We are pleased to announce our ballroom dance classes for children!
Balance, poise, posture, grace, beauty, rhythm, coordination. These are all skills we would like to posess. At Fred Astaire, your child can learn these early. With our Social Ballroom Program, your child will learn the confidence and techniques to master these skills.
In children's ballroom dance classes, your child will target large motor skill development while studying waltz, foxtrot, tango, cha-cha, rumba and swing. Performance opportunities are available.
Mondays at 4:45 for 8-10 year olds
Every Wednesday, starting October 21, 2009, at 4:45 PM for ages 5-8
Classes are $15 if you pre-register and pay for at least 6 weeks in advance. $20 for drop-ins or late registration.
For more information, please call the studio at: 973-783-8999.
Fred Astaire is Proud to AnnounceMusic for Aardvarks and other Mammals
Children's Music Class Exploring song, repition, rhythms and musical and rhythmic instrument. Infant - age 5 welcome.
What is Music for Aardvarks?
Music for Aardvarks is a music program where parents and children get to explore music that means something. This music is not your ordinary kids music, this music is all about life with beats and rhythms that get the grown-ups groovn' too!
Who takes the class?
Whether your child is 5 months or 5 years, every child has a different stage of learning. From absorbing music to bopping, clapping, banging, singing to dancing to their hearts content. They begin to feel and music and have their own favorite songs. It is precious when a child reacts to the music!
How long are the classes?
Each Music For Aardvarks class is 45 minutes in lenght, and a regular session runs for ten weeks.
How much are the classes?Tuition is $210 for a 10-week session.
Do I have to buy the CDs?A digitally mastered CD is included with your sessions. CDs may also be purchased from HARMONIZE, and will be delivered to your class within a day or two notice. some CDs may be frond on iTunes. All CDs are available from the parent comany's website, www.musicforaardvarks.com. Music for Aardvarks songs are featured on Nickelodeon on shows like Jack's Big Music Show.
Tell me a little about yourself?
ALISA HARMON, DirectorFirst and foremost, I'm a mommy. My children are big now, but being their mother has been the highest and greatest calling of my life. My children are Tanner, 20; Zoe, 17, Eva, 13; and a tiny angel baby, Liam, who now lives in Heaven and watches and listens to Mommy singing lullabies.
Music is like oxygen to me. It teaches me, soothes me, and fills my soul with joy. I have always loved being a musician.
I love to teach, as well. So, it seemed logical that, after my children were old enough for me to begin to work part-time outside the home, I blended my love of music with my new-found career as a mother. I abandoned corporate banking and began to share joy with young children. As my own children grew, I took on more classes until it was only logical to begin my own franchise of Music for Aardvarks.
HARMONIZE, featuring Music for Aardvarks, was born in 2001. We began our first session with in the Winter session 2002, and have been growing and expanding ever since. We currently have locations in Montclair and Springfield.
Kerry AndersonI came out to NJ in 2001 from Boulder, CO with passions of pursuing my music career. I have been singing and writing since I was a young girl and have experienced many different kinds of musical outlets. I started playing the flute when I was 11, then self taught on the piano and guitar. I have always been a singer and have always loved writing and recording.
My musical path lead me to NYC with a Grammy award winning producer Charles Roane. I wrote and recorded my first album "Sideways" with him. I was touring NJ in 2008 at bookstores and coffee houses promoting and selling my album, which now is being sold on Itunes and Amazon.
My other passion is children. When I arrived in NJ I became a nanny. Children are the light of my life. You never know what they are going to say or do!
I have put the two together at Music For Aardvarks. With my love of children and love of music. Now teaching has become my life. They say "You have to love what you do", and I am blessed to have found what I love!
The Aardvarkian Philosophy
Excerpts from an interview with David Weinstone
by Fabra Kate of Kid's Cuts Radio
Fabra Kate: You have obviously hit a nerve with your audience. What is it about your music that children respond to?
David Weinstone:
I think it's a matter of getting into their heads and trying to see the
world from their eyes. I wrote the song "Velcro" because my son was
learning to dress himself but couldn't tie up his sneaks. We bought him
the velcro kind and he was like master of his feet. There are dozens of
trials and tribulations in the day-to-day life of children and
sometimes the little things can mean a lot. I write about things that
really happen to kids and they recognize the situations.
FK:
You also write songs that deal with birth and death, feelings of
separation and anger. How do you make more complex subjects accessible
to a child?
DW: Well, I don't think
the examples you mentioned are as necessarily complex from a child's
perspective. If your kid gets upset you pretty much know why
immediately. They were denied a toy or they were scared of a new
situation. Maybe they just needed a diaper change. When adults get
upset or react to things with fear or anger it may really be about
something else that happened to them twenty-five years ago. You can
broach these topics with kids because it's easier to pinpoint the
source of their feelings. So instead of writing a fluffy song about how
it's o.k. to be angry, you write a song about the elusive Buzz
Lightyear toy or something. I wrote a song called "Little Flower." The
flower is born, blooms, almost gets trampled; falls in love with the
sun then withers and dies. It's an epic tale in a minute-and-a-half
about love, vulnerability, triumph and finally death. Is it too complex
for a two-year old? No, it's a song about a flower.
FK:
The first time I listened to your music was in my car driving home from
work and I found myself laughing out loud. I remember thinking how
witty and sophisticated it was at times, but there is also this element
of ridiculousness likened to a Three Stooges movie. Can you talk a
little bit about the humor in your songs?
DW: I don't know why but I never liked The Three Stooges. Could you change that to The Marx Brothers or The Keystone Cops?
FK: O.K., Seinfeld meets The Keystone Cops.
DW:
Everybody needs a good laugh now and then. Despite all the mood swings
I think kids are pretty easily amused, especially by their own antics.
I wrote a song called "I Crack Me Up" about that giddy state of mind
kids can get to where they're laughing for it's own sake. I also like
to poke fun at kids in a way that lets them laugh at themselves, like
in the song "Grumpy" or "Meltdown." Humor is a great healer but
sometimes funny is just funny, like when a child asks, "How many more
minutes until I have to go to bed?" You say fifteen more minutes and
they ask, "How many is that?"
FK: And how do you answer that?
DW: I don't know, it always stumps me.
FK:
Parents I've talked to speak passionately about your music, but some of
your critics have suggested that you sometimes cross the line between
what is appropriate for young children, and what is really more adult
music.
DW: Is that a question?
FK: Well, I guess it's really two questions: What is the appeal to parents? And, how do you respond to your critics?
DW:
I think the parents find the stylistic diversity in the music exciting.
The element of surprise both musically and lyrically. The different
energy levels. And I also think they recognize it as being
authentically original and intelligent compared to other children's
music. As far as the music being inappropriate for young children, I
think that's ridiculous. My writing is full of traditional folk, pop
and jazz, classical and Latin influences, but I've grown up listening
to The Ramones, David Bowie, Brian Eno, Lou Reed and Nirvana. If some
of my songs seem over-the-top to a few people I say "buy something
else." I'm not crossing a line. Hopefully I'm erasing one.
FK: Is there any music you do consider inappropriate for children?
DW: Yes, most children's music.
FK: Seriously.
DW:
I am serious. Music that's dumbed-down and full of corny cliches is
offensive to me, and I think it does our children a great disservice.
Kids are smarter than that and deserve better from us. Of course, I'm
opposed to music with violent themes or foul language for children. I
would like to see us (as a culture) introduce music to children with
the same kind of intelligence and creativity we introduce them to the
other arts. We have wonderful theater for them. Wonderful children's
literature and art. Why should they be listening to the equivalent of
stick figure drawings? 
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