Name: Maple Conservatory of Dance
Location: 1824 Kaiser Avenue, Irvine, CA and a brand new facility on Balboa Island at 301 Marine Avenue, Newport Beach
About: The Irvine facility is approximately 13,000 square feet. This area includes two large dance studios, one medium studio and one small studio. Each has a suspended floor to help avoid any injury to the dancers.
Charles Maple is the Director. A former soloist with American Ballet Theatre, he and Kathy Crade have created a top-notch program for both serious dance students and also those who just want to benefit from the training. The curriculum at the conservatory is based on the AMERICAN BALLET THEATRE® National Training Curriculum, which takes age-appropriate, outcome-based guidelines and applies them to the classroom experience…
The classes that are offered include: ballet technique, pointe, variations and men’s technique & variations. Additional classes are offered in modern, jazz, pas de deux, conditioning, character, improvisation, acting, choreography, audition & performance techniques and music. Master classes have been taught by noted dancers such as Leslie Browne (American Ballet Theatre) and the 2009 Summer Intensive faculty included Cynthia Gregory and Susan Jaffe.
The website is very well done. There is a section on ballet etiquette and plenty of information on the programs that are offered through the conservatory. They also offer weekly video podcasts on YouTube which will give you a peek inside the classroom.
Thank you very much for featuring our dance conservatory on your 4Dancers blog!! We’ve re-tweeted your blog to spread the word!
Thanks for the RT…you certainly deserve the spotlight! All the best to you.
Great review. I agree that the Maple Conservatory of Dance website looks great. I love the Ballet Etiquette section… I think my students would benefit from having something like that posted in our lobby.
Thanks Julie! I loved that section as well, and I agree….everyone can use a reminder on etiquette! Thanks for the comment…