CLI Studios

What CLI Studios is

CLI Studios runs CLI Conservatory Online, an on-demand dance training service whose home page headline promises professional-level dance training anytime and anywhere, and whose page title calls it an online dance conservatory for pre-professional training. It serves two readers. Dancers stream classes across every major style, at levels from all levels to advanced. Dance teachers get a separate membership, Conservatory Online for Teachers, built around "Continuing education, inspiration, and certification for dance teachers." The faculty pitch is the same for both: the home page promises classes from "choreographers and educators who are actively creating, performing, and shaping the commercial and concert dance industries." The site's menu also points to an in-person side of the brand, the CLI Conservatory program with its own auditions and faculty pages, and a run of seasonal intensives: a Summer Intensive, a Summer Intensive for Juniors, a Fall Intensive and a Winter Intensive. This entry is about the online conservatory.

Classes for dancers

The home page groups the dancer library by style: ballet, contemporary, hip-hop, jazz, jazz funk, modern, musical theater, strength, tap and yoga. Each style is shown with a sample class, its instructor and a level, which gives a fair picture of what a member finds:

• "Meet Me in the Center" with Melissa Sandvig, ballet, intermediate
• "From Your Eyes" with Chaz Buzan, contemporary, advanced
• "Let Me Love You" with Kenichi Kasamatsu, hip-hop, intermediate
• "Warm Up With Molly" with Molly Long, jazz, all levels
• "Warm It Up (With Love)" with Brian Friedman, jazz funk, advanced
• "Limón Across-the-Floor Progressions" with Kurt Douglas, modern, intermediate
• "Cell Block Tango" with Shannon Lewis, musical theater, intermediate
• "Get Your Leg Higher" with Sugarfoot Therapy, strength, all levels
• "Cramp Rolls" with Michael Keefe, tap, intermediate
• "Breath and Movement" with Krysia St. Cyr, yoga, all levels

The mix tells you how the library is built. There are full choreography pieces set to a song, warm-up classes, a technical drill like cramp rolls for tappers, across-the-floor progressions in a named modern technique, and conditioning sessions aimed at flexibility and strength. Levels run from all levels to advanced, so a student can start with a warm-up or a yoga session and work up to an advanced contemporary or jazz funk combination.

Classes stream on a phone, tablet or computer, or on a TV through the CLI Conservatory Online app. The class player is designed for learning choreography alone. The site describes class controls that let you "stop, rewind, re-watch, slow down, and mirror", jump ahead, or repeat a section as many times as you need. Mirroring matters more than it sounds: a dancer facing a screen can follow the instructor's right as their own right. The home page says "thousands of dancers" train with CLI Conservatory Online.

Conservatory Online for Teachers

The teacher membership is aimed at a dance educator who needs fresh material and wants to keep learning. The teachers page opens with the problem it solves: "As dance educators, we know how hard it can be to stay inspired for all of your classes." Its on-demand teacher training classes cover every level and a wider style list than the dancer side, naming contemporary, ballet, jazz, hip-hop, modern, jazz-funk, lyrical, musical theater and acro.

In these classes, the page says, instructors "share every aspect of their teaching techniques with you." The library is organized around the parts of a class a teacher has to plan: warm-ups, progressions and across the floor, choreography and combinations, strength and conditioning, technique, and classroom management. The FAQ adds partnering, courses for teaching young dancers, acro, and injury prevention.

The certification element is the main reason a teacher would choose this over a general class library. The page invites teachers to "Take on-demand teacher training seminars, classes, and courses that count towards a year-long certification program." Training topics named for that program include strength and conditioning, dance psychology, teaching and engaging beginner dancers, technique, stretching and flexibility, guiding improvisation, and progressions, warm-ups and combinations. The page presents it as CLI's own online certification program.

The teachers page also explains why the choreography side matters for a studio class. It notes that students follow trends on social media and says teachers can stay current with "the latest choreography from over 300 world-renowned instructors who share their choreo and creative process with you in new classes every week." It names two uses: choreographing for competitions or recitals, and trying something new in a weekly class. Teachers get the same class controls as dancers, with "24/7 access to our on-demand library", so a routine can be slowed, mirrored and repeated until it is ready to teach.

Price, trial and cancellation

Both memberships are annual and start with a free trial. For dancers, the home page offers "Unlimited access for $199 per year." For teachers, the FAQ says: "You can get started with a 7-day free trial. After your trial concludes our annual teacher membership is $249 for 12 months of access." The teachers page repeats the price as "Unlimited access for $249 per year after trial."

The FAQ spells out how the term runs. After the 7-day trial, the membership lasts one year and renews annually. A member cancels through the settings page of their account. Canceling during the trial keeps access until the trial ends; canceling after it keeps access for the rest of the billing cycle.

The Individual Teacher Membership is a single-user plan for teachers "who are not currently teaching at one of our partner studios." That line shows CLI works with partner studios, and that the individual plan is meant for teachers outside them.

Who it suits

CLI Conservatory Online suits a serious student dancer who wants regular classes from working choreographers in several styles and can train alone in front of a screen. The range of styles, the level labels and the mirror and slow-down controls are built for that. At $199 a year, it is priced as an all-you-can-take subscription rather than per class.

The teacher membership suits a studio teacher, especially one working outside CLI's partner studios, who needs a steady supply of warm-ups, progressions and choreography and wants structured continuing education with a certification at the end of a year. The topic list, from dance psychology to guiding improvisation and teaching beginners, goes beyond steps into how to run a class. The main caveat for both readers is the commitment: the plans are priced by the year, so the free trial is the moment to decide whether a full year of classes will get used.