Ballet

Ballet classes are offered to students from intermediate to advanced levels. Serious ballet study (forty-five minutes or more of ballet only) is not appropriate until around age nine, when a student is capable of the necessary focus and concentration. Danceworks offers ballet technique classes, pointe classes for qualified students, contemporary ballet class and classical variations study for more advanced dancers.

Jazz

Jazz dance is a popular addition to the well rounded dancer’s education.  Classical jazz dance has been called the embodiment of the American spirit. It incorporates influences from many different vernacular styles of the past and present. Jazz dance is a constantly changing art form that takes its cues from popular culture. Students at Danceworks can attend classes in many styles of jazz including classical jazz, theater jazz, hip hop, and lyrical.

Gymnastics

Danceworks offers students from Kindergarten through teens the opportunity to improve their

tumbling skills at the studio. Our gymnastics program is divided into three levels based on ability and follows a clear progression of skills. Students perform a tumbling routine set to music in the annual recital.

Tap

The study of rhythm patterns and articulation of the feet is

Theater Jazz

This Broadway style jazz class is popular with many musical-minded students at Danceworks. Theater jazz allows students to explore characterization within their dancing. Along with classical jazz technique, students are exposed to an array of original choreography set to pieces from some of yesterday’s and today’s most popular musicals. This class is currently offered to students ages 14 and up.

Lyrical

Lyrical dance has been described as a mix of ballet and jazz techniques. The goal of a lyrical dancer is to convey emotion through movement. Generally, the dancer is expressing the lyrics of a piece and therefore, lyrical is usually performed to ballads that can range from top forty hits to old standards. Students at Danceworks ages 9 and up can participate in lyrical class provided they are taking ballet technique class concurrently.

Modern

Modern dance is a reactionary style that was created in response to the formal structure of ballet technique. Students of modern dance will learn to use their bodies in new ways and experiment with rising and falling, initiating movement from different parts of the body, and exploring the ways in which the body moves everyday. Students will learn the specific techniques of several different modern masters. This experimental dance form can be enjoyed by students ages 9 and up, provided they are taking ballet technique classes concurrently.

Variations (Classical Ballet Repertoire):
Students study the choreography from the ballets of the Romantic, Classical and Neo-classical periods. There are 2 levels of repertoire classes; through exposure to classical ballet music and methods of linking classical ballet steps, students in the advanced level are able to develop an expressive quality of the upper body, and details and nuances characteristic of the ballet style. In the elementary level, the theatrical component of ballet is emphasized -- students in this level study the character divertissments from the major classical ballets.  A ballet technique class is required to serve as a foundation for this class. Advanced students may take class en pointe. The class is 1.5 hrs. in duration.  

Contemporary Ballet:
Ballet with a twist – students study lyrical-ballet and jazz-ballet. This approach to ballet is quite useful for becoming a versatile and well-rounded dancer, since it is designed to enhance a dancer's musical sensitivity and understanding, interpretative abilities, and comprehension of different approaches to movement that can be used to create a mood or evoke a feeling.  Combinations are set to music by artists Cole Porter, George Gershwin, Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, Rogers and Hammerstein, Leonard Bernstein, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Josh Groban. . .A ballet technique class is required to serve as a foundation for this class.  The class is 1 hr. in duration.

Hip Hop

Hip hop fever has taken over the dance scene in the past several years. This trendy jazz style

incorporates many elements of street dancing and can be seen just

about everywhere from tv to movies and music videos. Danceworks students ages 10 and up can enjoy hip hop class, provided they are taking classical jazz or ballet technique class concurrently.