Jeannette Neill - The Intelligent Alternative

To go straight to the Children's Classes schedule, please click HERE.
To go straight to the Children's Program 2010-2011 Calendar, please click HERE.
To view the Children's Program Faculty biographies, please click HERE.
DOWNLOAD our current brochure with complete schedule and registration form.

Our Philosophy

Since it was founded more than thirty years ago, The Jeannette Neill Dance Studio has become one of the most respected centers of dance education in the country and is renowned internationally for its preservation and presentation of jazz dance. Likewise, The Jeannette Neill Children's Dance Program (JNCDP) has provided quality dance training for children aged three to twelve for more than twenty years. Our noncompetitive approach to children's dance education develops attributes that can serve the child well throughout a lifetime. These include discipline, self-respect and self- confidence; improved learning skills; creativity, self-expression, imagination; and an instilled appreciation for music, dance and other art forms.

By emphasizing strong dance technique, the JNCDP is designed to take a child from the earliest years of dance training through the pre-teen years. At this point, the confident young dancer will be prepared to segue into Boston Youth Moves, our pre-professional teen dance program where students make dance their primary extracurricular activity, or they can study more recreationally to supplement a sport or other extracurricular activity.

Why are we the intelligent dance alternative?

Because our faculty is carefully selected to exemplify our philosophy, our teachers are dance professionals chosen for their knowledge and expertise. We limit class size so that we can provide a low teacher to student ratio.
Because we regard dance as an art form, we do not enter our children in dance competitions. At the end of the year, in lieu of traditional high-pressure recitals, our students enjoy an informal demonstration performance highlighting classroom progress and achievement. Thus our students spend the entire year in a process of continuous growth and learning.

Our focus remains on education, making the JNCDP the intelligent dance alternative.

Our Curriculum

Because young children are very different from one age to the next, we offer early classes appropriate for individual ages rather than class levels. Class leveling begins at age seven.

Creative Intro to Dance (ages 3-5) is a stimulating, fun and imaginative series of classes that introduce the fundamentals of dance while nurturing a child's agility and musicality. Students learn to follow the teacher's instructions while working in a challenging but supportive environment and interacting with their peers. Class begins with a general warm-up and stretch and introduces ballet vocabulary. By using games, props, toys and rhythm instruments, the class offers creative ways to challenge the child both mentally and physically. Five year olds are further challenged rhythmically by the addition of a fifteen-minute tap segment.

• Creative Intro to Dance 1 (3 years old) 45 minutes
• Creative Intro to Dance 2 (4 years old) 45 minutes
• Creative Intro to Dance 3 (5 years old) 60 minutes

Young Dancers (ages 6-8) is a more structured series of classes that continues to aid the development of the child's physical coordination and musicality. The ballet barre and age-appro- priate exercises are introduced and jazz becomes a component of this level. Certain gifted or more motivated students of this age may find more rapid improvement by adding another day of classes.

• Young Dancers (6 years old) 45 minutes ballet / 15 minutes tap
• Young Dancers (7 & 8 years old) 45 minutes ballet / 30 minutes jazz / 15 minutes tap

Junior Dancers (ages 9 and up) is our most structured dance series, offering children at least one ballet, jazz and tap class per week. At this level we feel it is vital to a child's improvement to dance more than once a week. Therefore we recommend adding another to the child's weekly schedule class.

• Junior Dancers (2 hours and 15 minutes) 60 minutes ballet / 45 minutes jazz / 30 minutes tap
• Junior Dancers Ballet/Jazz Intensive

These classes offer our most serious students options for gaining the technique that ballet provides and that is vital for progressing to our teen program. The Ballet/Jazz Intensive is a one-hour ballet class followed by a one-hour jazz class. To take this option, students must be enrolled in one of the regular Junior Dancers classes. Please see discount rate information under the Registration section of this brochure.

Dress Code

Girls
Ballet components - Black leotard, pink tights and pink ballet slippers. Short ballet skirts are optional.
Jazz and tap components - All black dancewear, black jazz and tap shoes.
Boys
Ballet components - White t-shirt, black jazz pants and black ballet slippers.
Jazz and tap components - All black dancewear, black jazz and tap shoes.

Registration

Upon registration, a spaced is reserved for your child for the school year (September to May). Tuition is based on the total class hours per week and is divided into two equal payments. Pre-registration is required. A $35 non-refundable annual registration fee per family is required at registration. Tuition payments may be made in two installments and are due at registration and during the first week of classes of the second semester. Credit cards will automatically be charged for second semester payments. Please mark these dates on your calendar. There is a $30 late fee and a $20 re-registration fee. 5% discount will be offered to those who pay in full at registration before 8/31/11. There is a 10% discount offered on the second class for a child taking a second class per week and a 20% discount on a third weekly class.

Checks should be made payable to The Jeannette Neill Dance Studio (JNDS). There is a $30 fee for returned checks.

Reimbursement

Registration fee is non-refundable.
Withdrawal before:
first class - 100% refund
second class - 75% refund
third class - 50% refund
No refund after third class.

To Register Your Child, complete both sides of the registration/release form and return it, along with tuition payment to The Jeannette Neill Children's Dance Program, 261 Friend Street, Boston, MA 02114. Registration may be mailed or brought in person to the studio. Please call 617/523-1355 for office hours.

Schedule of Children's Classes 2011-2012

Calendar 2011-2012