CORE Dance

Barre is a low-impact, high-burn workout that blends the best of ballet, Pilates, yoga, and strength training. Our goal? To help you move better, feel amazing in your body, and leave class a little sweatier, happier, and stronger than when you walked in. Expect a full-body workout that tones, stretches, and strengthens—from your core to your glutes to your posture.

At this age, your dancer will be exposed to the joy of dance through creative movement exercises done in an age appropriate way so they learn the basics of dance. Your student will also learn the importance of listening skills, controlling their bodies, and maintaining focus among many other things. This valuable training prepares students for our future classes at CORE Dance. The unique part of our program – each series for this age group results in a performance (In class, SLO Mission Plaza, Madonna Inn, Cal Poly, Cuesta, etc).

The Tiny Dancer series introduces children ages 2–6 to the joy of movement and music through creative dance classes. Designed to nurture coordination, confidence, and a love for dance, these classes provide a fun and supportive environment for young dancers to shine.

Musical theatre class focuses on developing acting and performance skills through character work/games, storytelling, and stage presence. Students will learn to bring characters and emotions to life while performing scenes and songs with confidence and emotion.

Pre-pointe and pointe classes are designed for dancers ready to advance their ballet technique and strength. Pre-pointe focuses on building the alignment, balance, and foot strength required for pointe work, while pointe classes teach dancers to perform classical ballet movements on pointe shoes with elegance and precision.

Hip-hop dance is characterized as hard-hitting involving flexibility and isolations, moving a certain body part independently from others. The feet are grounded, the chest is down, and the body is kept loose so that a dancer can easily alternate between hitting the beat or riding through the beat. This is in contrast to ballet or ballroom dancing where the chest is upright and the body is stiff.

Tap develops coordination, rhythmic skills, stamina and musicality. Basic techniques and rhythms taught, focusing on control, speed and clarity of sounds. Tap shoes required.

Acro, short for acrobatic dance, combines elements of gymnastics, acrobatics, and dance to create a visually stunning performance of strength, flexibility, and balance. The style demands precise technique and athleticism, with an emphasis on fluidity and control while maintaining the artistry of dance.

Lyrical jazz dance is a personal expression to the music. It incorporates elements of technique and traditional jazz but is much more expressive and intuitive. Often you are creating a dramatic pattern or you’re creating something that is personal to you. Contemporary dance is a dynamic and expressive form of movement that blends elements from various dance styles, including ballet, modern, jazz, and hip-hop. It emphasizes creativity, individuality, and emotional expression, often focusing on storytelling or abstract concepts.

Ballet classes focus on technique, grace, and strength, teaching dancers the foundational movements of classical dance. Students will develop discipline, flexibility, and artistry while learning traditional ballet vocabulary and choreography.

Students can expect to learn classical positions and movements, control and connectivity of steps, turns, jumps and the dance vocabulary necessary to continue their studies in the dance arts. These classes require a motivated learner, a performance level attitude from all students as these classes can be challenging. Jazz dance pushes the dancer to connect emotionally and physically to the music. Jazz dance has a huge range of styles: theater and Broadway jazz, classical, modern, lyrical, funk, African, contemporary and more.

These classes are for the adult who has always wanted to take a dance class, but has yet to give it a try, as well as the adults jumping back into dance. CORE Dance welcomes newcomers with open arms and wants each student to feel safe and confident in learning this new skill.