Class placement determined strictly by assessment.

Once in the company level, dancers will use all that they have learned in the preparatory levels (Prep-8) to take classes in the same way that a professional dancer does each day of their professional career: to train and prepare themselves for upcoming performances, roles or events. Classes are non-syllabus in nature, meaning they will change from day to day and from teacher to teacher according to what the teacher feels the dancers need that day or at that point in their training. These classes will be at a professional level in terms of the steps involved and the way those steps are put together.

In repertoire or “rep” classes, dancers learn and perfect choreography of various ballets with sources ranging from classical dance masterpieces to present-day choreographers. Comprised by both solos and group dances, this is a crucial class for dancers to apply techniques learned in other classes and to understand where a given technique can fit into the performance element of dance.

Ballet dancers use pointe work technique to dance on the tips of their toes using pointe shoes. It is a highly skilled technique that is not to be started until the dancer is deemed absolutely ready. The three levels of this technique exist in order to be entirely certain that a dancer possesses adequate strength before progressing to the next level. The progression through each level of pointe-work is at the full discretion of the teacher, and both the Pre-Pointe Stretch & Pointe-Work Prep classes must be completed before advancing onto pointe.

It is vital that a dancer work on strength and suppleness outside of their regular dance class. Stretch & Strengthen is an all-over body maintenance class drawing on exercise practices ranging from aerobics to pilates to yoga stretches, which are applied to ballet technique. The classes will be structured on the advice of all the teachers to target any weaknesses in dancers, in turn speeding up improvement and reducing the risk of injury.

Integral to much of the classical ballet repertoire, character dance comprises traditional folk or national dance styles as well as their modern interpretations, and was created to give full length story ballets their “character,” i.e. place them culturally and chronologically. The class often follows the same format (barre, centre, and solos) as classical ballet, but girls perform in character shoes and character skirts.

Since being developed in the mid-20th century, modern dance has grown to become one of the dominant genres for formally trained dancers throughout the world. Combining the strong and controlled legwork of ballet with a modern stress on the torso, modern also employs contract-release, floor work, fall and recovery, and improvisation. Unpredictable changes in rhythm, speed, and direction are often used as well. Modern is recommended in Ballet Technique 6 and up.

A dance style with African roots and technical movements that has evolved into today’s popular jazz styles, as seen on both Broadway stages and in theater productions around the world. Isolations, with a low center of gravity and high level of energy, serve as defining characteristics of jazz dance. From Fred Astaire to Bob Fosse, George Balanchine to Michael Jackson, this dance form is unique in its wide degree of variation in style and technique.