As you walk up the three flights of stairs to enter Catherine Treon's School of Dance, the graceful sounds of classical ballet music enters your ear. The faint, pleasant voice of Mrs. Treon can be heard counting the beats and occasionally correcting her students form. Upon entering the studio, your eyes are immediately drawn to the wall of floor-to-ceiling arched windows, which let in plenty of natural light and illuminate the all-white dance studio. There are chairs and benches by the dance floor where parents can watch their son or daughter whirl, twirl, and glide down the floor. The walls in the observation area are filled with pictures of past students and famous ballet company posters. Off to the side is a portable clothes rack that has a plethora of old dance costumes hanging on it. Upon looking to the dance floor, you'll notice a table with a high-end stereo. The floors of the dance studio are made of a light wood, perfect for performing grande jetés and pirouettes. A row of black barres run parallel to a wall of floor-to-ceiling mirrors, which are necessary so the dancers can correctly position their bodies (Figure 1). The dance instructor and owner of the studio, Mrs. Treon, walks through the rows of barres, kindly correcting her students' body positions or helping them with the steps. For a look into the basic positions used in ballet class, view this video:
Mrs. Catherine Treon has been teaching dance classes in her own studio for 43 years, although she has moved locations three times since opening. She began dancing as a young teenager, first taking lessons and then performing with a dance company, and hasn't stopped since. "I didn't want to become a dance teacher until I began helping with the younger kids' dance classes where I took lessons. It was then I realized my love for teaching and dancing could be combined," remembers Mrs. Treon. Once she was done performing with her dance company, she moved from Texas to Sunbury, Pennsylvania with her husband. After settling down, she opened her dance studio Catherine Treon School of Dance in Danville. With her short, curly blonde hair and dressed in black tights, a black wrap skirt, and heeled dance shoes, Mrs. Treon dresses still as if she was a dancer like she was 45 years ago. You can see her passion for dancing as she's teaching a class a new combination or helping one of her students with a difficult step.
Many different styles of dance classes are taught at Mrs. Treon's studio including classical ballet, jazz, toe, tap, Irish step, and hip-hop. She teaches all the ballet classes and the younger children's jazz classes, but has recently handed over the advance jazz , tap, and toe classes to Vicki Radel to instruct. Hip-hop, which was a new addition for the 2014 season, is instructed by Hidi Horikoshi on Thursday nights. Classes are offered Monday and Wednesday evening starting at 3:00 P.M. and ending at either 9 or 9:45 P.M. Classes are available to children starting at age 3. "My favorite age group to teach are my youngest dancers ages 3, 4 and 5. They always have so much enthusiasm and energy to dance. Sometimes it's hard to get them to stop!" laughs Mrs. Treon. "I wish I still had that much energy!" The preschool kids' classes are held earlier at 3:00 and 4:00, while the advance ballet and jazz classes are at 7:00 and 8:00.
Figure 2: see note
The advance ballet class has classes both Monday and Wednesday night for an hour. Students are required to wear white tights, a black leotard, black wrap skirt, pink or tan ballet slippers, and their hair pulled up out of their face. This traditional ballet outfit allows the dancer's legs to stay flexible throughout the class and allows the teacher to see the student's body in order to make corrections on their alignment. At the beginning of the class, the approximately 30 students pull out the barres needed for the warm-up. They stand spaced out evenly on both sides of the barre facing the same way. Mrs. Treon then calls role and makes announcements. The class begins with a warm-up for the students to stretch and practice basic ballet techniques (Figure 2). About half of the class is dedicated to the warm-up as Mrs. Treon strongly believes that it is the most important part of class: "The warm-up routines are very important, as they allow dancers to properly stretch their muscles so they won't pull or tear anything." After the students are properly stretched, they push the barres back and find a spot on the floor facing the mirrors. Mrs. Treon will go over the dance routine while the students mark through the dance. Then, Mrs. Treon will play the music and say the routine out loud while the students again mark through it. The dancers split into two groups; the one group observes from the side while the other group performs the dance routine and then they switch. If there is time left in the class, students will head to one end of the dance floor and line up three in a line to do corner work. Mrs. Treon will give the dancer one or two moves to perform down the floor, accompanied by music. At the very end of the class, the students will once again spread out on the floor and face the mirrors. They end with a reverence, which is a traditional series of port de bras and curtsies that shows respect and acknowledges the teacher.
A recital is held at the end of each dance season in May. This is where the dance students can show their family and friends everything they learned throughout the year. Practice for the recital begins at the end of January and is worked on every week till the week of the performance. Costumes are chosen and ordered in September and arrive around March. This gives the dancers plenty of time to get them altered if needed. Each class performs one routine choreographed by either Mrs. Treon or Vicki. There are usually 16 or 17 dances performed on the night of the recital. The high school seniors each earn a solo in their ballet dance. The seniors also write speeches and choreograph and perform a dance at the end of the program. Most seniors that pass through Mrs. Treon's school have been dancing with her since they were 4 or 5 years old. "The end of the year program is a bittersweet event. Most of my seniors I have known since they were in preschool. It is always sad not seeing their beautiful faces in my studio at the start of the next season," says Mrs. Treon. She is, however, always looking for new faces to take dance classes. Mrs. Treon exclaims, "No matter what age you are, you are never too young or old to dance."
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