We have a wide variety of programs to choose from for beginners to advanced.

 

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  Below are brief descriptions of our class choices, and at the end we have a more detailed description of the dance form.



 

PRE-DANCE - classes are for beginner students ages 3-6.  All classes are combination classes of tap and jazz.  These classes consist of basic  motor skills and dance technique.  Routines are primarily song and dance: helping students to understand the basic rhythm and timing skills involved in dance.  Students must be 3 by September 1st.  They must be potty-trained, be able to follow basic directions, and say goodbye to mom and dad at the classroom door. These classes are taught by Miss Emily or Miss Stephanie.

 

BALLET - The foundation of all dance forms.  Body placement, balance, alignment, strength and technique are achieved through barre and center floor work based on a variety of traditional techniques.  Students will learn a performance routine to relate the technique and movement set to music. Ballet is taught by Mr. T, or Miss Sara

 

JAZZ - This class includes stretching, technique and jazz footwork.  The entire body gets a workout as students are exposed to different jazz styles, based on the instructors' choice of music.  Modern jazz is a fast energetic type dance.  It can be performed with any type of upbeat music.  Although it includes body movement fitting to the music- it also incorporates the strong technique of turns, leaps and

extensions. Jazz is taught by Miss Tara and Miss Trudy.

 

TAP - All ages can enjoy the rhythms and movements of tap.  Adding the elements of sound and finer motor coordination skills create yet another way for students to understand and develop basic dance movement.  In addition to interpreting the base beat of the music, students also develop coordination of mind and body in a more perceptive sense of rhythm and timing. Tap is taught by Miss Dianna.

 

LYRICAL - This subject encompasses the use of balance, flexibility and technique based on the lyrics or mood of the music.  Students will experience the body movement and emotion associated with lyrical dance moves.  Students are encouraged to dance full out, let it go and feel not only the music- but themselves as they dance.  Students enrolled in Lyrical classes must also take ballet classes, or be enrolled in a lyrical class which includes the ballet preparation. This style is taught by Miss Dianna,Miss Tara or Miss Sara.

 

CONTEMPORARY - Contemporary Dance is a compilation of other dance forms, such as lyrical, classical ballet and modern jazz.  It explores movement, space, rhythm and the dancer's own creativity.  A student will become aware of the endless possibilities of the human body potential & how dance can become an outlet for expression.  It is inspired by music, art and human emotions.  Students enrolled in contemporary classes must also be enrolled in ballet classes.

Contemporary is taught by Miss Tara, Miss Jessi, or Miss Dianna

 

ACROBATICS - These classes develop flexibility, balance, strength and muscle control.  Students, after their "warm-up", will travel between different "stations" within the classroom, each working on various skills & strengthening tricks.  Students will learn acrobatic tricks in progression with their personal strength and body control.  Classes run in 10 week segments, with no routine or recital performance.  Some students with higher skill levels may be asked to join our performing group, which does include a routine and recital performance.  Classes are offered to students ages 5 and over. This class is taught by Miss Dianna.

 

HIP HOP - This high-energy dance form is exciting and appeals to many dancers.  Students will learn current dance moves as seen in popular music videos and movies.  Students will get to show us "their moves" during the improv segment, and also take the learned dance moves to their next dance floor.  These classes are offered to students age 6 years and older; Students should have at least 1 year other dance experience to understand body movement, isolation, and timing. Classes are taught by Miss Tara or Miss Jessi

 

MUSICAL THEATER - Dance movements in combination with acting skills and character interpretation are the foundation for this

style of dance.  In recent years, PHD musical theater classes have performed such memorable numbers as "A Musical", "Suits!",

"Kinky Boots/Raise You Up," and "You're in the Band". This style is taught by Miss Trudy.

 

LEVELED TECHNIQUE CLASSES - These classes are designed for students already taking other forms of dance.  Students have the opportunity to focus and practice the technique skills necessary to improve their individual dance level.  Class time is spent developing core strength, stretching, flexibility, balance, turns and leaps.

 

   A BIT OF DANCE HISTORY

 

       Lyrical Dance style has its primary basis in ballet, combining the many technical elements of classical ballet with the freedom and airier aspects of jazz, contemporary and modern dance.  Lyrical dance is expressive, simultaneously subtle and dynamic.  It focuses on conveying musicality and emotion through movement.  Movements in lyrical dance are often characterized by their fluidity and grace.    It may be set to popular music with vocals as well as rich instrumental portions of a pop song.  Lyrical inspires choreographers and dancers to use movement to interpret music and express emotion. Routines are dependent on feeling and emotion and technique is crucial. The dancer does not execute each successive move in isolation from the next; a lyrical dancer holds the move for as long as is musically possible or relevant, and transitions smoothly into the next, connecting the motion and emotion.

     Lyrical dance gained its name not because the lyrics or words of a song are (indeed, often) emphasized over the song's rhythm, but because of the definition of the word lyrical: having a poetic, expressive quality; musical; characterized by or expressing spontaneous, direct feeling; expressing deep personal emotions or observation; highly rhapsodic or enthusiastic. 

 

    Hip Hop dance evolved over 30 years ago and became widely known after the first breaking, locking, and popping crews formed in

the 1970s.  Parallel with the evolution of hip-hop music, hip-hop dancing evolved from break dancing and the funk styles of street dancing.  Moves such as the "running man" and the "cabbage patch" hit the mainstream and became fad dances.  The dance industry in particular responded with a studio based version of hip-hop, or sometimes called jazz funk.  These styles were developed by technically trained dancers who wanted to create choreography for hip-hop music from the hip-hop dances they saw being performed on the street.

  Because of this development, hip-hop dance is now practiced in both studios and outside spaces.  What separates hip-hop dance from other forms of dance is that it is often more freestyle (improvisational) in nature.

 

     Tap dance is a form of dance characterized by using one's shoes, as well as the floor, as a percussion instrument.  As such, it is also commonly considered to be a musical form as well.  Two major variations on tap dance exist, rhythm (jazz) tap and Broadway tap.  Broadway tap focuses more on the dance side, and is widely performed as a part of musical theater, creating more "upper body" movement to the effect of the routine.  Rhythm tap focuses instead on the musical side, adding additional sound to the music interpretation.

The famous rhythm tapper, Savior Glover helped bring tap dance into mainstream media by choreographing and dancing the major motion picture Happy Feet, a film about a tap dancing penguin.  Another well-known tap film is 1989's Tap starring the late Gregory Hines and many of the old-time hoofers.  (rhythm tappers)

 

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     Jazz dance is a classification shared by a broad range of dance styles. Modern jazz dance is frequently influenced by other dance styles such as  ballet, contemporary, lyrical  and hip-hop.  In turn, many other dance styles are influenced by jazz dance.  In the 1950s, with the growing domination of other forms of entertainment music, jazz dance evolved on Broadway into the new, smooth style that is taught today and known as modern jazz.  The performance style of jazz dance was popularized to a large extent by Broadway shows such as Chicago, Cabaret, Damn Yankees, and The Pajama Game.  Modern jazz dance continues to be an essential element of musical theatre, and it can often be seen in music videos and competitive dance.  As in most forms of dance, technique is the foundation for all modern jazz dance movement.  In particular, jazz dancers benefit from a sound working knowledge of ballet technique.

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    Ballet is a formalized kind of performance dance, originating in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century.  It has since become a highly technical form of dance with its own vocabulary.  It is primarily performed with classical music and has been influential as a form of dance globally.  Ballet has been taught in studios around the world,  using their own cultures and societies to inform the art.  It is a poised style of dance that incorporates the foundational techniques for many other dance forms.  In no other dance form are the rules of technique so rigorously stressed to the student.  This genre of dance is very hard to master and requires much practice.

 

Classical ballet is the most methodical of the ballet styles; it adjoins traditional ballet technique.  Ballet adheres to these primary rules- working at the barre and center floor exercises.

A position called 'plie' is used in almost every exercise. -- Everything is turned out. --  When the feet are not on the floor, they are pointed.

When the leg is not bent, it is stretched completely. --  Posture, alignment, and placement are vital.

 

    Contemporary/Modern dance.  The term "contemporary dance" is sometimes used to describe dance that is neither classical nor traditional in nature.  It is a compilation of different styles of dance including lyrical, classical ballet and modern dance.  The founders composed their dances entirely of spirit, soul, heart and mind as opposed to today's contemporary- which has more technical aspects.

 

In the early 1900s European and American dancers started to rebel against the rigid constraints of Classical Ballet.  Shedding the controls surrounding classical ballet, technique, costume, and shoes, these early dance pioneers focused on creative self-expression rather than on technical virtuosity.  Modern dance is a more relaxed, free style of dance in which choreographers use emotions and moods to design their own steps, in contrast to ballet's structured code of steps.  It has a deliberate use of gravity, whereas ballet is rigid in its technique.

Modern and contemporary dance are terms that apply to a variety of similar disciplines, all with subtly different techniques.