The Dance Classes

At KS Dance, our students learn the Cecchetti Method of Classical Ballet.
Cecchetti Ballet students are taught to think about the movement of their arms, legs, feet and head all at once, so learning early on the co-ordination of movement is demonstrated through-out all stages of the ballet class.

Class begins with a ballet barre and then moves into the centre, for the centre work exercises, such as adage, pirouettes, petit allegro and grand allegro, pointework and boys work.

Ballet underpins all other dance genres with its grace and precision of formalised steps and gestures, choreographed in intricate flowing combinations creating expression through movement. The opportunity to enter examinations from the age of 5 at Primary Level, up into the Major Levels of Intermediate Foundation, Intermediate, Advanced I and Advanced II is part of the progression and development of the students in ballet at Kate Simmons Dance.

Children can begin Modern classes from the age of 6 and work through the ISTD examination grades syllabus. Grades taught in our Junior School range from Grade 1 – Advanced 1.

Modern dance allows the children to explore different styles of dance. It forms the technical framework to allow children to develop strong ability in Jazz, Contemporary and Street dance.

It encourages performance skills, strength and flexibility. There are opportunities in the syllabus for improvisation and a chance for young dancers to express and explore the way they like to move.

Training in Modern greatly improves a child’s overall awareness of their bodies and is an essential gateway to the commercial dance opportunities available in today’s world of dance.

Tap is a percussive art form enabling students to learn about communication through sound and movement in an expressive and artistic way. The structure of our classes and of the ISTD graded tap syllabus, builds on the student’s technique and style progressively, ensuring the steps and skills learned, prepare students for more complex movements at the higher graded levels. Following the graded examinations students may wish to progress to vocational level examinations, as preparation for professional dance employment, or solely for recreational purposes. This syllabus structure enables our students to produce excellent quality of work in a safe dance context.

KS Dance welcomes children as young as 4 years of age to join this fast paced, high energy dance class every week. The Commercial Street Dance style is primarily accompanied by hip-hop and popular music of today and covers a wide range of styles from ‘House’ to ‘Funk’ to ‘Lyrical’ within the hip hop culture. The dancers in these classes work on their choreographic skills, technical dance skills and towards our annual production routines, as members of our 2 Hip Hop Crews, ‘Smartie Box Dance Crew’ from age 4+ and ‘Remedy Dance Crew’ from age 11+.
The class is great for building confidence in young people, whilst having fun dancing to all of their favourite songs.