Footsteps Dance Academy offers a strong
Classical Ballet and Pointe program for the dance student at all levels
(pre-school through Pre-professional) Students seeking a career in classical
or contemporary ballet will feel quite at home at Footsteps Dance Academy.
Footsteps teaches Vagonova and Balanchine technique in a graded system.
All ballet classes at Footsteps Dance Academy are leveled utilizing a
graded classical ballet syllabus. Pointe classes are offered at about
the age of 12 providing the student is dancing on the advancing side of
Level 4, attending a minimum of 2 Ballet Classes each week and has passed
a "Pointe readiness assessment" by Footsteps' Artistic Director.
More casual Ballet students will enjoy Footstep's Lyrical and Liturgical Ballet classes. While still teaching classical technique at the barre, center work is more contemporary and allows the students more freedom of movement and artistic expression while still incorporating Ballet's more technical and beautiful movements.
Footsteps Dance Academy offers classes in Tap, Jazz and Musical Theatre for beginners to the competitive/pre-professional dancer. Footsteps is acknowledged as one of the shore's leading dance studios for Tap and Jazz, having won numerous awards for Tap, Jazz and Production style Musical Theatre performances at various dance competitions up and down the East coast. Footsteps' student's can expect to begin tap classes as early as age 3. Jazz classes begin at about the age of 7 or 8 depending on the individual. Early on these classes will be in "combo" form. As students advance Tap, Jazz and Irish Classes are offered separately as Ballet class time lengthens so does Tap and Jazz class time. More advanced Tap and Jazz students may focus solely on Tap and Jazz if desired. Footsteps Dance Academy follows a graded system in both Tap and Jazz.
Irish Step and Ceili Classes at Footsteps Dance Academy are offered first in Combination form at about the age of 6. A solid foundation in classical ballet if required to begin Irish step classes at Footsteps. Irish step is a precision base dance study and is not offered before the age of 6 as this can be frustrating to the child if he or she is not yet ready for the fast and repetitive style of a typical Irish step class. Students should expect to begin class in what are called "ghillies" or soft shoes. As students progress they will advance into their "jig shoes" or "heavies". Ceili Classes are offered for large groups of students who have had at least one full year of Irish step classes or who have mastered their Irish base steps. Ceili Dancing is very popular with adults and more casual Irish dance students. Ceili Dancing is fun, fast paced, aerobic and is great for couples and friends to do together. Footsteps Dance Academy proudly teaches the exact ancient Ceili Dances that have been passed down from generation to generation and recorded by the Irish Dancing Commission.
Performance opportunities at Footsteps are many. Casual students are invited to participate in our annual Dance recital each year. More serious students may audition for the Footsteps Competitive Dance and Performance Team or Footsteps Irish Dancers. More about these two Footsteps Companies can be found on this web site.
