Professional Training - What does that even mean?

You will often hear the word professional ballet training thrown around in marketing circles and by various dance studios or teachers. "That studio is very professional" or "I can tell she didn't recieve professional training" and it can be really confusing if you've not been in the dance world to even know what that means. Does it mean that you're dance teacher danced professionally? Does it mean you are on track to be a professional? Or if you're an adult beginner student you might think - does it matter if i get professional training? I just want to have fun!"

So let's break down what it means to us. (Because we really do think its important)

Professional training in my opinion is these 4 things

1. Age appropriate

2. Progressive

3. Farsighted (Or whatever the opposite of shortsighted might be)

1. Age appropriate - here me out. It is not appropriate for 5 year olds to recieve detailed notes and complex choreography. As my mother always used to say "If you teach a six month old to walk, it will probably take them 6 months to learn." Professional training meets the child where they are. Our goal is never to make a 5 year old look like a professional dancer but rather to set them up so that they have the foundational skills to progress with they are ready. So our adults programs and our youth programs are structured differently because they are not the same developmentally.

2. Progressive. Dance is not just a workout class. Think of it more like a language. You have to start from learning basic words and progress to sentences. There are levels and you learn different things in each level. Think complex vocab and complex grammar. What makes a program truly progressive is letting students master the basics before they move on.

3. Farsighted. My goal as your dance teacher is not to make you the best dancer right now - its to make you the best dancer several years from now. For children - its to make them strong vibrant, uninjured and confident. Sometimes pushing kids too young and too fast just leads to burnout and injury and what's the rush? we have our whole lives to enjoy our bodies and to enjoy dance. If a child wants to pursue dance professionally, then laying a good base is the most important thing - after that everything else is just frosting!

We really pride ourselves in offering professional training to all of our students and we believe with our whole hearts and adult and youth students alike benefit from it!