Good question! In ballet we always want to be improving and not feel stuck doing the same things over and over with no progress. At Elaia Academy, and most studios, each class is targeted at growing individual students where they are in their dance progress. This means that even if a dancer repeats the same "level" they are still being challenged to grow, to strengthen, and to learn each semester they are with Elaia. It is to be excepted that a dancer will complete at around two-four consecutive years within each level before moving onward. 

The teaching style in our age-based levels (Pre-ballet - Ballet 3A) is tailored specifically to best engage, motivate, and instruct the dancers of that age group. These classes are not based on the technical ability or skill of the dancer, as our teachers will continue to individually teach each student within their class to strengthen and develop her/his individual ability. For example, our Pre-Ballet class is ideal for ages 3-5 because we create a highly engaging and fun environment in this class, making ballet into fun metaphors and games for young dancers, and is a little bit shorter to accommodate younger children's attention span. However, within the class, teachers will continue to push individual students to learn more ballet technique and movements based on the individual dancer's engagement and ability. In contrast, our Ballet 1 class is tailored to older students and is a little longer. Fun in this class tranistions from imagination-based dancing and creative movement towards motivation to be able to learn more technical dance movements. This applies to all of our age-based ballet levels, so even if your dancer completes several years in one level, she/he will continue to learn something new each semester. 

Once a dancer has reached a certain age, we do have skills-based classes. This is our Ballet 3B, Ballet 4, and Ballet 5 levels, our Intermediate Core Ballet Class, and our Pre-Pointe and Pointe class. The expectations for these classes are centered on a dancer's technical ability and strength. Dancers at this level must have been taking ballet for at least two consecutive years*  with no gap in training or dancing before even being considered eligible for any of these levels or classes. This is because dancing at this level is very physically taxing on the body and if dancers have not built up their strength to this level, or lost strength due to a break in their dancing, it will put them at risk for injury. Additionally, these classes are fast-paced and dancers are expected to memorize combinations simply by being told the movements once and without teacher guidance. These classes are designed in such a way that they both maintain a dancer's endurance, strength, and stamina at a pre-professional level. Unlike our age-based levels which are tailored to individual dancers, students in these classes are expected to rise to the teachers expectations, and should plan to work on strengthening outside of class in order to not fall behind. Dancers who are not taking classes at least three times a week and are not stretching outside of class will fall behind the rest of the class. This is what makes these classes different from our age-based levels and is why individual dancers must first be invited to join these classes, as it means they have been identified as strong, technical, and skilled enough to keep up with the expectations of these classes. Once dancers are in the Ballet 2 and Ballet 3A levels, teachers will begin watching dancers closely to monitor their readiness for these more intensive classes. 

*consecutive years means a dancer was taking ballet classes in the fall and spring semester for one or multiple years. If a student completed a fall semester of ballet but did not take any ballet classes in the spring, they have broken their line of consecutive years.