Group V Dance
In Group V, students graduate to the spacious dance studio located in the Wallace Performing Arts Center. They take class once a week and master a yoga-based modern dance warm-up that emphasizes the fundamentals of dance technique. They increase their range of movement possibilities through an investigation of movement dynamics and work collaboratively to create their own compositional studies based on poetry. At the end of each semester, they do an in-class performance that is videotaped and then viewed as a learning tool.

Group VI Dance
Group VI dancers continue to visit the studio once a week. They are exposed to dance techniques and music traditions from all over the world. They begin the year with a classical ballet barre that focuses on proper alignment, placement, and musicality. They then travel to Brazil to learn the culture, history and practice of capoeira, a movement form that combines a martial art, a dance, and a game. In the spring, they journey to West Africa to study dances from Ghana and Senegal. The similarities and differences of each technique are discussed, such as the organization of the body and the orientation of the spine. At the end of each unit, the girls complete a group composition assignment that requires them to use each technical style as an inspiration for their own movement invention.

Group VII Dance
In Group VII, dance classes are integrated into the girls' 6-day rotating schedule. Students take both dance and visual art 3 times per 6-day rotation for one semester each. This allow them to study dance technique and composition in greater depth and from a variety of different perspectives. For the past 2 years, the entire Group VII class has participated in an exciting collaboration between dance and visual art which culminates in a class trip to the MoMA and a performance and presentation for a MS Assembly. Dance students use elements of design, such as shape, line, space and time to craft duets, trios, and small group pieces. In addition, Group VII dancers continue to focus on their technical development and learn challenging combinations to a variety of different musical styles.
2005-2007 Dance/Art Collaboration

Group VIII Dance
Dance becomes an elective in Group VIII. Girls may elect to take dance as a PE option for one, two or three trimesters. Dance classes meet 4 times a week with 2 classes devoted to tecnhique, and 2 classes devoted to improvisation and composition. Students are introduced to the structure of a modern/jazz technique class, which includes a thorough warm-up that emphasizes full articulation and musicality, stretches, and a combination which moves across the floor. In composition, students learn a series of compositional devices that allow them to manipulate their movements in ways that produce exciting, and sometimes surprising results.

Middle School Dance Company
MSDC is open to students in Groups VII and VIII. There is an audition held in September for all prospective members. The group meets once a week on Wednesday afternoons from 3:30 - 5:15 in the dance studio. Girls are given the opportunity to collaborate on group choreography, and also dance in the work of dance faculty members. In the 2005-2006 academic year, the MSDC performed off-campus at the Edgehill Life Care Community in Stamford, as well as in Massey Theater for the GA Middle and Lower Schools.