There are four levels with Level 1 being for the least experienced competitors and Level 4 for the top competitors.

Level	Dancer / Competitor
1	Newcomer / Beginner
2	Intermediate
3	Experienced / Early Advanced
4	Advanced / Champion

There will be an appropriate starting point for both Lead and Follow roles for each dancer when they first join the Points Index, after that there are a number of ways to earn points for both Affiliated and Non-Affiliated competitions:

Lead and Follow Points

Leading and following are regarded as separate skills with some aspects in common. An accomplished leader may be an absolute beginner when it comes to following (and vice versa).

If a Level 3 dancer who normally leads wanted to enter as a beginner follow then it makes sense to allow them to enter at a lower level. This way we can encourage dancers to develop each skill independently.

In some categories such as Steals and Battle of the Sexes dancers will often dance both roles. They are judged overall for their dance skill and earn points accordingly but they can now split those points between leading and following if appropriate.

Highest Points Path

The highest points path is not affected by how the points are allocated between leading and following as it's the total value of the points that count when comparing with other points paths.

How It Works - Lead Quotient

Each points entry has an associated Lead Quotient (LQ) to specify what proportion of the points are for leading with the remainder being for following.

• A Lead Quotient of 1.0 means that all the points are for leading
• A Lead Quotient of 0.0 means that all the points are for following
• A Lead Quotient of 0.5 means that 50% of the points are for leading and 50% are for following

To get the total points and level for each role we add each points value taking into account the lead quotient.