Exam Dates for 2024

We have been taking dancers in for Medal Examinations for over 20 years now and so have a very accurate assessment for when someone will pass. We will ALWAYS ensure that you are good enough that on your worst day, you would still pass the exam. After all, we want you to not only pass, but score as highly as possible!

Ability Requirements

Ballroom & Latin Dance Exams range from your very first dancing steps all the way to Professional so there is something available for every dancer.

Typically, all dancers will need to start from Intro 1 and work their way through the exams. This ensures that you have spent some time gaining a thorough understanding of fundamentals before taking on the harder groups and harder exams.

If you would like to enter in for an exam, please speak to us and we will assess your dancing to give you the best experience possible.

On The Day

Make sure you dress smartly for the occasion, but still allowing your arms and legs to move freely. When you arrive for your exam, there will be signage out as a reminder to keep quiet whilst walking past the main hall to the waiting area. Once in the waiting area (hopefully a good 15 minutes+ before your exam time), you will be offered a hot drink whilst Chris, Emma and Lorraine will be hopping in and out of the main hall, dancing other exam-takers. Use this time to change into your dance shoes and warm up!

When your time comes to go in for your exam, you will have your examination sheet with your name, grade and dance details on that you will need to give to the examiner so they know what level to be grading you at. The examiner may be finishing off notes from the previous dancer, so give them a moment to finish if need be.

Make sure to say hello and be friendly!

Then, your exam starts. You will be dancing with either Chris, Emma or Lorraine (this would have been organised in advance). You will be dancing for typically 90 seconds at most and the examiner will signal us as to when they have seen enough, we will pause the music and you can say “thank you” before exiting the room.

Once the exam is over (and you don’t have any more exams to take), you can change your shoes, enjoy some celebratory Harbio, head off home and feel proud of yourself!

Approximately one month after the exam, we will hold a presentation for you to collect your medal and certificate.

Exam Grades

Ballroom exams and Latin exams start from Intro 1 where you will only need to do one dance, all the way up to Gold and above where you will need to do up to 5 dances for one exam. Please be aware that Ballroom exams and Latin exams are separate.

• Intro 1 (1 dance)

• Intro 2 (1 dance)

• Intro 3 (1 dance)

• Intro 4 (1 dance)

• Bronze (2 dances)

• Bronze Bar (2 dances)

• Silver (3 dances)

• Silver Bar (3 dances)

• Gold (4 dances)

• Gold Bar Medal (4 dances)

• Gold Bar 3 (5 dances)

Our next exams are coming up very soon so if you haven’t already expressed your interest in doing an exam, let us know as soon as possible and we will support you any way we can.