South Coast Dance

Contemporary ballet classes make use fo the fundamentals of ballet but allow a lot more creativity and freedom. The music can be instrumental or lyrical. In this class, we will be studying techniques like Graham, Duncan, and Limón.

Group A: Ages 3-5 (beginner): Skills to be taught: Positions of the feet *not memorization, just familiarity Positions of the arms *not memorization, just familiarity Dancing both with others and on own Taking turns Basic stretches (touching toes, butterfly stretch, etc) Basic barre work (without the barre most of the time) -- demi plies, tendus, pique, eleve Basic across the floor -- walking on tippy toes, marches, leaps, gallops Basic understanding of some terminology Begin to differentiate left and right sides of body Before advancing to next level: Age Demonstrating that they can do the above skills (not necessarily by memory/without help) -

Group B: Ages 6-10 (beginner): Skills: Same as Group A Plus Memorization of foot and arm positions Using barre correctly Barre skills in all positions/directions (eg plies in zero-fifth position, tendu front side back) barre work: dégage, grande battement, rond de jambe, passe, pas de bourre, arabesque, eleve and releve (and balancing), de tourne, grande plies Center: petit allegro, adagio, reverence, grande allegro Across the floor: turns, leaps, stopping and doing something (eg doing a pose or skill halfway through), dancing diagonally instead of straight forward Memorizing choreography Increased knowledge of lines and dancing in space Knowing ballet names of movements Counting music Being able to do combinations/choreography without instructors help (or minimal help) Beginning technique awareness Before advancing to next level: Memorization skills Demonstrating ability to do above skills