The reason why we don't require ballet might surprise you.

The short answer to why we don’t require ballet is that we don’t want to perpetuate a dance culture ignorant of other dance forms.

That probably doesn’t make a lot of sense to you, but let me explain…

“Ballet is the foundation of dance” is something I’ve said, implied and perpetuated throughout my teaching career.

But it’s not true! (First time I have been wrong in my life)

Ballet was created by noble courts in Europe, right?

When it made its way across the pond and flourished here.

Then other dance forms were influenced by ballet: Jazz, Musical Theater, and even Modern.

So yes, ballet is connected with some styles and can help you be a more well rounded dancer. I personally love ballet and know it made my back, legs and ankles super strong when I was doing it every week.

However, there has been dance since humans have been walking upright (and arguably before that).

To say that ballet is the foundation of dance, dismisses every style that came before it, or isn’t directly related to it.

Here’s some dance styles you would probably recognize that have NO ballet technique: tap, hip hop, Irish step dance, Salsa, bachata, swing, Polynesian dance (ie. Hula), folk dances, Native American dance, and break dancing just to name a few.

And by dismissing all these styles, we fail our students in teaching them about the entire world of dance.

Thrive Performing Arts has many dance classes for kids in the tri-cities, including ballet.

But we include jazz, contemporary, hip hop and musical theater as a technique class because we want our students to know that

• ballet is not the only form of dance with technique

• you don’t have to be great at ballet to be a good dancer

• we do not center ballet as being the more acceptable way of moving through the world.

If you’re interested in your child performing with Thrive Performing Arts, go HERE to see our current schedule.