Years of professional experience back up dance classes ranging from ballet to break dancing for students from 18 months to adulthood

• Expires Dec 5, 2012
• Limit 1 per person, may buy multiple as gifts. Valid only for option purchased. Reservation required, subject to availability. New clients only. Must activate by expiration date listed on Groupon, classes expire 2 months from activation. Classes must be used by the same person.
• See the rules that apply to all deals.

• $30 for five drop-in classes for one adult or child (a $70 value)
• $50 for five drop-in classes each for two adults or children (a $140 value)

Classes include children’s break dance and modern, as well as creative dance. Students with no prior Ballet training may take beginning ballet if they start by the 4th week of a new session (June 24 starts Summer session; September 9 starts Fall session). Check the ballet class schedule for updates. Although some classes are generally restricted to students registered for the entire season, Groupon customers are not subject to this restriction, and may drop in for any class of their choosing.

In 1984, lifelong ballerina Elizabeth Chayer founded American Dance Institute in Anchorage, before relocating to two nearly-adjacent studios in Seattle. There she began amassing her current staff of talented toe-artists. Recruited from ballet troupes, contemporary dance companies, and flamenco ensembles around the world, the teachers lead open-level classes that balance technical training with expressive kineticism. Each instructs in their specialty, and as a result the twinned studios can offer a wide range of styles including break dance, ballet, jazz, and the invisible lasso. Collectively, more than a century of professional experience conglomerates in the staff, and each boasts a solid footing on the basics of anatomy and kinesiology to maximize the effectiveness of training while minimizing the chance of injury.

The classes themselves take on a welcoming, noncompetitive format that emphasizes enjoyment without sacrificing technique. Aimed at any dancers of 18 months and older, many classes, including musical theater, Irish step dancing, and ballet, come in a multitude of permutations designed for each age-set. Others are more restricted, such as adults- and teens-only flamenco, and jazz sessions, or the grown-up-free Polynesian class. While individual movements and underlying concepts form the heart of these classes rather than choreographed productions, children enrolled in the spring semester get the chance to take part in a seasonal studio performance. American Dance Institute also hosts birthday parties where guests learn a particular style. During one notable jubilee, the attendees of a family reunion mastered an Irish ceili, then used their newfound skills to stomp on a block of icing until it became a cake.