Adult Ballet Classes - Australia

[Chinafish]

Hi all,

 

I might have the opportunity to go to Sydney for 3 weeks on a business trip.

 

Naturally I don't want to be stuck in the office for 3 weeks, I want to still keep up my studio time.

 

I've googled and found 2 or 3 studios. Anyone got any recommendations? Maybe any that are not online?

 

I'm looking for weekday evenings and weekends. Intermediate / Advanced level, preferably pointe classes on the side as well.

 

Thanks!

Fish

[Agnes1022]

http://www.ecole.net.au/ The name of the school is called: Ecole Ballet Studios.

 

1A Lindfield Ave

Lindfield, NSW 2070, Australia

+61 412 098 130

[Redbookish]

Where will you be in Sydney? If you're pretty central (and you really really need to be if you're visiting!) , then I'd recommend the adult classes at the Seymour Centre, which is a theatre complex located in my alma mater, the University of Sydney, in the inner west, and very accessible by bus from the city centre (be prepared for kilometres and kilometres of suburbs in Sydney and inadequatepublic transport in comparison with London ...)

 

Look at the classes at the Seymour Centre. I've did class with Lois Strike (Travers) (ex-AB) at the much missed Bodenweiser Studios, and she's terrific -- detailed, and eagle eye, and takes adults seriously

 

Adult Ballet at the Seymour Centre

 

 

If you want to try some lovely contemporary classes, I would highly recommend Mira Mansell at the same studios. I studied with her for many years, and she is an inspiring & exacting teacher, who works from a Graham basis, which complements classical ballet training well. Wonderful woman & teacher!

 

Mira Mansell Contemporary classes

 

Also a good studio, but much more part of a dance fashion scene, and oriented more to jazz & hip hop, are the Sydney Dance Company adult/public classes. Fabulous location & studios on the Harbour, but a real scene !!

 

Sydney Dance Company Open Classes

 

I don't know the current ballet teachers, but I did do class there (well, in their really battered OLD studios with holes in the floors!!) back in the late 80s, and the ballet tuition was excellent -- generally retired AB dancers.

[Chinafish]

I think it's fairly Central. The office is at Farrer Place so I think it'll be quite close to the Sydney Dance Company classes.

 

In fact the SDC and the Seymour Centre classes are the ones that I found on Google. Seems like I'll be paying them a few visits!

 

Thanks!!

Fish

[Redbookish]

The Seymour Centre studios are lovely, and it's a quiet atmospphere, compared with Sydney Dance Co, but you should try both. From Farrer Place, you should get any of the Newtown/City Road buses (generally 422 and 423) along Pitt Street to the Seymour Centre (bus stop right outside the building). You can probably walk to the Wharf (Sydney Dance Co location) but it's winter, and gets dark at 6pm, and frankly, I've always found Sydney to be rather more dangerous at night than London, so just be careful of personal safety. I don't want to scare you, and if you're pretty street wise, you'll be absolutely fine, it's just that there are not as many people out on the streets all the time in Sydney, as there are in London or New York (& I've lived in all 3 cities!)

 

This almost (but not quite) makes me nostalgic for Sydney!

[clairerpullen]

I'm looking for adult ballet classes in Sydney with pointe, as I have recently left Perth and I'm having Heather Callendar withdrawals. Can anyone help? This is what I've tried so far and my personal experiences:

1. Sydney Dance Company: As mentioned by other posters, the focus here is not on ballet, there's 40 people in a class, and I did one class where the teacher drank coffee while wandering around the studio during a barre exercise. Not for me.

2. Adult ballet studio: the pointe work here is very basic, and during regular (not pointe) class when another student asked the teacher to mark a step she'd only marked by hand motions again, the teacher told her to pay more to get it marked again. So... not for me either.

3. Urban Dance Centre: good ballet class, but only one a week. no pointe.

4. Dancestar: Good open class, pointe work with teenagers (RAD exam class) available. Anne Dyer may be adding a class to Saturday afternoon as she also teaches at Mango, but no luck yet.

 

Help!

To make it more complicated, I work during the day and so can't take class with Jodi Rose, though I'd love to. I'm in the inner west, but will travel for good ballet.

[splinki]

Try Peter's adult ballet dance classes at Newtown. Classes are small, cheap and pretty intensive. He has a Beginner to Elementary class three times a week and an Advanced class 5 days a week; Saturdays is an Open class. The Advanced class really is advanced. See http://www.newtownadultballet.com.au/

[Clara 76]

Welcome to Ballet Talk for Dancers, splinki!!!

 

I edited your post for you because the font was really tiny!!! That happens to me sometimes.... this software is kind of touchy. Sometimes all you have to do is run your cursor over something and it changes. The good news is you can go back in and highlight whatever you've written, look at the buttons to see what got accidentally clicked, and then undo it!

 

Happy posting!