"Move out the way," Ludacris-type lyrics and racy dancing.

Steps to Grace Dance Academy in Machesney Park is tweaking hip-hop moves and lyrics to make the music its students dance to , well, modest.

"It's clean, a better message than what most are saying," said Amber Lee, 17, of Machesney Park, a Harlem High School senior who takes hip-hop classes Thursdays at the academy. When she was younger, she danced tap and ballet at the academy and found those structured.

"With hip-hop, you can let go," said Lee, dressed Nov. 19 in a T-shirt with a cut-out outer layer, revealing only her arms and skin a few inches below her neck. She also was wearing baggy boy jeans and tennis-shoe-like dance shoes, all toned-down apparel familiar in the hip-hop subculture.

But dancers at the academy can only let go so far. What's out are exposed midriffs and sexually suggestive lyrics and moves, said academy owner Holly Reilly: "I don't think I would want my daughter dancing like that in front of her grandparents."

So, why not just stick with ballet, tap, jazz and the other kinds of more traditional dancing offered at the academy?

The students -- 16 at the moment, virtually all tween and teen girls -- want to know the moves when they are out with their friends or going to dances at school, said Reilly, who teaches hip-hop classes as well as other dance forms.

She and another instructor, Deanna Sanchez, teach the students in the hip-hop class sharp moves, even "chest pops," but they don't go too far.

"We'll do small ones," said Breahna O'Hearn, 15, of Machesney Park, who also takes jazz dance lessons at the academy. She said she likes hip-hop dancing for its "more casual, street style" moves as opposed to jazz, which she said is "more technique."

Students dance to Christian or other "positive" hip-hop music, which Reilly said "still has the edge, the beats, the rhythm." And their dance movements have the "cool appearance" of hip-hop but without the "look-at-me ... and my booty and chest. ... The focus isn't on those areas of your body."

Reilly said the hip-hop dance class is becoming more popular. She said parents like the idea of their daughters taking the more modest hip-hop classes Reilly offers.

"They say, 'I never knew there was another option.' "

-- Georgette Braun