SP 21 Ballet /Pointe 5B/6A | Ages 13- Adult |Tuesdays 6:30-8:30 / Thursday 6:45-8:45/ Saturday 11:15-12:45|

Starts: February 16- June 19

Spring Break: April 12- 16

No Registration, Production or Costume Fees

Instructors; Christine Juarez,  Era Terry-

 Christine Juarez, Director WSPA Tuesday/Thursday s) :

Era Terry , Dance Faculty ( Saturdays)

 Attire: Order online ' Discountdance.com use our school code TP 112275

Bloch dancer's Children mask recommended for comfort

( Bloch Convertible Tights) 

 Leotard Discountdance.com Dancers should own one camisole black and one camisole white. Nude recommended for under. 

Boys: White ankle socks, White Ballet Slippers, white  Short Sleeve Leotard

 Christine Juarez, Executive Director of West Seattle Performing Arts, has been directing dance programs for the past 26 years. She has served as the Summer Dance Coordinator directing a national program and teaching for the  Preparatory Dance Faculty at Cornish College of the Arts since 1994- 2018. She has served as an integral part of the External Programming team for the college. She served as the acting  Director of Dance for Vashon Center for the Arts since 1996- 2017 on Vashon Island, WA and the Artistic Director of the Vashon Center for the Arts, a pre-professional dance company, Christine has dedicated two decades bringing the classical and contemporary arts to communities in the Seattle area. She has directed and taught dance to diverse populations for the past 34 years. Christine has also served on the dance faculty of Washington University in St. Louis. She holds an M.S. from Indiana University in Modern dance and Physical Sciences and a B.S. in Ballet and Music from the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University. Christine is a Master Artist in Residence for the state of Washington and enjoys collaborative projects annually with classroom teachers integrating academics and movement. She has been a presenter of Early Movement Education for the Dance Educators Association of Washington and numerous other conferences. Christine started to dance in Philadelphia as a young girl and was trained in the Vaganova syllabus of Ballet. 

   Ballet 5B/6A is a minimum of a two to three year intermediate/advanced technical level. On the rare occasion, a student can audition to start dance in level 4/5 if they have had previous experience or show exceptional talent to jump levels to begin. Ballet 4/5 is a love that prepares young girls for pointe and young males for exceptional. The concepts of locomotion, body awareness, pathways, dance vocabulary, sequencing, musicality, and a strong emphasis on anatomy, core strength in the use of proper alignment are strongly taught at this level. An 18 week curriculum is followed that bases each class on concepts of movement, space or the body and how it functions. Stretching will be heavily included to increase range of motion. Ballet 4/5continues with a full barre, center work petite allegro and grand allegro exercises. It continues to dig deeper into the classical ballet vocabulary French vocabulary and the use of musical terms Students are invited to start Pre-Pointe in year 2 once they show proficiency in holding alignment, strength and turn out.

Teaching philosophy: I have a very strong philosophy of respect in the classroom. student to teacher, teacher to student ,students to each other, the space and the learning environment. Every student is an individual that learns in a unique way. My job as a teacher is to choose the best language and examples to create a stimulating and playful learning environment. I choose to eliminate negative words in the classroom like” No”,” not” or” wrong.” I believe in transparency. I crave an authentic and healthy relationship with both my students and their families.