Think of the moments in life where being an excellent dancer could open doors for you. If you had the skills taught at The Ailey Extension, home of the renowned Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, you could show them off in a variety of social contexts to your great benefit:

• Cutting in line at the amusement park normally garners scowls, but cutting in line while performing ballet pirouettes generates applause.
• At a job interview, your resume and cover letter make great lyrics to a song and jazz dance routine (punctuated with white-gloved jazz hands) that will surely get you hired.
• When getting mugged, a Beyoncé-inspired hip-hop routine actually doubles as a defense tactic: your hypnotic pelvic motions entrance muggers and your steely hair serves as a mace-whip.

There’s so much cool stuff you’ll be able to do, but first you have to learn the moves. It’s a good thing today’s Groupon lets you do that for 51% off.

Details

For just $25, you can take any three classes at The Ailey Extension, the dance studio of the famed Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. That’s more than half off the normal $51 value. Located at 405 W. 55th St. (at 9th Ave.), The Ailey Extension makes dance accessible to anyone who wants to learn how to move or perfect their technique. Don’t want to go alone? Buy a few and go with some friends.

The Ailey Extension offers a full range of “real classes for real people” (no dancing robots allowed) at a variety of times. Most are 90 minutes. Here are a few: * Capoeira: Fight-dance in this fluid Afro-Brazilian martial art that incorporates sweeps, kicks, head butts, sparring, and music. * Ballet: Strengthen and point your feet and improve your turnout and body alignment. Use this class as a means to develop or establish your ballet technique. * Hip-Hop: Fuse together different dance styles to move like Beyoncé, J.T., or J.Lo. * Jazz: Improve musicality, strength, and body alignment while mastering turns, kicks, and jumps. * Many more: Samba, Theatre Dance, Masala Bhangra, Guinean Dance, Dunham, Afro Cuban, West African, Zumba, Sabar, Pilates, Yoga, Congolese, Haitian Folkloric, and more.

Alvin Ailey founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 1958. Since then, this modern dance company has gained worldwide fame from its extensive international touring. If you want to see the Alvin Ailey pros in action, they’ll be performing next week at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, 30 Lafayette Ave. in Brooklyn. Check out the lineup and ticket information here.

Reviews

ABC News loves the classes at The Ailey Extension and NPR covered the Theater’s recent 50th anniversary. But what about the students who take classes? Yelpers give it a 4.5-star average: > * “This is the nicest dance studio I have ever taken classes at. It is huge and beautiful and clean and has a really nice locker room. I went here several times a week for the Afro-Brazilian/Samba class. The teacher is wonderful, if you are a total beginner with this kind of dance and have always wanted to try it, go here.” – Lisa O. > * “wow outta all the dance studios i’ve been to here in nyc, this one i have to say has the best open space! i had the pleasure of taking a few classes here as part of the national dance week promotion! it was quite a workout as i’m still sore a day later!” – Chi N. > * “Love the variety of the classes here and what a fabulous space! Two thumbs up. Haven’t had the chance to see the company perform yet, but looking forward to it.” – Lara R.