ODA: More Than Just Dance
Anjelica Wilson, owner of the Oceanside Dance Academy in Oceanside, California, explains why…
"It’s so much more than dance: It’s a lifestyle.”
Ms Wilson has a good reason to call the business a lifestyle: It’s been a part of her life from the beginning. Her mother, a Polynesian dancer with a Master’s Degree in dance from UCI in Irvine, California, started the Oceanside Dance Academy, or ODA, in 1990. Ms Wilson’s father, a United States Marine stationed in Oceanside, built the studio as well as the other studios the family opened after 2010.
While in her early 20’s Ms Wilson switched her energy from the performing side of dance to the creative side as a choreographer. She also took over the studio when her mother, the talented Polynesian dancer, passed away. Ms Wilson incorporated the business and began the process of expanding it beyond the original building in Oceanside. Despite the growth from a single location to multiple academies, the focus remained on specific core elements.
ODA and its affiliates adhere to a multifaceted curriculum with a strong foundation that teaches life skills as much as it teaches dance. Students begin at the tender age of two and a half with a ‘Mommy and Me’ class. In this class, students and their parent or guardian stand, clap, and play in time to songs. Staff members use a variety of props to keep students engaged as they learn to move to music and to develop flexibility.
When students are potty trained and able to participate in a class without the presence of a parent, they progress into an hour long class divided into two sessions. Ballet and tap classes comprise the core curriculum for younger students until they reach the age of seven years. At that time they have multiple options, many of which require a minimum of two hours of ballet in addition to the discipline they choose.
”Ballet is the foundation of all dances.”
After ballet, students have options such as hip hop, tumbling, jazz, contemporary/lyrical, and ‘tazz,’ a combination of tap and jazz. Many classes combine elements of multiple dances, allowing instructors to provide a more versatile foundation based on the capabilities of students at various age levels.
http://oceansidedance.com/our-classes/new-classes/
