CLASSES WE OFFER

Jazz Dance is a diverse and energetic dance style in which the creativity and expressiveness of the dancers are promoted! Jazz class will focus on learning proper dance technique such as isolations of the body, improving performance quality and developing complex rhythms and patterns. Students will be exposed to various styles of jazz to help develop a well rounded dancer. Class curriculum is based on ballet technique layered with traditional jazz movement and includes a proper warm-up, stretches, isolations, across-the-floor progressions, and combinations. This is a fun and challenging class that is perfect for those looking to build a strong foundation as a dancer.

Ballet is the foundation of all dance forms and will maximize technique and longevity in a career of dance. It provides grace, poise, and technique needed to be proficient in all other areas of dance. Ballet classes will help dancers with posture, flexibility, fitness, balance, self-discipline, and self-confidence. Students are taught proper body placement, body alignment, barre and center floor work, along with across the floor combinations. Ballet is the basis of most technique based classes and is highly recommended to aid in a student's balance, ankle and leg strength.

Tap is a form of dance by using the shoe, as well as the floor, as a percussive instrument. Tap classes are designed to develop rhythm, style and sound. Students will learn a variety of tap styles from Broadway to Rhythm tap. Exercises focus on building flexibility of the knee and ankles, coordination, and speed of movement. This class will challenge a student's memory as well as coordination. The class emphasis is on developing proper tap technique, producing clear tap sounds, and having fun.

Hip hop is a high-energy class that will encourage students to step outside of the box by bringing their own individual style and personality to the movements. This energetic, freestyle form evolved from break and street dancing. Hip Hop dance requires students to have the strength and stamina to successfully perform moves. Therefore class includes upper and lower body conditioning as well as a rigorous warm-up to help prepare students for more intense movements.

Musical Theater is a theatrical dance style that blends two key components: dancing and acting. Think– BROADWAY! Students will focus on fusing these two techniques together to form full musical theater performance pieces to songs from today's best, well-known musicals. This class includes a proper warm-up, across-the-floor progressions, and combinations. Emphasis will also be placed on learning performance skills such as connecting with the audience and telling a story through dance and facial expressions.

Contemporary Dance is a free flowing form of dance with elements of modern, jazz, ballet, lyrical and styles unique to itself. This class encourages natural movement and personal interpretation. It focuses on self-expression, awareness of space and body movement, use of body weight, efficiency of muscle use and body alignment. Contemporary dance class will emphasize spatial and body awareness, use of body weight, floor work, leaps, turns, efficiency of muscle usage, and safe body alignment.

This class is a combination of ballet and jazz that challenges dancers to use choreography and movement to interpret music and express emotion. Dancers learn to express emotions derived from lyrics to convey the dance’s meaning. It emphasizes interpretation of music lyrics while telling a story with movement that can be fluid or abstract. In lyrical dance class, an emphasis is also placed on grace and fluidity, musicality, and expressiveness to capture emotion through movement.

Pointe is a part of the classical ballet technique where dancers perform in special shoes called pointe shoes. These specific shoes look like a ballet slipper but have stiff structural elements (a hard sole called a shank to support the arch & a hard rounded toe called the box to encase and support the toes and allows them to balance on the flat platform tip) these features in the shoes allow the dancer to be all the way on the tips on their toes. The dancers full weight can be balanced on the fully extended foot. The same classical ballet technique is applied to pointe dancers but they face the challenge of doing the work on the tips of their toes... on pointe! These classes focus more heavily on a dancer's technique as well as balance. Because a student requires a certain amount of basic training before being able to safely dance "en pointe", no new students may join this class without the director’s approval.

Turns & Leaps is a technique class designed to assist students in strengthening and improving the skills of different leaps, jumps and turns that dancers perform in Ballet, Jazz, Contemporary, and Lyrical dance. These technique classes focus on improving balance, flexibility, body alignment, and strength through both center floor across the floor combinations. Enrolling in a technique class is highly recommended for class advancement.