We live for the moments where we see students fall in love with dance. Walking into a class with enthusiastic and energized students who are ready to push themselves is extremely rewarding. At the end of last season we had a large group of middle and early high school students in our youth program that had developed a strong passion for dance.
The late middle school through high school years are a turning point for most students. There is pressure for students to be advancing in school and extracurricular activities and we see the students begin to carry more stress. It's a telling time for a lot of our students as they decide what they want to pursue. This is the time where they start developing who they are, what their dreams are, and where to spend their time. When we had such a large group of students wanting to spend more time in the studio, we knew we had to do something.
Ideas started flying. We wanted to create a program that allowed these students to have additional performance opportunities without adding more stress to their lives. This could also create a way for students who were interested in the ART company to experience what it is like to take multiple hours of class per week, and help them decide if the high level of commitment the ART company requires fit with their personal goals. That is how we came up with the ADC performance class.
The performance class is a group of students who are required to take a minimum of 4 hours of dance per week. Three hours are technique hours within the youth program classes. The fourth hour is a class that is for the performance group only. In this class they work on additional technical skills, and learn a group dance that will be performed in the ADC recital in May. The performance class students each have different goals. Some are working toward auditioning for the ART company, while others are enjoying the experience of taking class and learning choreography. All of the members are committed to becoming stronger dancers.
The performance class debuted what they have been working on during Frankenstein's Frolic last weekend! We can't wait to share more about what the students are doing throughout the year. They are an energetic and enthusiastic group of dancers, and we are excited to see where this program takes them!