Understanding

Company Placement

It is the time of year that dancers audition for our competitive companies; and teachers and directors are evaluating and determining placement. At AEDC we place dancers based on age ONLY in our recreational program.

AEDC’s competitive Companies placement is based on a variety of other factors. For parents and dancers this can be a stressful or joyful experience, relative to their dancer’s progression. For studio directors and teachers, it is a multifaceted and complex task that we do not take lightly.

The following is some insight on our process for dancer placement on competitive companies, with the goal of demystifying it for parents and dancers alike! Let’s get started!

WHAT:

At most dance studios the “what” is the criteria for dancer evaluation. It can be broken down into some major categories, and then smaller “subsets” of those categories:

  • Technique

    • Execution

    • Flexibility

    • Strength

    • Musicality/Dynamics

  • Knowledge

    • Terminology

    • Skill Set

  • Class Work

    • Focus

    • Maturity

    • Preparedness

    • Work Ethic

    • Applying Corrections

    • General Class Taking

  • Artistry

    • Performance

    • Quality of Movement

    • Energy

    • Showmanship

    • Comfort on stage

Let’s spend some time talking about these factors and diving into what they mean. It is pertinent to understand how they all relate to one another, and how we use them in determining a dancer’s placement.

TECHNIQUE: The basis of all dance fundamentals. The ability to properly and correctly execute dance skills. It includes things such as placement, flexibility, strength, musicality, and the ability to pick up choreography and movement. It can be measured in straightforward ways. Does the dancer have all of their splits correctly? This would be a way to measure flexibility. Can the dancer hold the leg up properly without the assistance of a hand?  This would be a way to measure strength.

KNOWLEDGE: This is purely what a dancer knows and understands. This includes terminology and the ability to execute specific skills with proper technique and body alignment.

CLASS WORK: Class work is the dancer’s ability to take class. Are they focused? Do they come into class prepared? Do they remember choreography from week to week? Do they work hard regardless of teacher observation? Are they a supportive, respectful, and friendly classmate? How do they take and apply teacher corrections? How do they deal with adversity? How do they deal with success? Are they enthusiastic learners? These are some of the things we look at when we are evaluating a dancers class work and work ethic.

ARTISTRY: The nuances of performance. It includes the ability to engage and command an audience. The capacity to emote feeling and execute dance beyond technique or choreography.  Dancers must connect all the power moments and subtle transition steps of a piece into a work of art.  Going beyond the “steps” given, dancers must develop the ability to live each moment fully in the classroom and on stage and transport an audience member into the dancers’ world.  We also evaluate a dancers ability to perform. Do they use resistance in their movement from one step to another? Do they pay attention to the small details of the choreography, finding the accents and shading of movement?   Are they comfortable on stage or do they get nervous and hold back?  Are they dancing from the heart or simply smiling or making faces to get through it?

HOW DO THESE FACTORS COMBINE?

How do teachers and directors evaluate all these and determine placement? As you can see there are a lot of components to the “what” of dancer evaluation. This is why dancer placement is a complex task for directors and teachers. We take all of these factors into consideration when determining placement, and take the time to insure that dancers are accurately, comprehensively, and effectively placed for their long term progress and success.

To complicate the task, most dancers are not completely consistent across the subsets.  For instance, a dancer may have excellent flexibility but lacks the strength and control to coordinate that flexibility. Often students may have the KNOWLEDGE of technique but have not honed the EXECUTION. This is a very important distinction. A dancer may KNOW what everything is, and understand the terminology and ideas, but that does not mean they are executing them PROPERLY.

Every studio is different in how they approach placements. Some focus solely on technique and the progression of their skill set. We believe that to be the starting point of dancer evaluation, and then we factor things in like class work, overall knowledge, and artistry to determine placement.

For example, if a dancer is lacking in technique, they might make up for it in class taking ability - this can result in a placement that might be above their technical level, but with the idea that their aptitude for hard work will help them progress. Conversely, if a dancer has solid technique but lacks artistry this might result in a plateau with their placement; they would not be placed within a competitive group of dancers who excel in artistry as well as technique. And this brings us to the next key point…

THE BALANCING ACT

AEDC Company Staff evaluates each dancer on their individual qualities.  Once we have done that, we start to look at “the collective”. Essentially, we try to balance the good of the whole team (the collective), with the progress of the individual. On every team there will be students that excel in certain aspects, and students that struggle with certain aspects. The goal is to blend the team into one where ALL students have the ability to progress, are “comfortably uncomfortable”, help each other, to grow as a collective, and attain personal goals.

THE MISTAKES

The factors listed are what we use in placement. What DON’T we use as a guide for placements? The most common assumptions regarding team placement are age of the dancer, total years of dance training, and/or assuming a dancer will change levels each year.

AGE: The saying “age is just a number” exists for a reason. At AEDC age is not the SOLE factor for team placement. Dancers that have exceptional technique MAY end up dancing with older classmates, but they also need to have the maturity & focus to do this. Conversely, older dancers may end up on teams with younger students while they strengthen technique or artistry.

Again, we go back to ALL the categories and subsets of “what” in making these decisions, and factor age into the “balancing act” at the end.

LEVEL PROGRESSION: If a dancer’s sole goal is to perform with a certain group or achieve a certain award at a competition, they are dancing for the wrong reasons and will always ultimately be disappointed.  While we strongly encourage setting goals and working to accomplish them, every dancer is on their own personal journey and must celebrate their own accomplishments without comparing themselves to others.  Each dancer has something unique that sets them apart from all other dancers.  Some dancers have innate technique or beautiful style, others have natural flexibility.  Some may be beautiful turners, others powerful leapers.  Each dancer has their own set of strengths and weaknesses that set them apart from others.  

Occasionally a dancer will have a year where suddenly everything begins to click for them, and they spring forward in their progress.  For others this process is slower.  This “Aha!” moment happens at different times for every dancer and cannot be rushed or forced.  Conversely, sometimes a dancers “group” surpasses them and they are left struggling with the material given and must be moved to a group more aligned with their current technique and performance level. Your dancer needs your support and the support of their teachers and dance friend “collective” during every stage of their personal dance journey, the high and the lows.

Lastly, dance studios and companies are not structured like public schools. Can you think of a single dance studio that has twelve levels of dance teams? This means dancers will not automatically move onto a new team each year. Their placement is based solely on personal growth and accomplishment and how that relates to the “collective”. Many dancers stay with the same team for their entire competitive career. This is OK!  Those teams will be COLLECTIVELY progressing. Others may be moved to different groups to help support their growth and assist with their plateau as needed for the progress of the “collective”.

Hopefully this helps take some of the mystery out of the many variables that AEDC Company directors and teachers use for dancer evaluation and team placements.