CLASS DESCRIPTIONS AND REQUIREMENTS

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Ballet & Tap 

This class is for the little one who is always dancing and the parent looking to introduce socialization!  We keep your kiddo moving throughout class learning the basics of ballet and introducing the fun of tap shoes!  Parents or caregivers accompany your child to give them extra support and inspiration along with your teacher!  Dancers learn how to be in a structured class while having fun and gaining coordination.

Ballet & Pop 

Instead of tap, they will be learning the basics of ballet and feeling the beat of Pop! Ballet & Pop is encouraged for the child who has sound sensitivities as the tap shoes can be noisy. 

Requirements: Ballet Slippers and Tap Shoes (Ballet & Tap only) with any color leotard or dance dress. Tights, skirts and tutus optional!

Ballet & Tap or Ballet & Pop*

This class is for the little one who is always dancing and the parent looking to expose their little one to tons of music!  Get ready for Miss Sophie’s famous playlists!  We keep them moving throughout class learning the basics of ballet and tap or pop.  Dancers learn how to be in a structured class on their own while having fun and gaining coordination.  Ballet & Pop is encouraged for the child who has sound sensitivities as the tap shoes can be noisy. 

Requirements:  Ballet Slippers and Tap Shoes (Ballet & Tap only) with any color leotard or dance dress. Tights, skirts and tutus optional!

*Please note:  All age 2-3 classes are transition classes.  ONE parent or guardian is allowed to sit inside the dance studio at the start of the year for moral support, but we always encourage the adults to transition out of the room by Thanksgiving time.  If your little one needs a little extra time with you in the room, that's fine, but our goal is definitely to get all adults out of the room before the recital so your dancer can feel confident on the stage by themselves!

Ballet & Tap 

This combo class is designed to introduce Ballet and Tap to the beginner dancer.  Students spend 3⁄4 of class in ballet shoes for stretching, warm up and ballet instructions and 1⁄4 in tap shoes.  Students learn pre-ballet skills, coordination, body positions, ballet terminology, and the beginning basics of tap.

Ballet & Pop 

This combo class is designed to introduce Ballet and Pop to the beginner dancer.  Students learn pre-ballet skills, coordination, body positions, ballet terminology, the beginning of isolations, and Hip Hop tricks.  Students are exposed to a variety of Hip Hop and Pop music.  Ballet and Pop is recommended for a child with sound sensitivities as tap shoes can be noisy.

Requirements: Ballet Slippers and Tap Shoes (Ballet & Tap only) with any color leotard or dance dress. Tights, skirts and tutus optional!

Ballet & Tap 

This class continues to build skills and advance students in Ballet and Tap.  It also introduces students to the basics of Jazz.  We focus on isolations, stretching, simple jazz dance steps, turns, and leaps.  In tap we introduce flaps, the time steps, and work on tap phonetics.

Ballet & Pop/Hip Hop

This class continues to build skills and advance students in Ballet and Pop. It also introduces students to the basics of Jazz.  We focus on isolations, stretching, simple jazz dance steps, turns, leaps, and continue learning Hip Hop moves and tricks.  Students are exposed to a variety of Hip Hop and Pop music.

Requirements: Ballet Slippers and Tap Shoes (Ballet & Tap only) with any color leotard or dance dress. Tights, skirts and tutus optional!  *Hair must be pulled back and out of the face

This class continues to build skills and advance students in Ballet and Tap, with some elements of Jazz.  We focus on isolations, stretching, simple jazz dance steps, turns, and leaps.  In tap we work on continuing advancing any previous skills learned in Ballet & Tap such as digs, shuffle steps, stomps and stamps, heel drops, syllables, flaps, and time steps.  In this age group, there is a larger focus on creative movement as well as routine choreography.

Requirements: Ballet Slippers and Tap Shoes with any color leotard or dance dress. Tights, skirts and tutus optional!  *Hair must be pulled back and out of the face

This class continues to build skills and advance students in Ballet and Pop/Hip Hop, with some Jazz elements.  We focus on isolations, stretching, simple jazz dance steps, turns, leaps, and continue learning Hip Hop moves & tricks.  Dancers will be introduced to skills such as waves, grapevine, pas de bourrée, jazz walks, chaîné turns, chasse step leaps, jazz pirouettes, and kick-step touches.  In this age group, there is a larger focus on creative movement as well as routine choreography.

Requirements:  Ballet Slippers with any color leotard, dance dress, tight fitted tank top, leggings or dance shorts.  *Hair must be pulled back and out of the face

This class continues to build skills and advance students that have taken either Ballet & Tap or Ballet & Pop.  Jazz builds on basic ballet training and incorporates the whole body with sharp and fluid movements to create a visually technical dance style. Students also train in transition steps, start to learn across the floor and there is a large focus on creative movement as well as routine choreography. 

Requirements: Ballet Slippers and Jazz Shoes with any color leotard, dance dress, tight fitted tank top, leggings or dance shorts.   *Hair must be pulled back and out of the face

Acro dance is the beautiful fusion of classic dance technique and the precision and athleticism of acrobatic elements.  Often defined by unique choreography, acro dancers seamlessly blend musicality, emotional expression, line and extension with acrobatic movements in a dance context.  It teaches flexibility, balance, strength, and coordination.  Jazz builds on basic ballet training and incorporates the whole body with sharp and fluid movements to create a visually technical dance style.  Students also train in transition steps, start to learn across the floor and there is a large focus on creative movement as well as routine choreography. 

Requirements:  Jazz Shoes and a leotard, bodysuit, or tight fitted tank top, leggings or dance shorts. NO T-SHIRTS or loose clothing  *Hair must be pulled back into a low ponytail or a braid.  No buns or mid-ponytails. 

Tap is a fun, fast paced style of dance that teaches rhythm, counting and coordination.   Dancers will work on all of the tap skills previously learned in Ballet & Tap and add more skills to their repertoire, including stomp hop steps, traveling time steps, tap turns, and box steps in addition to growing their tap terminology. 

Requirements:  Tap Shoes with any dance or athletic wear, which can include leotards, dance dresses, tight fitted tank tops, leggings or dance shorts.  *Hair must be pulled back and out of the face

In this class we introduce basic foundations of hip hop including popping, locking, breaking, old school and new school foundations. Memory, performance qualities and stage presence are a focus in this class as we learn choreography.

Requirements: Sneakers (should be for dance class only and not worn on the street), t-shirts or tank tops with dance shorts, leggings or sweatpants are acceptable in this class.  *Hair must be pulled back and out of the face

Jazz Funk is an energetic dance style that is usually performed to hip hop music that evolved from hip hop culture in addition to Pop music.  Students learn isolations and a grounded style of movement very different from what they learn in ballet.  There is a large focus on creative movement as well as routine choreography. 

Requirements: Jazz shoes with a leotard or tight-fitting tank and leggings or dance shorts.  *Hair must be pulled back and out of the face

K-Pop is a style of dance and music that has been growing in popularity across the world throughout the 2000s.  The style itself combines many genres of dance, including traditional hip hop, jazz, and even contemporary, as well as popping, vogue, waacking, house, and more.  These choreographies are tied together with catchy, fun, and sometimes repetitive movements.  Every time a group or a soloist releases a song, there is a dance that is associated with it—ranging in difficulty from very easy to incredibly difficult.

In this class, dancers will learn a new choreography every 2-3 weeks, as done by the original singers of the song themselves.  We will stick to learning mostly choruses of songs, as this is the part that is replicated by people all over the world on various social media platforms, and often the part that is the most fun to do!  We will break the choreography down into manageable pieces, and dancers will be taught both how to do the steps technically, as well as how to add style.  Depending on the difficulty level, edits will be made to keep the choreography fun and doable, while still pushing dancers to challenge themselves!

Requirements:  Students must wear sneakers (should be for dance class only and not worn on the street), t-shirts or tank tops with dance shorts, leggings, or pants/sweatpants are acceptable.  *Hair must be pulled back and out of the face

Contemporary dance is popular among our older students, tween and teens because it encourages dancers to be versatile in their self expressions.  Contemporary and lyrical dance are more fluid than ballet and include tricks and creative turns and leaps.  These classes use body weight, floor work, technique, efficiency of muscle usage, musicality and safe body alignment.  A contemporary dance class is a wonderful place to learn self awareness and emotional expression.

Requirements:   Toe Undies or Half Soles with a leotard or tight fitted tank top, leggings, dance shorts or tights.  *Hair must be pulled back and out of the face

Leaps and Turns is designed to focus on strength, flexibility, and the technical aspects of dance movements.  This class teaches dancers how to properly execute turns, leaps, jump variations, and various extensions.  Dancers will acquire skills such as right, left and middle splits, chasses forward with pointed toes, pivot turns, jazz walks, grand battements, chaiñés turns, ballet and jazz possé, jazz pirouettes, leg holds, needles, chasse step leaps or runs into a leap, piqué turns and more. 

Requirements:  Split sole leather Jazz Shoes or Half Soles with a leotard or tight fitted tank top, leggings or dance shorts.   *Hair must be pulled back and out of the face

Acro dance is the beautiful fusion of classic dance technique and the precision and athleticism of acrobatic elements.  Often defined by unique choreography, acro dancers seamlessly blend musicality, emotional expression, line and extension with acrobatic movements in a dance context.  It teaches flexibility, balance, strength, and coordination.  Dancers will acquire skills such as cartwheels, splits, bridges from the ground, standing backbends, kick-overs, back/front walkovers, and eventually aerials. 

Requirements:  No shoes and a leotard, bodysuit, or tight fitted tank top, leggings or dance shorts. NO T-SHIRTS or loose clothing  *Hair must be pulled back into a low ponytail or a braid.  No buns or mid-ponytails. 

This class focuses on developing the ability to think outside of the box. This class will be a structured class through guided movement explorations and task-based exercises. In improv, we are all movers and we must all be dedicated to creating a space for each individual to safely explore without judgement. The goal is for participants to trust their own choices and their bodies while accomplishing the tasks given to them in class. This class is open to all levels of movement ability, however, it is a mature class and requires each individual to come in with an open mind, ready to challenge themselves. 

Requirements:  Comfortable clothing that allows full range of motion. Socks or dance shoes are optional. *Hair must be pulled back and out of the face

Dancers will begin to learn all the fundamentals of ballet including the ballet positions, and spend more time at the ballet barre focusing on proper technique.  Dancers will be introduced to terminology and identifying the different steps.  They will learn what the beginning, middle, and end of a traditional ballet class entails, from roll call to curtsies and bows.  

Requirements: Pink split sole Ballet Slippers, a lavender dance dress or leotard with skirt or tutu, and pink tights, or for boys: black dance tights (not sheer) and white dancewear short sleeve.  *Hair must be pulled into a ballet bun

Dancers will progress in ballet skills and spend more time at the ballet barre focusing on proper technique. Choreography and routine retention begins in addition to technical instruction.  Dancers are also asked to start remembering terminology and identifying the differences in steps.  They will learn what the beginning, middle, and end of a traditional ballet class entails, from roll call to curtsies and bows.  

Requirements:  Must have 1 year of any type of class that has the basics of ballet included.  Pink split sole Ballet Slippers, light pink leotard with skirt or tutu or dance dress and pink tights, or for boys: black dance tights (not sheer) and white dancewear short sleeve.  *Hair must be pulled into a ballet bun

Ballet is a highly formalized style of dance that focuses on body alignment, abdominal control, proper placement, strengthening and flexibility.  This class includes a proper warm up at the ballet barre, center floor skills in combinations and moving across the floor with turns and leaps.  This class includes a lot of repetition and development of muscle memory in order to solidify the foundation of the dancer’s technique.  Students learn discipline, structure of ballet class and ballet terminology.  Ballet is strongly encouraged for any dancer looking to truly progress in their dance training, considering competition team and/or looking to dance in middle and high school.

Requirements:  Must have 1 or more years of Ballet I.   Pink split sole Ballet Slippers, light blue leotard with skirt or tutu or dance dress and pink tights, or for boys: black dance tights (not sheer) and white dancewear short sleeve.  *Hair must be pulled into a ballet bun

Ballet is a highly formalized style of dance that focuses on body alignment, abdominal control, proper placement, strengthening and flexibility.  This class includes work at the ballet barre, center floor skills in combinations and moving across the floor with turns and leaps.  At this level, the class will move swiftly through the skills learned in their previous training year and will advance those steps to their next level of difficulty.  Students will learn discipline, structure of ballet class and ballet terminology and will have two evaluations throughout the year to keep the class goal oriented and progressing forward.   Ballet is strongly encouraged for any dancer looking to truly progress in their dance training, considering competition team and/or looking to dance in middle and high school. 

Requirements:  Must have 2 or more years of Ballet II.   Pink split sole Ballet Slippers, scarlet leotard, and pink tights (skirt optional), or for boys: black dance tights (not sheer) and white dancewear short sleeve.  *Hair must be pulled into a ballet bun

Ballet is a highly formalized style of dance that focuses on body alignment, abdominal control, proper placement, strengthening and flexibility.  This class includes work at the ballet barre, center floor skills in combinations and moving across the floor with turns and leaps.  At this level, the class will move swiftly through the skills learned in their previous training year and will advance those steps to their next level of difficulty including learning more intricate variations .  Students will Deepen their understanding of discipline, the structure of a ballet class, and ballet terminology, with two evaluations throughout the year to keep the class goal-oriented and progressing forward.   Ballet is strongly encouraged for any dancer looking to truly progress in their dance training, considering competition team and/or looking to dance in middle and high school. 

Requirements:  Must have 2 or more years of Ballet III.   Pink split sole Ballet Slippers, black leotard, and pink tights (skirt optional), or for boys: black dance tights (not sheer) and white dancewear short sleeve.  *Hair must be pulled into a ballet bun

Pre-Pointe is intended to introduce the strength and alignment necessary for future pointe work, using demi-pointe shoes. This foundational class is a crucial step in a dancer's progression and must be completed before advancing to full pointe shoes.  This invite-only class is taken in addition to Ballet IV.  Dancers will participate in work at the ballet barre, practice center floor skills in combinations, and develop their technique moving across the floor.  They will also be introduced to working in a hard-shanked shoe while building the strength and understanding to progress towards pointe shoes.
 

Requirements:  Must have 2 or more years of Ballet III and attend a Ballet IV class concurrently.   Pink demi-pointe shoes, black leotard, and pink tights (skirt optional), or for boys: black dance tights (not sheer) and white dancewear short sleeve.  *Hair must be pulled into a ballet bun

This is our youth theatre program.  Each Fall and Spring we will put on a new musical production.  Rehearsals meet once a week and include theatre warm ups and games, learning acting, singing, and dancing skills, practicing for the upcoming show, and learning what it takes to put on a full scale production.  The show takes place at a real theatre complete with sets, costumes, and lighting!

For more info, check out our page about Sophie Dance Westside Players.

Requirements: Black Jazz Shoes and any attire that is comfortable to move in. 

This is an invite only class for dancers who have danced with Sophie Dance for a minimum of 1 year and show they are ready to take dance to the next level.  Dancers must exhibit the desire and love to dance by actively participating in class and striving to do their best.  Dancers must have good attendance, show proper technique in class, and love to perform in front of large audiences, as this is a performance based class.  These evaluations are made by teachers during the main season classes and/or camps.  This class also requires additional costs like Performance Team swag, additional costumes, Clippers tickets, and weekend or weeknight performances.

This class is a 2 hour block on Thursdays, one hour being their required technique training and the other hour being their choreography based class.  You may opt to do a different technique class if desired, but a technique class is a requirement to be on Performance Team.

Requirements:  Tan Jazz shoes, leotard or tight-fitting tank with leggings or dance shorts.