Studio Rules
Classes
Students are to arrive at least 5 minutes before class starts and please be picked up promptly after.
Prescribed class uniform is compulsory and must please be worn to every lesson. Only uniform ordered at the studio will be accepted. Please see more info on this here:
Classes will take place every week during the school term and are closed for the school & public holidays.
Please try to attend as many as possible lessons as we are rehearsing all year for the annual examination session.
Please inform me should a student not be able to attend.
Should a student miss more than 4 lessons in a term, she will not be entered for exam.
Should she miss more than 2 lessons in a row without notice, she will be considered de-registered and will have to re-register to continue lessons
Please note that en Stage do not provide any transport to/from class or any other ballet related activities.
Please note that no parents are allowed to sit in on lessons. It causes great distraction and this is to help the students to get used to dancing without their parents present for the exam. Parents will be allowed to sit in on every last lesson of the term.
Please do not enter the studio while class is in progress. I will be available at the beginning and end of each class for discussion/payments.
Fees
Registered students will be charged a total amount which will then be divided into 12 monthly instalments due before the 7th of each month.
A once off registration fee eqaul to one month's installment will be payable by all new students. Once you have registered your contract will be renewed automatically every year.
Should you wish to discontinue lessons you will have to submit written notice of one month (meaning that if you want to stop lessons after the account for the month has been sent out you will be required to pay that amount as notice)
Please note that payments will not be stopped unless written confirmation from the parent has been recieved.
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All fees are due before the 7th of each Month. Should fees not be paid by the 15th of the month a late penalty of 20% will be charged.
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Should fees be late by 1 month, lessons will be discontinued and students will have to re-register
Registration fee + the amount outstanding
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No students with outstanding class fees for 2025 will be allowed to continue classes in 2026 unless all payments are paid up to date.
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Students with outstanding class fees will not be entered/ allowed to participate in any exams, competitions, concerts, etc. Please note all costume/entry fees will be allocated to the outstanding account and will not be used for its purpose.
Examinations
The minimum age requirement to enter for pre-grade examinations is 4 years as on 1 January in the year they enter. Tiny Ballerina Students will be evaluated and each receive a report, certificate and medal at the end of the year.
An additional entry fee is payable for the exam.
Students are to perform all exercises that we rehearsed throughout the year for an independent examiner appointed by the Dance Academy of South Africa.
I accompany the Pre-Levels into the exam as they are still too young to remember by themselves. They each receive a certificate and a medal is rewarded should they be successful. They are then moved into the next level.
Higher level students enter the exam room by themselves. A percentage is awarded and the receive a Report, Certificate & a Medal.
Unfortunately no parents are allowed in the exam.
Students dance examinations in their class uniform. I only have special exam skirts that I rent out for the occasion.
Please note that examinations take place throughout the day and may be during school hours.
Unfortunately, no transport will be provided to and from the exam.
I, as the teacher have to use my discretion whether a student is ready to be entered for exams. This will depend on how much work the students have put in by themselves and how much they have attended class.
*Our studio exams are the most important event in our calender and what we mostly work on in the first 2 terms. It has come to my attention that the dancers will need to practise more on their own to ensure they know their syllabus so we can work on perfecting it during lessons. In addition to the practise videos I send out to help them practise at home I will be implementing some new requirements for entering for these exams.
1) Dancers will have to pass mock exams 1 & 2 to be allowed to enter for the studio exams:
During the first term we will be working on the syllabus in break down form meaning steps are broken down and practised slower and without arms and other performance qaulities to ensure the dancers pick up the basic technique first before speeding it up or adding to it. During the last week of term 1 dancers will be tested on this and they will receive a report with feedback (G-Good, F-Fair, N-Needs more practise) with a verdict of You’re doing well or You need some practise.
Then in the 2nd term dancers will work to learn the syllabus as it is to be presented in the exam room (complete exercises with arms, heads and other performance qaulities). During the last week of the 2nd term dancers will be tested on this and will recieve feedback (C - Confident, C/U - Confident/Unsure, U - Unsure) with a verdict of You may enter for exam or You are not confident enough yet.
Dancers must pass both mock exams to be allowed to enter for the studio exams and will depend solely on how much they practise by themselves to ensure they are confident enough to enter the exam room and make the most of their exam experience.
2) In addition to the mock exams I will be adding a rewards system for class attendance.
Good news mommies! The dancers will now each receive a book where they can collect their class stickers! (No more ballet stickers all over your car, walls or you) The booklet will have a block for each week’s class where they can stick their sticker with milestone bonusses ex: bonus stickers for attending 4 classes in a row or attending all classes for the term. Though this will also serve as a tracker for their class attendance which will most definately influence whether they will be allowed to enter for studio exams or not. I do however understand that sometimes things happen and it’s not always possible to attend all lessons all year round so the old rules regarding attendance still remains:
Dancers that miss lessons more than 2 weeks in a row without notice will not be allowed to enter for exams
Dancers that miss more than 4 lessons in a term will not be allowed to enter for exams.
No exam entry fees will be accepted if your account has an outstanding balance.
All entry fees must be fully paid by the closing date or the dancer will not be entered.
NO EXCEPTIONS!
Competitions
There are several competitions that we work on throughout the year. The first being our in house Dance Festival which serves to introduce all dancers to the competition world in a fun safe environment. Each class works on a group item during class which they then also perform as their exam or medal dance and it also acts as a qaulifying round for other competitions.
Should dancers wish to work on other items such as solo’s, duet’s etc. this will happen in the form of private lessons outside of class times. As you can see in the schedule the week is pretty much fully booked with classes so I’ll be running this in the form of camps where dancers can book slots to come and work on their competition items.
As we would like to handle all solo’s as soon as possible I have decided to run the first camp before the schools open in Jan ensuring that the girls have enough time to prepare.
Please see calender for provisional dates. More info in regards to times will be sent out shortly! The next camp will only be held in the March school holidays and this may not be enough time to prepare for the festival so I urge everyone interested in doing solo’s to please make use of the Jan camp. The next camp will only be held in the March holidays where we will be working on polishing the items and getting them stage ready. Once your solo is completed we film it for you and it is your responsibility to practise it. Solo slots are only there to choreograph and perfect your solo it is not intended for practise.
All competition bookings must please be accomodated with a song choice, costume idea/ anything that can help with inspiration in regards to what you would like to do. If you have any ideas already please submit them asap so I can be prepared and we can make the most of your slot.
Please note all competitions have additional entry fees that will be sent out as soon as the info becomes available. We mainly opt for the competitions that we can enter virtually though there are some that do not have these options.
Concert and Prizegiving
Due to the large amount of soloists we had in 2025 and the theme of our concert next year which only allows for a limited amount of solo’s that are a wide variety of ages, we will be implementing casting auditions for our concert from this coming year. The solo’s for the concert will be taught to all interested dancers during the concert camp after the studio exams and auditions are scheduled for the October school holidays.
Dancers will get the opportunity to perform the solo to an independant board and casting will be selected based on the outcome of the auditions.
We will also be handling the prize giving seperately during the following week in the form of a farewell party for the girls.
Then from next year we will be alternating the concert and showcase to lighten the workload on the girls.
In the year we have Eisteddfod our concert will be a showcase of what the girls have learned in the past year as well as top performing items on the competition stage with a prize giving included. And in the off year we will have a themed concert with the prizegiving seperately on a different day.
Dancers are rated on their performance throughout the year with a points system and may receive the following prizes during our prizegiving ceremony at the end of each year:
Certificates:
Each dancer receives an en Stage Acheivement certificate that lists all the events the participated in and results thereof.
Excellent Achievement Medals:
These medals are awarded to all dancers that acheived the highest mark obtainable in each event.
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Distinctions (80% and higher) in Studio Exams
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A++ for medal exams
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Above average for other competitions
(Only dancers that are not accompanied into the exam room or on the stage are eligible for these awards)
Dancers all receive points for versitility (whether they take more than one class) events they participate in (they receive a point for each event plus bonus points for achieving above average results)
Based on these scores we award:
Trophies:
Rising Star - To the dancer with the 2nd highest score in each level
(this is to ensure that overall highest schore don’t win both tropies)
Overall highest score - To the dancer with the highest score in each age category
As we have so many dancers from different styles and ages participating in many events there will be no more Dancer of the year, Most promising Junior or Most promising Senior and these are now replaced by the highest schore trophies.