Creating opportunities for young dancers

We don’t teach kids to be great dancers, we teach dance to make great kids! This single sentence is the core of the studio; it is what we base every single one of our classes on.

When children come to dance class they are learning so much more than dance steps.  The skills these dancers are learning go way beyond the dance floor.  We are helping to shape these children into confident, ambitious, poised, determined young adults.

Creating Opportunities

Being in a smaller community has its advantages, we live in a safe community we have good schools, we even know our neighbors.  The downside is there are not enough opportunities for young artists.

In metropolitan areas, there is a multitude of classes, workshops, and auditions to attend.  Any opportunity a dancer could want is easily accessible. Where we live, for dancers to have the experience of learning from a Master Teacher or a celebrity choreographer or even go see a show is an hour drive!    This is why we bring in master teachers from LA; give in-house audition opportunities and why we started the Ballet Company of East County.  We want to bring “big city” opportunities to our small town dancers!  Each year ECPAC brings in multiple master teachers to work with eager dancers; this plan will continue over the years and expanded to our in-house dance convention, Elevate, and plans for a future performance space.

Performing Our Hearts Out

For many of these dancers, their favorite part of dance classes is performing.  At ECPAC we want to encourage dancers to do what makes them happy the most so we are actively performing studio in the community all year long; going well beyond the annual end of year showcase.  Our yearly performances consist of Little Stars Holiday Show for our dancers 7 and under, our spring ballet Storytelling and the classic holiday ballet, The Nutcracker. Our non-competitive Performing Company delights audiences about 10 times per year and our Competition Team attended 6 competitions and travels to a National Competition every year. We also have a musical theater program to expose kids to all aspects of performing arts!

Shaping a Community of Leaders

Currently, ECPAC offers a Teacher Training program.  This is a fantastic way for dancers 11 and older to get in the studio and start mentoring younger dancers.  We are giving them a leadership skill they will really be able to use later on in life.   We want to continue to inspire leaders so we are a chapter of the National Honor Society for Dance Arts.  This program gives dancers a way to qualify their time at the studio when they are applying for colleges and scholarships.

The Journey Continues

We want dancers to realize that they have options when they graduate from ECPAC.

We are training them in a way that provides options when they leave.  We encourage every dancer to go to a 4 year college but we also understand that may not be the right path for every kid.

There are so many opportunities for dancers to make a long term career or to just have a great life experience.  There is work at local amusement parks for entertainers. Disney has performing opportunities abound.  Between their parks worldwide, cruises, tv, and Broadway shows they can provide dancers a lifelong career.  Dancers can even choose to see the world while dancing on a cruise ship.  Even if they want to teach classes at the local dance studio while in college.  We want our dancers to know all these opportunities are available to them.

We offer around 200 classes per week to 500 individual students who take over 1,300 hours of class per week!  That equals many smiles, hugs, and chances for teachers to make a difference…too many to count!  We are grateful for those opportunities each and every day.

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