Grades

A grade is level that you are dancing at. There are four grades; Beginners, also known as Novice, Primary, Intermediate and Open. Here is a guide to how a dancer named Katie went up in each grade.

If you get placed 1st, 2nd, or 3rd in a dance in the Beginners/Novice grade, you go up into Primary for that dance. Katie is in beginners for all her dances, and she gets placed second in all her dances, she moves up into Primary for all her dances.

 If you get placed 1st or 2nd in the Primary grade, you move up into Intermediate. Katie is now in primary for all her dances and gets a 1st in the Heavy Jig and 2nd in the Reel. She moves up into Intermediate for the Reel and the Heavy jig.

Once in the Intermediate grade, you have to be placed 1st in a dance to move up into the final grade, Open. Katie has now moved up into Intermediate for all her dances, and receives a 1st in her Slip Jig, Reel and Hornpipe. When you are in Intermediate, you can enter a Preliminary Championship, which is like a normal Championship. Katie can enter for a Preliminary Championship

Open is the last grade. Once in Open for every or most dances, you can enter normal Championships. These are called Open Championships. You can also qualify  for big Championships such as the All-Scotlands, British Nationals, World Championships (Worlds) and the American Nationals. Katie qualifies for the British Nationals and the All-Scotlands.