Classes are held at our DFA Centre’s every weekday afternoon and on Saturday mornings as well as Cape Town Outreach areas. The training in the various styles is designed to improve technique and skill and to lay the foundation for students to follow a career in the performing arts. Students often have the opportunity of working with guest teachers and choreographers, and of performing on stage. They also attend dance productions in the theatre, when possible.

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The DFA Centre in Athlone caters for up to 200 students with great dance studios available to children who are especially talented in dance and who are committed to the demands of this art form.  Children who show the required talent, aptitude, and attitude are selected from the programmes in the township/outreach areas and then placed into classes at the DFA Centre, at different levels, and in smaller groups, where they receive more intense and individual training and guidance.

Critically, given their impoverished backgrounds, transport is provided to and from classes at the DFA Centre. This transport has been generously funded by DFA’s supportive donor partners. At the Centre, dance students work with highly experienced teachers and choreographers and the focus is on preparing them to follow professional career paths in the arts.

DFA Centre classes include Ballet, African Contemporary, Contemporary Dance, Hip Hop, and Creative Movement programmes.

Dancers who show talent in African and Contemporary styles have specialised tuition four times a week (including Saturdays). They are drawn from all the communities where DFA’s Cape Town Outreach Programme has classes and as part of their training, the students are encouraged to appreciate their identity and traditions so they do not forget their background and culture.

DFA’s Ballet Programme offers classes to various ages (beginners-intermediate/advanced level). While the students on this programme are trained mainly in ballet, the aim is also to be able to combine the ballet programme with another dance form. They are encouraged and taught to understand how to strengthen their bodies and learn to work to their full potential. The majority of the students are drawn from the Cape Town Outreach Programme, as well as schools in the Athlone area.

The Contemporary Dance classes are based on the individual styles of the group of teachers and choreographers. Classical Ballet is also incorporated into the training to build the students’ technique and strength. The Junior Contemporary group feeds into the Senior group and to develop versatility, they are exposed to a wide variety of styles via choreography that includes Jazz and Afro-fusion.

Classes are held at our DFA Centre every weekday afternoon and on Saturday mornings and students are transported to class and home again in DFA’s busses. The training in the various styles is designed to improve technique and skill, and to lay the foundation for students to follow a career in the performing arts. They often have the opportunity of working with guest teachers and choreographers, and of performing on stage. They also attend dance productions in the theatre, when possible.

DFA’s teachers offer African Contemporary and Ballet classes every weekday afternoon in school classrooms and community halls in the townships of Nyanga, Khayelitsha, Lansdowne, Kenilworth, Philippi and Delft. Outreach classes are also held at DFA Centre. Whatever their shape, level of ability or economic circumstances, boys and girls aged from five to young adults may attend DFA’s classes free of charge. This inclusiveness gives children the opportunity to be in a safe, structured environment where they can have fun and learn a valuable skill at the same time. DFA also teaches in schools in areas close to its base, where students pay a small fee for their tuition, as part of an extramural.

Students selected to participate in DFA’s cluster of Specialised Dance Programmes – African Contemporary, Ballet and Contemporary Ballet – are drawn from the Cape Town Outreach Programme.

DFA is also active in some rural areas of the Western Cape, namely Barrydale. Dance classes are a lifeline to many of DFA’s students, who are affected by poverty, malnutrition, and social ills such as alcoholism and abuse.

Barrydale: DFA’s programme started here in 2005. Ballet training is offered at five schools in the Tradouw Valley and during school time as part of their Arts and Culture curriculum. There’s also a more advanced class in Barrydale for children who have particular talent as ballet dancers. These children live in the village and on surrounding farms.

Paarl: With minimal afternoon activities for youngsters some of the impoverished rural areas of Paarl, DFA teaches dance class at two primary schools, Klapmuts Primer and Simondium Primer through the Groot Drakenstein project in partnership with the Department of Cultural Affairs @ Sports.

*DFA former rural area Montagu’s success stories include a sponsored opportunity in 2010 for a talented young male dancer to continue his training at the Canadian National Ballet School; and two other students receiving bursaries in 2011 to attend the Cape Academy of Performing Arts (CAPA) in Cape Town.