The definition of, choreography, is: “the art of symbolically representing dancing.” Dancing is a way of moving the body to express meaning and ideas or tell a story. Mady’s Dance Factory has classes for all types of dance including hip hop, ballet, jazz and tap, acrobatics, and more, as well as many classes for adults. We want to teach our dancers a variety of movements so they can explore developing their own choreography that expresses their unique ideas or story they want to tell.
Personal
By experimenting with different dance types and using their imagination, students are able to artistically express their personality—their own individuality—through dance. Students can select from their “choreography toolkit” the dance types they want to use to design an original routine illustrating who they are. Our Leaps and Turns class challenges dancers to hone their technique of specific movements enabling them to better articulate meaning through motion. Check out our monthly dance challenges for a creative outlet!
Collaborative
Working with others to design routines and performing team choreography in sync with one another cultivates a supportive and collaborative environment. In our Acro class, students are gently guided to increase their flexibility and balance and learn discipline and muscle control. Working on teams requires concentration, the ability to remain focused, and the willingness to compromise. These are valuable skills to have both in school and in today’s work environment.
Professional
Whether one of our dancers wants to continue dancing in preparation to be a professional dancer or for the motivation it gives them to pursue their own passions, developing choreography increases students’ professionalism. A large part of developing a dance routine involves understanding one’s audience and making it interesting for them. While a choreographer strives to express their individuality, they must also make their performance entertaining and enjoyable. Our choreographers and dancers spend a great deal of time inventing, revising, and practicing their routines in order to ensure their dance routine engages their audience.
Inspirational
Choreography is the arrangements of movements that a dancer performs to express meaning, share ideas, and tell a story. Choreography stimulates dancers’ personal development, mentally challenges dancers, and polishes students’ professionalism. Most of all, dancing motivates students to inspire others by sharing their passion for dance.
Summer of Dance
What thoughts come to mind when you think of summer? Hot weather, school break, vacations, camps, connecting with others? You can enjoy all of these at Mady’s Dance Factory because we have a summer schedule packed full of classes, camps, and events for children and adults of all ages and all levels.
Express Yourself
Movement and mobility are natural forms of expression and can convey thoughts and emotions—many times better than words. Dancing offers a feeling of freedom and joy and is a way to connect with others in ways that verbal communication cannot. At Mady’s Dance Factory, we aim to maintain an uplifting, motivating, and supportive environment where dancers experience this joy and transformation on the body and soul through dance.
Personal Development
From hip hop, to jazz, to contemporary, to even yoga, we want our dancers to explore movement in all its expressions. For instance, modern dance is a contemporary form of dance that uses the body as a means of communication through movement. Our Contemporary 2 class is uniquely designed for teens to learn creativity through moving their bodies. Developing creative aptitude helps teens solve problems, become inquisitive, and experiment. Likewise, in our Jazz class, students learn to be quick-thinkers while rehearsing the rhythmic movements and patterns in jazz. Yet, they also learn to be flexible and adaptable to change as they move to their own beat with the music.
Teams Inspire Dreams
Finally, our Dream Team and Dancing Lites are where teens foster both personal and professional skills, as well as simply have fun! Team members must collaborate with one another to build routines using a variety of dance forms. Dancers learn trust, empathy, and encouragement as they support one another to achieve a goal. Most importantly, our dancers are dedicated to not only their team members, but to themselves to learn the movements and routines. Dance inspires personal growth and achievement. The effects of dance on teens’ mind, body, and soul are limitless as every individual experiences dance as their authentic self and can use the lessons from dance to inspire their own passions.
Students always ask us, ‘how can I become a great dancer?’ Many parents and students believe it begins with good feet, flexibility, leaps or pirouettes but most of what creates a great dancer begins in the mind. Like the rest of the body, this sometimes requires a workout as well. As we prepare to host our dance team auditions, Mady shares some of her best advice on becoming a great dancer:
Attitude
Becoming a dancer requires having the right attitude. As a dance student, you may take much of your direction from your instructor but you must be willing to practice and make improvements on your own. It’s easy to focus on what you do well but it requires the right attitude to work on what challenges you. Staying positive while you fail and grow is also a must!
Self-Care
One of the most overlooked areas in the dance world is self-care. To build a thriving career as a dancer, it’s important to learn from a young age how to take care of your mind and body. Unfortunately, the dance world is full of promising young dancers who were unable to reach their potential due to injury. Recognize unusual aches and pains and let your instructor, parent or doctor know. To prevent injuries, stretching is crucial. We always remind our students to stretch before and after class.
Resilience
Resilience can be one of the most challenging areas to work on. Part of becoming a great dancer requires an ability to accept criticism. Early on, this can come from instructors, which may be easier to accept but later on, this can come from admissions committees or fellow dancers. Learn how to decipher constructive advice and work on bouncing back quickly. Great dancers know how to turn a negative into a positive.
Discipline
Meeting your personal goals require discipline and consistency. Going to class isn’t always fun. What makes the difference between a good dancer and a great dancer is showing up when things get tough. Having the discipline to show up to class, every day, on time and prepared to perform well will help you improve.
Dance is one of the most difficult sports (and art forms) that exists. Embracing challenges with determination and perseverance are what will make you the best dancer you can be.
Auditions for our dance team are coming up. Be sure to prepare your solo and purchase tickets for the big day. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/dance-team-auditions-tickets-45179759878?aff=es2
Circus Beatz End of Year Show Preview
Come one, come all to the greatest show on earth!
Why will it be the greatest? Because YOUR children are in it, of course!
The theme of the 2018 Mady's Dance Factory end of year show is Circus Beatz. And, your daughters and sons have been working really hard to bring the magic of the circus to you.
We can't give away all of the surprises - what fun would that be? But, we can share a few sneak peaks.
Lions, elephants and dancers - oh my!
Hip hop dancing lions, pirouetting elephants and an acro performance dogs are all making an appearance at Circus Beatz.
Death-defying tricks
Don't worry! No child was put in danger during the making of Circus Beatz but there will be mini-lion tamers, a snake tamer and hip hopping cannon ballers and tight rope walkers.
The most talent you can pack into one room
Our dancers are pushing their skills to the limit. Ready to wow you with their skills are unicycling dancers, acrobatic magicians, hoolah hooping masters and mimes.
Guest appearance
What's the perfect accompaniment to dance? Singing of course! We have a special guest performance at this year's show. Here's a few hints:
Any guesses? Ok, ok, it's Daniela Knight! (We're so bad at keeping secrets! )
With so much fun in store, this year's end of year performance is one you definitely can't miss. Tickets are now on sale (and be sure to grab one for los abuelos y la tia!): https://www.eventbrite.com/e/circus-beatz-tickets-42134022997?aff=es2
We can't wait to see you at the circus!
When it comes to Hip Hop music, most people will think of New York or Los Angeles. Yet, Miami was once a center for hip hop culture and is currently undergoing a resurgence of the music scene. The vibrant history of Miami Hip Hop seems to ebb and flow like South Beach’s tide. A musical story that we at Mady’s Dance Factory love to incorporate into our Hip Hop and other dance classes.
90’s Miami Hip Hop
It wasn’t until the early 1990’s that Miami started to become a playground for the hip hop industry. Acts like 2 Live Crew, Luke, Poison Clan, DJ Uncle Al, and DJ Laz provided the background playlist for b-boys, b-girls, and rebellious graffiti artists. Even though these hip hop acts are not given as much recognition as their New York and LA peers, without them, you may never have had many of today’s top artists including Mr. 305, Pitbull.
At Mady’s Dance Factory, we throwback to this time in Miami by featuring break dancing in many of our classes, especially in Boys Hip Hop classes and our adult female dance class, Slay Fitness. We hope to develop the next generation of hip hop lovers and wake up the inner fan in all of us!
Miami Hip Hop Now
Due to the fast development and gentrification of the city, the Miami hip hop scene seemed to fade away for a while after the early 2000’s. 
But that brief pause in the history of Miami Hip Hop soon gave way to today’s popular hip hop acts. Acts such as DJ Khaled, who famously used Snapchat to help his rise from local DJ on 99 Jamz to global superstardom! Now, many of the world’s top pop and hip hop hits are created here in Miami. “We the best!” Indeed.
At Mady’s Dance Factory, today’s top beats, including those with a distinct Latin flavor, serve as the backdrop for our hip hop dance classes. Our hope is for our dancers to develop into top-tier artists that can then contribute to Miami hip hop and music scenes for years to come!
Do want to learn more about how our dance classes can shape your child into a multi-talented and competitive artist? Call us or sign up for classes today!
While dancing is no doubt a fun activity, it is also greatly beneficial for developing children. At Mady’s Dance Factory we provide our students a comfortable and encouraging environment to express themselves and achieve the highest level of success.
One of the greatest benefits of any dance class is creative expression. Long hours in a classroom and screen time limits a child’s ability to tap into their imagination. Additionally, the CDC recommends a minimum of 60 minutes of physical activity each day. They break it down between aerobic activity, muscle and bone strengthening - all of which we cover in dance classes.
Four of the greatest benefits we’ve seen children at Mady’s Dance Factory gain are:
Want to learn more about the benefits of dance? Give us a call at Mady’s Dance Factory or consider signing up your child for dance class. See you at the Factory!
