日本語
Welcome to avantitown,
avanti's official homepage!

Avanti is a company located in Hamamatsu, Japan, which has steadily grown from a private business into a company, established in 1990, with as objectives a language school and a dance studio.
Its name is supposed to mean "go ahead", "make progress", and if you have a close look at the sign, the brush starts at the left bottom, goes up, has a few downs, but finally goes up, intended to mean the future is bright, no matter what the circumstances might be right now.
The homepage was called "avantitown.com", adding "town" to "avanti", since right now, it is like a small town with a variety of students, between 2 and 70 years of age, attending a variety of classes, from English and French to hip hop, house, funk, streetdance, freestyle, ballet and aerobics. Let's not forget the amount of translations we see through our eyes!
I might have called it "zoo" as well.
In comparison with about 15 years ago, a major shift has occurred in both the language and the dance parts of our business.
When we started, in Japan "foreign language" would almost imply "English language", whereas now a great number of our students are happy to be studying French. I also have the impression that our students' average age is decreasing, with more and more kids signing up.
Teaching kids' classes, as well as any real beginners' class, can be demanding since you have to start from scratch and explain everything, but prove extremely satisfying when reflecting upon the progress they show in just a couple of years.
Many of them probably consider it a weekly event.
Imagine a "gaijin" visiting you at home with all his/her games, flashcards & paraphernalia. One hour of fun, over when you actually wanted to play one more game.
Once they are in their fourth or fifth grade of elementary school, kids become interested in the construction of English sentences, and some of them even try & pass the 5th or 4th grade of the Eiken English Proficiency Test. They tend to cash in a higher score in the hearing part in comparison with adults. The reason probably lies in the more benign circumstances of being born in the late '90s or the beginning of the new millennium, and having the opportunity to naturally come in touch with foreign cultures at early stages of life.
Once in Junior High School, the gap between the students who have been studying English "for ages" and the ones who have not, is immense.
So immense it seems impossible to overcome. So, if you are considering whether or not to start studying English, you are probably never too old to start, but it is definitely better not to wait until tomorrow as far as young children are concerned!


As far as the dance studio is concerned, in the beginning there were not as many fitness centers in or around Hamamatsu as today, and we only had aerobics classes, which have evolved into step Reebok morning classes, and in the evening hip hop, house, funk, freestyle and streetdance classes are held.
Some people will contend that this is just a trend. However, the percentage of Japan's fitness population is said to be larger than the American, and still growing.
In '99 a dance class for children was added to the schedule, which has indeed become very popular.
In September 2001, we started classic ballet classes with the generous help of Noriko Sato Ballet. Many adults showed an interest in these classes, resulting in two open classes for adults and one class for children.
Many of our students enjoy the abundance of dance events and stages in and around Hamamatsu where they can show off their skills.
I can only hope that all of you enjoy both the classes and this homepage, which has yet to grow up. It is my aim to involve as many students as possible.

Patrick Horckmans