Ballet - Ballet consists of slow, beautiful movements with arms and the entire body. Dancers learn the five positions. Depending on the dancers' level (beginner, intermediate, or advanced) they will learn various turns and leaps. Class starts with barre work. (Exercises for strengthening muscles done at the ballet barre.) Next, different moves across the floor are performed. This is our technique portion of class. We usually practice the same basic techniques each week and sometimes add something new. Following our technique practice, we work on learning dance combinations and/or our performance dance. Ballet is the basis for all other kinds of dance. Ballets gives muscles strength and gives us grace and balance. Ballet teaches students great posture and confidence. Cindy's Dance Factory offers ballet as a combination class.

Tap - Tap consists of fast foot movements to fast music in shoes with taps on the toes and heels. In tap we learn shuffles, hops, jumps, flaps, brushes, toes, stomps, stamps, heels, scuffs, and, depending on your level (beginner, intermediate, or advanced), a lot more. Tap teaches how to keep time with a fast song, keep your balance, and remember lots of dance moves in order. Tap class starts with exercises to warm up our feet (usually the same each week). Then we practice our technique doing tap moves across the floor. Through regular practice, students get better and better at these moves and become more confident dancers. New tap steps are added gradually as the students master each exercise. Last, we put these great tap steps together for tap combinations or our performance dance. Tap is a fun and challenging way to move your feet and body to fast music. Cindy's Dance Factory offers tap as a combination class with ballet.

Jazz - Jazz is fun. Jazz dance is done to faster music than ballet music. Jazz dance is faster flowing moves to fun faster music. Jazz is non-stop movement using your whole body. It usually includes pointed toes and pretty arms. Class starts with a warm up to help us avoid injuries and pulled muscles. We then do our technique and practice this across the floor. Depending on your level (beginner, intermediate, or advanced), technique will include leaps, kicks, jumps, and turns. Next we practice some fun dance combinations or our dance performance number. Cindy's Dance Factory offers jazz dance to dancers who are 6 or older. Some ballet experience is recommended before beginning jazz dance. Cindy's Dance Factory sometimes offers this with a ballet/tap combination class.

Lyrical - This type of dance is very flowing. It is a combination of ballet and jazz movements.

Hip Hop - Hip Hop is one of the newest kinds of dance. Hip Hop is sharp, hard edge movements to music with a strong beat. Hip Hop uses flexed feet and strong straight arms. No flowing, pretty jazz moves are included in this style. Most dancers in today's music videos are doing Hip Hop dance. Cindy's Dance Factory teaches Hip Hop dance, but without inappropriate and suggestive moves. Cindy's Dance Factory also pays attention to the music and tries to find good Hip Hop music with positive messages. Class starts with a warm up to prepare the dancers' muscles. We then do different Hip Hop moves, turns and kicks across the floor. We then work on different Hip Hop combinations or our performance dance. Cindy's Dance Factory offers Hip Hop to dancers who are 7 or older. Hip Hop is a lot of fun and is fun to watch when a group synchronizes their dance moves. Cindy's Dance Factory offers this as a combination class with Poms.

Poms - This type of dance is mostly strong arm movements while dancing using pom pons. This is not cheerleading. Poms is more like dance squad, pom squad, or drill team - much like dancers that perform at half time shows dancing with pom pons. Poms includes dancing and moving in different formations. Poms includes kicks. leaps and turns. Different balance is required to perform these moves with poms in your hands. There is no warm up for this because it is the second half of the Hip Hop class. We do practice technique across the floor. Cindy provides practice poms that stay at the studio for each dancer to use. We learn fun pom combinations or practice our performance dance. Cindy's Dance Factory offers poms to dancers who are 7 to 14 years old. Poms is offered as a combination class with Hip Hop. These classes are a lot of fun.

Performing Group Dancers need to:

• Be asked by Cindy to join the performance team this year. Next year there may be try-outs.
• Be in another class with Cindy that provides some technique.
• Be in ballet class with Janelle.
• Sign a contract of commitment for good attendance (not to miss more than one week per month).
• Work on performance dances all year.
• Want to perform at various places and if good enough, participate in competition (usually in Denver).
• Realize that competitions are somewhat expensive to enter. We would go to have fun and do our best, win or not.
• Always have a positive attitude and a smile!