We conduct 120,000 examinations globally each year and offer a wide spectrum of vocational, recreational, and social dance exams to children, students, amateurs and professionals.
Our clearly defined structure allows learning to take place in the context of safe dance practice and is designed to cater equally for those who wish to progress to making dance their profession, either as a performer or dance teacher, and for those pursuing dance purely as a leisure activity.
Aiming to build up progressively, ensuring that steps and skills learned at lower levels prepare for more complex movements as the candidate progresses.
Grade Examinations may be taken in Classical Ballet (Cecchetti and Imperial methods), Modern Theatre, Tap, National Dance, Classical Greek, Classical Indian Dance, Modern Ballroom, Latin American, Disco Freestyle and Classical Sequence.
Grades 1-6 are accredited by Ofqual, but some Faculties have additional Grades prior to Grade 1, that is, Pre-Primary and Primary.
Class Examinations may be taken in Classical Ballet (Cecchetti and Imperial methods), Classical Greek and Modern Theatre.
Find out more about what Modern Theatre Class Examinations are below.
Modern Theatre Class Examinations
These tests may be taken in Modern Ballroom, Latin American, Sequence, Disco Freestyle, Rock ‘n’ Roll, Country and Western, Classical Greek, and National.
The levels progress from Under 6, Under 8, Social Dance Test, Pre-Bronze Dance Test, to Bronze, Silver, Gold, Gold Star and higher awards for Dancesport medals. Not all levels are applicable to all genres, please contact the appropriate dance faculty directly for further details.
We are delighted to invite Theatre members to enter Street Dance Medal tests in 2025 in the following ways:
Contact streetdance@istd.org or join us for one of our Street Dance teacher support sessions where you can ask our Street Dance team your questions.
The Vocational Grades are accredited by Ofqual and include Intermediate Foundation, Intermediate, Advanced 1, and Advanced 2.
These examinations form a cohesive bridge between grade work and professional examinations to provide the basis for either a career as a dancer or further training as a dance teacher. Some Faculties offer other types of qualifications other than those mentioned above so please refer to individual syllabi for full details.
Focused on delivering ISTD Associate, Licentiate, or Fellowship teaching qualifications which give prospective dance teachers a solid grounding in the skills and knowledge needed to teach dance in a safe environment.
For more information about our teaching qualifications and professional qualifications, please visit the teaching qualifications page here.
Some of our Dance Faculties offer other types of qualifications other than those mentioned above. Please refer to individual syllabi for full details.
Our new, inclusive, and sustainable recommended examination uniform, in collaboration with Dansez - wear it your way.
Our syllabi are created by internationally renowned teachers and dancers and are used to train dancers. Teachers are encouraged to keep up-to-date with the latest syllabi. This can be done through our many courses, summer schools, and congresses as well as our syllabus products – books, DVDs, CDs, and syllabus outlines.
The Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing is a company limited by guarantee, registered in England, no. UA-20377677-1 and registered charity no. 250397.
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