Class Descriptions

We know if this is your first time looking into dance, all of these class names can get confusing. So we put this page together to help you understand what classes we offer, what the different styles of dance are, and what kind of expectations we have for our dancers as they advance through our levels.

Dance With Me
Ages 2-3

Our Dance With me class is a 30 minute, adult involved class where 2-3 year old dancers are introduced to the classroom setting and start to work on building their gross motor skills. This class will use a modified version of the first 30 minutes of our 3-4 year old combo class to introduce new dancers to how our classes are run and help them make a smooth transition into taking class without the help of mom, dad, or another adult when they move into our 3-4 year old combo class.
Dance With Me classes are run in 6 week sessions and have a separate tuition schedule as well.
Click here to check out our Dance With Me page for more information.

Combo
Ballet/Jazz
Ages 3-4

Combo
Ballet/Jazz or Ballet/Tap
Ages 5-6

Our combo classes are designed for younger dancers who are not quite ready for a full hour of one dance style. These classes start with 20-30 min of ballet, learning ballet positions and basic steps. After a short bathroom and drink break, class resumes for tap or jazz to start learning the beginning tap or jazz steps as well as working on some gross motor skills. Most classes end with a game of freeze dance and a stamp or sticker to reward good classroom behavior.
Combo classes for 3-4 year olds focus more on learning gross motor sills and proper classroom behavior while 5-6 year old classes focus on perfecting those skills an moving on to more complex dance moves commonly found in the style of dance they are learning.

Ballet
Ages 6+

Our beginning ballet classes are structured to give our students a fun introduction to the world of classical ballet. Our teachers have learned many different styles and incorporate the best of what they have learned into their classes.
All classes strive to teach proper ballet class etiquette as well as proper ballet technique.
As students progress into higher levels of ballet, classes become more intense and focus on correct posture, exceptional balance, and perfecting technique so that they can learn more challenging steps.

Jazz
Ages 6+

Jazz is a dance style that has been developing into new and interesting iterations in the past few years. Our jazz classes are centered around classical jazz technique which allows for the leaps, turns, and tricks that wow audiences. When choreographing dances, we encourage our teachers to introduce our dancers to all sorts of jazz styles including Broadway/musical theater, jazz funk, character, classical jazz, and anything else they can think of that uses the core jazz technique that they have been teaching throughout the year so our dancers can gain experience throughout the years in different performance styles.

Tap
Ages 6+

Tap is a dance form that teaches rhythm and musicality through the use of fine motor skills, coordination, and balance. Our classes aim to provide our dancers with the ability to learn combinations of classical tap steps from the dance style's rich history as well as allowing the dancer to develop an understanding of timing and the aesthetics of sound and how they are used in modern tap dancing.

Contemporary
Ages 6+

Contemporary is a hard style to explain. This dance style has been one of the fastest evolving styles of the past few years. Starting out as a natural movement alternative to Ballet, modern was the jumping off point for dancers to express themselves through dance in a way that Ballet didn't allow. Lyrical soon followed as songs with lyrics, rather than the classical instrumental songs of ballet, were used to choreograph emotional and expressive dances. Now we have moved on to the name contemporary and this, depending on who you ask, can encompass a great variety of different dance styles.
Our contemporary classes aim to teach our dancers how to listen to music and find an emotional connection to it in order to share that emotion with their audience. Classes will spend about half of their time on technique and steps that are not used in ballet or jazz and the other half of their time is used to learn and perfect recital dances.
Because performance is a huge aspect of contemporary we require dancers to also take a ballet or jazz class so contemporary class time can be used more to develop our dancers' artistry.

Pointe
Ages 13+

Pointe is simply the continuation of ballet technique. Once a dancer has developed solid ballet technique, she is eligible to be considered for pointe. Dancers will spend some time in regular ballet shoes warming up as they would in a ballet class and then they will put on their pointe shoes and continue their ballet training on their toes.
This is the style that comes to mind when someone says "Ballerina" but it is not a step to take lightly. When deciding to begin pointe work it is important to understand the physical demands of the class.
If you are interested in beginning pointe, please ask your ballet teacher and honor their opinion. Pointe can be a very dangerous dance style when not approached with caution and experienced support.

Stretch & Strengthen
Ages 10+

Stretch & strengthen is an hour long dance focused workout class.
Dancers will focus on building strength and flexibility in areas that will most benefit their dancing.
This class will learn to stretch safely, build muscle to use that flexibility, and learn to use strength in other classes to avoid injury.

This class is open to dancer 10 and up. Dancers should also be mature enough to be able to focus during the entire class and take and apply corrections so our teachers can keep dancers safe.

**This class does not participate in the year end recital.**

Pre-Pointe
Ages 10+

Pre-Pointe is an hour long class in regular ballet shoes that is designed to teach dancers what they need to focus on if they would like to continue their ballet training on pointe. Class time will be spent teaching dancers what muscles must be strengthened, what technique is essential to going on pointe, and putting that knowledge to work at the barre.

This class is open to dancers 10 and up but please be aware, pointe-work is very hard on the body and in order to protect our dancers, it is very rare for a dancer to start pointe before 12 or 13 years old.

**This class does not participate in the year end recital.**

Class Levels

Classes for students 9 and older are given a level, Beginning, Intermediate, or Advanced
Level advancement reflects the skills that dancers master as they grow at our studio.
Most dancers will spend 2-3 years in each level.