The ML Dance Academy

Zumba classes feature exotic rhythms set to high-energy Latin and International beats. Zumba involves dance and aerobic elements. Zumba's choreography incorporates hip-hop , soca , samba , salsa , merengue and mambo . Squats and lunges are also included.Before you know it, you'll be getting fit and your and your energy levels will be soaring! It's easy to do, effective and totally exhilarating.

Body Ballet Fitness is great exercise for even a beginner. This exercise method centered in ballet, yoga, pilates and dance-inspired principles creates sleek definition and slimming results.

These dance classes are a combo of ballet, tap and jazz. Students will spend time in the slow and fluid movements of ballet, then move on to faster more high energy moments of jazz and rhythms of tap. Proper technique, terminology and body placement are all enforced. The combo classes are the most advanced of the pre-school programs and are great for young dancers. In a fun learning environment students are introduced to three different dance forms. Students develop dance skills such as: coordination, balance, rhythm, strength and agility.

Acro dance is a seamless combination of acrobatic and gymnastic skills with choreographed dance moves, requiring a great deal of strength and flexibility.

Tap is an exciting form of dance in which dancers wear special shoes equipped with metal taps. Tap dancers use their feet like drums to create rhythmic patterns and timely beats. The term "tap dancing" is derived from the tapping sound produced when the small metal plates on the dancer's shoes touch a hard floor or surface. A common style of tap dancing is called "classical tap." Classical "tappers" use their arms and upper bodies to blend movements of ballet or jazz into their tap routines. "Hoofers" try to use every part of their shoes to make their feet sound like drums.

This class is taught to introduce Hip Hop culture through the element of dance. Beginning with a basic warm-up to stretch and tone the body, our class will challenge every dancer with the dynamics of movement and challenging combinations. In a team learning environment this class encourages individualized style while staying true to the traditional hip hop techniques. Hip Hip dancing is increasingly popular in today's dance community and is an ideal way to express ones creativeness. Hip-hop dance refers to street dance styles primarily performed to hip-hop music or that have evolved as part of hip-hop culture. This style consists of breaking, popping, locking, and free styling, as well as performing group choreography. This is a very high-energy Hip Hop class and always full of excitement, new music, and fun.

Although originally informed by and borrowing from classical , modern , and jazz styles, it has since come to incorporate elements from many styles of dance. Due to its technical similarities, it is often perceived to be closely related to modern dance, ballet and other classical concert dance styles. In terms of the focus of its technique, contemporary dance tends to combine the strong and controlled legwork of ballet with modern dance's stress on the torso, and also employs contract-release, floor work , fall and recovery, and improvisation characteristic of modern dance. Unpredictable changes in rhythm, speed, and direction are often used, as well. It sometimes also incorporates elements of non-western dance cultures such as elements from African dance including bent knees, or movements from the Japanese contemporary dance Butoh.

The ML Dance Academy's Jazz dance classes are part of the foundation and core of dance. The term "Jazz" was first applied to a style of dance and during World War I . This dance form developed alongside jazz music in New Orleans in the early 1900s, beginning in the 1930s and continuing through the 1960s. Jazz dance transformed from this vernacular form into a theatre-based performance form of dance that required trained dancers . During this time, choreographers from the modern and ballet dance worlds experimented with the jazz dance style. These included choreographers such as George Balanchine , Agnes de Mille , Jack Cole , Hanya Holm , Helen Tamiris , Michael Kidd , Jerome Robbins , and Bob Fosse . All of these choreographers influenced jazz by requiring highly trained dancers to perform a specific set of movements, which differed greatly from the colloquial form of New Orleans in the 1900s. Also during this time period (circa. 1950) jazz dance was profoundly influenced by Caribbean and other Latin American dance styles introduced by anthropologist and dancer Katherine Dunham .

Lyrical dance is very similar to ballet, combining the many technical elements of classical ballet with the freedom, fluidity, expressiveness and airier aspects of jazz, contemporary and modern dance. Lyrical class happens once a student has gained more technique. Students will work with the freedom of movement and expression and work on story-telling through music. Great for intermediate and advanced dancers, these are our most popular classes.

Pointe technique is the part of classical ballet technique that concerns pointe work, in which a ballet dancer supports all body weight on the tips of fully extended feet. A dancer is said to be en pointe when the dancer's body is supported in this manner, and a fully extended foot is said to been pointe when touching the floor, even when not bearing weight. To participate in Pointe, each dancer must have Ms. Yulia's approval.

The ML Dance Academy Ballet Classes is designed to inspire a life-long love of dance while building creativity, confidence and capacity in students of all ages. Through age-appropriate curriculum, students develop coordination, muscle strength, motor skills, listening skills and spatial awareness. ​ Ballet is the foundation and core of dance and our ballet classes prepare the dancer for all other styles of dance. Our ballet is taught in the traditional, classical style. Discipline, technique, artistry, and a focus on quality of movement are emphasized in our ballet classes. Students have opportunities to take ballet more than once per week, and this is encouraged as dancers move into the higher levels.

Originating in Ireland, Irish dancing is a traditional dance form that includes both social and performance opportunities. It encompasses a wide variety of styles for solo, pair and group dances. Many people think of step dancing, such as that associated with the popular Riverdance, when they think of Irish dancing. However, this type of dancing includes many dances and variations of these dances that can be enjoyed and mastered beginning at a very young age.