School of Ballet - Greater Atlanta Christian School
Source: http://www.greateratlantachristian.org/arts/school-of-ballet
Archived: 2026-04-23 17:10
School of Ballet - Greater Atlanta Christian School
School of Ballet
Bearing witness to God's glory through the art and discipline of dance.
At the GAC School of Ballet, we offer a diversity of dance styles, an inclusive range of levels, and a variety of performance opportunities to help each dancer develop the skills and inspiration to
"praise His name with dancing!"
Psalm 149:3
We have nine instructors, all masters of their craft, and offer classes for all ages and abilities in ballet, pointe, jazz, hip hop, tap, and contemporary. Our program seeks to glorify God through dance and our classes are challenging and designed to enable our students to develop the poise, confidence, and work ethic to succeed in their future as productive young women and men.
GAC invites you to consider visiting and enrolling in our School of Ballet. Our program is also extended to students outside the GAC community. We are located in the Bradford Center on campus.
The Early Childhood Village Program
Ballet/Tap 1 (1st grade)
Jazz/Hip Hop 1 (1st grade)
Ballet
Tap
Jazz
Hip Hop
Private lessons
Spartanettes Dance Team
Twos on the Move (K2) and Creative Movement (K3)
The earliest preparation for the study of ballet begins with a 30-minute class for K2 and 45-minute class for K3 once a week. Children are introduced to dance concepts designed specially to train the preschooler (jumping, marching, walking, and hopping) with an emphasis on coordination, rhythm, timing, and self-expression. These basic dance techniques and exercises for building physical strength and coordination are offered in a nurturing, loving, Christian
atmosphere.
Pre-Ballet (K4)
Children will gradually learn the structure of a dance class as well as the disciplines required in the ballet studio. They will learn how to wait for their turn patiently, respectfully, and quietly and how to listen and implement information effectively. They will learn how to engage in an activity independent of their parent and begin to refine coordination and cognitive reasoning abilities. The following concepts are implemented in each lesson: correct vocabulary, proper theories of technical execution, musicality and rhythm, sense of boundaries and class etiquette, isolation of body parts, qualities of movement, floor patterns and pathways, and individual creative problem solving.
Introduction to Ballet/Tap (K5)
This class will begin with a 30-minute ballet portion building upon the skills gained in Pre-Ballet. Children are introduced to dance concepts designed specially to train the kindergartener (jumping, marching, skipping, and hopping) with an emphasis on coordination, rhythm, timing, and self-expression. Students will then transition to a 25-minute tap portion. Tap is a dance style in which the rhythm or rhythmical variation is audibly tapped out with the toe or heel by a dancer wearing shoes with special hard soles or with taps. Students will work on the following skills: foot position, body placement, head and arm placement, stage and room directions, rhythms and tempos, routines and combinations.
(Pre 1st/1st grade)
Tap 1
Tap 1 (30 minutes) is a dance style in which the rhythm or rhythmical variation is audibly tapped out with the toe or heel by a dancer wearing shoes with special hard soles or with taps. Students will work on the following skills: foot position, body placement, head and arm placement, stage and room directions, rhythms and tempos, routines and combinations.
Ballet 1
Ballet 1 (30 minutes) bridges a student's transition from the Village program into a more structured ballet class environment. Children are introduced to an increased level of formal training consisting of barre and centre work. The posture, placement and presence of classical ballet will be emphasized.
Jazz 1
Jazz 1 (30 minutes) is an exhilarating and highly energetic class of rhythmic movement. Each class begins with a safe and effective warm-up to develop strength, balance, and flexibility. Class then progresses to isolations, balance work, skill development, progressions across the floor, combinations, and ends with a cool down.
Hip Hop1
Hip Hop 1 (30 minutes), a dance genre that is described as street dance, is primarily performed to music that has evolved as part of hip-hop culture. Students will learn specific movements such as body isolations, handstand freezes, syncopation, hand clapping/stepping, freestyle, and partner work. This will enable them to feel and identify with music, as well as develop a technique and style essential for performing. The class will serve to expand and nurture the dancers' creative talent.
Students will learn specific movement skills that will help them to feel and identify with the music while developing technique and style to perform. The classes will serve to expand and nurture the dancers’ creative talent. Inspirational and classical music provide an enriching and stimulating environment. Classes begin with a devotion and end with a reverence.
Ballet 2
Ballet 2 continues to stress posture, placement, and ballet presence while expanding the students’ ballet vocabulary. The practice exercises introduced at this level for alignment, flexibility, and coordination will develop a strong foundation of physical and cognitive understanding necessary for classical ballet training. Inspirational and classical music provide an enriching and stimulating environment. Class begins with a devotional and ends with a reverence.
Ballet 3
Ballet 3 is a structured ballet class which starts with combinations at the barre developed to strengthen the dancer’s execution of classical ballet technique. The class focuses on correct postural alignment, weight transitions, body positions of ballet, turns, and leaps. Physical strength and stamina will increase through various barre and centre work. This level sets the foundation for Ballet 4.
Ballet 4
Through a progressive series of combinations at the barre, students will warm up while working on correct body alignment and turnout. After barre work, students will stretch and move into the center. Centre work includes progressive combinations of small and large jumps and turns through which students continue to work correct placement, posture and turnout.
Ballet 5 (audition required)
Ballet 5 builds upon the work mastered in Ballet 4. Through a progressive series of combinations at the barre, students will warm up while working on correct body alignment and turnout. After barre work, students will stretch and move into the center. Center work includes progressive combinations of small and large jumps and turns.
Ballet 6 and Pointe (audition required)
Ballet 6 class builds upon the work mastered in Ballet 5. Through a progressive series of combinations at the barre, students will warm up while working on correct body alignment and turnout. After barre work, students will stretch and move into the center. Center work includes progressive combinations of small and large jumps and turns through which students continue to work on correct placement, posture and turnout. Ballet 6 is offered two classes a week and includes pointe work.
Pointe A
Pointe Class concentrates on the transference of ballet steps from demi-pointe to pointe and is only introduced when a dancer has developed sufficient strength in the feet and legs necessary for the discipline. Girls must have taken at least two or three years of ballet classes and be at least eleven years of age before going en Pointe. Dancers must have good turnout, proper balance and body alignment and take at least two ballet classes a week. Students are expected to attend all classes. Instructors will advance students to higher Pointe levels based on the student’s ability to efficiently do all strength training exercises at the barre, rise onto pointe effortlessly and articulate through their feet while doing relevé, and execute piqué turns, bourrés, and échappés during center work. (Students must be properly fitted for pointe shoes and all shoes must be approved by the instructor before ribbons or elastics are sewn.)
Pointe B
Pointe B is a continuation of all the barre and strength training from Pointe A. This level combines additional exercises at the barre and in the center to improve pointe technique. (After purchasing pointe shoes, please have the instructor make sure that it is the best fit before sewing them.)
Pointe C (Required with Ballet 6)
Pointe C is a continuation of all the barre, strength training, and center exercises from Pointe A and Pointe B. Pointe C class begins with warm-up exercises and strength training at the barre. In the center, dancers focus on fast foot work, pirouettes, and combinations that require strength, balance, and coordination.
Tap 2 , Tap 3 , Tap 4, Tap 5, Tap 6
Ballet is the "backbone" of all dance training. In ballet, the student will learn grace, elegance, technique, discipline, flexibility, stamina, and endurance. We strongly feel that ballet is the most important dance form that a child or adult can study. Therefore, all of our Tap classes must be taken in conjunction with a Ballet class. Tap is a dance style in which the rhythm or rhythmical variation is audibly tapped out with the toe or heel by a dancer wearing shoes with special hard soles or with taps.
Class will consist of warm-up center floor and tap barre, center floor work (time Steps, Paradiddles, Trenches, Cramprolls, stationary movements for speed, shading in volume or a capella exercises to help develop skills, improvisation to stimulate creativity and improve the recognition and retention of rhythm and patterns), across the floor progressions (Traveling Movements/Shuffle Heel Drop, Single, Double, Triple Cincinnati, Single Double, Triple Drawbacks, variations of Pullbacks/Pickups, and Tap Turns). and a combination or routine. Students will work on the following skills in this class: foot position, body placement, head and arms, stage and room directions, rhythms and tempos, routines and combinations.
Jazz 2, Jazz 3, Jazz 4, Jazz 5
Ballet is the “backbone” of all dance training. In ballet, the student will learn grace, elegance, technique, discipline, flexibility, stamina, and endurance. We strongly feel that ballet is the most important dance form that a child or adult can study. Therefore, all of our Jazz classes must be taken in conjunction with a Ballet class. Jazz is a contemporary dance style seen from Broadway to modern dance combining a variety of styles into an overall discipline that can broaden any student's dance repertoire. An exhilarating class of rhythmic movement, Jazz is highly energetic and class is full of motivational music.
Each class begins with a devotional and a safe and effective warm-up to develop strength, balance, and flexibility. Class then progresses to isolations, balance work, specific skill development, progressions across the floor, combinations, and ends with a cool down. Students will learn specific movement skills that will help them to feel and identify with the music while developing technique and style to perform. The class will serve to expand and nurture the dancers’ creative talent. Besides the fun of movement, students will learn discipline through participation in the classroom structure and mutual respect for their fellow students.
Hip Hop 2, Hip Hop 3, Hip Hop 4
Hip-Hop, a dance genre that is described as street dance, is primarily performed to music that has evolved as part of hip-hop culture. It includes a wide range of styles such as breaking, locking, and popping which were created in the 1970s and made popular by dance crews in the United States. What distinguishes hip-hop from other forms of dance is that it is often freestyle (improvisational) in nature and hip-hop dance crews often engage in free-style dance competitions.
Students will learn specific movements such as body isolations, handstand freezes, syncopation, hand clapping/stepping, freestyle, and partner work. This will enable them to feel and identify with music, as well as develop a technique and style essential for performing. The class will serve to expand and nurture the dancers' creative talent. Besides the fun of movement, students will learn discipline through participation in the classroom structure and respect for their fellow students.
Private lessons are available by our instructors in order to better meet the individual needs of all our students.
Private Lesson Fee:
30 Minutes - $40
45 Minutes - $60
60 Minutes - $75
90 Minutes - $90
Semi-Private Lesson Fee:
$40 per student - 60 Minutes
Choreography Fee:
$500 which includes 5 hour-long private lessons, a personalized piece of choreography, and music editing
*Community prices vary
The Spartanettes Dance Team spans grade levels 3rd-12th and welcomes dancers to audition who are passionate about movement and pushing themselves creatively and in their character. We have 3 teams. Our Mini Team is open to dancers 3rd-5th grade. The Red Team is our Middle School team and the Gold Team is the High School team. Our teams compete at regional competitions and perform for some of the most well-attended events on campus. The Spartanettes fosters an environment of support, discipline, and fun for all girls while we learn to honor God in all we do, especially through movement and teamwork.
Village Park
Emory University - Winship Cancer Institute
Homeless at Heart
GAC's School of Ballet has a long-standing history of performing for the residents at Village Park. Students perform numbers from their Christmas recital each winter.
The School of Ballet participates in the Arts in Health Program at Winship which strives to provide patients with different experiences including participatory and environmental arts. Patients are offered a variety of activities that enhance their experience while in treatment. Through this joint collaborations, the arts have the power to benefit our community by inspiring, enriching, and transforming a cancer patient’s experience.
The School of Ballet students serve with Homeless at Heart to create bags and boxes with needed essentials and handwritten Valentine cards that are then distributed to the homeless population in their cities. Through these actions, they send powerful messages of hope and love to the homeless.
register
2025-2026 class schedule
purchase Event tickets
Contact
Regan Burnett
Director of Fine Arts
Maggie Guajardo
School of Ballet Director
"Having a school of ballet on campus makes it possible for dancers to enjoy a well-rounded school experience as well as serious training."
Kristi Loveless, Ballet instructor
Powered by Finalsite
School of Ballet
Bearing witness to God's glory through the art and discipline of dance.
At the GAC School of Ballet, we offer a diversity of dance styles, an inclusive range of levels, and a variety of performance opportunities to help each dancer develop the skills and inspiration to
"praise His name with dancing!"
Psalm 149:3
We have nine instructors, all masters of their craft, and offer classes for all ages and abilities in ballet, pointe, jazz, hip hop, tap, and contemporary. Our program seeks to glorify God through dance and our classes are challenging and designed to enable our students to develop the poise, confidence, and work ethic to succeed in their future as productive young women and men.
GAC invites you to consider visiting and enrolling in our School of Ballet. Our program is also extended to students outside the GAC community. We are located in the Bradford Center on campus.
The Early Childhood Village Program
Ballet/Tap 1 (1st grade)
Jazz/Hip Hop 1 (1st grade)
Ballet
Tap
Jazz
Hip Hop
Private lessons
Spartanettes Dance Team
Twos on the Move (K2) and Creative Movement (K3)
The earliest preparation for the study of ballet begins with a 30-minute class for K2 and 45-minute class for K3 once a week. Children are introduced to dance concepts designed specially to train the preschooler (jumping, marching, walking, and hopping) with an emphasis on coordination, rhythm, timing, and self-expression. These basic dance techniques and exercises for building physical strength and coordination are offered in a nurturing, loving, Christian
atmosphere.
Pre-Ballet (K4)
Children will gradually learn the structure of a dance class as well as the disciplines required in the ballet studio. They will learn how to wait for their turn patiently, respectfully, and quietly and how to listen and implement information effectively. They will learn how to engage in an activity independent of their parent and begin to refine coordination and cognitive reasoning abilities. The following concepts are implemented in each lesson: correct vocabulary, proper theories of technical execution, musicality and rhythm, sense of boundaries and class etiquette, isolation of body parts, qualities of movement, floor patterns and pathways, and individual creative problem solving.
Introduction to Ballet/Tap (K5)
This class will begin with a 30-minute ballet portion building upon the skills gained in Pre-Ballet. Children are introduced to dance concepts designed specially to train the kindergartener (jumping, marching, skipping, and hopping) with an emphasis on coordination, rhythm, timing, and self-expression. Students will then transition to a 25-minute tap portion. Tap is a dance style in which the rhythm or rhythmical variation is audibly tapped out with the toe or heel by a dancer wearing shoes with special hard soles or with taps. Students will work on the following skills: foot position, body placement, head and arm placement, stage and room directions, rhythms and tempos, routines and combinations.
(Pre 1st/1st grade)
Tap 1
Tap 1 (30 minutes) is a dance style in which the rhythm or rhythmical variation is audibly tapped out with the toe or heel by a dancer wearing shoes with special hard soles or with taps. Students will work on the following skills: foot position, body placement, head and arm placement, stage and room directions, rhythms and tempos, routines and combinations.
Ballet 1
Ballet 1 (30 minutes) bridges a student's transition from the Village program into a more structured ballet class environment. Children are introduced to an increased level of formal training consisting of barre and centre work. The posture, placement and presence of classical ballet will be emphasized.
Jazz 1
Jazz 1 (30 minutes) is an exhilarating and highly energetic class of rhythmic movement. Each class begins with a safe and effective warm-up to develop strength, balance, and flexibility. Class then progresses to isolations, balance work, skill development, progressions across the floor, combinations, and ends with a cool down.
Hip Hop1
Hip Hop 1 (30 minutes), a dance genre that is described as street dance, is primarily performed to music that has evolved as part of hip-hop culture. Students will learn specific movements such as body isolations, handstand freezes, syncopation, hand clapping/stepping, freestyle, and partner work. This will enable them to feel and identify with music, as well as develop a technique and style essential for performing. The class will serve to expand and nurture the dancers' creative talent.
Students will learn specific movement skills that will help them to feel and identify with the music while developing technique and style to perform. The classes will serve to expand and nurture the dancers’ creative talent. Inspirational and classical music provide an enriching and stimulating environment. Classes begin with a devotion and end with a reverence.
Ballet 2
Ballet 2 continues to stress posture, placement, and ballet presence while expanding the students’ ballet vocabulary. The practice exercises introduced at this level for alignment, flexibility, and coordination will develop a strong foundation of physical and cognitive understanding necessary for classical ballet training. Inspirational and classical music provide an enriching and stimulating environment. Class begins with a devotional and ends with a reverence.
Ballet 3
Ballet 3 is a structured ballet class which starts with combinations at the barre developed to strengthen the dancer’s execution of classical ballet technique. The class focuses on correct postural alignment, weight transitions, body positions of ballet, turns, and leaps. Physical strength and stamina will increase through various barre and centre work. This level sets the foundation for Ballet 4.
Ballet 4
Through a progressive series of combinations at the barre, students will warm up while working on correct body alignment and turnout. After barre work, students will stretch and move into the center. Centre work includes progressive combinations of small and large jumps and turns through which students continue to work correct placement, posture and turnout.
Ballet 5 (audition required)
Ballet 5 builds upon the work mastered in Ballet 4. Through a progressive series of combinations at the barre, students will warm up while working on correct body alignment and turnout. After barre work, students will stretch and move into the center. Center work includes progressive combinations of small and large jumps and turns.
Ballet 6 and Pointe (audition required)
Ballet 6 class builds upon the work mastered in Ballet 5. Through a progressive series of combinations at the barre, students will warm up while working on correct body alignment and turnout. After barre work, students will stretch and move into the center. Center work includes progressive combinations of small and large jumps and turns through which students continue to work on correct placement, posture and turnout. Ballet 6 is offered two classes a week and includes pointe work.
Pointe A
Pointe Class concentrates on the transference of ballet steps from demi-pointe to pointe and is only introduced when a dancer has developed sufficient strength in the feet and legs necessary for the discipline. Girls must have taken at least two or three years of ballet classes and be at least eleven years of age before going en Pointe. Dancers must have good turnout, proper balance and body alignment and take at least two ballet classes a week. Students are expected to attend all classes. Instructors will advance students to higher Pointe levels based on the student’s ability to efficiently do all strength training exercises at the barre, rise onto pointe effortlessly and articulate through their feet while doing relevé, and execute piqué turns, bourrés, and échappés during center work. (Students must be properly fitted for pointe shoes and all shoes must be approved by the instructor before ribbons or elastics are sewn.)
Pointe B
Pointe B is a continuation of all the barre and strength training from Pointe A. This level combines additional exercises at the barre and in the center to improve pointe technique. (After purchasing pointe shoes, please have the instructor make sure that it is the best fit before sewing them.)
Pointe C (Required with Ballet 6)
Pointe C is a continuation of all the barre, strength training, and center exercises from Pointe A and Pointe B. Pointe C class begins with warm-up exercises and strength training at the barre. In the center, dancers focus on fast foot work, pirouettes, and combinations that require strength, balance, and coordination.
Tap 2 , Tap 3 , Tap 4, Tap 5, Tap 6
Ballet is the "backbone" of all dance training. In ballet, the student will learn grace, elegance, technique, discipline, flexibility, stamina, and endurance. We strongly feel that ballet is the most important dance form that a child or adult can study. Therefore, all of our Tap classes must be taken in conjunction with a Ballet class. Tap is a dance style in which the rhythm or rhythmical variation is audibly tapped out with the toe or heel by a dancer wearing shoes with special hard soles or with taps.
Class will consist of warm-up center floor and tap barre, center floor work (time Steps, Paradiddles, Trenches, Cramprolls, stationary movements for speed, shading in volume or a capella exercises to help develop skills, improvisation to stimulate creativity and improve the recognition and retention of rhythm and patterns), across the floor progressions (Traveling Movements/Shuffle Heel Drop, Single, Double, Triple Cincinnati, Single Double, Triple Drawbacks, variations of Pullbacks/Pickups, and Tap Turns). and a combination or routine. Students will work on the following skills in this class: foot position, body placement, head and arms, stage and room directions, rhythms and tempos, routines and combinations.
Jazz 2, Jazz 3, Jazz 4, Jazz 5
Ballet is the “backbone” of all dance training. In ballet, the student will learn grace, elegance, technique, discipline, flexibility, stamina, and endurance. We strongly feel that ballet is the most important dance form that a child or adult can study. Therefore, all of our Jazz classes must be taken in conjunction with a Ballet class. Jazz is a contemporary dance style seen from Broadway to modern dance combining a variety of styles into an overall discipline that can broaden any student's dance repertoire. An exhilarating class of rhythmic movement, Jazz is highly energetic and class is full of motivational music.
Each class begins with a devotional and a safe and effective warm-up to develop strength, balance, and flexibility. Class then progresses to isolations, balance work, specific skill development, progressions across the floor, combinations, and ends with a cool down. Students will learn specific movement skills that will help them to feel and identify with the music while developing technique and style to perform. The class will serve to expand and nurture the dancers’ creative talent. Besides the fun of movement, students will learn discipline through participation in the classroom structure and mutual respect for their fellow students.
Hip Hop 2, Hip Hop 3, Hip Hop 4
Hip-Hop, a dance genre that is described as street dance, is primarily performed to music that has evolved as part of hip-hop culture. It includes a wide range of styles such as breaking, locking, and popping which were created in the 1970s and made popular by dance crews in the United States. What distinguishes hip-hop from other forms of dance is that it is often freestyle (improvisational) in nature and hip-hop dance crews often engage in free-style dance competitions.
Students will learn specific movements such as body isolations, handstand freezes, syncopation, hand clapping/stepping, freestyle, and partner work. This will enable them to feel and identify with music, as well as develop a technique and style essential for performing. The class will serve to expand and nurture the dancers' creative talent. Besides the fun of movement, students will learn discipline through participation in the classroom structure and respect for their fellow students.
Private lessons are available by our instructors in order to better meet the individual needs of all our students.
Private Lesson Fee:
30 Minutes - $40
45 Minutes - $60
60 Minutes - $75
90 Minutes - $90
Semi-Private Lesson Fee:
$40 per student - 60 Minutes
Choreography Fee:
$500 which includes 5 hour-long private lessons, a personalized piece of choreography, and music editing
*Community prices vary
The Spartanettes Dance Team spans grade levels 3rd-12th and welcomes dancers to audition who are passionate about movement and pushing themselves creatively and in their character. We have 3 teams. Our Mini Team is open to dancers 3rd-5th grade. The Red Team is our Middle School team and the Gold Team is the High School team. Our teams compete at regional competitions and perform for some of the most well-attended events on campus. The Spartanettes fosters an environment of support, discipline, and fun for all girls while we learn to honor God in all we do, especially through movement and teamwork.
Village Park
Emory University - Winship Cancer Institute
Homeless at Heart
GAC's School of Ballet has a long-standing history of performing for the residents at Village Park. Students perform numbers from their Christmas recital each winter.
The School of Ballet participates in the Arts in Health Program at Winship which strives to provide patients with different experiences including participatory and environmental arts. Patients are offered a variety of activities that enhance their experience while in treatment. Through this joint collaborations, the arts have the power to benefit our community by inspiring, enriching, and transforming a cancer patient’s experience.
The School of Ballet students serve with Homeless at Heart to create bags and boxes with needed essentials and handwritten Valentine cards that are then distributed to the homeless population in their cities. Through these actions, they send powerful messages of hope and love to the homeless.
register
2025-2026 class schedule
purchase Event tickets
Contact
Regan Burnett
Director of Fine Arts
Maggie Guajardo
School of Ballet Director
"Having a school of ballet on campus makes it possible for dancers to enjoy a well-rounded school experience as well as serious training."
Kristi Loveless, Ballet instructor
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