Let's Learn Ballet: Primary Level Semester Course 6

Class Experience:

In this Primary ballet class, both girls and boys enjoy exploring ballet in an exciting and imaginative semester long course. Students will work on improving strength, coordination, musicality, and creativity, while building a solid foundation in ballet technique. On the last day of this course, students will have a chance to perform their work for their family at home.

This class is structured for both experienced and new dancers and no dance experience is needed to take the class. For students who have completed the Let’s Learn Ballet: Primary Level course that runs for 4 classes, this class is an excellent opportunity to explore the topics in more detail. This course is the sixth course in the Primary Level Semester Course series, but you are not required to have completed the other courses as prerequisites, and the semester courses can be completed in any order. 

As a registered Royal Academy of Dance (R.A.D.) ballet instructor, Mrs. Watters will teach students steps and exercises from the Pre-Primary and Primary R.A.D. syllabi. The Royal Academy of Dance is the largest ballet teaching organization in the world and provides a framework for learning ballet that is both engaging and developmentally appropriate for young dancers. This methodology has a one-hundred-year history of training both recreational and professional dancers world-wide.

Class Structure:

During the classes, students follow along with Mrs. Watters to practice exercises before performing each exercise with the music. When exercises are new, Mrs. Watters will perform the exercises with the students and as they begin to feel confident with the settings on their own, they will practice the exercise while she watches. Students will dance all together for most of the class but will practice dancing one by one at times for some individual feedback. Prior to dancing exercises, Mrs. Watters introduces technical ideas to think about while dancing. At times, students will answer questions about the ballet technique related to an exercise but the discussion from the students is minimal. At a few points in class, students are given a chance to be creative and answer questions about their dancing in an exercise; they will provide a description or make a choice about an imaginative element that is related to that step. 

Overview of the Course:

Weeks 1 – 4: Exercises based on the content below will be introduced, but not every class will include each exercise. Exercises will build in complexity over the weeks in ways such as: increasing the tempo, adding arms (port de bras), using eyeline, adding more choreography to the exercise, or altering the floor pattern. 

Weeks 5 - 7: In class, the focus will be more on the technique of the exercises and students will practice performing them in class without as much help from Mrs. Watters. The students become more independent in their dancing. 

Week 8: The first 20 minutes of the last class will be a review of the exercises for practice. The last 25 minutes will involve an informal performance of our classroom exercises. Families will be invited to observe that portion of class (off camera) and celebrate in the students’ progress and their performances that day. 

Class Content:

Over the eight weeks, dancers will work on exercises covering the steps and concepts listed below. 
•	Warm Up
•	Legs and Feet
•	Hands and Arms 
•	Walks 
•	Small Jumps 
•	Large Jumps  
•	Transfer of Weight 
•	Use of Props
•	Creative/Free Movement
•	Musicality 
•	Stretching
•	Imaginative Sequence: Dancers will practice and learn an imaginative sequence that will form a teacher directed dance, which will weave together different steps to tell a story. As dancers learn the sequence over the semester, the teacher will ask students to contribute ideas and to add in their own interpretations of some movements within the dance.