Programs

2  year olds  

 (must be 2 years old by September 1st)
Our Toddler Steps program is based in rhythms and rhymes. Children join in finger play songs, sing with movement and explore the dance space while moving to music. You may be surprised at how much your 2 year old can learn including following directions and musicality!! Parent or guardian plan to dance with us for the first 6 weeks, after that we are on our own!! Toddlers have their end of the year show in studio with snacks!! So appropriate!

3 and 4 year olds 

Steps Too! builds on what the Toddler Steps program offers.  The dancers continue to explore the dance space with improv exercises, their favorite!!  They to begin to hone their skills in both the genres of ballet and tap.  We "plant a ballet garden" and do our very best in mastering the basics of tap dancing.  These tiny dancers work hard to learn 2 dances for their very first recital on stage!

5-6 year olds
We dedicate the first 40 minutes of class to learning many ballet positions, steps and terminology. We also continue to work on musicality, flexibility and posture. The last 20 minutes are spent reviewing and learning new tap exercises and steps. We find school-aged kids really enjoy the challenge!

 7 years and up
All ballet classes begin with a warm-up for stretch and strengthening. Dancers next move to barre work, combinations center floor and across the floor work. It is nice to dedicate one full hour to your ballet studies.

9 -11 years

Junior Ballet brings with it continued work at the barre, center, across the floor and a heavy emphasis on learning the 8 body positions.  

12 years and up 

  Junior ballet must be successfully completed prior to entrance into upper level classes. With that training oure dancers can now handle doing a full ballet barre with all the elements needed to help them work with control and good technique center floor. We become even more dedicated to the adagio, turns, grande allegro, waltz combinations and petite allegro.

10 years and up 

Must have been enrolled in 2 ballet classes and fundamentals for at least one year prior to admittance into the program. Must continue to be enrolled in two ballet classes while enrolled in Pre-pointe.

Many young dancers aspire to go on pointe someday. And on pointe we want to put you. When you are ready!! George Balanchine was know to say “What is the point of going on pointe if you can’t do anything when you get up there”. Perfectly said. So we follow a protocol to get our dancers strong enough to be successful on pointe. Their bodies prove to us they are ready. Mandatory text book needed and may be purchased at the office. 

12 years and up (45 minutes)

Must have successfully completed Pre-pointe. Must be enrolled in 2 ballet classes.
Having taken a comprehensive approach to our pre-pointe program we continue that dedication to teaching our dancers how to use their minds and bodies to be successful en pointe.  We want our pointe students to dance safe, be strong, train mindfully and become beautiful classical ballerinas. 

12 years and up 

Must be enrolled in 2 ballet classes

Proper technique and body alignment as well as strength of the feet, "turn out muscles" and core continue to be a main focus as our dancers progress in their pointe training. Much of our time will be spent at the barre as we master transition from flat to pointe, from pointe to flat and from two feet en pointe to one foot en pointe. Challenges abound, and up to the challenges we are!

7 years and up 

Dedicated tap classes as our dancers get older. Buffalos, Maxifords, Trenches, Riffs, Time steps and maybe even some Wings!!

5 years and up 

Technical, like ballet!! We stretch, move across the floor,  learn steps and put it all into some dynamic choreography. Older jazz dancers with experience will begin to explore lyrical jazz which is a blend of ballet and jazz.

7 years and up
Hip hop dancers must be enrolled in ballet or jazz.
Hip hop refers to many different dance styles. It refers ironically to dance styles that evolved in school yards, streets and other everyday places rather than the dance studio. In our program we strive to reach a balance between hip hop’s roots of improvisation and the dance school’s element of choreography. Get ready to pop, lock and get funky!!

5-6 year olds

Kids just wanna dance! At an early age they want to try it all. Having gotten that feedback we have added a jazz/hip hop combo class for our 5-6 year olds. Per our philosophy of needing a technique class to support other genres, we've got you covered. Now our young ones can have the freedom of trying out hip hop while getting a solid technical base during the jazz portion of the class. Enjoy!

 5 years and up 

Come learn a jig or rock a reel! Irish step for the “common man”. Learn this awesome art form with no strings (competitions, expensive costumes) attached. Learn it for the love of it!

9 years and up

A class for the experienced jiggers. Similar to a tap shoe, a hard shoe or "heavy shoe" is very different than the gillies we all start in. With a fiberglass tip, there will be lots of noise to be made in this class!  Hard Shoes are a bit like going on Pointe.  A right of passage!!  Dancers need to be  conditioned and strong enough to move on.  Because we want to train strong dancers in an effort to keep them safe and injury free, there will be a strengthening portion to begin each class that will focus on foot + ankle, hip girdle and core strengthening. 

5 years and up 

Enrollment in a technique class (ballet or jazz) is required. Musical Theater is a jazz based class that incorporates 3 elements: dancing, acting and singing. It is a "Triple Threat" incorporated all in the same performance that has a storyline. Think “Oklahoma”, “A Chorus Line”, “The Wizard of Oz”, “The Lion King” or “42nd Street”!

9  years and up 

Contemporary students must be enrolled in Ballet or Jazz. This style of dance borrows from jazz, ballet and modern dance. You will be trained in how to improvise, do floor work, contract and release and lots of other powerful yet controlled movements. Be ready to work hard to “move” your audience.

If you have been away from dance or have never danced before, join us! We are here for you!!

5 years and up

Minis and Juniors

Acrobatic Dance, or "Acro" combines gymnast-like tumbling and flexibility skills with the execution of dance. Enrolling in Acro will help students develop strength, flexibility, balance, coordination and much more. We want to stress that safety and proper form are extremely important while taking our acrobatic class. 

12 years and up

Leaps and Turns is a class where dancers can hone their technique even more.  It is a nice compliment to their ballet, jazz and contemporary class as well as being mandatory for our Teen/Senior competition team.  It will include more intense conditioning, flexibility and strength work with an emphasis on core and alignment. All of this will contribute to the dancers overall improvement, including of course the technique and dynamic quality to their leaps and turns!

12 years and up

In Modern Class students will learn about historical dance figures and their different techniques.  We will be exploring concepts like dynamics, movement initiation catch and release,and the use of breath and spacial awareness. Modern dance emphasizes movement as self expression and is a great way to build confidence while stepping out of your comfort zone.

9 years through Adult

This class is dedicated to teaching and showing our dancers how to dance healthy. We learn about alignment, core strength, foot and ankle strength, our hips and how to use them to turn out our legs. We balance, resist, stretch and strengthen! Great for all, especially dancers who aspire to move onto pointe.

13+ plus year

Lyrical is a style of dance that showcases the dancer’s technique from both Ballet and Jazz, and incorporates expressive emotion. In comparison to Contemporary, Lyrical focuses more on visual storytelling whereas Contemporary dance is constantly changing and evolving with what the world considers to be “dance.” For example – the era of dance we are currently in is what inspires the dancer and the choreography. However, the music and concept behind each Lyrical dance is what inspires the emotion and energy of the dancer. In this class, we will showcase our strong technique while visually telling a story with our emotion and our bodies.

4 years and up

DANCE IS FOR EVERYONE!

We are so excited to offer Adaptive Dance at TDS! It's fun to work with the dancers on building relationships, help relieve anxiety while building self confidence and awareness.  Additionally we work on strength, balance and having fun!!  This recreational class is tailored to the needs of the dancer wether it be a child with developmental delays, special needs or physical disabilities.  We long to be inclusive.  To this end we ask parents to be on our team as far as keeping us in the loop on ways to service their dancer best.

Join us!!