The Dance Program

The Apprentice Dance Company is designed for students with a desire, passion, and potential for dance, but with a more limited dance background. Apprentice Dance Company dancers are selected by audition in the second semester of eighth grade. Mercy Girls may also audition in the spring of each year. Dancers participate in technique classes held during the school day, as well as choreography rehearsals held one or two days a week after school. The program focuses on developing technical skills in the genres of ballet, modern, and jazz dance, with exposure to improvisation, composition, and choreography. The Apprentice Dance Company performs several times throughout the academic year and also works alongside guest artists.

Mercy’s Dance Troupe is a full-year, co-curricular, comprehensive, and sequenced college preparatory program for experienced dancers. In addition to rigorous instruction in the genres of dance, The Dance Troupe performs several times during the year including formal concerts in the winter and spring. The Dance Troupe has also appeared with the Independent Dance Network, an organization providing performance opportunities and master classes to students enrolled in private schools in Maryland.

Throughout the year, Mercy Girls study with a variety of guest choreographers allowing them to explore flamenco, Irish Dance, African, and more.