With dance studios literally around every corner, how do you choose which one is the right one for you and your child?
There are many different types of dance studios and all offer something unique to their students and families.
Here is a quick checklist we believe is important when choosing a dance studio:
- What are their values?
- What type of studio are you looking for? Do you want something really relaxed and fun without any extra commitments? Or are you looking for somewhere your child can move onto the next level with their dancing?
- Do the teachers have qualifications/experience in the industry?
- Do they teach any syllabus?
- What do the older dancers of the studio look like? Are they well presented? How well are they trained?
- Are their costuming and music choices appropriate? (if this is important to you!)
Here at Ignite Dance Co. we let our values guide our dance family and how we interact, work and live! Here are our studio values 🙂
I – Inspire and be inspired
Develop your passion for creativity, it’s all around you…look to your peers, to your teachers, and within in yourself – soak it up!
G – Grow and be grown up
Challenge yourself to improve & be the best that you can be…dreams don’t work unless you do. Be a role model for everyone around you.
N- Nurture young minds and bodies
Trust those who are guiding you, we want the best for everyone – physically, emotionally, and spiritually. We’re all in this together!
I- Intuition – go with your guts
Be fair, be kind, be respectful & be yourself. If it doesn’t feel right, don’t do it.
T- Take the time
Take the time to think, to be patient with progress, to be ready for class, to put in extra effort, to be prepared for the challenge.
E- Exist
Be present in our Ignite Family…communicate, share & be involved in our dance community. Be a part of our student, teacher, parent team.
Ignite offers the best of both worlds as we definitely have students who attend once a week, just for fun but also have many students who choose to train a few days a week with the aim of further developing their dance skills. We do however train all our students with the same expectation, that regardless of their ability, they will work as hard as possible and with as much passion as possible while at the studio 🙂
Most of our teachers have either qualifications in teaching or years of experience in the dance industry. Our director, Stephanie Arentz has a Bachelor of Dance/Bachelor of Education from UNSW and Co-Director, Caitlin Ballas has a Bachelor of Early Childhood teaching (which she uses to create our amazing pre-school dance programs). Many of our other teachers also have dance/teaching qualifications as well as many years of experience within the industry and teaching (see the staff page for more info!)
We follow the RAD syllabus for ballet, which is the most well known and respected ballet syllabus in the world. We offer exam classes for those who want to take their ballet to the next level. We believe that ballet is the core of all dance styles and so we always encourage our students to take ballet (of course there is no pressure if they are more of a Hip Hop kid!). Our other classes follow our own studio syllabus, formulated and constantly updated by our teachers.
Here at Ignite, we believe that kids should stay kids! We don’t dress our students above their age and make sure that ALL music is appropriate (this doesn’t just mean no swear words…we listen to all lyrics and any connotations etc.) Our costumes are always flattering and are something we constantly have compliments on! While we still move with the times and our choreography changes as our students get older, we will never choreograph anything for our students that would make them (or our audience!) feel uncomfortable 🙂
While we have many younger students, we also have students who started with us as tiny pre-schoolers, who are now our seniors, 10-15 years later! They have developed lifelong friendships along with an impressive skill base! Ignite is their second home, a place they feel safe, a place they have created so many memories…a place  they have literally grown up in.
Click the link below to hear some of our seniors speaking about what Ignite and dance means to them.
If Ignite sounds like the studio for you then contact us for a free trial and you can see for yourself if we are the right fit! 🙂