Class Descriptions

Class Descriptions

WEDDING DANCE CHOREOGRAPHY covers a wide range of styles & is taught privately using Swing, Disco, Waltz, Foxtrot, Latin/Salsa... or just moves to make you look good on your special day! No prior dance experience needed. FREE in-person consultation. One class: $85.00 per hour. Four-hour package: $300.00. Whatever your music tastes may be, we can create your first dance in a relaxed, friendly setting that makes the process FUN! To read "reviews" from other couples, go to What People Say.

JAZZ DANCE is a rhythmic, percussive dance form seen primarily in commercial venues such as Broadway shows, The Academy Awards, dance revues and music videos. Evolving from a blend of European and African traditional social dances, it assimilated into the American culture, with Ballet and Modern Dance contributing to its elegance and African Dance providing its rhythmic propulsion and percussive style.

Pop Jazz Dance In this class, FUN, high energy choreography is taught using the latest Top 40 Pop tunes & Club music. This is ideal for beginners looking to learn basic dance vocabulary & get a great workout!

Funk Jazz, as the words imply, uses movements that are "funky" in nature while maintaining its integrity as a technical dance form. Funk Jazz also incorporates some urban and Hip Hop moves into its style giving it the contemporary "music video" look.

Lyrical Jazz maintains the percussive, rhythmic characteristics that define Jazz, but it incorporates elements of Ballet and Modern Dance to give it a smooth, lengthened look and lyrical quality.

	HIP HOP is seen primarily on TV during rap and R & B music videos. It is a form that evolved out of street and brake dancing moves, and is characterized by its vigorous athletics and bouncy style. Hip Hop is danced primarily to Hip Hop, Rap and R & B music, and knee pads are needed for all levels above basic. Manhattan Motion features the diversity of several different teachers' styles, so that students can incorporate many different "looks" into their own movement vocabulary.
	BELLY DANCING also known as Middle Eastern Dance is considered the oldest dance form in existence. Belly Dancing has grown in popularity throughout Western culture in recent years, since being incorporated into many current pop videos by stars like Shakira and Madonna to name a few. Women are attracted to this form of dance due to its femininity, beauty and grace, and find that it is GREAT workout as well as a fun, challenging way to stay in shape.
	MODERN DANCE is usually a lyrical and more poetic way of moving, which evolved as dancers found the need to break away from the rigidity of Classical Ballet and express themselves using a freer style. Modern Dance is characterized by its bending of the spine into spirals and contractions as well as the use of off-center movement such as tilts and layouts. It lends itself to various types of music including Classical and New Age, and is traditionally danced barefoot.

SALSA is a form of Latin social dance, and there are many different varieties. At Manhattan Motion the instructors concentrate on teaching the footwork that breaks "on 2" otherwise known as "New York Style". Basic shines are taught in level 1 class, and there is no need to bring a partner. By the fifth class of a 6-week cycle, men & women are paired together buy the instructor to start putting those basic shine patterns into a partner format.

TAP Tap focuses on musical phrasing and the complexity of rhythms with less emphasis on the visual part and more on the challenge of "making melodies" with the feet. Most often, tap is danced to jazz based music such as Swing, Big Band, Bebop, Funk and Latin styles. Good examples of famous tap dancers, past and present, are Fred Astaire, Eleanor Powell, Gregory Hines and Savion Glover.