Urban Jam: Hip-Hop Dance with Laya Barak: Open level hip-hop dance classes, Hip-hip dance instruction, Hip-hop dance routines

Product Description Laya Barak's Urban Jam - Hip Hop Dance program offers instruction in innovative hip hop styles for skill levels from beginner to professional. The program includes a warmup and isolations section, followed by beginning, intermediate, and advanced routines, and then an additional breakdown of the beginner routine (separate upper and lower body breakdowns are shown)... The warm up and isolations provide you with a basic stretch, together with exercises that will improve the upper and lower body coordination that is so essential for hip hop dance. The beginner hip hop dance routine is broken down step-by-step with ample repetition. An additional Arms and Lower Body section breaks down separately - move-by- move - all the arm and footwork of the beginner routine. The intermediate routine involves more detail in upper body accents. Musicality also becomes more important, as the routines get more complex. In the advanced section the movement is more challenging, as the tempo accelerates and the choreography becomes more intricate. About the Actor Laya Barak began her training in her hometown of Detroit, studying modern, jazz, ballet, and tap but found her greatest inspiration in the dance style of hip hop. Spending summers at The Edge Performing Arts Center and Millennium Dance Complex in Los Angeles, Laya has trained with some of the top choreographers and teachers anywhere. She continued her studies at Indiana University where she gained her degree in Dance Peformance. Laya was the co-director of Indiana's In-Motion Dance Company, and also co-choreographed and directed the award winning dance concert Revival. Today, Laya teaches workshops and master classes around the US and abroad including Canada, Israel and Australia. She is on the faculties of Steps on Broadway's "The School at Steps" and Dance New Amsterdam, both in New York City. Laya Barak is also a singer/songwriter. You can hear her music at myspace.com/layabarak.