Blacksburg Dance Theater (formerly New River Moving Arts) is a holistic dance school based in Blacksburg, Virginia. As professional dance educators, our faculty strive to create a safe, fun-filled learning environment for movers of all ages and backgrounds.

We offer high quality instruction in a variety of dance genres, and we’re always adding more! Current class offerings include creative movement, modern, ballet, jazz, hip hop, tap, lyrical, musical theatre, and Irish dance.

Our curriculum places emphasis on each individual student’s experience of their own body.

Classes for young children focus on creative exploration, basic ballet and modern dance terminology, musicality and joyful expression.

Classes for older children, teens, and adults balance creative exploration with technical training to allow dancers to achieve safe and appropriate skeletal alignment through release of muscular tension and relinquishing of habitual movement patterns.

We are grounded in best practices in dance education.

• Our director, Rachel Rugh, holds an MFA (Master of Fine Arts) in dance and has been active in the field of dance education for over a decade.

• We incorporate Brain Compatible Dance Education throughout our programs for all ages.

We are noncompetitive.

• While competitive dance offers many benefits, we strongly believe in offering an option for those dancers who prefer to dance for the joy of moving, rather than for a points-based score.

We are body positive.

• We wholeheartedly reject the notion that there is only one specific body type that can be successful at dance.

• Rather, we believe that EVERY body deserves to dance, and we incorporate body positive messaging throughout our entire curriculum for all ages.

We are inclusive.

• Regardless of age, developmental stage, body size, gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, immigration status, disability, neurotype or any of the other wonderful things that make you unique - we believe that everyone deserves to move their bodies in an inclusive, welcoming environment.