<p>Dance is very important to my daughter as she is an avid dancer. I was surprised that there are no dance auditions. As I understand it you get leveled for dance before you begin the program. How do the levels work for dance classes? Is it true that if you reach a certain level you will take classes with the dance majors? Does anyone know how rigorous the dance curriculum is?</p>
<p>I think you definitely dance with the dance majors if you are at the same level. The dance classes are all in the Ann Lacy School of Dance and have to be scheduled throught the dance department. I think the curriculum is pretty rigorous, depending on your level. If you've been dancing 10 years, you probably are not going to be in 'basic' jazz. The purpose of the leveling is to place you where you will be challenged but not overwhelmed. Does that make sense?</p>
<p>They do an extensive amount of leveling. S indicated they continued to do some leveling even after setting you basic class</p>
<p>Ditto to WMOnMT observation. Per my D, you will get into a class where you belong - they seem to have a good system in place for leveling.</p>
<p>And BTW, there are quite a few schools w/o dance auditions who level after acceptance into the program. And MY d's roomie is a dance major and it seems pretty rigorous to her (and me too!)- she's been dancing since she was around 3......</p>
<p>Hope this helps!
MikksMom</p>
<p>The dance opportunities, while not as extensive as other schools, are really quite comprehensive. There are three levels of dance and most people without dance training get put in the "basic" levels. There are two classes that circulate between two teachers in this level. When you've learned what you can from the basic levels, you get moved up into "A" levels: 1 - 4. In the A classes, you rotate between many teachers (I believe the dance school is increasing it to 5 next year) and learn a combination for each teacher. After "A" comes "B." The B levels are similar to the A levels only they are levels 5 - 8. Sometimes MT majors get into the upper levels (5 - 8) if they come in with previous training.</p>
<p>I've learned so much from the dance school and leveled relatively far for a MT major without any previous dance training.</p>
<p>The dance school is very intense and demands a lot from their students, which is a good thing. They are hard on you, just like people will be hard on you in the "real world."</p>