Academie de Ballet & Dance Center

Hiphop classes at Academie de Ballet are only open to intermediate and advanced students at this time. Classes focus on traditional hiphop fundamentals including basics, footwork, and floorwork. Choreography for our spring showcase will incorporate lessons learned in the class along with formation changes and teamwork.

This class is offered to students starting at age 7 to advanced. Acrobatics at Academie de Ballet is best defined as floor gymnastics with a contortion flare. Our syllabus focuses on strength and flexibility training, power tumbling, and acro-dance moves usually featured in advanced dance routines such as diving walkovers, aerials, back handsprings, etc.

At AdB we teach tap technique, sharing the classic steps from the masters. Intermediate to advanced dancers will train in both rhythm and Broadway-style tap dancing.

Jazz dance is a performance dance technique and style that first emerged in the United States in the early twentieth century. Jazz dance may refer to vernacular jazz or to Broadway or theatrical jazz. Both genres build on African American vernacular styles of dancing that emerged with jazz music.

Contemporary has grown to be one of the most popular dance genres in the past 10 years. The mixture between lines and abstract contractions allows it to be one of the most versatile and stylistic types of dance.

Lyrical keeps the grace, poise, and elegance of ballet and connects the steps into a more fluent free flowing form. This style has not strayed far from the timeless beauty of ballet.

Our studio pre-professional ballet program is for our students who are interested in a higher level of learning. In addition to the above-stated requirements for level, students are required to attend BTC-only rehearsals. BTC students are selected by our advanced ballet and pointe instructors and studio director from our regularly enrolled students. Students must be enrolled full-time at Academie de Ballet in order to be in BTC.

Male ballet students in the upper school will be required to take two (2) technique classes per week.

Upper-level students not studying pointe will only be required to take one (1) weekly ballet technique class to meet the requirements to study jazz, lyrical, contemporary, jumps, leaps & turns and character classes.

For students studying en pointe, ballet requirements will be: Level 4: Two (2) level 4 ballet technique classes per week, One (1) level 4 pointe class per week Level 5: Two (2) level 5 ballet technique classes per week, Two (2) level 5 pointe class per week Level 6: Two (2) level 6 ballet technique classes per week, Two (2) level 6 pointe class per week

“Stars” dancers are age 3 or 4 by session opening date. Stars 1 is for first time to our stars program students. Stars 2 is for students who have completed stars 1 but are still in the stars age category.

For over 30 years, Academie de Ballet has been training children in Hampton Roads in the art of ballet. Our staff includes the kindest and most patient teachers working with children beginning at age 3 through college. Our highly trained ballet teachers have studied at dance institutions in Belarus and the United States. Academie de Ballet uses the Vaganova , Russian method, style of ballet, which focuses on technical training, exquisite precision, and highly disciplined and conscious execution of every movement.