CLASS DESCRIPTIONS

These classes are designed specifically for our youngest dancers, ages 3 and 4. The classes teach children the beginning fundamentals of creative movement, ballet, tap, jazz, and/or acro/tumbling. Ballet includes barre work, across the floor and center technique. Tap, jazz, and tumbling include introductory skills, stretching, and technique. Students perform 1-2 dances in the concert at the end of the season.

Ballet classes are offered from a beginner level to advanced. Students are taught proper body placement, body alignment, barre and center floor work, along with across the floor combinations and discipline. Beginner classes introduce vocabulary, proper alignment, and classical ballet technique. Advanced classes include adagio and allegro work, and combinations using balance, strength, and style. In addition, Pre-Point and Pointe are offered. All students are urged to study ballet, as it is the foundation of all other dance styles and facilitates further success in these disciplines. Students in introductory ballet classes perform 1 dance in the concert at the end of the season.

Tap is a style involving rhythm, dynamics, and varying sounds. Tappers will have a graduated warm-up to loosen their ankles and knees for proper execution of skills, across the floor progressions and have center floor work to learn and perfect new skills. Students perform 1 dance in the concert at the end of the season.

Jazz classes are fun and energetic. They include such elements as kicks, leaps, turns, splits, and isolations. Classes include stretch and strengthening exercises, floor work, and across the floor progressions in addition to a center floor combination. Students perform 1 dance in the concert at the end of the season.

Hip Hop classes combine street dance with funk and jazz, similar to what you would see in televised dance performances or music videos. Students will learn the importance of isolations and dynamics to execute pop-and-lock and funk movements. Students perform 1 dance in the concert at the end of the season.

Lyrical is a style of dance that uses the emotion and mood of the music to elicit movements from the dancers. Students have a warm up focusing in core strength, flexibility, and movement of the back. The class includes floor work, progressions, and center combinations. Students perform 1 dance in the concert at the end of the season.

Contemporary is anything current. It is more of a style, but rooted in technique, associated with philosophy and exploration of different energies and emotions because of it’s fusion of several techniques—ballet, jazz and modern. Contemporary dance can be inspired by music or a concept that is brought to life through movement. Students in perform 1 dance in the concert at the end of the season.

Acro/Tumbling teaches strength, flexibility, acrobatic and tumbling skills. Acro and tumbling skills include but are not limited to walkovers, limbers, handsprings, chest rolls, cartwheels/round offs, handstands, aerials, and more. We follow the Acrobatic Arts Curriculum.

Dance Team Prep is designed to help dancers work on those specific skills and tricks required to try-out for Dance Team. Jumps, turns, kicks and pom techniques will be included in the class curriculum. Classes will be designed to help each dancer identify and work on specific techniques and skills needed to improve their understanding and performance of these specific moves.

Musical Theatre is a jazz-based class filled with Broadway style dancing and music.

Relying heavily on a knowledge of ballet, tap, and jazz, musical theater dancers are,

first and foremost, actors and place a high focus on musical interpretation. Students

perform 1 dance in the concert at the end of the season.

Dance improvisation (commonly known as improv) is the process of spontaneously

creating movement without pre-planning any steps or choreography.

This class is designed to work on the basic dynamics of turns, jumps and leaps, and

other technical skills, while improving their ability to incorporate these skills into

choreography.

This class is designed to prepare you for dance auditions. We will do a quick warm-

up each class and then learn a new dance combination in a variety of dance genres.

Stretch and Strength classes are a true blend of cardio, core strengthening and

flexibility exercises, designed specifically for dancers. The focus is to strengthen

and lengthen various muscles to improve jumps, increase extensions, and enhance

elasticity without injuries through proper techniques. The classes also place a high

emphasis on strengthening the core and back muscles to enable control in body

position and rotational movements such as turns.

More info coming soon.