American Fork
Utah
Dance Philosophy
Leaps and Bounds Dance Academy is a performance-based, non-competition dance studio. We are central located in American Fork off of state street. Dance should be an affordable experience while still receiving quality technique with experienced staff. We avoid unnecessary fees and expensive costumes to allow all students that wish to dance the opportunity. Dance can be taught with proper placement and technique while still enjoying movement at its core. It can be an incredible outlet to expression emotions and we encourage that expression. At Leaps and Bounds you will not be simply another number. We care deeply about our students, their lives, their well-being, and their families. “We can’t always choose the music life plays for us, but we can choose how we dance to it.” Dance can teach lessons that go beyond movement and we hope to instill those in your dancer as they spend time with us each week.
Beyond Movement
Each week dance teaches more then just steps and dance moves. Dance can help with fundamental developmental milestones such as balance, alternating feet, counting, and imitating to name a few. In the younger age classes it also one of the first experiences in understanding concepts like sharing, taking turns, and following directions in a group setting. Friendships can be formed and learning takes place about how to be kind to one another and understanding of each other's difference. Finally, as dancers grow older they will learn disciple in overcoming the obstacles they have before them. Dance is not always easy, but as they continue to try and come back each week they can learn that with hard work anything is possible. These things all go beyond dance and teach life lessons to serve into adulthood.
Performance-based
A performance-based studio provides focus on technique while also incorporating artistry to develop into a beautiful and confident dancer and person. As the world has moved into a digital age the influence of dance as broadened. We now see dance competitions in a variety of forms. Although this style is entertaining to watch it rarely provides the truth of what dance is and can be. Most girls will not grow up to be on those shows. The competitions provided around the country for young girls to attend do not give an accurate account of their performance. Most come out winners to entice studios to continue to come back and make the dancers feel good. Life doesn’t come as easy. “We can’t always choose the music life plays for us, but we can choose how we dance to it,” is something we strongly believe in. While focusing on technique your dancer will learn the structure and beauty of dance in all its forms. As that technique continues to grow choreography will be added and performed to build confidence. Dance allows for expression of emotions that we might not otherwise be able to articulate. Through the movement we are able to release worries, stress, and cultivate structure in our lives. By taking away the competition of dance your dancer will be allowed to grow in technique, artistically, and gain confidence not only in dance, but in their ability to accomplish difficult things.
Experienced Staff
A quality teacher can make or break a learning experience. Through years of experience teaching at multiple places I have seen great teachers develop amazing dancers. I have also seen teachers flounder without proper knowledge or be overly demanding resulting in students leaving dance all together. At Leaps and Bounds Dance we will always hire teachers with knowledge and experience in their fields. We will monitor classes appropriately to ensure that all students enjoy their classes and feel uplifted and cared for by their teachers. Experienced staff will provide your dancer with quality instruction while not paying a high price for tuition. We take parent and child input very seriously and will address any concerns regarding our teachers.
Small Class Sizes
Small classes means more attention and more learning. But what does small mean? For us at Leaps and Bounds is means our younger age (up to age 8) will never be larger than 8 students in a class. Our older level classes (age 9 and older) will never be larger than 12. We don't want our dancers to feel like a number. Small numbers allow teachers and other dancers the opportunity to get to know one another in class. It also gives older dancers multiple chances for things like leaps and turns across the floor helping them grow quicker in their dance technique.
Proper Technique Emphasized
Although dance is great for exercise and having fun it’s also important to learn and grow. Having fun is definitely one of our main priorities, but not in the lack of quality technique. Without proper technique and body alignment injuries can occur. Our emphasis will always be the proper technique over pushing your dancer too far. When a dancer can learn control and strength in their youth the body benefits for years to come. By learning to listen to your body and understanding it signals you pave the path to overall better health. We will teach our dancers to recognize times to push yourself through and when it’s time to back off in order to meet their highest potential. With experienced staff that understand the body and proper technique this is easily achieved. For our ballet classes we will use the Russian Vagonova Method. This has an eight-year program that builds upon itself, teaching the dancers each step as they are ready.
Community Focused
As a business in American Fork our goal is to be community focused. Since the beginning we have tried to find opportunities to give back to the community. We have enjoyed Participating in several different community events including the Joshys House of Hope Fundraiser event, The Adventure Church Community Trunk or Treat, and the AF Turkey Trot. We have also sponsored AFHS Basketball, the AFHS Band and AF City Steel Days. It’s important to us as a company to not only be a dance studio here in American Fork, but work to grow our community to be the best it can be. We are dedicated to devoting our time and resources to help American Fork any way we can. We have a community board located in our lobby to support local businesses. We also created the Elementary PE Program where we volunteer to go and teach basic dance steps and movement to the students during PE time. It’s important for kids to be getting the exercise and movement they need to develop strong and health bodies. We are happy to provide that experience for them.
Affordable Tuition
In starting the studio, one of our main concerns was the cost. We want all to be able to participate and be given the chance to learn and grow in dance. Whether you want to simply take one class or ten we keep our costs low so you can enjoy whatever level of dance you choose. As the parent you’re in control of how much your student takes as we won’t require a certain number of hours for any level. Tuition is month to month meaning no large commitment or stress. We love dance and have seen how it can help children grow. We want to share that with you and your child. To see a list of tuition prices click here.
Short Recitals with Free Admission
While keeping fees low we feel like the success of your child should be celebrated. We will have only one fee throughout the year and it will be a performance fee. This will help us be able to rent a facility to hold a yearly recital. We will keep this fee as low as possible. After that fee, however, we want you to invite as many people as you would like to watch your child on stage. There will be no cost to the parents or any of your invited guests. As far as keeping things short we find this incredibly important. We love our children and want to see their cute smiling faces as they shine on stage. What most parents don’t want is to watch their child for 2 minutes and spend 2 hours watching others kids. Our goal is to keep our recitals between 45 and 60 minutes even if that means breaking them up into separate performances. We hope this will provide and positive experience of performing for the child and parent.