World Class Dance
Classes & Styles
Creative Movement
Ages 2-3 ½: These dancers are introduced to various types of music and fun movement which helps create a positive image and experience. They begin to learn basic dance “manners”: taking turns, sharing with and clapping for friends, making fun formations and dance lines as they Move and Groove and begin pre-ballet and basic jazz steps. We focus on body awareness & use of correct terminology. This class is a GREAT preparation for our 3 1/5 – 5 year old combination class. *This is NOT a parent participation class. However, 1 Parent may help your dancer participate if needed. Once your dancer is comfortable without parent, we ask parents to stay out of the room and off the dance floor. Our Creative Movement dancers perform 1 class routine & our company finale’ in our end of year recital. (Must be age 2 by Sept)
Tap-Jazz-Ballet Combo
Ages 3 ½-5: These dancers are introduced to basic tap, jazz, and ballet dancing., continuing to focus on terminology, choreography, and most of all: FUN! This class is specifically for those students who are in preschool and already familiar with a classroom environment. This is the next level for our previous Creative Movement dancers and a perfect match for our World Class Gymnastics “Gym Kids/Gym Kids 2” students. *This is NOT a parent-participation class. These dancers perform 1 tap and 1 ballet or jazz routine with their class and participate in our company finale’ in our end-of-year recital. (Must be 3 ½ by September)
Tap
Tap dancers wear fitted shoes with metal taps on the heels and toes of the shoe. Our tap dancers utilize a lot of syncopation creating great rhythms with their feet tapping, sliding, and clicking their shoes. In classical tap – the dancer’s entire body moves along with their feet with very showy stylized movements such as you see in Broadway tap. Hoofing – focuses on the movements of the dancer’s feet, keeping their upper bodies still. Our dancers are exposed to many forms of tap styles, and music, and truly enjoy making music with their feet.
Jazz
A range of lively body movement and percussion techniques with a mix of tap steps, social dancing, and ballet. Some forms of jazz are Charleston, swing, and rock and roll. Jazz is extremely popular in musical theater to help express storylines and entertain the audience. In our jazz classes, these dancers practice executing their leaps, jumps, & turns. Many forms of music such as blues, jazz, Broadway, theater, hip-hop, pop, and funk will be used in our jazz classes.
Ballet
Ballet is the foundation for all styles of dance! It is a very formal and strict type of technique/style, which is typically performed to classical music. It is important that our students learn & understand their correct body alignment; proper stretching, turnout and positions which help prevent injury and increase flexibility. These dancers also practice grace and precision.
Pointe
*students must have prior experience or approval from WCD instructor
Lyrical
This style combines elements of ballet, modern & jazz. This form of movement is faster than ballet but slower than jazz. Lyrical is performed to express strong emotions such as love, joy, and anger. Music with powerful lyrics is chosen to inspire the dancer(s) to express themselves in a range of strong emotions. Our students are encouraged to share “their story”.
Contemporary
A collection of methods and techniques found in ballet, modern, postmodern, and many other dance techniques. This intricate and physical style changes levels and direction quickly and fluidly. This style occasionally deals with abstract concepts, images and/or emotional extremes and is present, which sets it apart from classical ballet or Broadway Jazz. Contemporary has been known to be called or labeled as the “new modern”.
Pop & Hip Hop
This popular style originated from street dancing and includes a wide variety of styles such as breaking, popping & locking, which were created by dance “crews”. Hip-Hop dance was typically a freestyle form then combined with rap music. Our students learn real hip-hop with age-appropriate music and choreography. Hip-Hop dance is also becoming popular in other music genres, which our students are exposed to as well. Our Pop classes include basic Hip-Hop movements and music with some Jazz-Funk and a little attitude!
Musical Theater
Sing-Act-Dance. The focus will be on creating a fun and creative environment for the students to express themselves in relatively new & many dance styles, as well as vocally in some of the group numbers. The repertoire will range from early music theater to shows currently on Broadway and all of the loved musicals in between. These students will practice projecting their stage voices and remembering lines from various snip-its. They will learn to “act” and play their character as they sing and dance. All levels of enthusiasm are welcome, and every week the students will further develop their own unique performance personality and let it shine!
Acro-Dance & Cheer Combo
This class is a combination class of Acrobatic Gymnastics and cheerleading. In this class, we will learn about the Acrobatic gymnastics discipline using basic stunts, balance, tumbling, dance, and strength. We will combine acrobatic gymnastics skills with all-star cheerleading skills including jumps, pyramids, tumbling, and dance. Due to the nature of these 2 sports athletes will also be instructed on proper tumbling and stunting techniques/safety and how to prevent injuries with a licensed USAG-certified instructor. The athletes will gain not only the skills in the 2 disciplines, but also strength, flexibility, team comradery, and confidence in this fast-paced class.
Irish Step
Students enrolling in this class will learn the fundamentals of Irish step dancing. We will learn 4 types of Irish dances in this class during the season… Reel, Jig, Slip Jig, and Ceili (group dancing) are all soft shoe (gillies/jazz boot) dances. Students will learn proper traditional Irish techniques for each dance and how to distinguish between the dances by learning the different tempos and counts. This class is structured to also teach traditional Irish culture/music through dance in a fun and energetic environment.
POM
Students enrolled in this class will learn the fundamentals of Pom dance/cheer. This class will include instruction for tumbling 101 basics, cheer jumps, level 1 all-star cheer stunts, and dance with poms. We will focus on strength, flexibility, balance, keeping timing, safety, and how to be a team. This class includes partner stunts/tricks using safe, proper techniques and instruction with a USAG-certified instructor. This is a fun and exciting class for a young beginner athlete to learn the fundamentals and a steppingstone for the more advanced acro/cheer class.