370 degrees? More than a full circle? Going just a little bit beyond the ordinary?

That’s the vision beyond 370º Studios which Aurelien Roulin has opened in Napa.

“There was no need for a dance studio to teach ballet, tap or jazz,” the young dancer explained. “There are fine ones in Napa and I didn’t want to compete with my neighbors.”

His “acrodanse studio” instead offers a dynamic selection of classes in everything from belly dance to circus arts, ballroom dance to hip-hop, salsa to kids yoga.

Roulin drew on his own extensive, varied background as he designed the studio he launched last month, right down to using his construction skills to remodel the building on Jordan Lane that houses 370º Studio.

A native of France, Roulin grew up in a rural area near the Swiss border; from his French mother he learned to dance, while his Swiss dad taught him carpentry skills that have come in handy.

“My dad was six feet four and my mother was short, and so she would dance with me,” he recalled. His natural talent for dance was evident early; soon the local ladies were competing with his mom to dance with him at events in their village. By the time he was 15, Roulin was not only competing in gymnastics, he was organizing the dance program at his local high school. After he graduated, he headed for Paris, where he was hired as a performer at Disney Paris.

His career took off. He found himself touring Europe, studying at circus school and performing on French television. “My mother said, ‘I never though it was possible — you are only 19,” he said. “But still I wondered what else was out there.”

At the age of 20,  with two suitcases, he set out for America, and a triple career as a dancer, actor and model in New York and Los Angeles. It was a chance trip that introduced him to the Napa Valley. “I felt like I was back in my hometown,” he said. “It reminded me of my home in the mountains.”

Roulin said he was so determined to make a life here that he would have switched careers, but then he found there was a place for a studio offering classes in many of the disciplines he’d studied, like acrobatics, trapeze and stilt-walking. “I wanted a place that was affordable and could bring new experiences to people to build their self-confidence.”

Using his carpentry skills, he transformed the Jordan Lane building and he hired teachers for additional classes like bellydance, Hatha “flow” yoga, and “Yogalates,” a combination of yoga and Pilates.

“My life is about acrobatics and dancing and creating a new generation of dancers,” he said.

 Aurelian said his classes are for ages “5 to 99” and one of his goals is to create a performing “team” for his acrodanse studio. He is especially interested in helping young people develop attributes they can use outside of the studio like discipline and commitment. “We will sit after a class and talk. I believe these days it is so easy (for kids) to do just what they want to do, it’s good to learn that this goes beyond dance or tumbling to what you can do with an individual life, if you pay attention and move ahead step by step. It’s a gymnastics of the brain as well as the physical (movement).”

But most of all he wants people to enjoy themselves.

Roulin’s enthusiasm is contagious; I will attest to this. I turned up for an interview only to find myself casting aside my notebook to join his “salsa groove” class. I can also testify that, skilled though he may be, he passes no judgment on dancing journalists, and as long as I didn’t look in the mirror, it was great fun.

I would even go back, maybe for bellydancing, probably not stilt-walking.

This month, Roulin is offering introductory specials to sample the classes, along with family membership plans. For more information and schedules call 252-0370, go online to www.370degreesstudio.com or drop by the studio at 1115 Jordan Lane, Napa.