Galaxy Dance Arts

Our beautiful teen class! They love ballet and are making incredible progress with @kittyfelinevampire

That last grunt!

Movement from the heart! The energy in this class with @kittyfelinevampire could power a small city!

Happy #InternationalDanceDay ! ("Urlicht" from Symphony No. 2 by Gustav Mahler. @christian.baldini.artist @sashamezzomama UC Davis Symphony Orchestra)

Ballet 2 working on spacing, dancing together, and making us see the music.

And All That Jazz! Our teen class taught by @sammatsumoto !

! ! And Happy Year!

#turnouttuesday

Up! Over! Forward! Glasses (and bodies) raised to usher in 2021!

Help our students help fight blood cancer! Show this flyer at Panda Express tomorrow (Waterman Plaza) and 20% of your purchase will go to LLS Secure the Cure. If ordering online, enter 320244 in the promo code box. Support @securethecure2021 raise money for the Leukemia Lymphoma Society.

It's almost the end of the year. Deep breath. Though in April, I would not have believed we'd still be on Zoom or that we'd still be in business, we are both. My teachers: @sammatsumoto @marco_ruivivar @kittyfelinevampire and @ekripley thank you for your dedication to keeping our students moving and moving forward. Your passion is, to use the word of the year, contagious. So incredibly grateful to our students for sticking it out, and learning to learn via this awkward me...thod. And special thanks to our parents -- for getting kids logged in, dressed for class, hair pulled up, and adjusting or sometimes holding up the barre. The unseen (or sometimes seen!) hands behind every dancer, thank you for making this all work. you all, tori See more

With thanks to Maestro Christian Baldini for asking us to join in this collaborative effort with the UC Davis Symphony Orchestra (and Alumni Guests) - Virtual Orchestra Sasha Cooke, mezzo-soprano Christian Baldini, music director & conductor Look for two of our dancers at 3:04 and then 4:40. XiaoXiao and Tatyana were our two CLI trainees this year and did us proud here. Hoping for more performing opportunities for all our dancers in 2021!

Who knew retaping the floor would take so long? If not for Covid, I'd have called @eliscupcake to come over as she always has the most efficient ways to do everything, always with a laugh and a hug. Ah well, looking forward to calling her when it's safe and getting that hug. Next time hopefully we'll be pulling up tape without having to re-lay! Hope all the dancers have turned their computers off and are spending some time outside!

Our Contemporary 1 class in their warmup with @sammatsumoto . Never thought we'd be teaching online for this many months, but kudos to all who are sticking with it.

Working on the control at the end of a pirouette for #worldballetday. (Now to work on finishing!)

The dance version of 2020. (No dancers were hurt in the filming of this saut de chat.)

We were privileged to have Maestro Christian Baldini visit via Zoom today to share his thoughts about music and it's relationship to dance. My students know I stress music. I urge them to take lessons, I want them to hear the beat, I want them to feel the breath and blood of the music. Not just in performance, but classwork, too. I want them to love this sister art. It's clear Maestro Baldini loves not only music, but all the performing arts. He spoke to us about the math...ematical and geometrical bones of music, but he showed us its heart. And his. Thank you, Maestro! @christian.baldini.artist #musicanddance #musictheory

Families, please be sure to keep an eye on your email and/or Band for news or announcements. Covid is going to keep us all, so to speak, on our toes for the foreseeable future. I'll be sure to post any changes on Band and if you haven't, please allow my emails in. Thank you!

More Halloween from our tappers (thank you, @kittyfelinevampire !) and our ballet dancers!

The Firebird visited today! Happy Halloween!

Class today with Sam Fulk! It's important to hear different voices, different points of view, even if we're basically saying the same thing.

Whenever I've asked JoeJoe what he would like to work on (I usually tell him, but sometimes ask in case he has anything in mind), he answers this way: "Whatever you think i need most." So today we worked on tendus. Slowly. This was after class, so he'd already done a lot. I said i knew it was a little boring, but it was so important, and he looked at me in all seriousness and said, "It's not boring. I like it." My heart! ... #boysdance #boysdancetoo

Hangin' out on the front edge of the platform ... time (past time) for new shoes. These have seen their last class. (Especially for daredevil dancers -- any thoughts who this is, @beniciadancewear !)

Yep. Three boys here and three more via Zoom in class with @marco_ruivivar. (One more in a private lesson upstairs. ) Boys dance. #boysdancetoo #boysdance

Croisé devant. Working on positions of legs, body, arms and heads. I love this stage - the children are so enamored of dance and haven't yet fallen into self- consciousness and self-criticism. They copy what I'm doing and go for it. I say "more" and get more. #elkgroveballet

Mondays are always great, because we are back in class!

"Open up!" @marco_ruivivar telling his girls to dance bigger and more fully EVERY TIME. If you don't practice full out, you'll never be ready for the performance. True for life. We try to give our students the confidence they need to succeed in any field. The lessons learned in the dance studio carry over - perseverance and practice add up to progress. I am thankful to have such excellent role models in my teachers! (I do not own the rights to this music. It is for classwo...rk only. ) #elkgrovehiphop #hiphopdance

It looks like Miss Ari with her back up dancers, but it's her Tap Kids! having fun in class. #elkgrovetappers #tapdance #beginningtap

Learning more than the combos, these girls are learning to improv in and out of the choreography, by Sam Matsumoto. Learning to feel the music. They were 2 when the song came out, 4 when Mia Michaels used it on SYTYCD -- it's new to them. But look how they feel it. So gorgeous. I am so proud of the work they're putting in.

Placement -- check. Pointed feet -- check. Turnout -- check. Posture and port de bras -- check. ... It's beautiful Ballet 2! #elkgroveballet