Senn Arts Dance
Senn Arts Dance offers a comprehensive variety of performance and theory-based courses including four years of performance-based technical skills courses, an examination of choreography, dance history, and production design, and a rigorous physical practice emphasizing proper conditioning, technique, and nutrition. The Senn Arts Dance program seeks to transform young dancers into powerful and expressive artists with the skills and versatility to perform in a variety of dance genres. Additionally, our partnerships with members of the Chicago dance community allow students the opportunity to work firsthand with dance professionals to gain practical insight into the inside workings of the dance world.
Mr. Evan Hoffman, [email protected]
First & Second Year Dance
The first and second year dance students are exposed to the technical, creative, and physical practices and perspectives of movement. Students explore dance history as well as classical dance forms, specifically ballet, jazz, and modern techniques; improvisation; dance composition; somatic practices; and cultural dance. Technical skills such as alignment, balance, rhythm, and coordination are addressed, as are expressive skills, such as dynamics and intention. In other words, you get your foundational experience in becoming an artist!
Third & Fourth Year Dance
The third and fourth year programs build from the foundational technique learned in year one and two. These years involve an increased development of dance vocabulary along with an embodied sense of self confidence and expression. A deepening of vocabulary occurs through mind/body connections, compositional tools, dance history and culture, and a variety of approaches to movement. Students will learn to clarify artistic intention as addressed via collaboration, writing exercises, and physical expression. Both intellectual and physical articulation are necessary skills in becoming a successful dance artist.
IB Dance
In the fourth year, Senn Arts students experience the rigorous exploration of physical potential through an IB level class. In this year of advanced dance study students hone their artistic craft by expanding their own individual movement vocabulary, analyzing performance techniques, and exploring choreographic concepts to develop unique, innovative choreography. Students will be involved in a variety of choreographic projects and serve as mentors to younger students in the program.