We specialise in jazz, acro dance and hip hop dance classes for children aged 3-18years. Each class has a slightly different structure and focus, with jazz classes having a strong foundation in flexibility and dance technique (kicks, jumps, turns etc.), while hip hop focuses more on free styling and complex choreography. All classes start with a warm up and stretches and each class will complete a minimum of 2 dance routines per term.
We have 2 types of classes available, open classes and NZAMD exam classes. Our open classes are fun and a great choice for the beginner, or dancers who just want to have a fun once a week class. The exam classes follow the NZAMD syllabus and are more structured than open classes. We work towards our yearly exam in September, where an NZAMD examiner comes out to grade the students. A great option for the more motivated dancers. It is also an option to join the exam class for fun and skip the exam, if you want the structure without the pressure of an exam. Please visit https://www.nzamd.co.nz for more information on the NZAMD.
Here is a more in-depth explanation of the different dance options available:
Jazz Exam:
These are NZAMD exam syllabus classes, ranging from 5 years through to 18 years. Each grade is designed with age appropriate skills and choreography to produce well rounded and confident dancers and performers. Most of our jazz exam classes are nearly full. We did our first year of jazz exams in 2021 and everyone who participated felt it was a positive and enriching experience. The exam is optional, so if children are nervous about sitting an exam, they can skip it and just come to the weekly class for fun. Please note, there is a uniform requirement for jazz exam classes. Uniform is available at https://www.beulahgrace.co.nz/dance-vibes/
Acro Dance:
Does your child spend all day cartwheeling around the house, backflipping on the trampoline and attempting to walk on their hands? Acro Dance could be the perfect class for them!
These classes follow the Acrobatic Arts syllabus which is one of the worlds most trusted and widely used provider of acrobatics training. The syllabus is designed to coach dancers to a high level of strength, flexibility and technical skill, ensuring the basics are executed correctly before safely progressing to higher level skills. They will learn to perform tumbling and limbering skills ranging from forward rolls, to handstands, walkovers and at higher levels, aerial cartwheels, back handsprings etc.
The classes begin from age 4 with “AcroDance Preschool”. Super fun and perfectly designed for our little ones with skills such as forward rolls, baby bridges and lots of jumping around!
From there, dancers progress to Beginners Acro Dance (5-8 years), which extends their skills into handstands and cartwheels.
Next are our Junior Acro Dance classes (from 7 years, or when the child has learnt all the skills from the beginners class). This is a twice weekly class of 60 mins each where we place a strong focus on strength and flexibility (dancers must attend both classes per week at this level, possible exceptions are children who also attend gymnastics). Here we begin to learn skills such as scorpions, headstands, Arabians and front & back walkovers. This class is designed as a multi-level syllabus, so that children of different ages and skill levels can each be working on appropriate skills at the same time.
Please visit https://www.acrobaticarts.com/#/welcome for more info on the Acrobatic Arts syllabus.
Junior Stretch, Leap & Spin:
This is an NZAMD exam syllabus class aimed at dancers who are already taking at least 1 dance class per week and wish to refine and improve their technical dance skills. A strong focus on flexibility, bigger and better leaps such as jetes, tucks and attitude leaps as well as refining the dancers turning skills for pirouettes etc.
The SLS syllabus is lots of fun for dancers and is highly regarded amongst New Zealand dance studios for improving their dancers technical skills in a positive and exciting way.
This is an exam presentation class, so dancers receive a ribbon from the examiner upon completion of their exam, rather than a graded score card. Please note, the exam is optional.
Open Hip Hop:
This is a fun class for our younger dancers (5-7 years) who really want to focus on just their hip hop dancing. If your child just wants to get down and dance to the music, without worrying about plies, pointing their toes, or how many pirouettes they can do, then hip hop could be the class for them. Hip Hop is also a great option for boys as its higher energy and less restrictive than other dance styles.
Preschool Dance:
A fun class just for our littlest of dancers! Simple skills such as skips and gallops, some stretching and a chance to explore rhythm and music through movement.