Beginner Jazz with Melissa Rector

Wednesdays and thursdays 4:30-6:00pm **First week is FREE (June 3rd and 4th)

Featuring Koresh Dance Company's Assistant Artistic Director, Melissa Rector, this Beginner Jazz class offers a dynamic and energized warm up focused on isolations, improving strength and balance. These warm up techniques are then put to the test with an end-of-class combination that is fun and invites dancers to find freedom in the use of torso, limbs, timing and dynamics.
The class is welcoming to newcomers.

After studying at the North Carolina School of the Arts and Point Park College in Pittsburgh, Melissa Rector obtained her Certificate of Dance from The University of the Arts in 1993. Following graduation, she obtained a scholarship to study at the Pennsylvania Academy of Ballet. Melissa has been dancing with Koresh Dance Company since its inception in 1991 and is the company’s Assistant Artistic Director. At the Koresh School of Dance, she teaches her unique style that blends Modern Jazz and Luigi technique. Additionally, Melissa is the Artistic Director and Choreographer for the Koresh Youth Ensemble. Her work has been performed locally at the Philadelphia Fringe Festival, Philadelphia Youth Dance Festival, Annenberg Center, Drexel University’s Mandell Theater, and PeriDance Capezio Center in New York City, among other places. She frequently travels around the country to perform, teach master classes, and set choreography for students.