Class Descriptions
Ballet

All students are urged to study ballet, as it is the foundation of all other dance styles and facilitates further success in these disciplines. Studying ballet is one of the most effective and elegant ways of improving posture, grace, flexibility, and strength.
TBDA ballet classes are offered from beginner to advanced level. Students are taught proper body placement, body alignment, barre and center floor work, along with across the floor combinations. Beginner classes introduce vocabulary, proper alignment, and classical ballet technique. Advanced classes include adagio and allegro work, and combinations using balance, strength, and style. Pointe is open to dancers who have mastered the necessary level of ballet and have earned director approval.
Combo

TBDA combo classes combine tap and ballet OR Jazz and tumble, introducing young dancers to a combination of dance styles. Young dancers explore rhythms and creative movement as well as learn the basic fundamentals for dance technique. Dancers will experience two styles of movement with fun music, floor exercises, across the floor progressions, and combinations in the center! This is a great way for your child to be introduced to dance!
Contemporary

Contemporary is a style of expressive dance that combines elements of ballet, jazz, lyrical and modern dance styles. TBDA contemporary classes strive to connect the mind and the body through the fluid of dance movements. With focus on versatility and improvisation, our dancers focus on floor work and using gravity to pull them down to the floor. This genre can be performed to many styles of music and are typically done in bare feet. This class focuses on centering, strengthening the body, increasing flexibility, improving balance, proper placement, body alignment, fluidity and emotion.
Hip Hop

Hip Hop classes combine street dance with funk and jazz styles; similar to what you would see in some popular televised dance performances or music videos. Our TBDA hip hop classes are high energy and upbeat, focusing on coordination, confidence and rhythm. Students will learn the importance of isolations and dynamics to execute the latest dance moves. This class will introduce fast paced choreography set to popular music. Hip Hop classes at TBDA provide the added benefit of cardiovascular exercise due to the high level of energy exerted.
Jazz

Jazz class is a fun and fast paced mixture of various techniques. Jazz dance is based upon the technique of ballet, just as all forms of dance are. However, the movement is set to more upbeat music and focused on isolations and parallel positioning of the body, high jumps, leaps, kicks and turns. Jazz dance has an enormous range categorically. It can be “classical” (ie. Broadway or Fosse choreography), or “pop” (ie choreography from a music video set to top-40 music) or even slower and more contemporary.
At TBDA we like to challenge our dancers to experience the range of possibility within this dance form and we encourage them to try all styles of jazz. Fun and energetic, TBDA jazz classes include such elements as kicks, leaps, turns, splits, and isolations. Classes also include stretch and strengthening exercises, floor work, and across the floor progressions in addition to a center floor combinations. These classes are popular with all ages and provide the added benefit of cardiovascular exercise due to the high level of energy exerted.
Lyrical

Lyrical is a style of dance that blends ballet and jazz dance and uses the emotion and mood of the music to elicit movements from the dancers. Students have a warm up focusing in core strength, flexibility, and movement of the back. The class includes floor work, progressions, and center combinations. Strength, flexibility and discipline are encompassed while dancers tell a story through their movement using the lyrics of a song.
Tap

Tap is a style involving rhythm, dynamics, and varying sounds. Students are challenged to integrate rhythmic patterns using their feet as the instrument.
Tampa Bay Taps, Center for Tap Dance will be the official contracted Tap Dance School for Tampa Bay Dance Academy. In affiliation with Tampa Bay Taps, TBDA provides the finest tap instruction available in the Tampa Bay area. Rhythm & Sole is Tampa Bay Taps’ resident performing tap company. Rhythm & Sole was created to give dancers who love tap the opportunity to perform for audiences and share their talent outside of a recital and competition setting. Learn more about our partner, Tampa Bay Taps and Rhythm & Sole performing company here: tampabaytaps.com
Acro

Acro classes teach strength, flexibility, and tumbling. Gymnastics skills include but are not limited to walkovers, limbers, handsprings, chest rolls, cartwheels/round offs, handstands, and more. The dance community continues to improve and increase its level of difficulty; a basic knowledge of acrobatics is a necessary part of dance training at a competitive level. Although this is not a gymnastics class, it will focus on learning the most effective and safe ways to execute some of the acrobatic tricks that can be used to enhance dance choreography.
In affiliation with our TBDA dance acro coach, Leslie Russo-Misener and Tumble Tech Allstars training facility, we provide superior conditioning, flexibility and acro training for dancers. Learn more about about our acro and tumbling partner here: Tumbletechallstars.com
Dance Fitness

The newest fitness trend blends full-body cardio exercise with motivating music to reach those calorie burning goals!
Modern

Modern dance encourages dancers to use their emotions and moods to design their own steps and routines. It is not unusual for dancers to invent new steps for their routines, instead of following a structured code of technique, as in ballet. Modern dance allows the dancer to think outside the box and explore body movement they may not have had a chance to in other, more disciplined, dance forms. Modern class at the TBDA will focus on the alignment of the body, spacial awareness, shifting body weight, partnering and improvisation. In addition, modern will focus on breathing and body awareness in order to improve the quality of one’s movement. Often, for a highly disciplined dancer, modern dance can open doors to a whole new kind of movement that can lead to improvement and creativity.
Musical Theatre

Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. Students are taught songs and dances from popular Broadway musicals and other television movies that they know and love. Musical Theater is explored through drama games, acting techniques, vocal practice, and choreographed dances. TBDA musical theatre classes provide students with the opportunity to express themselves and tell a story while acting, singing and DANCING!