No previous dance experience

• These courses are designed for students with no previous knowledge or experience, or for those with prior dance experience who wish to refresh their knowledge of terminology and foundational technique after time away.

• Students typically take 2-4 consecutive 6-week sessions if they are brand new to dance and 1-2 consecutive 6-week sessions if they have previous dance experience.

• Students are encouraged to continue Intro Level Courses while also taking Beginning Level classes as they transition between the two.

Past Training within the last five years

• These classes are suggested for students who have attended the intro-level classes or who have taken dance classes within the past five years.  

• Classes continue to work on terminology and technical execution. Classes move at a slow pace, enabling students to gain knowledge and strength in executing the dance steps. 

• Students are encouraged to take both Beginning and Beginning/Intermediate Level as they transition between the two.

Recent training of 1 – 3 years

• Teachers assume that students attending this class have the terminology, but may still be working on execution of the steps.  

• The vocabulary is expanded, and the class works at a faster pace.  

• Combinations of steps are longer and more complex than in the beginner level.

2 to 3 years of recent training

• These classes are suggested for students with at least two to three years of dance training and are made up of a mixture of students at differing levels.

3 to 5 years of recent training

• These classes are suggested for students who have at least three to five years of training.

Students learn classical ballet techniques and terminology of varying styles.

The ballet curriculum is based on a combination of methods. Each class includes barre exercises, center floor work, and across-the-floor combinations. As students progress through each level, the vocabulary is expanded and becomes increasingly more complex and challenging.

Pointe: HMD offers Introductory/Beginning Level Pointe classes through a workshop format that enrolls monthly. More information can be found on the Adult Studio Workshop Page.

• These workshops focus on the basic exercises at the barre to strengthen the feet and legs for pointe.

• After students begin to master the exercises and gain strength, they move to center exercises.

• Students are screened by the faculty for workshop entry during the Tuesday or Thursday Beginning/Intermediate ballet classes.

• It is recommended that students consistently take 3 months of Beginning/Intermediate ballet classes prior to being invited into the Pointe program. 

• Once approved, Students are required to take the Ballet Class prior to Pointe Class.  

• Students are not allowed to attend only the Pointe Class. 

Students will engage with the defining movement concepts of modern dance, including suspension and release, fall and recovery, the use of momentum, and connecting breath with movement. The class begins with a warm-up that combines floorwork and standing center exercises, focusing on skill-building with proper technique, musicality, and spinal articulation; followed by sequencing steps in the center and across the floor, as well as the development of improvisation and composition skills. 

HMD offers a number of different classes under this genre:

• Conditioning for Contemporary Techniques: In this class, we work through layers of conditioning, creative problem solving, and floor work exercises designed to expand our range of movement possibility and to prepare our bodies for contemporary and soft acrobatic skills. This is an open-level class with modifications available based on current skill level and goals. 

• Somatic/ Stretch: Somatic stretching is a gentle, mindful approach to movement that focuses on your internal experience while you stretch. It involves slow, deliberate movements designed to release tension, improve body awareness, and reconnect with your nervous system. Although the results may often include expansion in range, somatic stretching emphasizes feeling and awareness rather than achieving a specific range of motion.

• Thinking/Moving is a movement practice that facilitates a sensorial approach to build somatic skills for efficient dancing. This class will honor the intelligence of the body through physical rigor as participants explore various approaches and processes to movement, including phrase work, floor work, partnering, and methods of improvisation. These classes are taught by Paty Solorzano and Lori Yuill.

Our jazz classes draw from a variety of historical and contemporary styles such as Broadway, commercial, funk, and classical. Jazz dance was born out of African dance, American tap dance, ballet, and theater, and is inherently related to the music that has evolved alongside it. Classes focus on syncopated rhythms, body isolations, and precision. Students will begin class with a warm-up, progress to across-the-floor exercises, and end with learning choreography.

Tap Dance is a percussive style that originated in the United States in the 1700s. Using shoes with metal plates to create sound, students develop coordination, precision, rhythmic skills, and musicality. Our classes draw from both the Broadway and the contemporary Rhythm-Tap styles and begin with a foot isolating warm-up, followed by rhythm and step-based skill building in both the center of the room and moving across the floor.