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Why choose Dance Elite?
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2. Why are the dance classes more expensive than the fitness classes?
Instructors: In order to teach a dance class, an instructor must have many years of training, performance experience, and knowledge of choreography creation and development. Some instructors also have years of dance competition experience as well. These skills, developed over many years and at great expense to the dance professionals who teach our classes, must be appropriately compensated.
Choreography: Unlike fitness classes, our dance program is required to provide unique recital and in-class choreography for each class offered at Dance Elite, which is quite time-consuming. All of this choreography is developed outside the classroom, adding many hours of work to our instructors’ weeks.
Administration: The overall administration of the dance program is more expensive than our fitness program, as students must be continuously monitored for advancement, improvement, competency and attendance. Fitness classes are drop-in and self-monitoring; there is a great deal of time and attention spent on each individual dancer in the dance program.
3. What is the difference between the Recreational Dance program and the Competition Dance program?
You might think of this as the difference between playing football in PE at school and playing on the high school football team. Football in PE is fun, great exercise, and kids have a good time playing. But do they become great football players by playing in PE? Of course not. The same is true for competition dance – it takes hard work, effort, dedication, and commitment to excellence. That’s not to say that kids don’t benefit from recreational dance; of course they do. Recreational dance is excellent exercise. It’s fun, and students receive exposure to musicality and conditioning in addition to their dance education. They also experience a shared camaraderie with their classmates and experience the joy of dance.
However, some students have a great innate talent and natural ability for art of dance, and an intrinsic desire to be great dancers. For these kids – the ones who want to work hard to become the best they can be – we have a competition dance program.
4. Why can’t I register for some of the classes on your schedule?
If you’ve tried to register online, you may have found that some classes won’t allow online registration. There are a couple of reasons why:
Some of the classes have prerequisites in order to be in the class. Sometimes these prerequisites are a requirement to be enrolled in another class simultaneously. For example, Contemporary dance requires that a student be enrolled in Ballet in order to be in the class. That’s because Ballet technique is required in order to perform Contemporary.
Some classes require the permission of the instructor to be in the class. If your child falls outside the age guidelines for a class, permission of the instructor is required for your child to register. Additionally, some classes require an evaluation of your child in order to be admitted to the class due to the skill level requirements of a particular class. An example of this would be a pre-pointe class which requires a certain level of development in a student’s feet, legs, ankles, back and core strength as well as a certain level of ballet technique in order to advance to this class.
5. When can my daughter go on pointe?
There are five major factors that determine a student’s readiness to go on pointe. They are:
Length and intensity of study
Strength
Age/bone development
Anatomy of the foot and ankle
Weight
Your child’s ballet teacher will be happy to discuss these five factors as they relate to your child. When she feels that your child is ready to go on pointe, we have some additional information we will provide for you so that you have a complete understanding of these important factors as they relate to your child’s health, development and safety.
6. Why are there age parameters for your classes, such as Ballet 1 (ages 6+)?
Age parameters are established based on general maturity level. Grouping children by age helps ensure that they develop camaraderie with their classmates, as they are likely to share common interests with those who are close to their own ages. However, these are only guidelines and will never be used to hold back a gifted student due to his/her age. Our primary determinant for your child’s class placement will be ability.
7. What does my child need for dance class?
You can find the dress code for each genre of dance on our website at danceelitemorristown.com. Go to the “About” tab and click on “Studio Policies”. You may also request a paper copy of our Studio Policies at any time at the studio.
8. How much do classes cost?
You can find our full tuition schedule on our website at danceelitemorristown.com. Go to the “About” tab and click on “Pricing”. You may also request a paper copy of our Pricing Schedule at any time at the studio.
9. When is the annual recital (Spring Concert)?
The recital date will be announced as soon as the venue is scheduled. It is usually mid-May to early June, depending on the availability of the venue and technical staff.
10. How late into the season can I add classes?
You can register at any time. However, if you register after mid-January, your child may or may not be able to perform in the annual Spring Concert, as choreography will be mostly blocked and established. Additionally, there may be inadequate time to develop the necessary skills for the choreography level of the class if a student starts later than that, unless your student has previously received dance training for several years. Finally, depending on the costume manufacturer, we may not be able to get his/her costume in time for the performance. There can be up to 12 weeks’ lead time on some costumes.