Thank you for choosing Dovetail Studios for your dance and theatre studies.  We are excited to have you with us and looking forward to an exciting year of dance.

Our staff, professional dancers and teachers with degrees in dance, take teaching your children very seriously in order to provide a fun and thorough dance education.  As a staff we have annual pedagogy meetings, to ensure that our dancers are getting similar information no matter who their teachers are.  Each teacher has a unique teaching style but adhere to our class syllabi.  In our hip hop classes, our teachers specialize in street dance forms. Hip Hop has a cultural legacy that is preserved by teaching the authentic forms of hip hop such as breaking, popping, locking, vogueing, whacking and house dance.

What to expect at Dovetail Studios

Dovetail runs three sessions per year; fall ( August-December), winter ( January-June), summer (July-August).  At Dovetail, we think about our classes over a year long period, divided into two main sessions, preparing for our annual performance in June. Summer classes are shorter to accommodate vacations and camps.

An overview of our classes

Tiny Tots class is for kids ages 3-4 years old, Pre-Ballet is for kids ages 5-6. Pre-Hip Hop starts at age 6.  Youth classes start at age 7, although some of our youth classes begin at 8 years old. Youth classes include hip hop, ballet, tumbling, contemporary jazz, modern, musical theatre, and tap.  Students are placed in classes based on age, experience and teacher recommendation.

If there are questions about what classes to enroll in, please reach out.

What we recommend

By the time your child turns 7 years old, they are developmentally ready to increase the number of dance classes taken in a week. For children older than 7, it becomes even more necessary to participate more than once a week.

In any physical activity, repetition is key for developing a skill more quickly. Muscle and cognitive memory improve the more an individual practices a skill. In dance, where so many small muscles are used, dancers progress efficiently and quickly the more classes they take. A dancer not only has to learn proper coordination and placement, but they are also learning musicality and memorizing patterns; it’s a lot of work!  Enrolling in at least two dance classes a week will help a dancer with these skills, plus build self confidence and enjoyment for dance, as they see how much better they become.

We encourage all dancers at Dovetail who are at least 7-8 yrs and older to take more than one dance class per week. If your child is interested in ballet, then it is even more important to take two ballet classes per week.

Competition Company

For dancers that are interested in pursuing a more intense focus on dance, we offer our competition company for children ages 7 and older.  For more information on the requirements to join, please see our competition page on our website.