Curriculum
Ballet: Ages 3-5
This class is designed to build coordination and rhythm while learning the basics of ballet. Class starts with a warm up consisting of butterfly stretches, straddles, pointing and flexing the feet, isolations of the head, shoulders, etc to establish body awareness. The warm up is the same every time to allow the children to learn from repetition. By the end of the year the goal is to have the children lead the entire warm up. After the warm up we will stand up and review our ballet terminology. I believe in teaching correct ballet terminology and meaning at a young age. We will learn the five positions of the feet and arms, as well as plié, tendu, relevé, arabesque, passé, rond de jambe, pas de bourrée, sauté and curtsey. You will be amazed when your child comes home speaking French! Across the floor we work on ballet walks on relevé (our toes), skips, hopping on one foot, grand battements, grand jetés, arabesque sautés and marches. To teach the importance of listening to the music we do the “Freeze Dance”. “Animal Action” is also a favorite to build creativity. To help us learn right from left we do “The Hokey Pokey”. At the end of class students will demonstrate for the teacher one thing they learned in class.
Ballet: Ages 6+
This class begins with a stretch in the center floor. We then move to barre for exercises including plies, tendus, dégagés, relevés, rond de jambes, grand battements and développés. After barre it is back to the center for work on pirouettes, jumps, etc. Across the floor we work on chaînés, bourrées, pique turns, glissades, pas de chat, grand jetés and more.
Jazz: Ages 6+
This class starts with a warm up center floor. It consists of isolations of the head, shoulders, ribs and hips, then stretching including straddles and splits. When going across the floor we work on jazz walks, kicks, fan-kicks, chaîné turns, pique turns, pirouettes, double passé jumps, grand jetés, pirouette, and other movements. As students learn more steps we put them together in combinations as we go across the floor to make it more challenging. A combination is usually taught at the end of class. This is so that we can bring together all the steps that we have learned and see how they fit into a dance. This also helps with musicality, timing, coordination and routine memorization.
Tap: Ages 3+
The warm up is done in the middle of the room for all ages. During the warm up and across the floor we work on basic toe taps, digs, shuffles, flaps, shuffle hop, shuffle leap, ball-change, drawbacks, buffalos, single and double pullbacks, cincinnatis and time steps. As the level of the student increases the difficulty of steps and the speed they are executed at increases. Tap is great for timing, rhythm, coordination and balance.
Hip Hop: Ages 6+
One of the most popular forms of dance right now, Hip Hop is a freestyle form of dance similar to jazz. There are many different styles of Hip Hop and moves from multiple styles are used in our curriculum. Hip Hop is constantly evolving and we strive to incorporate the latest moves and variations in our class. We start class with a warm up center floor. Movements that we will work on in class include isolations (of the head, shoulders, rib cage and hips), body rolls, various popping moves and more. At the end of the class we will learn a combination that we will add to over several weeks.
Mommy and Me Ballet: Age 2
This class is designed for the youngest ballerina to become accustomed to the structure of a ballet class while having the comfort of a parent present. The curriculum is similar to the ballet class described above for ages 3-5. The goal at the end of the year is for the ballerina to have learned basic ballet skills and be confident in a class without their parent.