The Ailey School

This level continues to build strength with an awareness of the torso as the center and initiator of all movement. Spiral, contraction and release exercises become longer and more complex, using the legs more often. Opposition and weight shifts are emphasized, building a stronger movement vocabulary, increased dynamic range and more control. The weight of the body is further explored in primary falling combinations from sitting positions and the knees. Standing work in the center develops more stamina, balance, control, flexibility and expanded sense of movement through extended combinations with contraction and release, leg extensions, plié series and shifts of weight. The centering of the body is heightened with falls to the floor from standing positions off center and pitch turns. Elevation in jumps is emphasized. Longer traveling combinations often use difficult rhythms and contracting spirals along with more complicated movement phrases that call for dramatic expressiveness, use of weight and musicality.