Dance Course Listing
Advanced Repertory
Prerequisite: Advanced level of modern, ballet, or jazz dance experience and placement verification
This is a highly specialized, challenging course for the advanced dancer. Students will work with a different professional choreographer each week. The class will include modern, ballet and jazz repertory in a weekly rotation. The final week will be designated for preparation and review of the work to be presented at Sun Celebration. This course will give students insight into the choreographic process, as well as experience performing unique dance styles.
Fundamentals of Ballet & Modern
Prerequisite None
Have you been curious about ballet or modern but just wanted to get a taste of them first, in a non-theatening, fun environment? Rhonda Cinotto and Michael Estanich are teaming up to create a wonderful introductory course covering both disciplines. The Ballet portion of this course encompasses the basics of ballet, which are considered the foundation of performance dance. Students will become familiar with the terminology and movements at the barre and centre. The Modern portion of this course introduces the fundamentals of the modern dance vocabulary. Students will explore the various aspects of modern dance that make it unique, using fun, challenging movement phrases to learn the concepts. The class emphasizes proper alignment, injury prevention, strength and flexibility, and musicality.
Ballet 2
Prerequisite: Intermediate level of ballet experience and placement verification
Placement Standards: Ability to demonstrate: basic coordination and rhythmic accuracy; a quick grasp and retention of short combinations; awareness of safety; and basic understanding of ballet vocabulary and terminology, such as feet positions, traveling steps, and basic jumps.
Ballet 2 explores more complex combinations at the barre and centre. Emphasis will be placed on understanding correct technique and placement from both anatomical and classical perspectives, as well as on challenging the student with more complex movement combinations. The student will gain strength, stamina and musicality as they gain a broader ballet vocabulary.
Ballet 3
Prerequisite: Advanced level of ballet experience and placement verification
Placement Standards: Ability to demonstrate: strong concentration; understanding of quality, dynamics, and musicality; broad and comprehensive ballet vocabulary; a quick grasp and accurate retention of combinations through verbal instruction without excessive demonstration by instructor.
This class intensifies the barre exercises and centre work for the development of strength and form. Phrasing and more complicated movement combinations, longer adagios, multiple turns, combination turns, petit allegro and grande allegro will be emphasized.
Hip-Hop
Prerequisite: None
Hip-Hop will allow students to let their personality and style show as they learn basic hip-hop and breakdance elements. Students will discover how hip-hop borrows technique from jazz dance and ballet, freedom and interpretation from modern dance, and rhythm and athleticism from African dance, to become its own art form. Classes will offer an aerobic, choreographed warm up and weekly combinations to allow students to find their own approach and style to movements, as well as stretches and exercises to build strength.
Jazz Dance 1
Prerequisite: None
This class gives dancers experience in the basic movement vocabulary of jazz dance, and helps them develop artistic understanding of its stylistic principles. The class focuses on the fundamentals of traditional jazz dance vocabulary (including isolations, jazz walks and runs, leaps, and turns) through exercises and movement combinations, and is designed to increase strength, flexibility, coordination, and balance.
Jazz Dance 2/3
Prerequisite: Minimum of intermediate level of jazz dance experience and placement verification
Placement Standards: Ability to demonstrate: understanding of rhythm and musicality; spatial awareness; proper body alignment; and basic technique, such as pirouette, leg extensions, jumps, and ballet terminology. The ability to pick up, execute, and retain combinations without excessive demonstration by instructor. At least some familiarity with and ability in the following area: subtle body articulations and sequential body movements; adaptation to different contemporary/jazz styles; highly technical, athletic movement vocabulary; and strong technique, such as double pirouette, difficult jumps, leaps, and off center turns.
This class is designed to provide students with experience in jazz dance technique and style beyond an introductory level. Class work will focus on swifter acquisition of movement material and increased technical, stylistic, dynamic, and rhythmic range. Both intermediate and advanced level students will be challenged by the material in a positive way.
Men’s Introduction to Dance
Prerequisite: None
For Men Only! This course introduces male students to the four basic dance disciplines of jazz, tap, modern and ballet, in an atmosphere geared especially for them! Improve your coordination, flexibility, sense of timing and stamina. By course end you will be able to apply movement techniques and improved skills to other physical disciplines such as basketball, football, hockey and track. Coursework includes an overview of each of the four dance disciplines. Jazz Dance focuses on the many movement expression styles that reflect the varied forms of jazz music, from funk to blues. Modern dance explores the entire body’s potential for movement and expression. Tap relies on rhythm, flexibility and showmanship, and this course teaches you how! Ballet is the basis of all other dance, and muscle strengthening exercises in this portion shows how much of a workout dance can be!
Modern Dance 2/3
Prerequisite: Intermediate or advanced level of modern dance experience and placement verification
Placement Standards: Ability to demonstrate: understanding of rhythm and musicality; spatial awareness; smooth weight shift; proper body alignment; adaptation to different contemporary/modern dance styles; ability to pick up, execute, and retain combinations without excessive demonstration by instructor.
This class works on strength, flexibility, movement memory and rhythmic accuracy by way of challenging, fun movement combinations. Each class will begin with a warm-up that focuses on clear articulation and coordination of body parts, while preparing the body for exciting center and travel combinations. Proper alignment and injury prevention will be emphasized. Both intermediate and advanced level students will be appropriately challenged in the course.
Social Dance/Swing
Prerequisite: None
Swing dancing has been around since 1926 and probably earlier. This is a fun dance done to Swing Jazz, Jump Blues and Rock-n-Roll music. These related styles of music make this flashy, infectious form of social dance something that students can do their whole lives, anywhere around the world. Students will learn various styles of swing dance: East Coast Swing, some Charleston, swing “Line Dance,” and “shine” steps, as well as the grand daddy of all swing dance—the Lindy Hop! Latin dances such as Salsa, Cha-Cha and Merengue may also be covered as class time allows. Students will also explore the culture and fashions associated with social swing dance.
Tap Dance 1
Prerequisite: None
This course is a must for all serious dance and theatre students! Studying tap improves rhythm, flexibility, showmanship and performance stylization. Coursework will include execution of tap steps, patterns, accents, syncopation, rhythm, musicality, discipline, confidence, performance quality, clarity of sound, accuracy, stylization, tempo, weight changes, changes of direction, the development of themes, choreography and improvisation. The course will include technique classes with weekly dance combinations, classroom discussions and student projects.
Tap Dance 2/3
Prerequisite: Intermediate level of tap dance experience and placement verification
Placement Standards: Ability to demonstrate: rhythmic accuracy; spatial awareness; proper body alignment; basic command of gross motor movements; and basic technique, such as strong core, use of relaxed ankle to execute sound; articulation of feet, hands, arms, and legs; smooth weight shifts in various directions; and a quick grasp of combinations without losing technical integrity. As stated for Tap Dance 2, and ability to demonstrate: rhythmic accuracy with a variety of meters and tempi; movement initiation from the hip; dynamic sound quality; highly technical tap dance movement vocabulary; adaptation to different tap dance styles and rhythms; and a quick grasp and accurate retention of complex combinations through verbal instruction without excessive demonstration by instructor.
The theory and principles of intermediate/advanced tap dance and the practical application of these principles in a dance technique environment are the focus of this class, with an emphases on intricate rhythms and full body involvement. Students will continue to hone skills and steps from the intermediate level of tap dance, while placing a large emphases on the ability to pick up choreography and musicality. Students will be encouraged to develop style, performance quality and become proficient at improvisation. The course will provide intense technique work, choreography assignments and various projects to ensure students are versed in the history of the art form.
Yoga Fusion
Prerequisite: None
Fortify your morning or end your day with the perfect treat. This exercise/stretching class will combine principles from Yoga, Pilates’s and Barteneiff Fundamentals to warm-up and work on the strength and flexibility that will help fortify and energize the body and mind. Students will work to develop core strength, flexibility, and coordination, integrating breathing into moving, and learn about basic anatomical and functional principles of movement that encourage an intelligent, facile body.