Snowy Mountains Performing Arts Academy
Disciplines
Ballet
An artistic dance form performed to music, using precise and highly formalized set steps and gestures. Classical ballet, which originated in Renaissance Italy and established its present form during the 19th century, is characterized by light, graceful movements and the use of pointe shoes with reinforced toes. In France, ballet developed even further under aristocratic influence. Ballet is a French word which had its origin in Italian balletto, a diminutive of ballo (dance) which comes from Latin ballo, ballare, meaning "to dance". Stylistic variations have emerged and evolved since the Italian Renaissance. Early, classical variations are primarily associated with geographic origin. Examples of this are Russian ballet, French ballet, and Italian ballet. Later variations, such as contemporary ballet and neoclassical ballet, incorporate both classical ballet and non-traditional technique and movement
Jazz
Jazz dance is no longer solely the domain of fan kicks and shimmies. The term “jazz” now incorporates a broad range of dance styles. Prior to the 1950s,jazz dance was a style that originated from African American dance and in the 1950s “modern jazz dance” emerged, with roots in Caribbean traditionaldance. Over time, a clearly defined jazz genre emerged, changing from a street dance to a theatrical dance performed on stage by professionals. Some scholars and dancers, especially Swing and Lindy Hop dancers, still regard the term jazz dance as an umbrella term which includes both the original and the evolved versions: they refer to the theatrical form of jazz dance as modern jazz.
Tap
Tap dance is a form of dance characterized by using the sounds of tap shoes striking the floor as a form of percussion. Two major variations on tap dance exist: rhythm (jazz) tap and Broadway tap. Broadway tap focuses on dance; it is widely performed in musical theater. Rhythm tap focuses on musicality, and practitioners consider themselves to be a part of the jazz tradition. The sound is made by shoes that have a metal "tap" on the heel and toe. Tap dancing can either be done with music following the beats provided, or without musical accompaniment; the latter is known as "a cappella" tap dancing.
Contemporary
Contemporary dance is a dance performance genre that developed during the mid twentieth century and has since grown to become one of the dominant genres for formally trained dancers throughout the world, with particularly strong popularity in the U.S. and Europe. Although originally informed by and borrowing from classical, modern, and jazz styles, it has since come to incorporate elements from many styles of dance. Due to its technical similarities, it is often perceived to be closely related to modern dance, ballet and other classical concert dance styles. In terms of the focus of its technique, contemporary dance tends to combine the strong and controlled legwork of ballet with modern dance's stress on the torso, and also employs contract-release, floor work, fall and recovery, and improvisation characteristic of modern dance.
Musical Theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an integrated whole. Although musical theatre overlaps with other theatrical forms like opera and dance, it may be distinguished by the equal importance given to the music as compared with the dialogue, movement and other elements. Since the early 20th century, musical theatre stage works have generally been called, simply, musicals.
Hip-Hop
Hip-hop dance refers to street dance styles primarily performed to hip-hop music or that have evolved as part of hip-hop culture. It includes a wide range of styles primarily breaking, locking, and popping which were created in the 1970s and made popular by dance crews in the United States. It is historically inaccurate to say that the funk styles were always considered hip-hop. The funk styles were adopted into hip-hop in large part due to the media. Once hip-hop activist and DJ, Afrika Bambaataa, used the word "hip-hop" in a magazine interview in 1982, "hip-hop dance" became an umbrella term encompassing all of these styles.
AcroDancer
AcroDancer is a genre of Acrobatics designed specifically for the dancer. This syllabus has been launched from Pre Primary to Grade Five over the past year, to follow on to the Advanced levels. This genre fuses the elements of lyrical gymnastic, balance and tumbling all coordinated with the beauty of classical ballet and the gusto of jazz. AcroDancer promotes the building of core strength, spatial awareness and enhanced flexibility. All exercises are accompanied by original music. To master the elements of AcroDancer the emphasis is to ensure safety, build confidence together with developing sound technical training to be integrated with the choreography in todays competitive world of dance. This syllabus is designed to accommodate the fun element for young dancers through to the expectations of the elite student.