their placement, age, experience, and readiness.
Opportunities are determined by Reach For The Barres and may vary from dancer to dancer.
Eligibility for an opportunity does not necessarily mean it is the next recommended step for every dancer.
Examples:
- Tap
- Hip Hop
- Pre-Pointe
- Conditioning
- Jazz Progressions
Recommendations
Recommendations reflect the schedule we believe will best support a dancer’s continued growth, confidence, and long-term success.
While there may be multiple opportunities available, our recommendations represent the path we would most strongly encourage based on our professional assessment of the dancer.
If your family is unsure which option to choose, we recommend starting with the schedule provided in your recommendation.
Example
Placement
- Ballet Level 2B
Opportunities
- Pre-Pointe
- Conditioning
- Jazz Progressions
Recommended Schedule
- Ballet Level 2B
- Pre-Pointe
In this example, Ballet Level 2B is the dancer’s placement.
Pre-Pointe, Conditioning, and Jazz Progressions are additional opportunities available to the dancer.
Our recommendation is Ballet Level 2B combined with Pre-Pointe because we believe that schedule would best support the dancer’s continued growth and development.
WHY DO I SEE CLASSES IN THE FILTER THAT WERE NOT RECOMMENDED?
Our enrollment filters are designed to show classes a dancer may be eligible to enroll in based on age and program criteria.
Because recommendations consider additional factors such as developmental readiness, training history, discipline-specific experience, and long-term progression, families may occasionally see classes that were not specifically recommended for their dancer.
For example:
- A dancer may be recommended for one discipline but see several disciplines available.
- A dancer may be eligible for multiple classes within a program, but receive a recommendation for the class we believe is the strongest fit.
- A dancer may hold different placements across different styles.
When this occurs, we encourage families to use their individualized recommendations as their primary guide and reach out if they have questions.
WHAT IF MY DANCER STAYS AT THE SAME LEVEL?
Growth is not always measured by moving to the next level.
Sometimes the most meaningful growth happens when dancers deepen their understanding, strengthen their foundations, gain confidence, and refine previously learned skills.
Remaining at the same level does not mean a dancer is standing still.
In many cases, it means they are building the strength, confidence, and consistency necessary for long-term success.
At Reach For The Barres, we believe strong foundations create endless possibilities for growth.
WHAT DOES SUCCESS LOOK LIKE?
At Reach For The Barres, success looks different for every dancer.
For some, it means mastering a new skill.
For others, it means gaining confidence, making a friend, stepping onto a stage for the first time, discovering a love of dance, or finding the courage to try something new.
We believe the greatest measure of success is becoming a stronger version of yourself than you were yesterday.
Because our goal is not to help dancers move through levels as quickly as possible.
Our goal is to help them continue growing.
And at Reach For The Barres, there is always another way to grow.
Together, We Reach Higher.
