US Schools With Several Ballet and Pointe Classes for Adults

[gerlonda]

Hello All,

 

Does anyone know of (besides NYC schools) schools in the US that offer several ballet and pointe classes a day for adults?

 

Thanks!

[Guest Pas de Quoi]

Yes - Westside Ballet in Santa Monica, CA and De Fore Dance Center in Costa Mesa, CA are two. I believe Conjunctive Points in Culver City, CA would be another. Also, Lines Ballet in San Francisco has a very large adult program, as does The Academy of Ballet in San Francisco, CA.

[LaFilleSylphide]

Lines is awesome for SF visitors! A slew of classes for all levels. In the Orange County area, don't forget Anaheim ballet. They offered all kinds of classes for adults as well. Disneyland plus ballet, it was a great mix.

 

Sacramento Ballet has limited "only" adult programs, but if you're able to keep up with their advanced classes and intermediate advanced, the majority of the classes are open as long as you notify the school first that you will be participating. They are regular curriculum classes, so most of them start out with regular technique then add on pointe. You pay for the hours that you attend. I usually attend the entire level for the night/day. It's great for visiting/vacationing dancers. The only classes they really restrict from visitors are like.. rehearsal or repertoire. You also have to not mind dancing with young students as well (which I never minded). They are rather Balanchine-esque though.

 

I believe that Deane Dance Center in Sacramento offers a bunch of classes for adults as well, but I personally didn't prefer the school/teaching style so I've only been about 3 times. The classes are pretty well attended there, I've observed, and the teachers are knowledgeable and classes are serious. I just preferred Sac Ballet. Honestly, I like covertly being the "secret adult" in younger students' classes. I'm small enough that no one notices that I'm the adult, so I get no weird treatment. I got lectured about the way I carried my hands in Deane Dance Center classes, which I think is a stylistic thing. I kind of feel like at a certain point (for instance, a one time open class) that trying to force a RAD dancer to hold her hands differently from a Vaganova dancer or Cecchetti dancer versus Bournonville, etc. etc. in a one time open class is moot, y'know? I spent a lot of time making the carriage of my hands second nature, so it kind of distracted me when I had to rethink my entire ports de bras for this dance center's open class. I can't tell what style they are - I trained Vaganova.

 

SLC Ballet in Salt Lake and Ballet West have open classes for adults, and they're classes are classical technique that don't specify pointe. If you want to be on pointe, then you can be on pointe - purely individual choice. SLC Ballet even has Master Classes with teachers from Bolshoi, University of Utah, and any other interested guest visiting faculty that are open to adults as well. Those Master Classes are rather advanced though. Ballet West classes seem to range from intermediate to advanced, so being on pointe requires some confidence in skill level. Ballet West has its own syllabus established by their company's artistic director - it's an interesting experience to go through their exercises. SLC Ballet is very Vaganova, which I love.

 

In Tennessee, I used to go to the Nashville Ballet. Their classes were like the ones in Salt Lake in that they were technique. If you wanted to put your pointe shoes on for center, you could. It's been years since I've been there, but I remembered really liking the teachers and facility a lot.

 

I hope this is helpful. The US is kind of huge, so I imagine there are a billion schools with adult class offerings out there.

[gerlonda]

Man! It seems as if Cali is the place to go for the gung-ho adult ballet fanatic!

Conjunctive has MAD pointe classes (I like the fact they asterisk the kids classes, it looks like they have a ton of adult classes!).

 

This helps some.

[gerlonda]

Haven't discussed this in a while, but am I correct in assuming that Conjunctive Points has closed up shop? Items on their website have not be updated in several years and their phone number is disconnected?

[gogators]

The Maple Conservatory of Dance in Irvine has grown in popularity among adult dancers and offers a full schedule of adult ballet technique & pointe classes, both morning & evening classes, plus classes on Saturday & Sunday. I understand that their adult beginning ballet classes has also grown in popularity (maybe because of the Black Swan movie?)

 

http://mapleconservatory.com/classprograms/schedule.shtml