Preparatory Dance

Prep Dance Classes

Students are placed into classes according to age and ability, taking into account the developmental needs of the individual with an emphasis on the health of the whole dancer. Classes are designed to develop versatile dancers with an organic feeling for line, musicality and quality which will allow them to move from one dance technique to another with ease. View class offerings below, then register.

Prep 1

Students at this level take two ballet classes a week, conditioning and creative dance. Focusing on posture, coordination and musicality, students will begin to control the rotation in their legs, articulate through their feet and feel the alignment of the spine.

Prep 2

Students at this level take two ballet classes a week, conditioning, character, prep for pointe and boys class. Creative Dance is an elective class. Students will sustain their alignment to allow them to strengthen use of rotation in the hip joints. More sophisticated awareness of body directions, feeling for line and development of classical ballet vocabulary is introduced.

Prep 3

Students at this level take four ballet classes a week, Progressing Ballet Technique conditioning class, character, boys and pre-pointe. Contemporary Dance is an elective class. Students’ posture and alignment should be sustained throughout all exercises and students are expected to take responsibility for personal corrections through awareness of their unique gifts and challenges.

Prep 4

Students at this level take four ballet classes a week, Progressing Ballet Technique conditioning class, character, contemporary, boys and pointe. An extra ballet class is an elective. Students will be using artistic and musical nuance to develop and enrich quality of movement. The strength to sustain directions of the body en l’air, with a feeling of line in the port de bras is important, together with the ability to coordinate allegro with use of épaulement.

Prep 5

Students at this level take five ballet classes a week, Progressing Ballet Technique conditioning class, character, contemporary, boys and pointe. Students in Prep. 5 should be competent in the vocabulary of the previous levels and have the artistry, technique and musicality to develop more complex movement patterns with confidence and performance quality. They should have the maturity to work independently and be self-motivated.

 

Elective classes, performance opportunities and additional courses