Many of us have gotten that call. “I got put in a lower level and I don’t feel challenged.” What’s your first instinct? Call the school? Tell your dancer to go talk to the head of the program to negotiate a reevaluation? Or perhaps you secretly start to question your dancer’s ability? First, take a deep breath.
Being leveled down can be a disappointment, but it can also surface something useful. In the short term, it’s an opportunity to build skills your dancer will need as they progress.
Ballet can have real highs and also some real lows. Here are some suggestions for how to take what your dancer thinks is one of those low points and turn it into a valuable experience.
Talk to the Teacher
This may come as a surprise to some, especially when the summer program is on the larger side, but summer leveling is taken fairly seriously and teachers discuss it more than you realize. There may be deliberate reasons why your dancer was placed in a level that, on the surface, doesn’t seem to make sense.
If your dancer has concerns, they should consider approaching their teacher and have an honest conversation — not to argue about the placement or lobby for a level change, but to ask what they see and what they think your dancer should be working on.
Teachers at summer intensives are looking at your dancer with fresh eyes, without the context of their home studio or history. That objectivity is genuinely useful. A good teacher will have specific, actionable feedback, and if your dancer approaches the conversation with curiosity rather than defensiveness, they’re likely to walk away with a clearer picture of where they stand.
Pick Two or Three Things and Work Them Hard
It’s easy to mentally check out when you feel under-challenged. Having specific goals from that teacher conversation gives your dancer something concrete to work toward every day. Regardless of level, there is always something to work on. Even professionals return to fundamentals.
Is your dancer’s port de bras as clean as it could be? What about épaulement? Musicality? A lower-level class creates space to be attentive to details that are easy to rush past when you’re working harder just to keep up.
Write the goals down and come back to them every day. Use a corrections journal — not just for logging what teachers say, but for tracking personal goals from class to class.
Learn to Watch
Learning to watch and learn from other dancers is a skill, and a summer intensive is a good place to develop it. When a dancer can look at someone more advanced and translate what they’re seeing into their own body, that’s a form of training in itself. Both of our kids told us that this is a valuable skill that many dancers carry on into their professional careers.
A Note for Parents
Your reaction to the placement matters too. If your dancer picks up on frustration or disappointment from you, that’s what lives in their head for every class they walk into. If what they hear instead is “let’s figure out how to make the most of this,” that’s a different starting point entirely.
It’s okay to have a moment — this stuff can sting. But then reframe it, and mean it. The dancers who get the most out of summer intensives aren’t always the ones who had the smoothest ride. They’re often the ones who found something to work toward when things didn’t go as planned.
A leveled-down placement isn’t a verdict. It’s information, information that should help them become the best dancer they can be. We know it can be jarring, but it may end up being a positive in the long run!