Erin's Danceworks

Welcome to Erin's Danceworks!

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Be Apart of our 2024-2025 Competition Team!

Join us at our Jr. & Sr. Summer Intensive Camps July 29th - Aug 2nd to audition for the team.

Lesson Overview

Class Schedules

Combination classes in Ballet and Tap are offered for dancers age 3. Jazz class may be added for dancers 4-8. A Hip Hop combo class will be offered to only those dancers in the more advanced combo classes and is determined by the teachers. Combo classes will be 30 minutes each with dancers taking a minimum of any two classes. At age 7-8 dancers who are ready will move into regularly structured classes of Ballet, Tap, Jazz, and/or Hip Hop. Contemporary, Pointe and Dance Tricks classes are offered to more advanced levels. Regular classes are 45 minutes each. Classes are geared towards having fun while developing grace, poise, and proper posture while learning the proper technique of the dance. Dancers attending regular classes should always spend at least 15 minutes warming-up before coming into class.

Grouping of Classes

Class groups are split first by age. After the ages are broken down, dancers are grouped by ability. The more advanced dancers may move up into the higher age levels. Although age is taken into consideration, ability is the deciding factor.

Combination Classes

Combination classes are focused on introducing the basic steps to dancers, while developing coordination. Dancers will learn how to count music, enter and exit a stage, and the art of performance. Additionally, they will be introduced to straight legs, turn-out, and stretched feet.

Regular Classes

Ballet

Ballet is the most important discipline of dance. Ballet class will begin with exercises at the barre to develop the muscles and technique needed to execute not only ballet, but most other dance steps. Using the barre allows dancers to focus more on the individual muscle to be worked instead of keeping their balance. Once the dancer has mastered the exercises at the barre, they will begin work on the same exercises in center floor. In center floor they will begin to learn steps in a progressive manner. As each new step is learned, dancers will be asked to step forward to execute the step, or to do the step across the floor with one or two other dancers.

Pointe

Pointe is an extension to ballet training. Dancers perform the same ballet steps on the tips of their toes, instead of the balls of their feet. Special shoes are required for this discipline. Dancers must be at least 12 years old, have taken ballet technique classes for at least two years, and have teacher approval to begin pointe. The first few months of pointe class will be nothing more than doing exercises to strengthen the feet, legs, and ankles. Pointe classes may not have a dance in the recital for the first few years, depending on the class’ abilities. Pointe is a discipline only for dancers who practice very often and are patient enough to learn correctly. Dancers en pointe are more likely to get injured because they are in a hurry to do too much.

Tap

Tap is a discipline all of its own. Tap is an art of rhythms and shading. There are several different styles of tap, each will be introduced to the dancer throughout the year. Dancers will begin class at the barre or center floor (depending on the age and coordination of the class) to learn the eleven basic sounds of tap. After the basics are mastered, those eleven sounds are put together in countless different ways to form tap steps. Not only do the dancers need to learn the steps, but will need to master the correct technique, sound, rhythm, and speed of the steps.

Jazz

Jazz is a stylized form of dance where much of the technique is taken from ballet. Jazz dancers will develop charisma and showmanship along with dance technique and strength. In jazz dance it is very important to have a solid ballet background. Jazz class will begin with a short warm-up and stretch, will move on to exercises, and will end with learning basic steps.

Hip Hop

Hip Hop is a high energy, fun style of dance. Dancers develop great coordination, along with having a wonderful outlet for self-expression. It is also a wonderful form of aerobic exercise. Does your dancer want to develop dance skills for a social setting? This is the class for him/her!

Contemporary

Contemporary is a class where the time is split between two forms of dance- Modern and Lyrical. Although the dances are very different in style, the basics are very similar. Both require control, flexibility, and ballet training. Classes are focused on stretching to obtain maximum flexibility. Lyrical is a slower form of dance focused on telling a story through emotional execution. Modern is focused on creating pictures with the body. Many of the steps are done off the center of balance, which is very difficult to achieve. Dancers will develop creativity in their movements and find new ways to use their bodies for performing. Contemporary class is usually recommended for the intermediate/advanced dancers.

Dance Tricks

Dance Tricks is a 1 hour class for working on flexibility, leaps, turns, and any other dance “trick”. This is for intermediate/advanced dancers who are enrolled in Ballet and Jazz class.

Parent Portal Overview

Registration

This year we will be using a new system to register, track payments, and communicate with families at our studio. You will need to follow the link at the bottom of this page to create a new account for your family/student. You will first create a family account which will require parent contact information. Please use a regularly checked email address as this will be used for primary communications. Once registered, you will recieve an email to opt-in to email communications. YOU MUST OPT-IN TO RECIEVE FUTURE COMMUNICATIONS! After you register your family info, you can then add students to your account and registar for classes.

Payments

With our new system, you are able to pay with debit/credit card through our parent portal. You must register a credit card on file, however we will still accept cash/check at the studio. The portal will provide each parent access to their payment history. Regular tuition payments, as well as any other expenses can be paid in cash or check up until the due date. Once the due date has passed, your credit card will be charged with an added convenience fee.

Parent Portal

Our Instructors

The instructors at Erin's Danceworks work hard to instill a love for dance while setting high goals for each of their students.

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  Erin Messaris

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  Heather Carter

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  Taylor Novick

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  Makenna Marquis

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  Tanya Loto

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  Kelli Simpson

Dance instructors at Erin's Danceworks all have unique disciplines of dance that they specialize in, but each follow a core curriculum developed for the multi-level dancers of Erin's Danceworks.

Erin Messaris

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Ms. Erin, certified by Florida Dance Masters, has been in business for 29 years. Erin’s main focus is to teach her students both the fun and discipline of dance. She has worked to develop her own style while maintaining an emphasis on technique.

Erin’s dancers have won state and national awards. Her students have continued on to college dance programs, college dance teams, cruise lines, Tampa Bay Buccaneers Cheerleaders, Tampa Bay Lightning Girls, Disney, Universal Studios, Busch Gardens, New York stages and National Touring Companies.

In addition to her studio work. Erin has taught at local middle and high schools. She has choreographed for studios out of state, worked with the Oklahoma City Stars and choreographed over 20 community performances.

Kelli Simpson

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Miss Kelli has studied dance for 24 years. Kelli has earned many state and national awards for her past performances and multiple comments from judges about her excellent technique. She has also performed around the country and at the World's Fair in Spain. She continues her education by taking classes from master instructors as well as training at The Broadway Dance Center in NYC. This her sixteenth year teaching at the studio and choreographing for competition. Kelli also teaches dance at Bright Beginnings Preschool. Her style and energy bring a lot to the dancers of Erin's Danceworks!

Heather Carter

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Miss Heather has been dancing since she was four years old. She was one of the first students at Erin's Danceworks and Miss Erin's first National Champion. Heather has earned numerous regional and national awards and recognition from the judges for presentation and technique and has won several High-Scoring awards. She has attended dance master classes, such as Mia Michaels 'Mia the Workshop' and 'The Pulse' studying with Wade Robson, Shane Sparks, Mia Michaels and Laurieann Gibson. She has also taken classes at The Broadway Dance Center in New York. Heather has been a teacher/choreographer at Erin's Danceworks for ten years and it is her goal to instill the love of dance to all of the students while still maintaining an excellence in technique and performance.

Taylor Novick

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Miss Taylor started dance at the age of three years old. She was a dedicated student at Erin’s Danceworks and held a spot on the competition team for nine years. She has received numerous awards for her solo performances as well as group performances she was a part of including high scoring awards, technique awards, judges choice awards, and more. She now shares her knowledge and passion for dance with the new generation of dancers. Miss Taylor teaches a variety of classes including Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Hip Hop, & Contemporary, as well as choreographing group dances and solos for the competition team.

This is Miss Taylor’s fifth year as a teacher at Erin’s Danceworks. Each year, her objective is to create a fun environment for her students where they can be creative, build confidence in their dance abilities, and learn new skills, while simultaneously focusing on the importance of good technique.

Makenna Marquis

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Miss Makenna has studied dance for 20 years at Erin’s Danceworks. She was a member of the competition team for 13 years earning many state and national awards for her past performances. She is in her second year as a choreographer for Erin’s Danceworks competition team and third year as a teacher. Makenna hopes to inspire the next generation of competitive dancers with her energy and enthusiasm for dance!

Tanya Loto

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Tanya began dancing at the age of five studying all styles of dance where she competed at regional and national level dance competitions.

Upon graduation of high school, she was awarded a dance scholarship to Santa Fe College in Gainesville, Florida. Once she completed her Associates of Arts degree, she transferred to the University of Florida where she graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in dance with a concentration in modern dance and ballet.

After completing college, Tanya decided to remain in Gainesville and became an Adjunct Professor of Dance instructor at Santa Fe College where she taught jazz and modern, as well as a graduate dance instructor at the University of Florida. While teaching at the collegiate level, she choreographed dance shows, musicals and presented her students’ performances at the American College Dance Festival.

Following her relocation to the Tampa Bay area, for two seasons Tanya became the Assistant Dance Director of the Chocolate Nutcracker at Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater Florida. Subsequently capitalizing on her competition and educational experience she became a regional competition and National judge for Starbound National Talent Competition and On Tour Dance Challenge all the while continuing to teach for dance studios in the Tampa Bay area.

In 2010, Tanya began as a dance instructor at Suncoast School of the Arts where she taught all styles of dance and choreographed several award-winning competition pieces. In 2021, Tanya was delighted to reconnect with Miss Erin who she grew up dancing with and was afforded the opportunity to offer her talents to teach at Erin’s Danceworks.

Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy governs the manner in which Erin's Danceworks collects, uses, maintains and discloses information collected from users (each, a "User") of the www.erinsdanceworks.com website ("Site"). This privacy policy applies to the Site and all products and services offered by Erin's Danceworks.

Personal Identification Information

We may collect personal identification information from Users in a variety of ways, including, but not limited to, when Users visit our site, fill out a form, and in connection with other activities, services, features or resources we make available on our Site. Users may be asked for, as appropriate, name, email address, phone number. Users may, however, visit our Site anonymously. We will collect personal identification information from Users only if they voluntarily submit such information to us. Users can always refuse to supply personally identification information, except that it may prevent them from engaging in certain Site related activities.

Non-personal Identification Information

We may collect non-personal identification information about Users whenever they interact with our Site. Non-personal identification information may include the browser name, the type of computer and technical information about Users means of connection to our Site, such as the operating system and the Internet service providers utilized and other similar information.

Web Browser Cookies

Our Site may use "cookies" to enhance User experience. User's web browser places cookies on their hard drive for record-keeping purposes and sometimes to track information about them. User may choose to set their web browser to refuse cookies, or to alert you when cookies are being sent. If they do so, note that some parts of the Site may not function properly.

How we use collected information

Erin's Danceworks may collect and use Users personal information for the following purposes:

- To improve customer service

Information you provide helps us respond to your customer service requests and support needs more efficiently.

- To send periodic emails

We may use the email address to respond to their inquiries, questions, and/or other requests.

How we protect your information

We adopt appropriate data collection, storage and processing practices and security measures to protect against unauthorized access, alteration, disclosure or destruction of your personal information, username, password, transaction information and data stored on our Site.

Sharing your personal information

We do not sell, trade, or rent Users personal identification information to others. We may share generic aggregated demographic information not linked to any personal identification information regarding visitors and users with our business partners, trusted affiliates and advertisers for the purposes outlined above.

Changes to this privacy policy

Erin's Danceworks has the discretion to update this privacy policy at any time. When we do, we will revise the updated date at the bottom of this page. We encourage Users to frequently check this page for any changes to stay informed about how we are helping to protect the personal information we collect. You acknowledge and agree that it is your responsibility to review this privacy policy periodically and become aware of modifications.

Your acceptance of these terms

By using this Site, you signify your acceptance of this policy. If you do not agree to this policy, please do not use our Site. Your continued use of the Site following the posting of changes to this policy will be deemed your acceptance of those changes.

Contacting us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, the practices of this site, or your dealings with this site, please contact us at:

Erin's Danceworks
www.erinsdanceworks.com
3013 Landover Blvd.
Spring Hill, FL 34608
(352) 686-3746

This document was last updated on January 16, 2014

Tuition

Tuition Policy

NO REGISTRATION FEES!

Tuition payments are due every four weeks and due dates can be found on our calendar. Once you have registered your dancer, you will be required to pay tuition each month, regardless of whether your dancer is in class or not. There are no make-up classes available as we only have one section of each class. If tuition is not paid by the first week of the pay period, your credit card on file will be automatically charged. There are absolutely no refund or transfer of fees.

Tuition Rates Regular Classes

Combo Classes

Dancers must take at least two of the ½ hour segments, but ages 4 and up can choose any variety of the classes.

First two ½ hour classes $50*

Any three $70*

Any four $80*

Regular Classes

1 Class $45*

2 Classes $70*

3 Classes $90*

4 Classes $105*

5 Classes $125*

6 Classes $140*

7 Classes $155*

* Tuition will be paid over a 4-week period. We do not charge for Christmas Break unlike other studios that charge for a full 11 months of tuition.

Tuition Rates Competition

NO CHOREOGRAPHY FEES!

We form our Competition Team in late July. This is by invitation only, so if you are interested please let Erin or Kelli know and join us for the Intensive Camp/Competition Team Auditions in July. Once our team is formed for the year we usually do not add dancers to it. We have a flat fee of $190 for competitive dancers. This would allow dancers the option to take all the types of classes including the Dance Tricks class, and covers the costs for the mandatory 1 hour exercise class every Wednesday, and all regularly scheduled competition practices.