Combo Age 2 – 3 "Creative Movement": a 50-minute class that meets once a week. Dancers will wear ballet shoes to this class and be introduced to the world of dance through creative movement, sing along songs, mat work, and lots of fun! In this class these young dancers will learn to follow instructions, building coordination, motor skills, and be introduced to the fun world of dance. For the end of year Recital these dancers perform one dance and a pre-school finale number.

For our dancers ages 3 to kindergarten, we offer Tap and Ballet combination classes.

Combo Age 3 – 4 and 4 – 5: a 50 minute class meeting once a week includes tap and ballet. Students will learn be introduced to tap and ballet learning the basic terminology, and the foundation of dance. They will enjoy creative movement, sing along song, while learning through a variety dance games, to help build skills such as coordination, balance, and following instructions. These students will also learn dance terminology each step of the way. For Recital these dancers will perform one dance and a pre-school finale number.

Kindergarten Combo: a 50 minute class meeting once a week includes tap and ballet. As these dancers learn tap and ballet terminology the focus of this class is building a strong foundation and touching on all the fundamentals of dance. For Recital these dancers will perform two dances and a recital themed finale number.

Ballet

Ballet is a classical dance form and the foundation of all dance. Ballet classes will help dancers with posture, flexibility, balance, self-discipline, and self-confidence. The focus of the class will be to learn terminology and technique, correct body alignment, improving their turn out and developing grace and poise.

Tap

Ballet

Tap class is all about making music with your feet! Our tap classes stress the basics of tap while also teaching musicality and rhythm. Dancers will develop strength of the knees and ankles, coordination, and proper tap technique.

Jazz

Ballet

Jazz

Jazz class is an upbeat and fun style of dance! Jazz is based on ballet technique layered with traditional jazz movement. Dancers will develop flexibility, strength, and proper jazz technique while dancing to fun and upbeat music.

Acro

Int. - Adv. Acro

Acrobatics is a tumbling based class that focuses on tricks on the mat. Dancers will develop flexibility, strength, balance, coordination, body-awareness, and self-discipline.

Acro class focuses on teaching proper and safe technique of skills such as backbends, cartwheels, front and back walkover, well as many other tricks and skills.

Int. - Adv. Acro

Int/Adv Acro class is for dancers that have mastered the following skills and have proper experience and teachers approval to be in these classes. We encourage all dancers to begin in our open acro classes and once technically mastered the required skills by our qualified instructors we will notify you to move into the next level of class:.

The following skills are to be mastered in order to be considered for the Int/Adv classes

Standing backbend (down and up)
Strong cartwheels and roundoff
Limbers and Walkovers (front and back)

Hip-Hop

Int. - Adv. Acro

Theatre Dance

Hip hop is a class that infuses many styles of street dancing, breaking, popping, and locking.

Dancers will work on developing strength, stamina, balance and coordination to successfully perform moves and skills.

At Eastside we believe in the fundamentals of hip-hop using age-appropriate movements.

Theatre Dance

Theater dance also known as Musical Theatre class focuses on Broadway style dance while singing to a track. Dancers will develop their singing and dancing skills while learning about different Broadway Musicals. Dancers will develop self-confidence, performance quality, and dance technique.

*Please note this class is not designed to singing lessons and we encourage all interested in signing lessons to visit joistar.com

Irish Soft Shoe

Theatre Dance

Irish Soft Shoe

Irish dance is a group of traditional dances originating from Ireland. Irish class is taken in soft shoes called Gillies. In this class dancers build strength and are educated on traditional Irish music. This class will focus on foot placement, body alignment, strength, stamina and traditional Irish steps and sequences.

Irish Hardshoe

Theatre Dance

Irish Soft Shoe

Irish Hard Shoe is offered for our older students It is an exciting traditional Irish dance class done in a special shoe that makes sounds similar to tap shoes. Dancers learn the proper way to strike the floor to create specific sounds and rhythms while executing traditional Irish steps. Irish Hard Shoe class focuses on continuing to build dancers understanding of Irish dance, body alignment, strength and stamina, while teaching the proper technique of hardshoe.

Lyrical

Contemporary

Lyrical is a fusion of ballet and jazz dance techniques. Dancers will learn how to interpret the lyrics of the song through movement. Lyrical classes will focus on proper technique, flexibility, and expression. In order to be enrolled in lyrical dancers must also take ballet.

Contemporary

Contemporary merges elements of ballet, jazz, lyrical, and modern into a very grounded, unique style of dance. Although the movement is often very fluid, it is also characterized by quirky off balance moves with lots of floor work. Contemporary classes develop body-awareness, and expression of movement while dancers will get to explore their own movement through improvisation.

Contemporary

Pathway to Pointe

Before reading this section about Pointe, please understand Pointe is not for everyone. Taking ballet for many years does not automatically equate to a dancer being ready or able to do pointe. Pointe is not for all dancers and not all dancers will be permitted to go on Pointe.

Pointe is an exciting accomplishment for the serious ballet student. The path from ballet shoes to pointe shoes is not a quick process and takes time for dancers to develop and be fully ready to go on their toes. It requires an immense amount of work and not only do students need to be physically ready they must also be emotionally ready. Pointe work and the path to get there takes an incredible amount of dedication, a deeper focus on ballet technique and proper placement, along with the ability to endure the blisters that go along with going en Pointe.

It takes a mature dancer who understands that each body develops at a different pace and that each student will be in a different place in their Pointe journey throughout their dance training. It takes a student who can be patience and understands that decisions are made for the safety and their overall well-being The bones of the foot are not fully developed, strengthened, and hardened until the teenage years and even at that time dancers who do not have enough strength and technique can permanently damage their feet.

Please understand that each dancer who is accepted into a pointe program will have a different path to pointe and it is for the safety of your child that they do not make this transition until teachers deem that the student is ready.

Introduction to Demi-Pointe and Pre-Pointe also known as Demi-Pointe is laying the foundation for going en Pointe. Please understand that by taking these classes dancers are not guaranteed to move on to Demi-Pointe or Pointe as pointe is not appropriate for everybody and some dancers may never be able to transition to full pointe.

MOST IMPORTANTLY - Pointe is not for everyone. Not all dancers who study ballet will have the opportunity to do pointe work.

Intro to Demi-Pointe

Demi-Pointe / Pre-Pointe

Introduction to Demi-Pointe

Introduction to Demi-Pointe is the preparation for Pre-Pointe / Dem-Pointe. This is an educational based class, there will be no recital dance.

In this class, dancers will focus on foot and ankle placement, body alignment, holding their turn out, and engaging the core.

The introduction to demi-pointe class will be the entire year and will be taken in ballet shoes.

*The Introduction to Demi-Pointe class is a 30 minute class that meets once a week and does not have a recital dance*

Demi-Pointe / Pre-Pointe

Demi-Pointe / Pre-Pointe

Demi-Pointe also known as Pre-Pointe is a pointe preparation class for serious ballet students interested in dancing en pointe. This class contains repetition and articulate movements. The focus is on proper technique while training and strengthening the muscles needed before being considered to transition.

Dancers must be invited into this class and students must meet specific criteria to participate.

Demi-Pointe is taken twice a week following ballet / ballet technique class.

Students wear Demi-Pointe shoe and do participate in Recital for Demi-Pointe.

Pointe

Demi-Pointe / Pre-Pointe

Pointe

Pointe

Pointe is an extension of ballet for an advanced dancer. Dancers will wear pre-pointe or pointe shoes and will learn the correct and safe way to dance en pointe / on their toes.

Students are recommended for this class based on muscular and skeletal development as well as their understanding of ballet.

Throughout the year, dancers will be evaluated for their readiness to transition to go en Pointe and not all dancers will transition to Pointe at the same time as all dancers develop at different rates.

If your child is in this class, they will receive a letter when it is safe and they are ready to transition to pointe.

This class is taken in demi-pointe shoes or pointe shoes will participate in Recital.