Dance Training

Saint Joseph Ballet offers 55 classes weekly for 400 registered students, 96% participating on scholarship.  34 ballet classes and 21 modern classes are conducted by experienced, nurturing faculty, with musicians accompanying 22 classes weekly. 

Students take class two to five times a week, depending on their proficiency level.  Six levels are taught in two to three class sections each, to moderate class size and offer more individual attention.  Three terms of dance training offer 40 weeks of class annually.  Students must meet – or preferably, exceed – minimum attendance requirements to stay in Saint Joseph Ballet.  

Achievement Standards

High expectations for performance are a given at Saint Joseph Ballet.  Students are expected to meet attendance and achievement standards.  Achievement standards are the particular dance skills or goals, of a given proficiency level.  Like any sport, dance is learned and practiced developmentally.  To prevent injuries, students develop fundamental techniques progressively, to prepare for more physically challenging work in the next level. 

Achievement standards focus on the basic building blocks of movement, across ballet and modern techniques.  Standards are specified in alignment, strength, balance, adagio, and allegro, increasing in difficulty for each level.  

Saint Joseph Ballet invites all parents to meet faculty members and learn about achievement standards in each of the three terms.  

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• Open House for Parents – Fall Term.     Achievement standards are introduced to parents at an evening class they are invited to observe.  More advanced students join the class, to demonstrate, so students and parents alike can see the skills targeted by the conclusion of summer term. 
• Mid-Term Assessments – Spring Term.  Students perform combinations demonstrating their progress, again in a class held for parent observation.  A few days later, teachers meet with students and parents to individually discuss how the student’s progress.  This clarifies areas in which the student is ‘on track’, ahead, and/or needs improvement to meet the achievement standards by August.  A copy of this progress report is sent home.
• Final Assessment – Summer Term.    Students take class, again for their visiting parents, demonstrating the achievement standards.  A week later at the fall registration, faculty members discuss the assessment individually with students and parents.  Students are placed in the next level, when they meet both attendance and achievement standards.