Ballet Schools in Belize

[je danse dans ma tete]

Hi everyone!

 

My (adult) cousin started ballet around the same time as I did. Due to really solid technical training, she is doing really well, advancing quite quickly and loving it just like I do!

 

Now however, she is facing a problem and I was hoping the BT4D communnity might be able to help... She is moving to Belize and we can't find any Belizean (is that right?) ballet schools or studios on the internet. She's really down and doesn't want to do another form as a replacement for ballet (as we all know, there's no substitute for ballet once you're addicted!)

 

Please tell me there are places to do classical ballet in Belize??!!

 

Lauranne

[gav]

I hope you're planning to visit your cousin at some point! I spent a week in Belize in January -- it's beautiful and I had a great time.

 

To actually address your question, I didn't come across any ballet schools when I was on/planning for my trip. And a friend who knows the ins-and-outs of RAD has told me that there is no RAD school in Belize. Belize was a British colony until 1981 and is part of the Commonwealth, so RAD would have otherwise been a good place to start.

 

There is a website run by a guide book author (Fodor's) who seems to be pretty well-apprised of all things Belize and happy to answer questions, so you might try sending him a question. The website is http://www.belizefirst.com/ and the man's name is Lan Sluder. He also responds to posts on the Belize forum on the Lonely Planet website. Maybe he'll have no idea, but I say it's worth a try.

 

Your cousin will probably have a better chance of finding a class in a bigger town/city, as is the case anywhere. If she's staying somewhere smaller, she will have to test how long it takes to travel between it and a larger town when she gets there. Distances are not indicative of travel time, as some roads are flat, paved and mostly straight while others are basically logging roads through mountains...

 

If you make some other inquiries, be sure to let us know what you discover.

[Redbookish]

Normally, our policy is to post these requests for adult ballet classes in the Pre-Professional Schools forum, but as this is a request for information about studios outside of North America, and Europe, I thought it would get the broadest coverage here in Cross Talk.

 

Any ideas or tips?

[citibob]

Belize is small enough it's likely to not have a ballet school. All of Belize has a population of under 300,000. More Belizians live in Los Angeles than in Belize. There are certainly some metro areas of 300,000 in the US that have ballet schools, but there are also many that do not.

[Missgoodytoeshoes]

Try contacting the Placencia Peninsula Arts Association

 

http://www.placenciaarts.com/ppaa_events.html

 

It looks lke they may only teach children but they might be able to point your cousin in the right direction. I found an article on the woman who teaches there if you are intersted.

 

http://www.placenciabreeze.com/New_Breeze/...cencia_btia.htm

 

In searching, I 've also seen mention of Leo Mar School of Dance in Belize City, (which may no longer exist) Vista Dance School, and the Ballet Art School but I can't seem to find any contact information. Some of this info may be outdated as well, but maybe your cousin can look into it when she gets there.

 

Good luck!