REACHING HEART

SCHOOL OF BALLET

     Dance is an expression of the soul. It conveys the many emotions of our life.  From the youngest of dancers we teach the inclusion of heart in movement.  We have a comprehensive system that allows dancers to progress at their own pace within a rigorous program rich with growth opportunities. At Reaching Heart we encourage learning not only from our well trained teachers but from our fellow students. Meaningful friendships develop because students often dance together several times a week in our supportive yet professional atmosphere.   

     It has been said that walking into Reaching Heart is like entering a real life fairy tale!   It is a magical environment that warms your soul. It is true that with a lot of hard work and commitment, dreams do come true here at Reaching Heart. If you are looking for a new dance school for your child or yourself please come and visit us, try a  class, and we hope you will join our wonderful Reaching Heart Community. Life is always exciting at Reaching Heart.  We offer four performance opportunities per year: our well respected full length traditional Nutcracker, a Heartstrings Dance Company Spring performance, Our Spring Dance Concert in June, and a classical summer ballet production which varies each year! Check the website for dates and times of upcoming performances!

     Class Placement is made at the Director's discretion.  In upper level classes most students work at the same level for several years.  Entire classes do not always advance to the next level as a unit.  Children's individual needs are assessed on a regular basis. Regular class attendance is required for students to progress. Students who miss classes due to sickness are invited to make up a lesson at the same level on a different day. Students who have an injury are encouraged to continue coming to class, as they can learn so much from observation (and we certainly have some extremely comfortable chairs)! Observation will help keep a child's level of skills up with their classmates.

         Reaching Heart School of Ballet has dance classes for everyone, regardless of previous experience or age.  We begin students in our classical ballet program at age three.  In our creative movement classes, age appropriate activities encourage the love of movement.  As a child matures the dance games transition more and more into classical technique, which is the building block of a solid dance training.  Have a look at our courses and read what our dancers have to say about Reaching Heart.  

     Reaching Heart School of Ballet is proud to include the AMERICAN BALLET THEATRE National Training Curriculum, a breakthrough 9 level program that combines high quality artistic training with the basics of dancer health and child development. The ABT National Training Curriculum consists of a comprehensive set of age-appropriate, outcome-based guidelines to provide the highest quality ballet training to dance students of all ages and skill levels.  Pre-primary through Level 5 will be taught by ABT Certified teacher, Melissa Heart, who has successfully completed the ABT teacher training intensive in Pre-primary through Level 5 of the ABT National Training Curriculum.

     Where did that name come from?? Well the "Heart Center" is our own true self ... our soul.  So, it is a bit of a play on words - Reaching Heart Center is the place where we dance from our "Heart's Center".  During the 24 years we have been in business some things have changed, but our philosphy that dancing from the heart is to truly dance has remained our motto!  

     Our name has also evolved!! We are proud to introduce our new name of Reaching Heart School of Ballet!  Clearly, ballet is our focus here and we are proud of it!