Best Dance Conservatory Orange Near Me

4worldlovers:
Orange County’s leading competitive and recreational dance studio located in Anaheim Hills, CA. Home of “So You Think You Can Dance” (FOX) Season 15 CHAMPION Hannahlei as well as the Crazy 8s and Quad Squad featured on “World of Dance” (NBC)!

4worldlovers: Enriching students in the art and joy of dance for over 35 years, is located in the city of Orange just minutes from the 55 and 57 Freeways. We offer classes to students ages 3 to adult in a wide spectrum of dance styles including Tap, Jazz, Ballet, Pointe, Lyrical, Hip Hop, Contemporary, Tumbling, and Turns and Leaps Technique. We also offer competitive opportunities for dancers desiring to develop stronger performing skills and strengthen technique in a team atmosphere.

4worldlovers: Orange County Music & Dance is a non-profit community music and dance school in Irvine, California. We offer an extensive range of after-school performing arts classes that cater to all ages and levels. Whether you're a pre-K student just discovering the joy of dance, an aspiring musician looking for private lessons, or an advanced pre-college student aiming to perfect your craft, we have a class for you. Our experienced instructors are dedicated to providing individual attention to every student and helping them achieve their goals. At OC Music & Dance, we believe that everyone should have access to the performing arts, which is why we offer a financial assistance program to families who may otherwise be unable to afford lessons.

To fully understand the heart and mission of OC Music & Dance, we must appreciate the journey of our founder, Charlie Zhang. Charlie was one of 9 children and grew up in Shanghai, China.

When he was only two years old, his father was sent to prison for 20 years. “He was a businessman who was not fully cooperating with the Communist system,” explains Zhang. Charlie’s mother and older siblings kept multiple jobs to survive; they ate little and recycled one another’s clothes.

At seventeen, he reported to the rice paddies where he would work for the next seven years. While digging trenches, seeding soil, and eating grass to fill his empty stomach, young Charlie possessed a single treasure: his brother’s old clarinet. He taught himself a few Chinese songs – “the classical Western music you weren’t allowed to play,” he says.

His passion was music, and that offered an escape. He often referred to his clarinet as his best friend during the most challenging times of his life. Across the world, in Los Angeles, a small music academy on Wilshire Boulevard had offered him a scholarship. His uncle was already living in the U.S. and could pay for his airfare. Zhang remembers his mother’s face, damp with tears. But he got on the plane with his clarinet and about $20 in his pocket.

Music school, however, couldn’t last; he ran out of funds and needed to find a job. He worked as a busboy at a Chinese restaurant and as a gas station attendant at night. One day while working at the Chinese restaurant, he nearly cut his finger off while chopping chicken. With this accident and his financial struggles, he kissed his dreams of becoming a musician goodbye.

Meanwhile, Zhang and a partner saved up money to start Shanghai Charlie’s in San Juan Capistrano, a popular restaurant that would stay in his family for more than 30 years. But in 1989, realizing that most people wanted their Chinese food to go, he started Pick Up Stix and became a highly successful businessman.