Course Descriptions
Parent and Me
This is a class for parent and child to participate in together. Ages range from 3 - 5 depending on the abilities of the student both developmentally and socially. We will focus on balance, coordination, flexability, strength, rhythm, and expression. This will be accomplished through mixed styles of dance as well as creative movement using manipulatives and games. Parents are an active part of this class as focus and developement do not always lend themselves to an independent learning situation at this age. Students in this class may move up to our independent classes when an instructor feels they can handle the independent class without being frustrated or without distracting other students from learning. Parent and Me classes DO participate in our recital if they chose to, but this means that THE PARENT WILL BE PERFORMING TOO!
Ballet
Our ballet classes are for ages 4 and up. They focuses on ballet skills from three ballet disciplines, french, russian, and chechetti. We try to use multiple teaching styles to assist the student in learning the material correctly depending on their learning style. The emphasis is to focus on the steps and body positions and to solidify them to make learning at more advanced levels easier and safer. Class will structure around stretching and flexability, barre exercises, center work, and performance. We will use materials that assist in teaching the basics while keep the focus lighter and more enjoyable depending on the age of the class. For the more advanced students, elements of pre-point will be incorporated in preparation for point classes later.
Tap
This class is designed for the beginning tap student. We will learn the basics of tap. Students learn the parts of the shoe, use of both taps and correct use of arms. Listening to your sounds is vital to both tap and clogging. Classes include barre work as well as center exercises. Learning a shuffle is of ultimate importance as a large majority of the more difficult steps are based off of this step.
Tap (Intermediate)
A class available to those with previous tap experience. We will continue to focus on counting and sounds, as well as more advanced steps. We will incorporate street tap and rhythm tap to lessons as student experience demands. Tap is fun and we try to incorporate that into all our lessons!
Musical Theater
This is our newest addition! This class will focus on both singing and dancing. Dancing will be more theatrical in styling, A class may focus on just singing, just dancing, or a combination of both with some drama instruction thrown in. It doesn't matter if you've never sang in front of an audience before or not. This is your chance!
Tumbling
We currently have one time scheduled for tumbling, but the students will be advanced in their skills according to their abilities. The class is available to both boys and girls and will be divided among instructors if class size becomes too large. We emphasize conditioning in our tumbling program to improve the safety of skill execution. NO ONE will be allowed to execute skills until ok'd by instructor! We urge our tumblers to follow an exercise program at home to improve arm, leg, and abdominal strength. We also work all year to improve flexibility. Your ability to advance is only limited by the amount of practice you are willing to put into the class. Correct body position is also emphasized in all skills. Skills begin with animal walks and forward roll and progress to more advanced skills such as handsprings and tucks.
Clogging
Clogging is not tap and it is not performed in wooden shoes! That being said, clogging shoes are a type of tap shoe, but the buck taps we use are a double tap on both the front of the shoe and the back. Timing is different in clogging and it almost always begins on the left foot. Tap begins on the right. We clog to bluegrass, country, and popular music. Clogging was most recently brought to popularity by an all male group on Americas Got Talent. It can be very simple or very complex in it's moves. We advise our students not to take clogging and tap at the same time unless they are proficient in both as it is confusing to separate the skills and counts. Clogging is available to both boys and girls!
Cheer
Our cheer class is a combination of cheers, chants, stunting and pom. In the past this has been a fairly young group of girls so the skills were adjusted accordingly. This is not a competition type class. This is a class for those girls, or boys, who have an interest in learning some of the basics of cheer and tumbling. Conditioning is a large part of this class also, as strength plays a huge part in the skills executed in cheer. Skills and stunts will be increased as the student's skills demand!
Lyrical
Although this style of dance uses many ballet moves it is more fluid and less structured. Costuming is flowing and accents the movements of the dancers. Music used is more popular or contemporary and the dance often tells a story. A very pretty style of dance.
Jazz
This class has it's emphasis in traditional jazz moves and teachings always working with resistance in moves. We will learn traditional skills and isolations in class but our routines will use these moves in a tasteful manner for the ages of the dancers. Music will also be limited to tasteful jazz numbers. Our goal is to have fun without embarrassing or offending anyone. A fun class for all ages and abilities!
Adult
Adult classes are more exercise oriented and performance in recital is decided by each class. We are here to enjoy dance together. This is not a competition class, just a way for new dancers and old alike to get together and enjoy the movement! Classes are scheduled by demand. We need at least 3 students to create a class. Classes we offer are tap, ballet/jazz, and clogging.
