Styles Offered
With a variety of dance styles to choose from, every dancer has the opportunity to explore, learn, and express themselves. We create a positive and encouraging environment where confidence grows and a love for dance begins.
Acrobatics
Our acrobatics program consists of balancing, tumbling, jumping and a wider range of movement. The program helps develop core and upper body strength and is gained through balancing a highly technical program combined with fun. Acrobatics is a great skill to learn bringing confidence, co-ordination whilst developing core strength, flexibility, and balance. Our acrobatics program has a variety of classes to meet different skill levels and strengths of all ages. Melbourne Dance Theatre has equipment to support the students training in a safe and controlled environment including acrobatic mats, tumbling tracks, safety belts etc to help students to achieve their tricks at a faster rate.
Jazz
Jazz is fun, exciting, rewarding and essential to the development of skill and fitness for the dancer in today's dance industry. Jazz dance brings style, personality, line, strength and control to the whole body plus it is accessible to all ages and levels. Jazz combines the skills of jumps, turns, kicks and flexibility and brings this to a number of different styles of jazz such as jazz, Broadway jazz, lyrical jazz and more.
Commercial Jazz
Commercial jazz is street jazz techniques combined with commercial hip hop. An ideal class for those wanting a challenge, a great workout, improve their commercial dance style, and are looking to bring some sass and swagger into their dance repertoire.
Progressions
A technical class that focusses on jazz technique and the development of their skills. Turns, jumps and kicks are the focus of this class stand alone skills and in progressions down the studio. Combined with strength and flexibility training in this class for students to work towards a high standard of jazz skills.
Musical Theatre
Musical theatre incorporates singing, acting and dance. This class will assist students on how to deliver a script/monologue, improvise in character, connect with an audience and perform on stage. Students learn the fundamental aspects acting with a focus on physical movement and gesture, singing and choreography. They will focus on a vocal warmup and singing technique and learn choreography specific to the musical theatre genre. Eg Chicago, West Side Story, Annie, Hamilton, In The Heights, Moulin Rouge, & Juliet etc.
Tap
Tap dance is using the sounds of tap shoes striking the floor as a form of percussion. At Melbourne Dance Theatre we focus on both street tap and Broadway tap. Offering both styles of tap broadens the opportunity and knowledge of tap that students can gain. It is widely performed in musical theatre and focuses on musicality, style and very fast movements of the feet and legs to produce varied rhythms and sounds.
Stage & Screen
Stage & Screen assists students to acquire the skills necessary for both on stage and on camera performance as well as preparing for auditions and building a prepared repertoire tailored to the individual. Stage & Screen will ensure students are prepared for various types of auditions (eg. TVC, musical theatre, school productions) and will assist with performance quality across all genres. With increased knowledge and confidence of the elements of stage & screen performance, our program will equip students with the skills necessary for the current vocal, dance & acting pathways of the industry.
Lyrical
Lyrical dance has drawn from the contemporary dance foundations. It has been strongly associated with clearly displayed emotional moods, fast-moving choreographic strategies, emphasis on virtuosic display, illustration of song lyrics, and, in group form, exact unison. The style is usually danced at a faster pace than ballet but not as fast as jazz
Contemporary
Contemporary dance developed during the mid twentieth century and has since grown to become one of the dominant genres for formally trained dancers throughout the world. Although originally informed by and borrowing from classical and modern styles of dance, it has since come to incorporate elements from many styles of dance. Due to its technical similarities, it is often perceived to be closely related to modern dance, ballet, and other classical concert dance styles.
In terms of the focus of its technique, contemporary dance tends to combine the strong but controlled legwork of ballet with modern that stresses on torso. It also employs contract release, floor work, fall and recovery, and improvisation characteristics of modern dance. Unpredictable changes in rhythm, speed, and direction are often used, as well.
Kinder Dance (2-5yo)
Kinder Dance uses creative movement incorporating basic jazz and ballet skills for students aged 2-5yo. Discovering the joy of expressing themselves through movement to a variety of music within a structured class environment. Encouraging confidence, creativity, spatial awareness, development of co-ordination, gross and fine motor skills, rhythm and free creative movement to the music of children's' favourites.
Classical Ballet
The Vaganova method is a ballet technique and training system devised by the Russian dancer and pedagogue Agrippina Vaganova (1879–1951). The technique fuses elements of traditional French technique from the romantic era with the athleticism and virtuosity of Italian technique. The training system is designed to involve the whole body in every movement, with equal attention paid to the upper body, legs and feet. Vaganova believed that this approach increases consciousness of the body, thus creating a harmony of movement and greater expressive range.
Primary: 6 - 7 years old - More formal commencement of classical ballet training, but still including free expression work. Building barre and centre exercises and introducing some flexibility and stretching floor work. Preparatory.
Level I: 7 - 8 years old - Posture and placement of steps at the barre and in the centre is emphasized, including introducing longer phrases and balance. Focus on placement and use of arms, fingers and hands are practiced. Free dance, expression work is still included.
Level 1: 8 - 9 years old - Commencement of careful development of the classical ballet technique and vocabulary of steps. Strong emphasis on core strength and correct understanding of basic technique. Continuous focus on steps of expressivity and flexibility.
Level 2: 9 - 10 years old - Building the classical ballet vocabulary of steps and commencement of using the barre side on. Emphasis on core strength and posture at the barre, in centre phrases and steps of elevation. Improvisation is replaced with a short dance/enchainment.
Level 3: 10 - 11 years old - Majority of barre work inside on. Careful commencement of pointe work for girls and use of port de bras. Increased level of difficulty in stamina and steps of elevation for boys.
Level 4: 11 - 13 years old (2 years) - Understanding and mastery of core strength and posture is present and ongoing. Careful commencement of pointe work in the centre. Increased level of difficulty including adagio in the centre and introducing grand allegro.
Level 5: 13 - 14 years old (2 years) - Diversity in rhythm, speed and tempo is practiced at the barre. Increased level of difficulty in barre and centre adagios is practiced. Pointe work in the centre is increased and a variety of turns from the corner are introduced. Commencement of tour en l'air for boys is introduced.
Senior Level 1 (2 years), Senior Level 2 (2 years) & Senior Level 3 (2 years), 14 - 20 years old - Advanced male and female training in preparation for a professional career in classical ballet.