Founded in Newton, Massachusetts, in 1976, the Joanne Langione Dance Center was the first American youth dance school centered on a developmental and avocational model rather than a competitive one. Currently the dance center offers instruction to students between 9 months and 18 years old in classical ballet, modern dance, contemporary dance, jazz, hip-hop and tap dance, with ballet exams administered annually by the American Academy of Ballet. The school stages sixteen public performances each year.[1]
The school's toddler dance program, "Playdance," developed upon the cognitive insight that the sequence of music and movement constitute "brilliant neurological exercises" in early childhood,[2] was featured on the PBS Documentary and WCVB series for Lifetime, Your Baby and Child, with Dr. Penelope Leach.[3] The school's first complement of "Playdance" graduates was featured on Bob McGrath's Sesame Street tour in 1988.[4]
