COLBY CENTER FOR DANCE & PERFORMING ARTS

Over the past fourteen years, we have become a part of the lives of nearly 2000 young dancers in Central Florida, most from the Maitland-Winter Park-College Park-Baldwin Park area. We specialize in young dancers ages 3-6 and offer classes combining Ballet, Tap, and Jazz in the morning, afternoon, evening, and even Saturday for these dancers. We also have classes in Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Hip Hop, and Acrobatics for dancers age 7 and up. Although our classes and rehearsals are often informal, usually noisy, and ALWAYS FUN, we are very serious about helping each child become the very best dancer they can and want to be. Every child at the studio will learn that hard work produces achievement and will experience the genuine self-esteem that comes with accomplishment of difficult and challenging skills under the direction of a positive, encouraging, and professionally-trained teacher. We limit class sizes to emphasize personal attention to all students.

* Our convenient Maitland school is located in a private building at 540 South Maitland Avenue in the city’s Cultural Corridor just across the street from the Maitland Civic Center, Lake Lily Park, and the Maitland Public Library. There is parking in front and back of the building.

* Our dance school has three dance rooms (the largest is 30' by 40') with appropriate flooring and the latest sound equipment plus a lobby, offices, workroom etc. Observation through glass doors is available for parents of our youngest dancers.

* We emphasize age-appropriate curriculum, costumes, and choreography taught by a trained and experienced staff.

* We don’t just teach one type of dance, we are strong in all forms of dance from Ballet to Tap, Jazz, Acrobatics, and Hip Hop. Our advanced dancers in the intensive/JCD program are also introduced to Modern, Lyrical, Contemporary, Stretch & Strength, Pilates-based Training, Musical Theatre and Pointe. Each subject is taught by a syllabus (regardless of instructor) developed by the Studio Director based on years of training, experience and travel to other schools in the United States and Canada. This ensures consistent terminology and class structure for every student at our school.

* Our school uses state-of-the-art technology and equipment to provide our students with educational opportunities through videos and several private study websites for our team members.

* Our Studio Director qualified by examination for membership in both Dance Masters of America and Dance Educators of America in 1998, and travels several times a year to teach, judge or choreograph for other dance studios, national organizations, or professional shows.

* We are not just another neighborhood dance school. Our nearly six dozen member Jennifer Colby Dancers and Junior Jennifer Colby Dancers have been to Atlanta, Baton Rouge, Boston, Houston, Las Vegas, Raleigh-Durham, St. Louis, New Orleans, New York, Toronto, and Washington D.C. as well as all over Florida winning more awards than we can list, and, they have been recognized just as much for their sportmanship, team spirit, and professionalism! Graduates of the JCDs are teaching dance, performing on college dance teams/companies, pursuing college degrees in the arts, and dancing professionally on cruise ships, for Disney in Florida and Japan, and in Las Vegas.

*In 2004, we were named one of America’s Top 50 Dance Schools by the two leading national publications in our field, Dance Teacher and Dance Spirit. We were very honored to be the first school selected from the hundreds in Central Florida and have been on the Dance Teacher / Dance Spirit honor roll ever since.

*In 2011, our JCD Team was named JUNIOR NATIONAL CHAMPIONS at the prestigious CanDance Nationals! This was a tremendous honor, and we have returned to the studio more motivated than ever to produce beautiful, exciting and technically proficient works of art, and to keep our focus on EDUCATION, and LONG TERM GOALS despite the successes of today!

We value the opportunity to be part of each of our student's lives. Along with providing the best possible dance training for each student, we encourage positive traits such as high morale, high self esteem, self-pride, responsibility, self discipline, teamwork, concentration, perserverance, and most importantly, the realization that if they work hard, they can achieve. We believe that children are our future and our most precious resource. They should be exposed to high quality and excellence in all that they do, and should understand that success in anything lies in not always being the best, but in doing your best! We pride ourselves in bringing out the "very best" in each dancer.

We happily contribute to the development of not just good dancers, but of good citizens and caring people. We believe that when given the choice between excellence and mediocrity, students will choose excellence more times than not. We hope you will join us & become a part of our Dance Family!