Thank you for visting ithacadance.com. We teach classes and private lessons in latin, ballroom, swing, and bridal dance styles.

A few noteworthy comments about Ithaca Dance methods. First, you will always have TWO excellent instructors, a man and a lady. Students need to see the real dance, and they need to see a lot of it. Lady students need to see a good lady dancer and her movement styles, as well as experience dancing with a competant male leader, visa versa for a gentleman student. Students need to hear the perspectives of both sides of the dance partnership. Many solo instructors feel that, since they can show both the leader and follower part, that they can teach by themselves, using pickup students in the class - I hope you can see that a teaching team is much more effective.

Students need to practice dancing to music both in class and at home. We use a LOT of music in class, good music. We also provide lists of handpicked dance tunes for you to download from itunes, Napster, etc.

Many students attend as singles, without partners. We match them up, rotating partners frequently, a common practice in partner dance classes. We recognize that some couples do not wish to rotate partners, and we undertand that - it is fine. We do not put pressure on couples to switch partners.

A word about myself, Kurt Lichtmann - I have been teaching dance for twelve years at Cornell University. Recently, I have also begun teaching credit courses in ballroom dance and latin dance at my other alma mater, Ithaca College, where I earned my Masters Degree in Music Education. My music and pedagogy instructors at Ithaca College gave me much by personal example in their teaching styles, perspectives, and methods, but most of all by their personalities and charisma. I wish to pay particular honor to inspirational I.C. Professors Leslie Bennett, Mary Arlin, Edward Swensen, David Riley, Ronald Regal, Elizabeth Regal, Gary Brodhead, Margorie Porterfield, Roland Bentley, Steven Mauk, Lawrence Doebbler, and my student teaching supervisor at Horseheads High School, Joseph Crupi.

Even though I played in a dance band for eight years, learning dance was not easy for me. As a result, my instruction is very sympathetic to the student, and to individual styles of learning. From what I have seen, it seems that many (not all!) partner dance instructors, including top pro performers and competitors who teach on the side, are unaware of the developments in effective music instruction that have occured in the last 1/2 century - Kodaly, Dalcroze, etc. For example, some students need to see a move demonstrated over and over again, some need counting, some need verbal descriptions, some need hands on, and so on. Instructors should not be afraid to touch students - this is the most direct and effective way to communicate movement ideas. Becoming knowledgeable and comfortable with socially acceptable forms of touch is indeed an important part of social dance. We work as much one-on-one as we can, and we encourage, not discourage, questions

I bring to dance instruction the perspective of a musician, composer, and improvisor. I feel that satisfying dance comes from allowing yourself to be as much part of the music as you can, as well as an extension of it - a co-creator of rhythm, melody, lyrics, phrasing, structure, dynamics. Relaxed natural rhythmic musical expression in the body is so pleasurable to watch, as well as to experience. Increasing students' music and body awareness is what I consider to be the thrust of my teaching research for the rest of my life. My continued work with the ancient Chinese tradition of Qigong movement has helped me to help students experience "abstruse" issues of centered movement, grounding, functional postures, body awareness and energy flow. Everything related to this issue inerests me: Alexander Technique, Pilates, Martial Arts, etc.

I hope that you will consider allowing me and my co-teachers to become part of your dance learning experience.

Thank you.