Acting I
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This class introduces a variety of sensory and imagination building techniques as well as foundational skills of the Meisner Technique, an actor training technique developed by Sanford Meisner, one of the founding members of the instrumental Group Theater. The first semester begins with foundational exercises to train the actor's reflexes toward behavioral truth within imaginary circumstances. Once this layer of work has been established, the students begin to apply themselves to scripted text.
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Acting II
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This class continues the work that began in Acting I. Building upon the use of repetition and related activities, the class will explore techniques for deeper emotional commitment and more fully realized immersion in the given circumstances. Students will learn how to craft specific character based relationships based on the text and on the behavioral choices of their acting partner.
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Audition Technique
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The study of musical and non-musical based audition techniques aimed at mastering monologues, cold readings, sides, and all peripheral elements that contribute to a successful audition. Included in the class with be a unit of work focused on professional preparation and the business of acting covering topics related to casting, audition prep, head shots and resumes, personal style, awareness of type, and current trends in the profession.
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Song Interpretation
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This course introduces students to the techniques and comprehensive disciplines required for interpreting the various styles of the musical theatre canon. It is designed to provide exposure to the script, score and artistic analysis necessary for successful interpretation of the song. Students will concentrate on safe and effective ways to sing songs from various periods of musical theatre, ranging from the distant past to present day.
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Ballet I
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This class provides a highly disciplined and developmentally appropriate sequence of ballet training. In class training focuses upon building strength, flexibility, musicality, and coordination. The class will cover the basics of placement/alignment, turnout, line of positions, port a bras, quality of movement, class etiquette, ballet terminology, and the knowledge base necessary to move forward in the dance sequence.
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Ballet II
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This class provides a more advanced level of ballet training. In class training builds upon the work of the first semester with continued emphasis on strength, flexibility, musicality, and coordination. This class will review and expand upon the French terminology and introduce some Russian terms as well. There will be opportunities to learn about the history of dance, current trends, and masters of the art form. Dance audition technique will be introduced and appropriate performance opportunities will be provided.
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Ballroom Dance
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Ballroom dance is the art of partnering. In this course, students will study no less than two standard dance forms selected from but not limited to the following: Fox Trot, Swing, Tango, Waltz, Quick Step, Salsa. Ballroom dance helps actors to develop confidence, stage presence, and increases their physical, emotional and rhythmic sensitivity. Many of the requisite skills can be applied directly to scene work and quality acting. In this course, each dancer will lead as well as follow.
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Jazz/Theatre Dance I
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This class is designed to teach each student the correct alignment and specific techniques necessary for advancement within this and all dance genres. Class is aimed at increasing strength, flexibility, endurance, and the ability to learn and retain choreography. In additional to practical application of technique in class, students will also be introduced to the history and the major choreographers of Jazz and Musical Theatre Dance.
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Jazz/Theatre Dance II
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This class is designed to build upon all the work introduced in the first semester. More advanced work is incorporated including greater challenges in the warm up, across the floor work, centering, and combinations. An emphasis this semester is placed upon audition decorum, preparation, and conduct; incorporating mini-auditions and call backs. Students are guided to employ the acting and storytelling elements of dance
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Comedy
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This course is designed to help students identify their own brand of humor and to guide the discoveries made in class to the comic demands within the art of musical theatre. The class will also expose the students to the various types of comedy that exist, further helping the student to find ways to comically engage with a wide array of material.
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History of Musical Theatre
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This course teaches students to identify prominent figures in both early and modern theatre; including composers, lyricists, performers, directors, choreographers, and producers. Students study the effects of the great historical events and trends that affected the art form from turn of the last century to today.
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Improvisation
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Students will explore the fundamental principles of improvisation and how it enhances and applies to all of their performance work. Working in pairs and groups, the students will create improvised scenes and environments, explore character, learn to trust instincts, and practice making honest, fully committed choices. With the introduction of music and lyrical components, students will apply all the same principles, but with an emphasis on genre, ensemble support, and fully invested song improvisation.
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Performance Lab I
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This is a performance-based class that approaches musical theater the same way an actor explores text in a play. During the course, each student will develop necessary skills to thoughtfully investigate material in order to combine organic choices in movement, acting and singing. Students will explore the fundamentals of text analysis and research in order to provide intentions, stakes and conflict for each character in a variety of contrasting musical theater genres.
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Performance Lab II
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This class is a playground to gain confidence in performance and solidify the process of character development and analysis learned in Performance Lab I. The foundation of work in the class will originate from the interpretive choices, given circumstances, and style of the chosen material. From this foundation we will explore various techniques to activate performance physically, vocally and emotionally. Attention is given to activating choices, exploring transformational characters, and acting within an ensemble.
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Pop Rock I
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This class is class designed to introduce musical theatre students to basic concepts of Pop Rock singing. Students will learn a brief history of Pop Rock and its place in the Musical Theatre Repertoire. Special emphasis will be placed on finding material that is successful for each individual voice and sung in a healthy manner that aligns with the acting demands of the song.
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Music Theory
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This class teaches students to be literate in the written language of music. Actors who have the ability to read music fluently have a much easier time learning songs and can do so without the help of a coach or musical director. Actors who read music are acknowledged in the industry as a valuable commodity. A professional musical theatre actor known to be a good music reader is much more likely to be hired than one who is illiterate. Sight singing is the ability to sing what is notated at a glance, the equivalent of a "cold read" in scene work. It requires the ability to identify intervals immediately and sing them correctly, and in time.
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Stage and Film Combat
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This course covers the fundamental principals of unarmed stage and film combat. With emphasis on safety, students will learn a basic vocabulary of slaps, punches, kicks, hair pulls, rolls, and other fight related illusions. Angles for stage masking and camera viability are learned, allowing each student to know how best to enact a safe and effective moment of physical violence for stage and screen.
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Ensemble Practicum I
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This course is designed to help students increase knowledge of rehearsal techniques, professional behavior, and musical skills. Students will receive practice in ensemble singing in large groups, duets, trios, and small group numbers. In addition to the pedagogical instruction, the class is the practicum studio for assembling music suitable for showcase consideration.
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Ensemble Practicum II
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This course continues building upon the work of the first semester. Music selections are found and techniques are learned for effective development and performance of songs. Special emphasis is applied to duo, trio, or ensemble works. Selections are rehearsed and prepared for possible inclusion in the showcase event.
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Voice and Speech I
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In this class, students work with basic elements of preparing the body for authentic phonation, breath support, auditory sensory awareness and the freeing the natural voice. Students study the effective production of pure vowels and diphthongs, consonant action, and the interplay of the spoken word within imaginary circumstances. Teachers may make exercise substitutions while maintaining learning goals.
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Voice and Speech II
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In this class, students retain continued work on resonance and work with intermediate elements of speech, such as obstruent and diphthong differentiation, heavy or light consonants, intonation and meaning, personal point of view, and integration of growing verbal skills. Students also learn the value of dialect and work towards expressive and effective mastery of general American speech. Teachers may make exercise substitutions while maintaining learning goals.
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Tap I
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Introduction to the basic Tap dance principles and techniques. Tap is a style of American theatrical dance, distinguished by percussive foot work, which marks out precise rhythmic patterns on the floor. This class will focus on Broadway style Tap dancing, incorporating warm up, drills, standard Tap steps, terminology, and performance combinations.
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Scene Study
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This course is taught using musical and non-musical dialogue, music, and lyrics in an active, tangible scene study format. Partners are used in the scene study portion, as well as group assignments. The course is based on the teachings of Sanford Meisner and how his theories apply to musical theatre performance. This course is designed to teach students how to analyze the components of musical theatre (dialogue, music, and lyrics) and implement their analysis in an application of Meisner based principles.
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Voice Studio Lab
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This course is designed to introduce students to the theory and practice that forms the basic functional skills of vocal production and singing. Topics include: breathing, muscular and air support, diction, the vocal anatomy, tone production, vowel and consonant modification, resonance and vocal health. Students will also develop a greater self-awareness, confidence and the tools of expression that are essential in singing.
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Pop Rock II
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With the infiltration of pop/rock material into new musical theatre and into the audition room, students will learn the dramatic value of pop/rock music, understand the necessity of creating their own characters (themselves) and journeys within a song and/or cut, and understand the cultural significance of pop/rock music throughout the decades. They will develop a strong pop/rock section to their audition books, explore various vocal sounds and styles within the healthy limits of their training, and find new ways to physicalize their performances. Students will also learn how to cut their songs into fully realized 16-32 bar arcs, learning how to cut the fat and hone in on creating the strongest, most melodic and powerful journeys.
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Singing for the Camera
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This class concentrates on microphone and studio work, preparing and recording vocal tracks, and mastery of the art of lip synch. Students will record their tracks at a professional recording studio, receiving in-studio coaching from a professional studio engineer, and getting valuable experience that will apply directly to their work in the Movie Musical Project.
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Performance Lab III
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This class concentrates on advancing performance techniques within a variety of circumstances using scenes and songs that best support and challenge each individual student. There is continued work on characterization and choosing a strong point of view to activate quality acting and inspire creativity. As a second year class, the expectations are for a high level of work and a high level of fully committed performances.
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Voice and Speech III
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This class builds upon all preceding speech work; continuing to correct inefficient or awkward speech habits while learning and applying new, more effective speech elements. In carefully scheduled units and working in teams as well as individually, students will learn and practice various standard dialects. More focused speech work will be aimed at solving regionalisms or cultural dialects that impede the process of delivering clear, meaningful, and accurate use of language.
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Acting III
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This course builds upon the work in Acting II, continuing with the work of building relationships and heightened levels of communication. This semester introduces more sophisticated acting challenges, high stakes objectives, physical and vocal impediments, and the process of characterization.
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Ballet III
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This class provides the next level of advanced ballet training. In-class training builds upon the work of the first two semesters with continued emphasis on strength, flexibility, musicality, and coordination. Students will learn subtleties of movement while executing steps, develop an understanding of the dynamics of music and musical phrasing, absorb the virtues of clarity, exact timing, and practice complex variations at the barre and in the center. Dance audition techniques will continue and appropriate performance opportunities will be provided.
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Jazz/Theatre Dance III (Dance on Film)
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Students continue building on everything learned during their 1st year as dancers and are pushed even further with center work, across the floor and center combinations. They will also add a focus on Dance on Film where students learn how to pitch an idea, then create and produce their own short (3-4 minutes) dance on film group project. This focus helps to tie in the unique abilities of working with in a school where film and film production plays such a prominent role. It also helps to prepare Musical Theatre students for the real world where you must be ready to not only perform in any medium i.e. stage or screen, but to also compete in todays market where actors who are capable of creating their own quality projects will have an edge in the industry.
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Shakespeare in Musical Theatre
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This class is focused on revealing Shakespeare’s plays and texts in ways that illuminate how those powerful plays have directly and indirectly impacted the Musical Theatre art form. Various approaches are introduced aimed at giving the student an introduction to Shakespeare. Students will explore speeches, songs and scenes from across the canon of both Shakespeare and Musical Theatre works. Special emphasis will be placed on the full appreciation of both forms and the contribution of Shakespeare’s work to Musical Theatre.
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Tap II
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This course emphasizes rhythm as a tool of discovery and analysis; practice in active dance and performance; and attention to audience, purpose and structure. Students will learn to produce stand-alone choreography and steps provided by the teacher and/or student. Additional emphasis will be on learning audition techniques and the ability to understand dance steps and vocabulary.
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Modern Dance
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A beginning to intermediate level of modern dance focused on applying the fundamental techniques of contact and release, fall and recovery, floor work, and improvisation. Modern dance incorporates humor and emotional rhythms that invite personal expression and individual style.
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Movement
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Movement for Musical Theatre Performance is designed to further the development and understanding of the actor's body/mind connection. This class will help the actor increase awareness, range, and physical freedom. Students will gain an enhanced understanding of the anatomical design of the body, postural coordination, and breath/movement connection. The class is aimed at a fundamental understanding of the importance of movement, space, weight, and time as theatrical principles. This class will also foster a collaborative approach to theatre through partner work and ensemble building projects.
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Acting for Film I
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In this class students will develop acting skills specific to acting for the camera. Students will film improvisations and scripted moments, receiving in-class feedback with the ability to study the work in playback. Special emphasis will be on effective listening/reacting, attention to eye line, repeatable action, and the modulation of voice and action.
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Movie Musical Prep I
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This course initiates the process of creating an original half hour movie musical. Early classes concentrate on the study of the form and content of several movie musical genres. Based on ideas generated from group discussion, students and the teacher consider story lines. As the process unfolds, a first draft of a script is developed. Students visit a professional studio to learn now to lay down tracks and use the studio time to its fullest. An artistic team is assembled including a professional composer. Working with in-house producers, the practical consideration of future shooting schedules is established.
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Performance Lab IV
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This class builds upon all previous performance labs. Students are challenged each week to perform songs at the uppermost level of their talent. The bar is raised in this class to a level matching the expectations of the current Broadway marketplace. Students will be expected to rise to the highest, most professional level of performance. In this class, material will be selected to match each individual student’s most viable marketplace type. Some material worked on and developed in this class could be used in a final showcase or performance event.
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Acting IV - Advanced Acting for Musicals
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This course is a laboratory “capstone” class, integrating all previous acting work as it now applies to current trends and available work within the musical theatre genre. Exercises and assignments are employed to address individual student acting challenges, building a degree of confidence and ownership with specific material. Special emphasis will be on retaining truthful behavior regardless the circumstances and professional demands.
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Advanced Musical Theatre Audition Technique
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This performance workshop provides students with the techniques and skills necessary to navigate professional musical theatre audition settings at the Broadway level. Posture, side preparation, musical arrangements and a complete discussion of the current casting requirements are discussed. This course also incorporates pertinent information about the business of acting and often includes industry guests for structured dialogue and feedback.
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Movie Musical Prep II
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Building upon the first semester, this class now moves forward into the second phase of the creative process. Students relinquish the input regarding script and story and begin to work exclusively on the song, dance, and acting challenges. Locations are scouted, and the class launches into the final stages of rehearsal and preparation for a full week of shooting.
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Movie Musical Project
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This course engages the students in the practical application of shooting a short form movie musical. Over the course of a week to ten full days of shooting, each student has the opportunity to practice meeting all of the demands of acting, singing, and dancing within a professionally modeled movie musical. Special emphasis is placed upon character development, on-set preparation, professional behavior, as well as attention to matching action, emotional arc, framing sensibility, and meeting the challenges of each day of shooting.
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Acting for Film II
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In this class students will continue to develop acting skills that are specific to acting for the camera. Students will continue to focus on the technicalities of the craft. Students will develop final films through the use of improvisation and character exercises. Students will participate in a four-day production workshop that simulates a professional film environment. Advanced acting on film skills and exercises will be addressed during this class, such as listening/reacting, realizations in close-ups, and importance of continuity. Successful completion of this course will give students skills to successfully work on camera and behave professionally on a film set/shoot.
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The Director’s Perspective
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While every director will have his or her unique vision and way of working, there are a number of expectations and professional standards directors from the world of musicals all have in common. This class teaches the most up to date rehearsal procedures and provides all the pertinent information a performer needs to comfortably interact and collaborate with a wide range of directorial personalities and approaches.
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Ballet IV
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This class is the final semester of ballet. In class training builds upon the work of all previous semesters with continued emphasis on strength, flexibility, musicality, and coordination. This class will focus on excellence in form and the application of technique to dramatic and comic interpretation. Dance audition technique will continue and appropriate performance opportunities will be provided.
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Jazz/Theatre Dance IV
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Students continue building on everything learned during their 1st year as dancers and are pushed even further with center work, across the floor and center combinations. In addition, students do a study of dance on film. They watch an original movie musical dance number and discuss the storyline, history and character of the number. Then the students physically learn the same choreography. Students learn theater dance choreography that is furthering their dance technique, ability to pick up choreography quickly, execute choreography while maintaining a character and presentation. Focus in class is on learning new advanced choreography every class. The material is similar to a professional level NYC dance class or audition. Students learn more about the reality of the Broadway theater dance expectations.
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Hip Hop Dance
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This class is designed to teach the basic elements of hip-hop dance. Students learn the teacher’s warm-up and learn to isolate body parts, learn top rock for break dance, house dance movement, popping, waving as well as other forms of hip hop dance and street styles to warm them up before stretching. Emphasis will also be placed on core strength training, musicality, audition techniques, and finding each student’s own style of hip-hop dance.
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Tap III
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Building upon the core techniques and vocabulary established in Tap I and Tap II, students will address choreographic structures to better anticipate and adapt to professional audition situations. This class emphasizes proficiency on both sides, recreation of steps through vocabulary, rhythm, and visual cues, and the adoption of various styles.
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Voice Over
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This course will introduce each student to the practical tools and experiences unique to the world of professional voice over work. Students will learn how to modulate their voice and speech for studio conditions, interpret copy from a variety of voice-over sources, and come to an appreciation of their unique voice over strengths. Each student in the class will be supplied at the end with a sample of their most successful audio recordings.
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