About the Dance Department at Law
Our program begins with dance fundamentals, including physical conditioning through a comprehensive warm-up, Pilates, and Yoga techniques. Students learn to discuss, discern, and embody dance through the lens of 5 elements: body, action, space, time, and energy. Students collaborate and choreograph dances in groups and independently. They learn techniques from modern, jazz, and ballet to hip hop, Afro-Caribbean, and Salsa. All styles are approached as a physical and mental practice, allowing youth of all levels to explore the performing arts with freedom and courage. Winter and Spring dance concerts are produced and presented by our students. In addition, we offer a Campus-wide Dance Club and Student Arts Leadership Team (SALT) after school hours. Our dancers attend field trips to major arts institutions such as Lincoln Center, City Center, and Brooklyn Academy of Music, where they witness professional dance companies live. Our school has partnered with Cumbe Center for African and Diaspora Dance, Dance Africa, Capoeira Center of New York, Urban Bush Women, Jamel Gaines Creative Outlet, and Paul Taylor Modern Dance Company. Through these partnerships, our students work with master teachers in various styles. We are grateful to receive continued support from Exploring The Arts (ETA) in order to develop our overall arts programming. Due to this support we recently purchased a Cyc and Cyc light for our auditorium which will give us more diverse lighting options for our dance concerts and elevate these events to a more professional level.
The Director of our department and primary dance instructor is Ms. Barillaro, fondly known as Miss B, who studied at The Juilliard School for her BFA in Dance and received her Masters Degree in Dance Education from NYU Steinhardt. She danced professionally, touring with multiple dance companies and producing her own shows. Ms. Barillaro is a certified personal trainer and Pilates instructor. She is honored to teach in the Department of Education and to work at John Jay School for Law. Come dance with us!
