Princeton Dance and Theater Studio is proud to include the American Ballet Theatre National Training Curriculum, a breakthrough 8 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. All of the PDT ballet instructors are ABT-certified and/or affiliated.
Director Risa Kaplowitz explains the reason PDT uses the curriculum. “Anyone can put a dance studio shingle on their doorstep and parents have no way of knowing if the training is just fluff or something authentic and substantial,” she says. “PDT has a reputation of providing stellar dance education, and we want to ensure families that their child is being taught correctly. Physical habits are very hard to break, so it is important to learn correct technique early on.”
Boys-only ballet classes have become very popular and PDT now offers three all boy classes to accommodate different levels. Boys who show promise and commitment are offered a scholarship in an effort to build the presence of males in ballet.
PDT ballet students have several opportunities to perform each year in high-quality productions such as DanceVision’s “The Snow Queen” and two spring shows. “We are not a recital or competition school,” says Ms. Kaplowitz. “We choose to spend class time growing dancers rather than having them repeat routines.” Rehearsals are held on the weekends and are minimal for the younger children who choose to participate.
PDT also offers the area’s finest tap, jazz, and hip hop instruction. Ms. Kaplowitz explains, “Our tap instructor, Karen Callaway Williams, was just inducted into the International Tap Dance Hall of Fame. It is incredible that our students get to study with someone of that caliber every week.”
“The other instructors are also exceptional. Jazz is taught by Broadway choreographer Matt Williams and hip hop is taught by New Jersey’s master of the genre, Tom McKie.”
You can meet the PDT instructors and have your children take classes at no charge during PDT’s Open House on Saturday, September 7, from 9 a.m. to noon. Please visit www.princetondance.com for the schedule of event classes and call 609-514-1600 to reserve your spot. Classes begin September 16th.
