Studio One Presents: studioonedanceacademy.co.za | Our Blog
- STUDIO ONE DANCE ACADEMY
- 9 hours ago
- 8 min read
A new website. A proper beginning.
And a long-overdue introduction to the community that's been quietly
building across four studios.
"We teach dance. In doing so, we help children become themselves."
— Paula & Jillian, Co-Founders, Studio One Dance Academy
Some milestones deserve more than a quiet rollout.
We could have launched this website with a timetable and a registration form and left it at that. But Studio One has never been just a timetable and a registration form. So before you explore the classes, before you read about the studios, before you find the schedule that fits your week - let us tell you who we are and what we actually believe.
This is our first blog post. We intend it to be the first of many. If you are one of our founding families in Brackenfell or Durbanville, welcome back, and thank you for everything. If you have just found us while searching for dance classes in Cape Town, the Northern Suburbs, or The Winelands: welcome. You are in exactly the right place.
THE BELIEF AT THE CENTRE OF EVERYTHING
Studio One was built on a single, unwavering conviction: dance is for everyone.
Yes, everyone. Not only for children who already move gracefully. Not only for families who have always been involved in performance. Not only for the naturally coordinated or the fearlessly expressive.
For everyone.
The two-year-old who hasn’t yet found her feet. The ten-year-old who moves like she was born to compete. The adult who danced as a child and has spent twenty years quietly missing it without ever quite naming why. The parent who signed their daughter up for a trial class, stayed to watch, and found themselves wanting to join in.
We opened our first studio in Brackenfell with that belief. In the years since, it hasn’t shifted by a single degree.
“We didn’t set out to build four studios across the Western Cape. We set out to build one place where children could discover themselves through movement. The rest followed, because the belief was right.”
— Paula & Jillian
WHAT WE’VE LEARNED ABOUT COMMUNITY
One of the things we hear most often from new families is how surprised they are by what they find here.
Not just the teaching. The emerging. The belonging.
This wasn’t something we engineered on paper. It emerged, slowly and naturally, from years of watching children grow alongside each other. The friendships formed at the barre. The shared nerves before a first performance. The pride, after. The way that even our newest instructors know all of the students by name (not because they have memorised a register), but because they genuinely care about each one.
We have watched students arrive for their first class barely making eye contact, too nervous to move freely. And over the weeks and months (sometimes sooner) we have watched them bloom. The change is not just physical. It is emotional. It is social. A child who finds her confidence in a dance studio carries that confidence into every other room she enters: the classroom, the playground, the audition, the interview, the life.
We nurture this community deliberately. Whether that be through group performances, workshops, seasonal events, and even the quirky 'water-bottle' or show-and-tell days with our younger groups... Across all four studios, and through our school outreach programme, where we bring dance directly into classrooms. But the warmth you feel when you walk through the door for the first time is not a programme. That is just who we are.
We invest in cultivating immaculate vibes within our collective groups, the more harmonious a collective tends to be, the more individuals thrive.
WHAT WE TEACH
Our curriculum is broad by design. Different children connect with movement in different ways.
Our role is to find that connection for each one, and then to honour it with serious, joyful, highly-focused, expert teaching. Across eight disciplines and every age group from two years old to adult, here is what Studio One offers:
Ballet
The technical foundation of all great movement. Posture, discipline, musicality, body awareness - ballet supports everything that follows, regardless of which style a student ultimately loves most.
Modern & Contemporary
Expressive, fluid movement that teaches dancers to translate emotion into physical form. Freedom and structure, held in balance.
Lyrical
A beautiful, emotive blend of ballet and jazz technique. Storytelling through movement at its most graceful and precise.
Acro
Strength, flexibility, and artistry fused with gymnastic athleticism. Dynamic, demanding, and genuinely exciting to perform.
Hip-Hop
Vibrant, rhythm-driven and rooted in joy, energy, and individual expression. A consistent favourite at every performance and competition.
Jazz
Dynamic, fun, and empowering. A popular choice for dancers of all ages and skill levels, with a freedom all of its own.
Competition Teams
Structured, rigorous preparation for dedicated dancers who are ready to perform at regional and national level. Discipline and heart in equal measure.
Open Genre Adult Classes
Open to all. Whether you danced as a child and want to return, or you have never set foot in a studio in your life, you are completely welcome. No experience required, ever.
HOW OUR CURRICULUM IS STRUCTURED
There is no right age to start dancing, and there is certainly no prior experience required.
Our syllabus is structured to grow alongside every dancer, from their very first steps through to pre-professional training. Our classes are designed to meet each student at their stage of development:
PROGRAMME | AGE / GRADE | |
Budding Ballet | 2–3 years | |
Rhythm, imagination, and play. A first, joyful introduction to movement. | ||
Mini Programme | 3–4 years | |
Building coordination and musicality through structured creative movement. | ||
Primary Programme | Grade R | |
Foundation technique introduced gently and with care. | ||
Foundational Programmes | Grade 1–3 | |
Growing technical confidence across multiple disciplines. | ||
Junior Programme | 10–13 years | |
Developing serious technique and performance experience. | ||
Senior Programme | 14–21 years | |
Rigorous training for dancers with ambition and commitment. | ||
Open Adult Classes | 18+ | |
No experience necessary. No pressure. Just dance. | ||
Adult classes are available at our Brackenfell, Durbanville, and Val de Vie (Paarl) studios. Whether you danced as a child and want to return to it, or you are stepping into a studio for the very first time, you are completely welcome here.
FOUR STUDIOS. ONE STANDARD
We now host a dance family across the Western Cape from four carefully chosen locations.
The programme is the same at each one. The teaching standard is the same. The warmth is the same. Whichever studio is closest to your home is, simply, your Studio One.
DIE ATELJEE STUDIO
Springbokpark, Brackenfell · Northern Suburbs
OHM STUDIO
D’urbanvale, Durbanville · Northern Suburbs
THE YARD CENTRE
Val de Vie Estate, Paarl · Cape Winelands
LA BRI STUDIO
Robertsvlei, Franschhoek · Cape Winelands
Our classes run from age two through to adult, covering every level from creative movement and play through to pre-professional training and competition preparation. Whether you are looking for ballet classes in Brackenfell, a hip-hop programme in Durbanville, or adult contemporary classes in the Winelands - we have a studio, a class, and a teacher waiting for you.
OUR ONLINE STORE
Introducing SODA: Studio One’s own apparel range.
We want to address something that comes up constantly with new families, often on the very first visit.
A parent watches her daughter’s trial class. The child is wearing a cotton T-shirt and leggings, perfectly fine for a first class. But at the end of the session she sees the other students in their leotards and wrap skirts and she asks, quietly, where to get those.
For a long time, the answer was complicated. Good dancewear in Cape Town is either expensive, hard to find, or both. Parents were driving to specialist stores, ordering online from overseas, or making do with whatever was available locally. It wasn’t good enough for a studio that asks as much of its students as Studio One does.
So we built our own range.
“The right outfit doesn’t just look the part, it helps a dancer feel ready. There’s something that shifts when a child puts on a leotard for the first time. She stands differently. She walks into the studio differently.”
SODA: designed for Studio One students, available to everyone.
SODA is Studio One Dance Academy’s own apparel and accessories label, a purpose-built range crafted from quality cotton lycra and lycra fabrics that move with the body through every style we teach. Every piece is sized from toddler through to adult. Every price is deliberately within reach (+- R150 to R450), because dancewear that works shouldn’t be a luxury.
This is not a concession stand. SODA has been developed with the same seriousness we bring to the curriculum: the right fabrics, the right cuts, tested in actual classes by actual students. If it’s in the range, it earns its place.
What’s in the collection?
Leotards
The Cross-Back Leotard and Cross-Back Classic Leotard (Starting at R240 each) are the range’s bestsellers, and for good reason. Clean lines, quality lycra, a fit that works from ballet to contemporary, and a silhouette that a dancer of any age feels good in. Two cuts, the same confidence.
Tops & Crops
The Spaghetti Strap Crop Top and Sporty Crop Top are two of the range’s most-loved pieces: versatile, practical, built for class (all available in white, black & pink). The Spaghetti Strap Top
layers lightly. The Long Sleeve Top carries a student through winter terms. The Ballet Jersey Wrap-Top is the studio layer - elegant before class, essential after it.
Bottoms
The Wrap Chiffon Skirt brings grace to ballet and lyrical without restricting a single step. Lycra Dance Hot Shorts are the practical anchor of the range: right for acro, hip-hop, and any session where the movement is serious and big.
Accessories
SODA Dance Socks: functional, finished, and part of the range proper rather than an afterthought. Keep up to date for more exciting releases such as our SODA bags
The Studio One T-Shirt
Sitting outside the SODA range as a quiet nod to where we started, the original Studio One label, still going. R155, and worth having. The quiet way to carry a little of this community with you into the world.
Every SODA piece is available online at our store with secure checkout via YOCO. Once your order is packed, we’ll be in touch and you can collect in person at whichever of our four studios is most convenient: Brackenfell, Durbanville, Paarl, or Franschhoek.
Prices are size, and material dependent. Sizing from toddler (2–3) through to adult. Available now.
WHAT’S NEXT
This blog (and store) will be updated regularly.
Studio news. Dancer spotlights. Competition results. Honest advice for dance parents (the kind we wish someone had given us at the beginning). Behind-the-scenes from life across four studios in one of the most beautiful corners of South Africa.
For now: explore the new website. Browse the SODA store, or the timetable. Read about the classes. And if something here has resonated , if you found yourself picturing your child at the barre, or quietly thinking about a class for yourself, reach out. We offer a free trial at every studio. No commitment. No experience required. Just come, and see.
“We’ve watched students arrive barely making eye contact, too nervous to move freely. Over the weeks and months, we’ve watched them bloom. The change isn’t just physical. It’s emotional. It’s social. A child who finds her confidence in a dance studio carries that confidence into every other room she enters: the classroom, the playground, the audition, the interview, the life. That is the Studio One philosophy in practice.”
— Paula & Jillian, Co-Founders, Studio One Dance Academy
We can't wait to dance with all of you.
Brackenfell · Durbanville · Paarl · Franschhoek
Ballet · Modern · Contemporary · Lyrical · Acro · Jazz · Hip-Hop · Competition · Adult Classes
Ages 2 and Up · Cape Town & the Winelands · Est. 2024
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