School Offers Free Dance Classes, Performances

 in New Providence is kicking of its first customer appreciation since 1997 this Saturday, offering performances, free classes and raffles to the community in celebration of the installation of a 120-panel solar array.

The school, which is family-owned and established in 1996, will offer free classes and performances from 9:15 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at its location at 1790 Springfield Ave.

"We had a lot of fun at the last one we did," said Joe Elefante. "We decided to do it again to celebrate our customers and to get the word out about the solar panels."

The day will start off at 9:15 a.m. with "Broadway Baby," a class designed for children aged three to five to learn basic techniques of dancing, acting and singing.

The next class, "3 in 1 Acting, Dancing and Singing," will have a similar theme, but for students aged eight through 12, with two separate half-hour slots for beginners and advanced students, beginning at 10 a.m.

At the same time, there will also be a music class for parents and children aged three to five, called "Music Together." This class is designed for the parents and children to sing and dance together in a fun way, Elefante said.

Elefante faculty members will perform at 12 p.m. and students in the Elefante Music All Star Bands will perform at 1 p.m.

"I hope they have a good time. It gives the kids the chance to play for an audience and for the community to see how talented these kids are," Elefante said. "They're really fantastic."

There will still be classes during the performance times, including a musical theater dance class for all ages at 12:15 p.m. and a tap dance class for all ages at 1 p.m.

The last two classes will be acting and performing arts classes for all ages, including an improv class at 2 p.m., designed to improve confidence on stage, and an "Acting the Song" class at 2:30 p.m., which is meant to teach singers how to best express the meaning of a song and how to approach a song as an actor.

Elefante said he is excited about showing the community the school's performing arts skills, since the school only began offering those classes a year ago. Prior to that, the school was more focused on instrumental music.

After the classes are over, Ryan Inc., the company installing the solar panels at the school, will give a demonstration on how the panels work, followed by a question and answer session on "Going Green," Elefante said. The first 50 people to attend the event will receive a free "solar sundae" from, which is located next door to the school.

Attendees will also be entered in a raffle to win several prizes; first place is an iPad 2, second place is a free lesson with a professional baseball player, and third place is one free electrical maintenance for your home or business.

Bruce Stanley, director of solar operations at Ryan Inc., said the company is using a brand called "Canadian Solaron" for the Elefante project with a Uni Rac racking system, accompanied by a cutting edge technological application called “micro-inverters.”

"It gives the customer greater control over and monitoring of their photovoltaic system," Stanley said. "Ryan has used these on over 90 percent of our installations and they have made our customers up to 22 percent more money than we originally anticipated because of their enhanced technology."

Elefante said installing solar panels was an idea from his father, Al Elefante.

"When given the opportunity to do something like this, who wouldn't want to take advantage of the environmental benefits, the money-saving benefits; it's kind of a no-brainer," Joe Elefante said.

He said the main goal is to continue bringing in new customers and to educate the community about what the school offers to its more than 600 students.

"The main goal is to attract new customers, but even more important than that is to show our gratitude to the customers we already have," Elefante said. "We're really proud. We've been doing it for so long."