Adult Division

The Hiland’s Adult Division offers a range of classes to meet the needs of adults from the complete beginner to the returning professional. Classes are taught by excellent faculty in a variety of styles, and are a wonderful opportunity for exercise, creative expression, and connecting with and creating new friends in the adult dance community. Performance opportunities for adults are pending.

Dancers in the Adult Division are not charged a registration fee and are not required to enroll in or make a commitment to a specific program year. Classes are on a drop-in basis and are available at a drop-in rate of $12 or through a discounted $100 10-class punch card.

Adult Intermediate Modern

Monday: 6:30 p.m. – 7:45 p.m.
Teaching Artist: Elana Denise Anderson, PhD

This class is a continuation of Adult Beginning Modern. It is a movement practice based upon and rooted in the modern dance technique of Lester Horton, a foundational, codified, body-conditioning technique that allows dancers of all abilities to witness and direct their own progress. The class is structured in the same way as the Adult Beginning Modern class, but with a deeper dive into the warm-up exercises, preludes, and fortifications of the technique.

Adult Tap Choreography/Improv

Tuesday: 5:45 p.m. – 6:45 p.m.
Teaching Artist: Feli Blea

This class will help build confidence around improvisation and is broken down in an easy to digest way. The choreography portion is the foundation from which we will begin to become more comfortable with new steps. Those steps will then be implemented in our improvisation.

Adult Fusion Dance

Tuesday: 6:45 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Teaching Artist: Feli Blea

This is a class made to express different movements of the body using multiple forms of dance. For reference, jazz, flamenco, ballet, modern, salsa, and hip hop will all have their part in the curriculum. Stretch and strength will be one of the focal points of this course along with bi-weekly combinations that help put those learned movements into action.

Adult Beginning/Intermediate Ballet

Wednesday: 7:15 p.m. – 8:15 p.m.
Teaching Artist: Elana Denise Anderson, PhD

Classical Ballet is a beautiful art form that, introduced or reconnected to as an adult, can be deeply gratifying. This class is a gentle and yet rigorous exploration of Ballet as an exercise regimen and therapeutic practice. The main styles of Enriqué Cecchetti and Agrippina Vaganova are used to provide adults with a basic understanding of ballet technique, including barre work, center practice, traveling, and réverance.

Adult Beginning/Intermediate Tap

Thursday: 5:45 p.m. – 6:45 p.m.
Teaching Artist: Feli Blea

This class is an introduction to tap, where we get comfortable in our tap shoes (our instruments). We work on basic steps and techniques that will eventually help us with combinations as the year progresses.

Teen/Adult Intermediate/Advanced Tap

Thursday: 6:45 p.m. – 7:45 p.m.
Teaching Artist: Feli Blea

This class is for returning dancers that are prepared to advance to the next level. The exercises are more complex, and our speed will increase as the class continues. We will work on some tricky steps, but rhythm and tempo will be the main focus.

Adult Beginning Modern

Thursday: 7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Teaching Artist: Elana Denise Anderson, PhD

This class introduces the modern technique of Lester Horton in a way that lengthens, strengthens, and fortifies the body. Using music from all genres, dancers will approach this practice from a meditative standpoint, with guided focal points from the teaching artists regarding proper alignment, execution, and personal expression. Each class includes warm-up exercises and a culminating combination.

Adult Hip-Hop/Breaking

Friday: 6:00 p.m. – 7:15 p.m.
Teaching Artist: Francois Achan

The purpose of the class is to establish individual rhythm, while using the foundation of hip-hop movement to build dancer’s vocabulary. It is also designed to teach students how to adapt to what they are listening to and train them to use the vocabulary to stay on beat and show a variety of steps to do so. This class will help students develop character and presence within a hip-hop space.

Adult Afro-Latin Jazz

Saturday: 12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Teaching Artist: Brenda “Lola” Rodriguez

This Afro-Latin Jazz dance class introduces dancers to the rhythms and movements of son, descarga, cha-cha-cha, pachanga, and mambo, among others that represent the diverse rhythms of Central and West Africa. These are rhythms that integrated with the native music of Cuba, the Caribbean/West Indies, and South America. European and U.S. jazz dance forms emerged later and became popular in New York City. The focus of this class is on having fun and expressing oneself while improving body alignment, body conditioning, recognizing rhythm patterns and musicality, and creating style.