Long Island City School of Ballet Ballet Pre Ballet Pre Dance Parent and 2’s Sports Dance of the THE QUEENS QueensCourier.com Imagine Dance Studio Rental Birthday Parties Adult classes For For more information:information: Jazz Tap 718-781-1169 [email protected] Register online at www.licsb.com 718-1169 [email protected] LICSB 44-02 23rd Street Studio 216 LIC, NY 11101 BEST OF THE BORO 2015 AQUEENSCOURIER.COM 51 Ballet for everyone in Long Island City Ten years ago, Eric Ragan, director and founder of the Long Island City School of Ballet, created Sportsdance, his original blend of ballet and creative movement for boys. Presented palatably using super hero poses, animal movement and stage combat, Sportsdance, is cover for real, fundamental dance training. It was created and named in response to parents who wanted their boys to try dance, but could not get them to enter a ballet studio -- because, these preschoolers attested, ballet is for girls. Approximately twenty children started dancing that first season, in ballet and Sportsdance, and many are still with the school, which has grown to over two hundred students. Weekday afternoons, mothers enjoy a few quiet minutes while their daughters in pink happily plie and pique, their sons bound around an adjoining studio with the indefatigable Mr. Eric, a former soloist with The Suzanne Farrell Ballet. Some of the older boys and girls, who began dancing with Mr. Eric at age three, are now auditioning and being accepted to New York City performing arts middle and high schools. Long Island City School of Ballet has a high ratio of male students, nearly 20%. Many began with Sportsdance, and then entered the ballet program, often enticed by the performance opportunities. Past year’s ballets include Pirates and Hoedown!, refreshing alternatives to typical princess stories, offering many parts for young boys other than “the prince”. What do the female ballet students think of all the boys? “It’s great when we get to practice partnering. That doesn’t happen in every ballet school,” said one young woman in the Pointe class. Lucky for them, they have Mr. Eric, and the students of his visionary Sportsdance class. Melody of learning at LIC Academy of Music Long Island City Academy of Music offers instrument—piano, violin, drums, woodwinds, harp, and many more--and vocal instruction in many genres at affordable rates and at convenient hours, so students can commit to regular lessons and achieve their dreams. Voted Best Art School in Queens in 2013, LICAM’s time-honored approaches imbue students with con dence and a deep appreciation for what they learn. Our faculty of 25 instructors are world-class professional performers with degrees from major conservatories such a Juilliard and Manhattan School of Music, who are speci cally chosen for their experience in teaching as well as being role models for the children and adults they are instructing. We run children’s group programs like Dalcroze Eurythmics, an R&B choir, a Broadway singing and acting class, and a classical choir that performs annual operas and has been invited to sing alongside professional singers from the Met. This coming year we will produce a major Musical fully staged under the musical direction of New York Philharmonic’s James Bassi. We have outreach programs at several Queen p u b l i c schools and we are dedicated to create meaningful performance opportunities for all of our students. Come explore the opportunities to develop new, exciting skills that will enhance your life. Our goals are large, but then, so too are the results we see with our students.
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