Recreational Classes

Recreational Dance Classes (ages 2-18)

Dream Dance Conservatory is proud to offer Recreational dance classes to students ages 2-18 years.  Classes start with combination classes of ballet/tap/tumble and as students get older, they have the basic foundations so they can explore other genres of dance.  For our younger classes of 5 years and under we work very hard to make sure the teacher/student ratio is small and appropriate.  Our 2-3 Y classes are capped at 8 students and our 3-4Y and 4-5Y classes are capped at 10-12 students. As students get a bit older and train more, some kids might find interest in the competitive dance direction and others will continue to love dance as a recreational activity.  What is great about Dream Dance Conservatory is we offer various levels of training for each age group we can make sure the recreational or competitive dancer is challenged and having fun.  Some students pursue dance classes for goals to get training for drill teams, show choirs, talent shows, dance basics for theater, and more.  We can help achieve your child’s potential in their dance technique to meet their goals.  

Ballet

Ballet is the foundation of all dance forms.  In ballet, your child will understand technique, placement, and muscle control which is fundamentally necessary to properly execute all techniques and styles of dance.  Ballet was born in the 18th century and has continued to evolve over the years as world-renowned entertainment.  Ballet is the French language, and by learning the proper terminology, execution will become easier and have more meaning.  Dance is an art form that connects the mind and body and requires hours of practice to perfect it.

Tap

Tap dance is a form of dance characterized by using the sounds of tap shoes striking the floor as a form of percussion. Two major variations of tap dance exist rhythm (jazz) tap and Broadway tap. Broadway tap focuses on dance; it is widely performed in musical theater. Rhythm tap focuses on musicality, and practitioners consider themselves to be a part of the jazz tradition.

Jazz

Jazz dance is a form of dance that combines both African and European dance styles. This high-energy dance has a liveliness that sets it apart from traditional dance forms, such as classical ballet. Like jazz music, jazz dance features improvisation. Our studio uses a variety of technical building blocks to ensure that a dancer has a strong foundation, so as their skills progress, students are equipped to be efficient in numerous different leaps and turns. Like any art form, practice makes perfect, but we at DREAM have a very heavy emphasis on technical jazz with strong leaps and turns. Along with our jazz classes, we have strength and conditioning classes and leaps and turns to provide supplemental training.

Drill Team 

Drill Team classes are great for the dancer who desires to make a drill team or Pom team in High School.  We are very fortunate at DREAM to have numerous staff members with extensive jazz and Drill team experience.  Drill Team classes are different than our regular jazz classes.  The classes do include a lot of jazz techniques but also cover numerous skill sets that are specific to the Drill Team.  We do have students who take this class who also compete in our Dream Drill Team Companies or desire to make our Drill Team Companies.  

Lyrical

The term lyrical means to have an expressive poetic quality, expressing personal and spontaneous emotions. The lyrical style focuses on the individual dancers' approach to expressing various emotions like love, joy, hurt, or anger. Lyrical does not concentrate on the precision of movement but more on the feeling behind the movement. Audiences tend to connect and love lyrical because they can relate to the emotion of the dancer. Dance teachers have found lyrical to be a great way to introduce young children to dance, simply because children love to move with emotion. Lyrical can be a bit less strenuous than how rigid and structured ballet can be. The lyrical technique uses ballet technique as the foundation fused with jazz and modern dance styles. Music for lyrical pulls from a variety of genres like pop, rock, hip-hop, folk, alternative, and more. Lyrical dance continues to evolve each year.

Contemporary

Contemporary dance developed during the mid-20th century when Isadora Duncan (1878-1927) broke away from ballet and wanted a more natural artistic style. Contemporary is a genre of dance that is geared towards formally trained dancers. This style of dance is particularly popular in the US and Europe. Contemporary dance is about self-expression, storytelling, and freedom of movement that breaks away from strict movements. It utilizes the controlled elements of ballet with the foundational techniques of modern dance, along with unpredictable changes in rhythm, speed, and direction. The quality of movement expressed in contemporary dance uses lots of floor work, fall and recovery, and improvisations of modern dance.  Contemporary dance essentially borrows from well-known genres such as ballet, modern, jazz, and international forms of dance. 

Hip Hop

Hip-Hop is a style of Jazz dance that incorporates break dancing, popping, locking, and urban funk.  Hip-hop first appeared in the early 1960s and has proven its style through time as Hip-Hop music and dance have taken on many new forms since the 1990s. It was originally inspired by the movements of African dance. It then developed into a new style of dance in the streets of New York.  Hip-Hop is a fun break from the turn-out and technique for the trained dancer. Hip Hop is a fun choice of style for the dancer with very little or no formal training. The purpose of hip-hop dance is to entertain a crowd of people. Hip hop incorporates additional aspects of modern, tap and swing, as well as, integrating various styles of music with complex artistic movements.

Strength and Conditioning and Leaps and Turns

Strength and conditioning focuses on strengthening important muscle groups in the dancer. This class assists in injury prevention, focusing on flexibility while strengthening and conditioning the opposing muscle groups. During this class your student may utilize stretching blocks, balance balls, yoga blocks, hand weights, stretching straps, and other fitness equipment, to challenge the dancers' muscle groups in various ways. Our instructors pull from various fitness backgrounds and curriculums to make sure that our dancers stay challenged and continue to get stronger. This class assists in injury prevention while giving the dancer core strength and flexibility, which allows dancers to perform more challenging dances and movements. Most of our strength and conditioning classes are fused with our leaps and turns classes.  The fusions of these classes are a dynamite combination to help elevate your jazz dancer to the next level.