Ballet

Classes for All Ages and Levels

Ballet is the core of all dance. We pull from several techniques, including Vaganova, Balanchine, and Cecchetti.

Pre-Ballet	Ages 5-7	Amy Baker & Ellie Reynolds
Ballet IA & IB	Ages 7-10	Lauren Terrien & Bella Baker
Ballet IIA & IIB	Ages 10+	Ellie Reynolds & Amy Baker
Pre-Pointe	Placement	Amy Baker/Nicole Brown
Ballet III/IV	Placement	Nicole Brown/Amy Baker
Pointe I/II	Placement	Nicole Brown
Stretch & Strengthening	Ages 10+	Bella Baker

BALLET CLASS DESCRIPTIONS

Pre-Ballet
Pre-ballet is an introductory ballet class teaching basic ballet feet and arm positions and movements in center and across the floor, while keeping the creative and fun aspects of dance (see Creative for basic skills learned). Additional movements include tendu and degage (in sequence beginning in 1st and 2nd position), plie and releve (in sequence to prepare for jumps), chasse beginning in 5th position and arabesque.

Ballet IA & IB
Creating the Foundation of a Dancer: See Pre-Ballet for skills learned previously. The dancer finds the relationship between barre and center and foundational principles such as alignment, turnout, weight distribution/balance, aplomb, and artistry.

Ballet IIA & IIB (placement only)
Improving the Strength of a Dancers’ Structure: Progressing from level I into level II, the dancer will learn advanced timing, epaulement, petit allegro, grande allegro and the fundamentals of turns, such as pirouettes. Ballet IIA will not include pre-pointe, but the length of instruction time is the same. Ballet IIB will include 15 minutes of pre-pointe instruction within the class time.

Ballet III/IV (placement only)
Becoming a Dancer: Moving forward from level II, the dancer will have continued barre expansion, center work and across the floor combinations. In level III/IV you will see increased demands of strength, range of motion, performance, etc. The dancers will be expected to use expression and artistry throughout their movement.

Pre-Pointe (offered as part of Ballet IIB)
The beginning class for dancers starting on pointe.

Pointe I/II (placement only, offered as part of Ballet III/IV)
The Art of Dancing on Pointe, Classical Variations.

Stretch Flex
Stretch Flex will be included in the Ballet III/IV class on Thursdays this year. The movements in the class are designed for intermediate and advanced ballet students to help target all the important muscles we use for dance but not for other activities. The goal of this class is to safely increase flexibility and range of motion, while also strengthening feet, legs, core, and backs.

Our Instructors
Amy Baker, Nicole Brown, Ellie Reynolds, Lauren Terrien, Bella Baker