DiscoverDance – The DiscoverDance 💃Early Childhood Program is a series of movement classes designed to introduce children to dance’s creative and expressive world. Each program allows children to develop their natural movement ability in a multi-sensory environment.
Pre-Dance – These introductory classes begin with the fundamentals of dance, such as rhythm 🥁, coordination 🤸, and creative movement 🎭. Dancers will learn the basics of each discipline, including terminology, positions, barre work, and simple center combinations.
Ballet – Students will be taught classical ballet 🩰 techniques, including terminology and positions. Classes will start with a proper barre warm-up and then move into center and progressions. Ballet is the foundation for all forms of dance. It provides strength 💪, balance ⚖️, flexibility 🤸, posture, technique, and knowledge of terminology critical to success in other dance forms, including jazz, modern, lyrical, tap, and hip-hop.
Please note: The dance Staff strongly recommends that all dancers take ballet in conjunction with any other dance genre. This class is also highly recommended for dancers interested in joining Artistry in Motion Dance Company.
Jazz – Combines classical ballet and modern dance techniques with current popular dance forms. Students will be taught movement vocabulary ranging from the isolation of particular body parts to the movement of the entire body with accents of musical rhythms🎶.
Classes begin with a warm-up, including isolations, stretching, strength building, and center barre work. Dancers will learn progressions down the floor and center combinations, working on performance🎭 and style.
Please note: To properly advance, it is strongly recommended to take ballet in conjunction with jazz technique.
Contemporary – Students focus on spatial and body awareness, use of body weight ⚖️, floor work, leaps, turns, efficiency of muscle usage, and safe body alignment. Contemporary 🎨dance encourages dancers to be versatile in their expressions 🎭, portraying various movement styles and emotions.
Please note: To properly advance, taking ballet in conjunction with contemporary is strongly recommended.
Tap – Students learn to make music🎶 with their feet👣 ! Early levels of tap 👞begin with basic terminology in an interactive classroom, working in the center and down the floor. Basic combinations will be taught, allowing students to practice connecting different steps.
Advanced levels focus on elaborating on these basic ideas, incorporating intricate rhythms🥁, and will be exposed to the exciting “loose ankle” technique of rhythm tap.
Hip Hop/Teeny Bop –Students will learn to groove to the newest and best upbeat street funk🎧! Classes will begin with an essential warm-up, including isolations, stretch, and strength, and learn combinations in the center and down the floor, incorporating style and attitude. Exercises focus on increasing flexibility, strength 💪, total body connectivity, and creative problem-solving. Hip Hop is the pinnacle of self-expression!
Pre-Pointe – This class is designed for serious students who want to advance their ballet🩰 technique while gaining tremendous strength 💪and stability in their feet, ankles, and legs.
A student will advance to Pointe when the instructor feels the student’s body is strong enough to support her in Pointe shoes without any risk of injury. Thera-bands are highly recommended for this class as they aid in strengthening the feet 👣and ankles (available for purchase through the Des Plaines School of Dance for $5).
Pointe – Students will learn the basics of dancing en pointe, a ballet technique wherein a dancer supports their body weight on the tips of fully extended feet 🩰. Pointe is a characteristic of classical ballet and requires exceptional strength, balance, and technique.
Acro Dance – Students in this new program will enhance their flexibility🤸, strength💪, balance⚖️, and tumbling skills. Taking the beginner preschool-level student from log rolls and somersaults to the advanced student tumbling effortlessly across the floor!
The program is designed to teach acro dance through safe, proper progressions and stresses the importance of alignment and training everything on both sides of the body.
Aerial Silks – Aerial Silks 🎪combine strength, grace, and flexibility🤸to create a unique type of movement. You will learn to manipulate the silks and move your body in new and exciting ways!
How to pose, climb, and invert on the silks are just a few skills you will learn, in addition to conditioning and how to combine poses into unique sequences.
Des Plaines Poms Dance – is a fun, high-energy style that requires strength💪, stamina, coordination, and above all else, teamwork🤝! In this class, dancers will learn how to work together as a team to perform sharp, precise, energetic routines that incorporate elements of jazz, hip-hop, and other styles. Poms 📣participants will perform in the annual Des Plaines Dance Academy recital in June. The costume fee is included.
