Upcoming Performances

Ballet Curriculum

Click here to see a clip of Littleton Dance Academy's production of The Nutcracker

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Summer

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General Info

Pre-Ballet Division

Primary Division

Pre-Professional

Open Classes

Adult Division

Classes

Littleton Youth Ballet

Our ballet syllabus is based on a mixture of the Royal Academy of Dancing, the Vaganova method, the Danish school, aspects of Balanchine technique, the Cecchetti method, as well as the CPYB syllabus created by Marcia Dale Weary to provide students with a well-rounded ballet technique. We want our dancers to be strong and versatile which is essential in today’s dance world. We realize that not all of our students will ultimately choose a career in ballet. Some may decide to go into different forms of dance or theatre and we hope to prepare them for this as well by offering other dance classes besides ballet, such as tap, jazz, and hip hop. Ultimately we hope all of our students will have a lifelong love of dance and become well-educated supporters of this beautiful art form. Our ballet program is divided into three divisions: the Pre-Ballet Division, the Primary Ballet Division, and the Pre-Professional Division.

Non-ballet classes are described on our
Open Classes Page.

Ballet Level Placement
At LDA we group classes by ability not by age. Sometimes we may have a 5 year old dancing next to a 9 year old. This may seem frustrating at first but with hard work students may quickly catch up with their age group (or even surpass it). When a student is ready to progress to the next level we will move them up (even if it is mid-year).
Here are three examples of LDA students who didn’t start at age 6 or 7.
 
Regina
Regina is fifteen years old and is now in Ballet VII, which is our highest level. However, she only started dancing October 2009 at age 13. Because she was previously a competitive gymnast she was able to jump into a Ballet III class. She did not let the fact that she was the oldest in the class bother her and in less than two years she has been able to move up five levels. She works hard and comes to classes five to six days a week. Her first Nutcracker appearance was as a Toy Soldier and Angel; the following year she was one of our Clara’s.

Abby
Abby is sixteen years old and had previously studied jazz at LDA but never studied ballet until August 2010. She was given the choice of taking part in the Adult Division or starting in the Primary Division. She decided to try the Primary Division and started taking class with six year olds who were the not even as tall as Abby’s long legs! She continued to work hard and is now (one year later) in Ballet VI with her age group. She also comes six days a week and continues to improve on a regular basis.

Emily
The first time Emily came to watch class, she was eight years old and had some previous dance training at another studio. However, she didn’t know enough to be in Ballet II and was placed in a Ballet I class which she began in June 2010. She was older than all the other girls and occasionally got frustrated but she kept working hard. She was moved into Ballet II by the end of the summer. This summer she participated in the Junior Summer Intensive and after spending a summer in Ballet III, Emily was just moved into the Ballet IV class.