Alex Johnson

Leveling Process Journal

Tap Pedagogy
Patricia Oplotnik
September 16th, 2014
Throughout my years at OCU I have experienced the leveling process which the dance
department uses to determine which students within similar learning levels are placed together so
that everyone receives the best class catered to them. The process begins with normally a lower
level combination to determine who should be placed in the higher sections of that class and are
auditioned based on the levels that they tested out as with new people at the very end. I think the
new people are put at the end so after all the levels (from highest to lowest) have just be reshown
to the teachers by the previous years students so they know what they should look like if they
are going to level them up higher.
From the first days observations the students come back for the next class in different
levels across the board and a new combination is normally taught that is more advanced. This
helps to demonstrate to the teachers mastery of more advanced steps and also steps that still need
to be improved upon. The students are tested again but this time all the new students have
normally been slotted into places where the teachers feel like they will be most successful among
similar dancers. This gives the teachers an opportunity to make sure they have been slated into
the correct level. On the final day of leveling students perform the combination in a large group
of around twenty dancers to show the teachers an example of what the class will be.
In al honesty I think the leveling process can be a wonderful way to decide where to
place students. If you move a student up too quickly you risk the chance that they may end up
performing steps sloppily, but if you never have them advance they sometimes can fall into a lull
and become complacent thus hindering their chances of continuing to improve. If I had a dance
studio I would probably have different levels and have steps the students would need to master in
order to move up to the next level. These would be on a case by case basis and students would
have the opportunity to move up at the start of the school year, winter break, and the start of

summer. This would give the students three chances to move up in level, but I would be sure not
to advance anyone too quickly.