How Dance Savvy Are You?

Do you know what type of dance is an important foundation for many other styles?  How about the difference between contemporary and modern?  What type of dance would you choose to tell a story?  To convey a strong emotion?  Do you know who King Louis XIV was?  If not, read on….

Ballet

Ballet serves as a backbone for many other styles of dance, (notably jazz and contemporary) as many other dance genres are based on ballet. Ballet is based on techniques that have been developed over centuries, and uses music and dance to tell stories. King Louis XIV of France started the first ballet school, the Royal Academy of Dance, in 1661.

Jazz

Jazz is a fun dance style that relies heavily on originality and improvisation. Many jazz dancers mix different styles into their dancing, incorporating their own expression. Jazz dancing often uses bold, dramatic body movements, including body isolations and contractions. This type of dancing is energetic and fun, consisting of unique moves, fancy footwork, big leaps and quick turns.

Tap

Tap is an exciting form of dance in which dancers use their feet like drums to create rhythmic patterns and timely beats. Many kids as well as adults tap dance for fun and exercise.

Hip Hop

Hip hop is a dance style, usually danced to hip hop music, that evolved from the hip hop culture. At Dance 1 we pride ourselves in offering family-friendly hip hop classes.

Contemporary

Contemporary dance is a style of expressive dance that combines elements of several dance genres including modern, jazz, and ballet. Contemporary dancers strive to connect the mind and the body through fluid dance movements, and can be performed to many different styles of music.

Lyrical

Lyrical dance is a dance style that blends ballet and jazz. Lyrical is generally smoother and a bit faster than ballet, but not quite as fast as jazz. A lyrical dancer uses movement to express strong emotions such as love, joy and anger.

How does contemporary differ from Modern?

Modern dance is a dance style that rejects many of the strict rules of classical ballet, focusing instead on the expression of inner feelings. It encourages dancers to use their emotions and moods to design their own steps and routines. Another characteristic of modern dance in opposition to ballet is the deliberate use of gravity.

Ready to try a class?

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