CLASSES
Ballet
A classical form of dance focusing on proper body alignment and fluid movement. Barre, center floor, and across the floor progressions are all used to develop proper ballet technique. Ballet is the foundation upon which most dance forms are based.
Jazz
A dance form or dance that is matched to the rhythms and techniques of jazz music, developed by African Americans in the early part of the 20th century. The term is sometimes used more narrowly to describe (1) popular stage dance and (2) jazz-derived or jazz-influenced forms of modern dance.
Leaps & Turns
This class is primarily about skills progression. In this class, dancers learn how to properly warm-up, condition, and develop technique that will help them grow in all of their choreography classes. Leaps & Turns is a “technique” class only and does not have a performance in the Recital.
contemporary
Contemporary dance is a style of expressive dance that combines elements of several dance genres including modern, jazz, lyrical, classical ballet and even hip-hop. Contemporary dancers strive to connect the mind and body through their movement.
Flexibility
Flexibility training improves a dancer's posture, and it helps prevent the occurrence of injury. It improves the ability of a joint to move easily and attain a wider range of movements.
Stretch + Alignment
Stretch and Alignment compliments every dancer's conditioning and flexibility. A combination of body flexibility, control, and strength, it adds technique so that ease of motion is improved in other classes.
LYRICAL
Lyrical dance is a style that combines ballet and jazz dancing techniques. It is performed to music with lyrics so that it inspires expression of strong emotions the choreographer feels from the lyrics of the song. This style concentrates on an individual approach and expressiveness of such emotions as love, joy, hurt, or anger.
mUSICAL THEATRE
Musical theatre dancing is less of a particular style, and more of a description of dancing that is rooted in the diverse history of Broadway musicals. 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.
IMPROVISATION
Dance improvisation is the process of spontaneously creating movement. Development of movement material is facilitated through a variety of creative explorations including body mapping through levels, shape and dynamics schema. Improvisation is a free, seemingly unstructured, less technically strict and impulsive form that draws inspiration from everyday dance practices and influences.
tap
A dance in which the rhythm or rhythmical variation is audibly tapped out with the toe or heel by a dancer wearing shoes with special hard soles or with taps.
TUMBLING
The skill, practice, or sport of executing gymnastic feats (such as somersaults and handsprings) without the use of apparatus. Dancers will learn new skills and seamlessly integrate them into their dancing.
hip-hop
Hip-hop, cultural movement that attained widespread popularity in the 1980s and ’90s; also, the backing music for rap, the musical style incorporating rhythmic and/or rhyming speech that became the movement’s most lasting and influential art form.