Every year at Studio Move we provide dancers with the opportunity to complete dance exams.
Some 2023 classes will be sitting NZAMD exams, some classes will be doing in-house assessments and some don’t have exam learning at all.
To help you understand what kind of exam your dancer is doing (if any), we have listed the classes below in order of our weekly timetable with the details next to each corresponding class.
Next to the class, you will also be able to see how much the entry fee would be per dancer for that particular level.
Only dancers doing the NZAMD exams will be charged an entry fee as all in-house exams will be done in class time with the cost covered by the studio.
MONDAY
Pipsqueaks – no exam
Petite Contemp/Lyrical – in-house assessment (no cost)
Primary Jazz – NZAMD Grade 2 Jazz Exam ($70)
Elementary Contemp/Lyrical – in-house assessment (no cost)
Elementary Jazz – NZAMD Grade 4 Jazz Exam ($75)
Senior Contemp/Lyrical – NZAMD Grade 2 Contemp Exam ($75)
Senior Jazz – NZAMD Pre Elementary Jazz Exam ($90)
TUESDAY
Beginner Contemp/Lyrical – no exam
Beginner Hip Hop – no exam
Acro Level 2 – no exam
Inter Hip Hop – in-house assessment (no cost)
Senior Hip Hop – NZAMD Level 4 Exam ($75) OR in-house assessment (no cost)
Advanced Contemp – NZAMD Level 4 Exam ($105)
Advanced Jazz – NZAMD Intermediate Jazz Exam ($115)
WEDNESDAY
Primary Ballet – NZAMD Grade 2 Ballet Exam ($75)
Stardust – no exam
Petite Ballet – NZAMD Grade 1 Ballet Exam ($65)
Petite Jazz – NZAMD Rosette 3 Jazz Exam ($55)
Elementary Ballet – NZAMD Grade 4 Ballet Exam ($80)
Senior Ballet – NZAMD Pre Elementary Ballet Exam ($90)
Pointe – no exam
Senior Acro – no exam
Advanced Ballet – NZAMD Advanced Ballet Exam ($120)
THURSDAY
Troupe classes – no exam
SATURDAY
Baby Move – no exam
Tiny Move – no exam
Mini Move – no exam
Pre Junior Jazz – NZAMD Rosette 1 Jazz Exam ($45)
Pre Junior Ballet – NZAMD Rosette 1 Ballet Exam ($45)
Level 1 Acro – no exam
Junior Jazz – NZAMD Rosette 2 Jazz Exam ($50)
Junior Ballet – NZAMD Rosette 3 Ballet Exam ($55)
What is an in-house assessment?
In-house assessments are for classes who are working on a combination of NZAMD examination work AND open class work + extension with their teacher.
These classes will have 5 exercises selected to be performed in their in-house assessment and will work on these alongside other class work.
The 5 exercises chosen will be selected to give the dancers a broad range of techniques and exercises to practise. Your dancer will know the 5 exercises well in advance and these will be filmed and added to youtube playlists.
Their mid-year show dance will also be assessed as their dance.
The point of these assessments is to have some middle ground between full exams and no exams and to help keep costs down for parents while still providing good learning opportunities and development.
The assessor will be a teacher/professional dancer who is NOT your dancer’s own teacher.
They will come to your dancer’s allocated class time to complete the assessment and will provide marks and feedback within 7 working days.
Dancer’s do not have to do their in-house assessment.
They can choose to not be assessed at all and still come to class to take part or just skip it that day.
There is NO extra cost for these assessments.
What is an NZAMD exam?
NZAMD is the New Zealand Association of Modern Dance and was formed 30+ years ago to provide dancers with an encouraging, technical syllabus to learn from as they progress through the years.
At Studio Move, we use the NZAMD Jazz, Ballet, Contemporary and Hip Hop syllabi to teach our students.
Every year we enter classes into their NZAMD exams, working on the exercises throughout the year from Feb – August in preparation for just that.
Exams include around 10-25 set exercises (depending on age) that dancers must learn and perform for an examiner.
Examiners are from NZAMD and travel from Wellington to watch our students.
Overall, our dancers very often enjoy their exams and have a great sense of accomplishment once they are done.
NZAMD sets the exam fees, exam exercises and the dates. More information on the association and their examinations can be found here: https://www.nzamd.co.nz/examinations/
Please click on the links below for more information about 2023 NZAMD Exams:
NZAMD Exam Info
NZAMD Exam Rehearsals
NZAMD Exam Uniforms
2023 NZAMD Exam Day & Schedule