We recently announced an exciting update to our Sahara Dance curriculum! This blog post will answer some common questions that students are asking about how to find the right class to sign up for next semester.

Level Map

To get started, check out this mapping of our new technique levels to the old class names. 

Core Techniques

One of the features of the new curriculum is a list of core techniques for all Beginner and Intermediate levels. Look at the Sahara Dance Curriculum Summary page for the key things you need to become proficient in at each level, alongside general skills of musicality, expression, and body awareness. Identifying the technique that you are still working to learn will help you know where you should be.

Core Elements Skill Levels

For the Advanced technique levels, we have identified the 6 essential elements of a dancer’s toolkit and provided a description of the skill level you should be able to demonstrate for each element before progressing onto the next level. A student should be able to perform at the Advanced 1 level for all 6 elements before moving to Advanced 2. 

For example, If you are brilliant at turns but still working on layering, we recommend that you sign up for the lower level class and focus your personal practice and in-class attention on developing the areas that you need to work on before moving up. 

Specialty Classes

Our workshops and specialty classes, such as fusion, samba, and bollywood, don’t fall under the curriculum revision; however, you can look for the 3 level labels (Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced) in the class descriptions to help know if a workshop or specialty class is right for you.

Placement Workshop

Still need advice or have questions? Join us for a placement workshop on September 7 where you can get a taste of each level. Sahara Dance teachers will be available to answer questions and give placement recommendations!