CLASSES

Ballet is one of the foundations of formal dance education. Students will work through syllabus training to develop proper alignment, posture, control, balance and discipline. With attention to detail, ballet helps a dancer improve their overall technique, turns, jumps, balance and body placement. Any student considering competitive dance or a future career in  performing arts should prioritize enrollment in ballet class.

Jazz dance is characterized by isolations, body placement, contrasting sharp and smooth movement, rhythmic accents and individual style. It is a classic dance form that increases strength, flexibility, control and varying performance qualities. Students will learn basic jazz foundation and progress to exciting and complex turns and jumps, as well as transitional movements that are essential in all other dance forms and choreography.

Tap dance is a classic discipline where students will develop coordination, musicality and timing while learning to create musical sequences with their sounds. Dancers will learn basic to complex tap steps and rhythmical patterns to a variety of different music and time signatures. Tap dance provides a hands-on approach to music theory and becomes a very interchangeable skill to those who play instruments or compose music. 

Acro is a combination of dance technique and gymnastics training. Students will develop strength and flexibility through a series of drills and exercises over time, gaining the proper foundation to graduate to more advanced and difficult stunts and tricks. With a combined mix of contortion training, tumbling and balancing tricks, dancers will develop strong and safe technique to ensure complete control of their muscular capacity- progression is key. Dancers will learn basic dance techniques so that they are able to move from one acro trick to another easily throughout their choreography. Ballet and jazz dance are strongly recommended as an addition to acrobatic training to ensure a well-rounded education and skill set.

Contemporary dance is ever-changing with the world around us, as the word contemporary means 'in the present'.  Informally, it can be summed up to the fusion of modern dance and classical ballet, incorporating current dance methods from hip-hop-based elements and acrobatics.

Contemporary dance class offers dancers the opportunity to play with improvisational movement, floor work and innovative sequences. This discipline requires maturity, stamina, control and creativity. Choreography can be developed from multiple genres of music, giving contemporary dance a creative 'outside the box' opportunity for artists.

Lyrical dance developed from a combination of jazz and classical ballet techniques. This beautiful dance form teaches students to listen to the value of music they are dancing to, interpreting the lyrics to tell a story through their expressions and emotional connection to their movement.

Modern dance is often considered to have emerged as a rejection of, or rebellion against, classical ballet. Inspired by the methods of different modern dance pioneers, it is common to see controlled falls and other interesting interplays of body weight and gravity. Unlike ballet, which reaches for the stars with leaps and high kicks, this style of dance often lingers near the ground, especially in a piece heavily influenced by psychology and intense emotional states. Modern dance plays with the idea of creating shapes and breaking lines, a great creative outlet for students to explore perspective and mindfulness.

Hip Hop dance holds deep historical and social roots in African American culture, having emerged in Black communities living in 1970's New York. While frequently referred to as a singular dance style, Hip Hop dance is part of a whole culture of Hip Hop that includes Deejaying, Graffiti, Emceeing, and several sub-styles of dance, including Breaking. Hip Hop is a movement that represents the freedom to learn, grow, and evolve- preserving its authenticity is an important piece to the history behind its origin.

In-studio Hip Hop classes offer students the ability to gain precise body control and expression through  vocabulary and crafted technique, fusing the roots of the movement with current inspirations from artists and cultures around the world. 

Pre-dance is a wonderful integration into the world of movement and stage performance. These shorter sessions help develop coordination and musicality in a social environment. Classes are made up of circle dances, songs and rhymes, across the floor activities and using our imaginations. Pre-dance is a wonderful way to keep active, develop important social skills and ease the transition into formal dance disciplines.

Competitive dance is a fusion of sportsmanlike ideologies and artistic interpretation. Dancers work with their teammates to learn and perfect choreography in a variety of disciplines and compete their routines in front of judges across the country. LMSD competitive dancers are required to enroll in a ballet technique class and an acro technique class in addition to their competitive choreography classes. Rehearsals for competitive dance are more demanding than recreational dance, LMSD competitive students are required to attend Saturday classes every first and third Saturday of the month. If you're interested in learning more about auditioning for our competitive team, please send us an email, we would love to tell you more!