Baby Ballet - Pre Primary (RAD)

Pre-school classes are among our favorites and the starting point for all aspiring ballet dancers. Indeed, our specialty. Melody Bear's (tm) Baby Ballet (Pre-Primary RAD) classes are fun, exciting and interactive and parents are encourage to join in.

Themed classes are a real hit with our baby classes. We run different themed classes and dance as Unicorns, fairy’s butterflies etc. Acting out lots of enchanted magical tales and stretching your child’s imagination through the art of dance.

Pre-Primary Baby ballet classes start at a minimum age of 3 years plus. We do not run classes for children aged less than 3 years.

Baby Ballet classes are held at our centres in Wellswood and Kingsteignton. Please see the timetable for availability at each location.

Wendy Sandercock Academy of Dance - Classes 1

Baby Ballet With Melody Bear

The Melody Movement Early learning class is unique. The full Melody Bear Programme itself addresses the needs of children aged 18 months upwards, and is tailored to discovering and fulfilling the potential of each child and nurturing their creative development. However, our present courses are designed only for children of 3 years and above attending Pre-Primary classes (Baby Ballet).

Loveable Melody Bear, is the focal point of the early years curriculum, and all her activities, stories, ideas and dreams can be told through dance and movement. Classes are specifically structured to enhance and develop the learning experience of each child, thus ensuring a successful transition from one stage to the nex in their ballet journey. The Melody Bear journey provides an enjoyable and exciting experience for younger children of Pre-Primary age and then graduate and continue their exciting and magical journey progressing to Primary Ballet and Royal Academy Higher Grades.

Melody Movement introduces children to dance and movement using the natural actions of the body such as running, walking, jumping, hopping, skipping and galloping. It is structured to aid children’s physical development, coordination, spatial awareness, sensory development, creativity and self-expression, working individually, with a partner, or as a group.

Melody Movement also introduces children to other fundamental curriculum learning skills such as counting, colour and shape recognition, vocabulary and language skills. The strength of the system is that learning is achieved through imaginative movement which is enjoyable and fun. Melody Movement provides every child with the opportunity to discover and fulfil their own potential whilst nurturing creative

Themed Classes and Awards Days

Wendy Sandercock Academy of Dance - Melody Bear Classes

We encourage class participation and development and progression with the use of themed classes and “sticker” collection.

We find that children becoming more actively involved when there are “stickers” to collect showing off their skills and progression.

Classical Ballet

Wendy Sandercock Academy of Dance - Classes 2

This is our specialist subject. Our amazing teachers make sure everyone gets individual attention while keeping the class collaborative. Apart from Baby ballet, we run classes for all levels including Primary, Grades 1 to 8, Major Work and Vocational Ballet (Intermediate foundation and above).

Primary Ballet through to Grades and above are held at our centres in Teignmouth, Wellswood and Kingsteignton. Please see the timetable for availability at each location.

Classical ballet, system of dance based on formalized movements and positions of the arms, feet, and body designed to enable the dancer to move with the greatest possible agility, control, speed, lightness, and grace. Classical-ballet technique is based on the turned-out position of the legs, which increases the range of movement through added mobility in the hip joint and also imparts a more pleasing line to the extended leg. The subject matter of classical ballet may be romantic, realistic, or mythological; a variety of dramatic and emotional situations may be represented.

We teach the Royal Academy of Dance syllabus and our examination results are outstanding. Want to find out more? Get in touch with us TODAY

Lyrical & Contemporary

Lyrical dance is a dance style that blends elements of ballet and jazz dance. Lyrical dance is generally a little more fluid than ballet and also somewhat faster -- although not as rapidly executed as jazz dance. Lyrical dance is also somewhat smoother and a bit faster than ballet, but not quite as fast as jazz.

Movements in lyrical dance are characterized by fluidity and grace, with the dancer flowing seamlessly from one move to another, holding finishing steps as long as possible. Leaps are exceptionally high and soaring, and turns are fluid and continuous.

Classes are held at our centres in Kingsteignton and King Street Studios. Please see the timetable for availability at each location.

Jazz & Tap

Jazz dance is a performance dance technique and style that first emerged in the United States in the early twentieth century. Genres build on African American vernacular styles of dancing that emerged with jazz music. Features of jazz dance styles include using feet, arm, and hand positions, isolations (head, shoulder, hips), timing, shape, and movements including body rolls, jazz walks, swings, and kicks.

Tap is a style of dance in which a dancer wearing shoes fitted with heel and toe taps sounds out audible beats by rhythmically striking the floor or any other hard surface. There are several styles of tap dance, including rhythm (jazz), classical, Broadway, and post-modern.

Classes are held at our centres in Kingsteignton and King Street Studios. Please see the timetable for availability at each location.

Body Conditioning & Stretch

While research indicates that some dance styles require certain elements of fitness more explicitly than others, at WSA we believe in a well-rounded dance training program which should consider all the components of fitness. The components of fitness are:

Aerobic fitness – associated with moderate, longer-term levels of activity.
Anaerobic fitness – associated with high intensity, maximal, short bursts of activity.
Muscle endurance – the ability of a muscle to produce continuous movement.
Strength – the ability of a muscle to produce a maximal force on one occasion.
Power – the explosive (speed-related) aspect of strength.
Flexibility – the range of motion at a joint in association with the pliability of a muscle.
Neuromuscular coordination – associated with balance, agility, coordination and skill.
Body composition – the make-up of body weight by percentage of muscle and fat.
Rest – a period of no activity, to allow for recovery and regeneration.

While any change in traditional dance training regimens must be approached cautiously to ensure that enhanced artistry and expression remain the primary goals, it may be suggested that unless dancers are physiologically honed to the same extent as they are artistically, their physical conditioning may potentially be the limiting factor in their development. Ignoring the physiological training of today’s dancers could eventually hamper the development of the art form.

We believe It is the continual responsibility of dance teachers and educators to develop their knowledge and understanding of the physiological demands of dance, and be aware of the options for either integrating physical fitness training into the technique class itself or providing it through supplementation.

Students perceive positive physiological adaptations such as reductions in fatigue, improvement in general energy levels and an improved capacity in their dance classes to sustain technique and jumping ability. The importance of warm up and cool down was also commonly cited and the recognition of the relationship between fitness and injury prevention was highlighted.

It has been reference that the best dancers have an integrated combination of two talents:

knowledge of what is to be expressed and,
the physical and mental tools to accomplish that expression.

A dancer who is able to jump higher, balance longer and create illusions such as floating may not necessarily be a better dancer, but he / she does have the advantage of a greater range of tools with which to produce the desired images of dance choreography. Although a topic of continual debate, more recent research has since indicated that a fitter dancer is a better dancer.

Body Conditioning is provided at our King Street Studios location only on a Tuesday.

Commercial & Street

Commercial Dance

A commercial dance class is exactly what it says on the tin – commercial! This is the type of dance you see backing dancers do in music videos, TV shows and adverts, it is what is out there in the commercial world for everyone to see. This type of dance’s aim is to predominantly entertain audiences, to sell artists, products, etc. Commercial dance does not have a specific technique (i.e there is no dance technique called “commercial technique” and if there is they are robbing people!) This doesn’t mean you do not need technique to perform commercial dance well – often commercial dance incorporates elements of technical dance styles including street, contemporary, jazz, ballet, etc and those dancers you see on screen have had a variety of technical training as they understand versatility is key to becoming a successful commercial dancer within the industry. Commercial dance classes usually consist of learning a routine rather than technique or freestyle.

New routines are also usually taught each class. Commercial classes are a great way to learn to pick up choreography fast and work on your performance skills, however to succeed as a commercial dancer it would be a good idea to also include some more technical dance classes including those in street styles.

Street Dance

Street dance is an umbrella term for a variety of street styles including, but not limited to; Breaking, Hip Hop, House, Vogue, Locking, Popping, Waacking and Krump. All street styles are social dances – meaning they are party dances/done with friends. Each street style is a standalone style and has its own origins, history and culture, groove and intention and technique/foundations.

A great Street Dance class should focus on and incorporate one or more of these street styles/techniques during the class. Some classes might focus on learning and building on the authentic styles and foundation moves while others may focus on teaching routines with the groove and authentic moves of street styles included in those routines. Some might do a combination of both – all are valid Street Dance classes.

At our Tuesday Commercial / Street Dance we explore one authentic street style per term as we feel this unique method allows children to really learn each style in depth during their dance class and allows time for them to embody the technique and develop their creativity within the style. Taking ownership of their learning and really progressing within the style including their own freestyle/response to the music, as well as learning routines, helps them grow them into versatile street dancers.

If you are watching a class and it does not incorporate the foundations or the posture and groove of Street Dance, you are looking at a commercial class!

Classes are held at our centre at King Street Studios only. Please see the timetable for availability at each location.

Modern

Modern dance is a dance form that developed in the early twentieth century, partly in reaction to the traditional, more highly technical forms of dance such as ballet. Modern dance in America was pioneered by Ruth St. Denis and Martha Graham during the 1920's,30's & 40's and rose to prominence in the 1950, 1960s, and 1970s with outstanding choreographers such as Alvin Ailey and Bob Fosse.

The early modern dance pioneers of the 1920s through the 1940s broke boundaries by not only creating new ways of movement and examining new themes, but by changing the way people thought about dance. But with the onset of growing developments in fields of psychology and sociology in the 1960s, and with exploding trends in both music and art evolving, dance followed suit. Widespread attitudes of rebellion and change influenced a new generation of choreographers who became known as the postmodern generation. Postmodern dance experimented in ways that had more in common with the dada movement in art than the architectural or literary movements of postmodernism.

While some argued that postmodern dancers had lost much of what was valuable to dance, others felt that the 1960s broadened the scope of possibility for dance, and that the rejection of form and content was necessary to strip dance of built up pretension.

Contemporary dancers are taking modern dance to yet another level by actively blending dance forms from all over the world. Using ballet, tap, modern, jazz, and world dance forms to create fusion dances it is proving to be a means of helping transcend boundaries of nationality, gender, and race, and offering a more unifying aspect to the artistic expression of social conscience that was so predominant during 1960s.

Modern is provided at our Kinsteignton centre for younger students and King Street Studios (Kingsteignton) location on a Tuesday for older Students as well as Mini Modern (younger students).

Musical Theatre

There are many types of dance from around the world that can include elements beyond the music and the steps. One of the most famous of these is musical theatre, a combination of songs, spoken dialogue, dancing and acting. Taking musical theatre lessons is a great way for kids to learn a variety of skills and even set themselves up for a career in the theatre.

Discovering Musical Theatre

Musical theatre is about telling a story through the use of music, dance, speech and song. The emotions are as much a part of the story as the words and these are convened in a variety of ways while the technical aspects of the theatre add to this. These productions are often just called musicals and are one of the most popular types of stage show around the world.

Musical theatre has an ancient heritage but in its modern form emerged in the 19th century through the works of Gilbert and Sullivan in the UK and Harrigan and Hart in the US. Edwardian musical comedies became popular and these gave way to breakthrough musicals such as Show Boat (1927). These were followed by some of the big name musicals that we all still enjoy today including West Side Story (1957), Les Miserables (1985) and The Phantom of the opera (1986).

Musicals can be big budget events such as those held in Broadway or the West End productions of London. But they can also be small, held in fringe theatres, regional productions or even by touring companies. Amateurs and school groups can easily access this form of dance and performance and host their own musicals so it is a great way for kids to get involved in dance.

Musical Theatre Lessons

Muscial Theatre Lessons in North Tyneside are held at Jade Harrison School of Dance and they include teaching children and young adults a range of performance skills to develop an eventual professional skill, increase confidence in performing or just have fun. Musical Theatre Lessons are held by a trained teacher and include a range of different skills.

The exact syllabus of musical theatre lessons can change depending on the teacher and the school but can include a number of the following elements:

Small scale project performances to learn the basics of a role and getting used to working with others in a production
Singing lessons including working on speaking while on stage
Dance and movement lessons including different dance styles depending on the focus of the course
Acting lessons including building a character, improvisation and sight reading

Once the basics have been learned, then the work becomes to integrate everything together and make their debut on a show, even if it just behind closed doors.

The Benefits of Studying Musical Theatre

This all helps children build their confidence and learn a range of skills that move beyond dance and can help them in life even if they decide not to follow a career in musical theatre. Performing in front of others is a great stepping stone for public speaking and interviews while self-confidence and the ability to express themselves build on areas that children often find difficult.

Musical theatre classes are available at our Kingsteignton location only.

ACRO Dance

Acro Dance Classes

Choosing which style of dance would be best for your little one can be a daunting task. There are many dance classes in Torquay and surrounding areas that teach various genres, so how do you know which one is right for your child? Acro dance classes offer a wide array of benefits, including increasing strength, flexibility, and coordination in students. So, what is Acro dance & It’s a style of dance that combines classical techniques with acrobatic elements. While all dance is physical, this form is particularly athletic and has unique choreography due to its use of acrobatics in a dance environment.

We run Acro dance at our Kingsteignton centre on Saturday mornings for ages 7 and above and also run Mini Acro for younger students at our King Street Studio centre on Tuesdays.

Strength

Acro dance classes will not only work to improve your child`s confidence and coordination, but they also have serious strength-building properties as well. You child may not even realise they’re building up muscle, but great upper and lower-body strength is needed in Acro dancing. The acrobatic elements and aerial stunts that are common in routines require performers to have the muscle strength to support themselves, as well as partners sometimes. Acro dance lessons will help your little one strengthen their muscles, often without them even realising it.

Flexibility and Balance

Acro dance is great for increasing flexibility, which can help ease post-exercise soreness and joint pain as you get older. Genres like ballet and Acro require great flexibility and balance to carry out the stunts and aerial walks that are usually in routines. The more flexible your child is, the better range of motion they’ll have with their muscles. Help your little one keep their muscles and joints healthy from a young age!

Confidence

Acro is often regarded as one of the most difficult genres of dance to learn, so mastering some moves will definitely give students a confidence boost. Any style of dance is bound to increase confidence, but it’s no secret that Acro, as for Ballet, takes a little extra effort and finesse to conquer. Once your little one sees the improvement they’ll inevitably make with the assistance of our talented dance instructors, they’ll get a boost in confidence that’ll radiate into all parts of their lives. You’ll see the difference in their demeanor at home and school—gaining confidence in one area will help them be confident in others, as well.

Coordination

Acro dance classes are the ideal option for those looking to improve their overall coordination. The acrobatic element of this dance takes an incredible amount of discipline and coordination to learn. Memorising intricate choreography and moves like cartwheels, chest stands, hand springs, and hand walking will promote heightened levels of coordination.

Reduce Stress

While Acro dance is an art, it’s also a great way to relieve stress for those who enjoy it. The everyday stresses of school and just growing up can be left behind once your child steps into the studio. Instead of focusing on looming homework and upcoming projects, they can put all their energy into focusing on the task at hand—leaning and mastering dance moves. For the time they’re in the studio, you can rest assured that your child won’t have anything else to worry about other than focusing on their routine.

Wendy Sandercock Academy of Dance - Acro Dance 3

Self-Expression

Acro dance lessons can give students an emotional outlet to release their feelings in a safe space. They’ll be able to express themselves through movement and learn how to channel their energy into positivity. This is a fantastic coping mechanism for any young child to have, as they can carry it into adulthood and continue to use dance as their outlet rather than choose a more destructive habit.

Sociability

Getting out and taking dance classes can help your child improve their social skills, along with their physical ones. They’ll be put into a group setting and work with others who have similar interests and are in the same age group. This will give them an opportunity to meet children outside school and make friends in a different environment. While your little one works to memorise routines and perfect their Acro dance moves, they’ll be able to bond with other children who have a shared interest.

Qualifications

Our Acro instructors are fully qualified in their chosen field of specialism and fully insured as well as being qualified in other disciplines. It is vitally important to understand and fully appreciate that sending your child to an unqualified and uninsured teacher is potentially dangerous as this activity involves elements of gymnastics / acrobatics as well as dance. This is true of any dance or gymnastics disciplines and all parents are strongly urged to ensure that their chosen school / instructor is suitably qualified and insured.

All parents are welcome to view our instructors qualifications and insurances when they enroll for classes.