Flamenco and Ballet Dance School Maria Osende

🩰 Open Level Ballet Class Spring 2023

No Class on Victoria Day Weekend (May 21)

This level is suited for both advanced dancers and advanced beginner* (approximately 3 years of training, once a week) adult ballet dance students. This class is geared primarily for adults who take ballet recreationally, although of course professional dancers are welcome anytime! Therefore your level of participation or potential physical limitations due to injury or lack of regular practise will be respected so that you can get what you are looking for from the class, meaning you can opt-out of any exercise you might not feel safe or comfortable doing.

Rest assured you will find a welcoming and encouraging atmosphere were camaraderie and mutual support are present in the class.

Support Staff:

To accommodate both levels, Marel Eager will participate as support staff for this class. At times when we might run two versions (more and less complex) of a centre exercise. Marel will focus and lead the later and help students with questions and corrections.

*Advanced beginner Level Description: You understand the structure of a ballet class and know the arm and feet positions. At the barre you are familiar with the following exercises: plie, tendu, jete, rond de jambe, fondu, frappe, adage, grand battement. In the centre you are able to do or are familiar with the concepts and steps: pirouette en dehors and en dedans, basic épaulements such as croisse and éfface, jumps such as echappe, glissade, jete, assemble, temp leve, and steps such as balance, tombe pas de bourree.

Curious about the class?

Here are a few tips to make the best out of your dance experience.

• Ask for help in class: If you would like more repetition or clarification on a step, or if the combination is too hard for you, let your teacher know.
• Repetition, building strength and flexibility are the keys to develop your ballet technique. If you have any spare time, throw in some releves, plies, tendus or stretch your ballet muscles. Even if it is 10-10 minutes a couple of extra days a week, this will help a lot!
• Focus on your own progress. Some of you might have time and space to practise during the week or take additional ballet classes, while for others, the only time you do ballet will be during this class. Some of you have been dancing for a long time, while others started a few years ago or are returning to ballet after a long while and are still getting their muscles turned up. some of you danced as kids, others started late. All these factors will affect the speed of your progress, and that is ok! While it is good and healthy to push ourselves and be a little competitive in class, it is important to keep these factors in mind when looking around the class, not to get discouraged if we see others picking up a step really quickly, for example. You are all adults doing this because you love it, therefore there is no "good and bad" students. Be kind to yourself and cherish your own progress and dedication.
• Commit to attend regularly: bad weather, stress and being tired will make it hard at times to get going, but once you are there, I promise you won't regret it! If you do have to miss class, please notify the teacher

New to ballet?

Check out my Ballet Basics and Ballet 1 On-Demand Courses and get started

Ballet Basics Course from Flamenco and Ballet Maria Osende on Vimeo.