Riley's School of Dance Inc

The Irish are known for their wonderful story-telling and love for music and dance. Throughout history the Irish have used dance to not only celebrate special occasions, but to show honor to others as well. Here we teach both traditional and modern stylings of Irish dance with a primary focus on group choreography, traditional ceili and set dancing. Dancers will learn to develop and grow their individual technique while applying those skills in a group setting. The spirit of Irish Dance is to dance in celebration with those around you, tell a story through your movements and patterns, and share the love and passion of Irish dance and culture back with your family, friends, and the community .

This class is a great introduction to dance for your little ones. This is a play based class where our students are introduced to new movement and music. All while learning to take instruction from someone besides their parents, and wait their turn, and interact with other students their age.

Lyrical Dance is a fusion between ballet, jazz and contemporary. Our classes consist of a condensed barre as well as across the floor combos focusing on fusion of the different techniques. Our lyrical routines convey musicality and emotion through movement.

HipHop is one of the newer forms of dance. In our hip hop classes students learn a range of styles including breaking, pop and lock, and fun and creative choreography to the new and hottest music. Students learn across the floor combinations as well as edgy combinations and routines that bring the kids out of their shell. Students are also encouraged to free style and make each move their own. At Riley's we also offer a boys hip hop class.

Modern dance is a technique based on the fundamentals of exploring the body’s organic movement and emotions. Students will learn a variety of modern styles as well as improvisational techniques to further educate them about the body’s natural movement. It is a fun and challenging technique that will push students to develop strength and stamina as well as taking risks.

Taught by our resident PTS this class is geared towards keeping our dancers in shape as well as preventing injury.

We teach basic thru advanced tumbling skills, starting at the age of 3. We start with basic rolls cartwheels, backbends, leading up to aerial work. children are separated into classes by their skill level and may change classes thru the year as their skills improve. Many of our students are cheerleaders or gymnasts who want to sharpen their tumbling skills.

Tap is the only dance form that originated in the USA. We at Riley's teach a mixture of Broadway, and rhythm tap. The tap dancer is considered a musician using their feet to play rhythms. We begin our students in tap at the age of four combining it with their ballet class. Tap plays a big part in our studio opening and closing our recitals at the end of the year.

Pre-Pointe is a class designed to prepare our students to go up on pointe. We recently started offering a pre-pointe class and have found a huge improvement in our students beginning pointe. It makes the transition more smooth and prevents injuries. Students taking pre-pointe strengthen their ankles and learn the proper ankle and foot positioning to avoid injury and control balance. Students learn strengthening and balance exercises and use therabands to prepare themselves to enter into our pointe class. Students may enter pre pointe at the discretion of their ballet teachers it includes a combination of age, the proper amount of strength and flexibility, and level in their ballet class.

Jazz is a fun and energetic form of dance. Students may begin jazz at the age of 5. Just as Ballet has a technique, jazz has a technique of is own. Throughout the year students learn to perfect kicks, turns and leaps. They are challenged with fun and creative combinations across the floor. Students also learn fun energetic routines that allow them to express themselves.

We offer pointe classes to our advance Ballet students who are old enough and have the proper ballet technique to begin pointe. Pointe work is a gradual process beginning with strengthening exercises at the barre. Once our students are comfortable with the barre work they progress to exercises in the center. Pointe is a difficult form of dance that requires much practice and determination.

Ballet is the foundation for all other forms of dance. Our students begin Ballet at the age of three. They learn proper technique and terminology. Ballet is a poised style of dance that incorporates the foundational techniques for many other dance forms. This genre of dance is hard to master. Through practice and determination our students perfect their technique and intern become not only beautiful ballet dancers, but build a foundation that helps them excel in all other forms of dance they pursue. Our advance ballet students may also take pointe class at the discretion of their teacher.