About The Ridgefield School of Dance
For over 25 years, The Ridgefield School of Dance has been noted for its excellence and focus on technique, professional environment and commitment to small class size.
Our Curriculum
The dance curriculum serves both the pre-professional student and the recreational dancer in Classical Ballet and Pointe. The Jazz department programs are designed to address the levels of each student. Summer programs and adult classes are also available.
Classical Ballet (pre-professional and recreational)
• 7 levels in classical ballet
• 3 levels in pointe
• 2 Pre-Professional divisions
• Partnering
• Jazz
• Contemporary/Fusion
• Modern
• Lyrical
• Musical Theatre dance
• Tap
• Ballet Intensives
• Children's programs
• Ballet
• Jazz
• Tap
• NIA
We offer two sessions during the school year plus summer programs. Our 2025 Fall session is from September 8th, 2025 to January 24th, 2026. The Spring session begins January 26th and will end with our performance the weekend of June 6th & 7th. Summer Dance takes place in July and includes Intensive programs as well as classes for ages 3 and up.
We are very proud that students who have chosen to pursue dance as a career have been accepted into acclaimed dance programs at the Tisch School at NYU, Purchase College Conservatory of Dance, Purchase, New York, SMU. Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet and the Ohio State University Department of Dance.
Performances
Each year, The Ridgefield School of Dance presents a winter and spring performance in which all of the students are encouraged to participate. Both events include a classical ballet and a highly choreographed offering from the Jazz Department. We present The Nutcracker in November and our annual, year-end performance features a full-length classical ballet performed by our older dancers along with a ballet specially designed for our younger artists.
Our 2025 year-end performance featured an original classical/contemporary ballet Four Seasons set to the music of Antonio Vivaldi and Max Richter with original choreography by our artistic director Jessica Boelts. Shifting Colors from the Jazz department ended our 2024-25 season with an exuberant homage to dance. June 2022, we presented a magnificent A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Journey from our jazz department. To celebrate our 25th anniversary in June, 2023, act II of Swan Lake, Carnival of the Animals, and The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra were performed for the Ridgefield community. Other ballets in our repertoire include Madeline (performed June 2024) Alice in Wonderland, The Sleeping Beauty Ballet, Cinderella, Act II from Giselle, Les Sylphides, and selections from Paquita, and Romeo and Juliet.
Summer Programs
Our Summer Dance includes Summer and Senior Sprites, Young Dancers' Workshop, Jr. Workshop and Ballet Intensives in July. These programs give dancers a chance to work on strengthening their technique in Ballet, and include a Lyrical/Contemporary component.
Advanced students are encouraged to audition for summer programs throughout the country. Our dancers have been accepted to the School of American Ballet (SAB), Pacific Northwest Ballet, Boston Ballet, Miami Ballet, Charlotte Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet, Joffrey and Bolshoi, Chautauqua, Alvin Ailey, Walnut Hill in Boston, Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, Boston Ballet and the American Ballet Theatre (ABT) Summer Intensives.
Meet our instructors
Our faculty includes current and former professional dancers who are dedicated to sharing their knowledge and joy of dance with their students, as well as directors who oversee the organization and operations that ensure a positive, seamless experience for our families.
Our Facilities
The Ridgefield School of Dance features two bright & spacious sprung-floor dance studios, a large dancer lounge, private dressing nooks, and Family Lounges with dream-maker windows for both studios. We provide free wi-fi and plenty of parking. At this time, masks are optional.
Dancing with a Small Carbon Footprint
Lighting
Minimizing carbon footprint is critically important and as part of our ongoing efforts to reduce, reuse and recycle, The Ridgefield School of Dance invested in high efficiency LED studio lighting during our recent expansion.
We are happy to let you know that the new lights will reduce our electricity needs by as much as 60%. Our new LED lights use as little as 40 watts of renewably-sourced electricity per unit, while the old fluorescent units used as many as 128 watts for the same amount of light. To make things even more efficient, the lighting in each studio is controlled by three separate dimmable switches. Not only are the new lights more efficient, they run cooler and therefore reduce the need for air conditioning. And finally, the color rendition is decidedly better and will light all our dancers, leotards and costumes in a more accurate and pleasing way.
You may have noticed that in our lounges and hallway we have installed new track lighting. These units are also dimmable LED units that help to reduce our carbon footprint.
Heating and Air Conditioning
Our heating and air conditioning is carefully monitored and controlled on a precise schedule, matched to the needs of each class to eliminate the waste of unnecessary use. Finally, in each studio we have standing fans to circulate cool air to help reduce the need for more air-conditioning.
Reduce, reuse, recycle
We encourage all students to use reusable water bottles and the The Ridgefield School of Dance provides a receptacle for recyclables. We would like to see increased use of reusable cups/containers for hot and iced coffee. They not only reduce and reuse, they keep your hot drinks hotter and your cold drinks colder.
The Future
Even though The Ridgefield School of Dance is reducing its carbon footprint, as the opportunities arise, we will do what we can to further reduce, reuse and recycle, moving us toward the goal of a carbon neutral school of dance. We will take these opportunities in the interest of all the children that have danced with us in the past, dance with us now and will dance with us in the future.