Castle Rock Dance - Ballet

Dance Exploration’s Ballet Class at the Castle Rock Community Recreation Center is for children who have mastered the basic dance movements taught in Creative Dance and Pre-Ballet. The Ballet class is built on the ‘Dance to Learn!’®Curriculum and is designed to teach the whole child through the 6 Methods of Dance™ which have been formed based on the stages of childhood development. In Ballet, students are challenged to focus on Ballet Terminology and proper technical execution of steps. Ballet history, terminology and famous dancers and choreographers will be studied each week as a part of the ‘Dance to Discover!’™Method. Changing the weekly discovery of class, keeps class interesting and ensures a well rounded education of all facets that compose the Ballet technique. After the weekly class discovery, the class moves onto gentle warm ups, stretches, coordination and strength exercises commonly performed at a ballet “barre”. Dance Exploration often uses desks and chairs as make shift barres, or may even perform barre exercises in the center for further study of balance and weight transfer. Attention to proper execution of exercises and technique is critical when performing Barre exercises and therefore are often performed in repetition. After the barre, the dancers will move across the floor performing single movements and linking movements together forming combinations of movements and skills. All skills are taught chronologically in a progressive series to ensure mastery and prevent injury. The progressive class structure of warms ups, barre and traveling across the floor is part of Dance Exploration’s ‘Dance to Move!’™ method. Exercises are performed individually and with partners. Students work with partners in the class frequently to encourage not only social skills, but to gain artistic inspiration from their peers. Partner work and teamwork are included as part of the ‘Dance to Accept!’™ method where children learn to accept each other’s unique talents through dance and movement activities. Children’s artistic freedom and self expression are encouraged by their teachers by creating a positive “Yes” environment! Along with ballet movements, children learn about classical music! The basics of musicality such as how to count music, phrasing, and tempo are all a part of dance and these basic skills are taught in Pre-Ballet. Musicality and phrasing is further studied in Ballet as students are challenged to choreograph a short movement to an instrumental musical score by the end of their session. This challenge of creating original choreography and expression through free dance and artistry is included as part of the ‘Dance to Create!’™ Method. To ensure each student provides input in the dance, they will each receive a dedicated piece of the routine to create their work. This opportunity for self-expression correlates with the ‘Dance to Express!’™ Method. Combined with student-based choreography, the Dance Educator ensures all Ballet students are taught choreography to enhance memorization, spatial awareness, and self worth! Routines are based on the child’s ability and talent and designed to encourage artistic and technical growth. To encourage continued study and exploration of Ballet at home, the Ballet classes include weekly emailed updates and at-home activity suggestions as part of Dance Exploration’s Family Engagement Program!
 
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