Carol Bowman Academy of Dance Ltd.

Today's Spotlight: The Assistant Intern Program!
Our intermediate and advanced dancers have the opportunity to come and help with the younger classes, or even sit at the front desk. This is a great opportunity for both the helpers and the younger dancers. The littler girls get to find role models and see what it looks like to continue dancing. The older girls get experience in teaching and working with kids. This program also helps all dancers involved improve their technique. While this is an unpaid internship, we do offer ways to thank the girls and their families for their efforts. Some years we even have the assistants perform a dance in the recital! This program is invaluable to the teachers, and allows our studio to continue to grow!

Today's Spotlight: Ensemble!
Our Ensemble (also called Company) is an audition group that meets on Saturdays for additional technique and choreography. Dancers in Intermediate and Advanced are allowed to audition for additional pieces beyond their regular weekly classes. This allows dancers to interact with dancers in other classes, and teachers in different contexts. In the past, we have taken some of our pieces to local events to perform, and we are hoping to bring that back again!

Style Spotlight: Pointe!
Pointe is a subgenre of ballet where the dancers wear specialized shoes to help them dance on the tips of their toes. This requires incredible strength and training! We are often asked when dancers will be placed on pointe, and the answer varies for each student. We like to see dedication to ballet, having several years of experience in the style, and strong foundational technique. It's also incredibly important to us that the dancers have achieved a certain level of bone and muscle development which will make them less likely to injure themselves. The most important thing to us is dancer safety! Ms. Jennifer is our pointe specialist, and has designed the studio ballet curriculum to help dancers build the strength needed to dance on pointe when they are ready.

Style Spotlight: Lyrical!
Lyrical is one of the most beautiful and emotional styles of dance! We only offer this class to our most advanced dancers due to the physical and emotional toll required by the discipline. Lyrical combines elements of all styles of dance, and is notable for its emphasis on connected movements and storytelling. Ms. Madeline is our resident lyrical specialist!

Style Spotlight: Hip Hop!
Like modern, hip hop is seen as a subversive style of dance, formed out of a variety of American urban subcultures. The style of hip hop you do is often based on where in the US you are from. Hip Hop evolved from street dancing and is now the most popular style of dance for music videos from KPop to R&B and everything in between.

Style Spotlight: Modern!
Modern is another one of our most popular styles of dance! This one is introduced to dancers once they reach Prepointe. Modern dance was created in the US in the early 20th century, and incorporates elements of classical ballet, traditional African dances, and elements of different Indigenous dances. The idea behind Modern dance is to disrupt or skew what is expected in dance, often swapping the elegant lines of ballet for sharp angles or unique curves. Dancers often go barefoot in modern dance, which many students find to be a fun experience. Since 2012, modern classes have had the opportunity to perform in The Nutcracker.

Style Spotlight: Jazz!
Jazz is one of the most popular styles of dance we offer! It expands upon the classical elements of ballet by mixing in other styles of movement to create a unique and lively form of dancing. More advanced levels of jazz are defined by their use of challenging leaps, turns, and other tricks. We start offering jazz as part of the combo classes in 1st-3rd grade. Since both jazz and tap originate from similar cultural backgrounds, they often work well together in one class unit. All of our teachers love jazz and each put their own unique spin on the style in their choreography.

Style Spotlight: Tap!
Like ballet, we consider tap to be foundational for all styles of dance. Tap is important for learning musicality and rhythm, as well as developing dexterity and strength in the feet and ankles. Tap has very unique movements that feel very different from other forms of dance, which lead many dancers to exclude it from their repertoire. Tap is also included in all of our combo classes, though dancers don't perform in tap until they are in Kindergarten. Intermediate and Advanced Dancers have the option to take tap as its own dedicated class. All of our teachers are trained in tap, but Ms. Lauren is our specialist.

Style Spotlight: Ballet
Ballet is the foundation for all of the dancing we do at our studio. We recommend all dancers take ballet, as it helps with all forms of technique, as well as building strength and flexibility. Ballet is featured in all of our combo classes, and once dancers are placed in Prepointe, they begin to take ballet as its own separate class. While all of our teachers are trained in ballet and can teach it, Ms. Jennifer is our specialist, along with Ms. Sarah.

Not sure which class to sign up for? Send us an email at [email protected]