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Adult Ballet - Finding a Class (Basingstoke area)


Alexander

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Hi All, I'm studying Baroque historical dance but so much want to improve technique by finding local adult classical ballet lessons near Basigstoke, Hants.- but finding them for the few days in the week available is difficult. Which makes me sad because for the couple months I was able to train was really, really interesting and rewarding.

 

Any tips to find what I need?

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1 hour ago, Alexander said:

 

Thanks, yes - I've considered this but already travelling into London at least twice a week for Baroque dance and historical fencing so hoping to avoid.. and for a 45 - 60 min session...

 

The majority of classes are 75-90min.

 

You may find that the wide variety of class times available in London enable you to combine a ballet class with a trip into town for one of your existing commitments.  For example, my teacher at City Lit takes two beginner classes back to back on a Tuesday - one 18:10-19:40, then another from 19:50-21:20 (I've migrated to his Improver class on a Thursday).  And at ENB they have absolute beginner classes at 19:00-20:15 on Mondays and Thursdays and 20:20-21:35 on Tuesdays.

 

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On the other thread you were talking about 45 min classes....this is very unusual in ballet unless you are a child in Primary or perhaps Grade one.

Most ballet classes even for children are a minimum of an hour. 

For adults most classes are for an hour and a quarter or hour and a half.....this is standard for ballet. Though you may find a few absolute beginners classes lasting just an hour.

In ballet there is the barre section of the class .....usually 30-45 mins and then the centre work. 

The difficulty away from large cities like London Birmingham Manchester etc is finding classes for adults which suit all abilities. 

Though if you are a beginner you might be okay as seem to be more classes for beginners these days. 

 

 

 

 

 

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Hoping to join you in April RuthE! 

First ballet class back tomorrow since my accident ....a local easy level class so hope to be joining Alex's class for the summer term. 

The city Lit have been very good and held the money over from September!! 

 

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38 minutes ago, LinMM said:

On the other thread you were talking about 45 min classes...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yeh, I'm not helping myself either with only limited days in the week due to the other things I do. Private lessons likely expensive too. Shame, I really like the technical training but can't really afford to travel into London another night. Not just the $s but the late night getting back.

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  • Jan McNulty changed the title to Adult Ballet - Finding a Class (Basingstoke area)

Alexander, if you're already travelling in to London to do Baroque dancing etc, could you add on a ballet class or two? Most good ballet classes are 90 minutes long (although Pineapple studios do 60 minute classes - they're not really long enough in my view).

 

Classes in London I'd recommend for a beginner would be Hannah Frost's Beginner classes at Danceworks, and her Friday night class (7-8:30pm) at Central School of Ballet (google Central Nights). These are drop in classes and attract dancers at various levels of experience & competence. Hannah is an excellent teacher for someone who is just beginning - she takes the barre slowly, explains in detail, and gives really good coaching and visual tips or cues. The centre is quite simple, and you really get to break down complex steps such as pirouettes. She has an eagle eye & gives hands-on corrections - which for me, is the best way to learn about correct placement.

 

I'm a pretty experienced dancer (not necessarily always competent though!) and I take her class at Danceworks when I'm in London, as it's a great tune up & boot camp for my bad habits. Apparently, her Friday class at Central is a real "Absolute Beginner" class - these are hard to find as drop in classes.

 

https://danceworks.com/london/classes/timetable/

 

https://www.centralschoolofballet.co.uk/aeccourseoutline.php

 

PS and thanks @Jan McNulty for moving these posts out of the other interminable thread!

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17 minutes ago, Kate_N said:

Apparently, her Friday class at Central is a real "Absolute Beginner" class - these are hard to find as drop in classes.

 

It is less basic than David Kierce's Absolute Beginner class, but easier than his Beginner Improver class.  I hear Hannah's Danceworks class has a bit of turning (I haven't taken it) whereas her Central class has little or none.

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Hannah herself says her Friday Central class is more basic than her Danceworks Beginners classes. I've only done her Danceworks classes, so your first-hand knowledge is really useful! Either way, she's an excellent teacher for adult beginners

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5 minutes ago, alison said:

 

Oh, not THAT interminable thread?  Beyond the call of duty, then, Jan :) 

 

I have wondered on several occasions whether the aforementioned interminable thread ought to have its name changed.  Given that there must be quite a lot of people who come on here looking for beginner adult classes, it's one of the most likely first things they'll find in a search.  A metaphor about dolphins getting inadvertently stuck in giant fishing-nets and losing the will to live comes to mind.

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The interminable thread glowed like a beacon to which I was drawn, transfixed by its..interminable-ness. A could feel my turnout slowly getting wider..

 

Thanks for all the suggestions! I'm working though a list for local RAD teachers. Central Dance looks interesting!

 

Sat & Sun 1720 extant dance workshop..bourree and passapied (fast minuet).. will the footsies cooperate?!!

 

Edited by Alexander
typo
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1 hour ago, Kate_N said:

Alexander, if you're already travelling in to London to do Baroque dancing etc, could you add on a ballet class or two?

 

Thanks for all the suggestions! Ah, Tues Baroque is a 2 - 2.5 hr affair so would be hard to cram in more. 

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Contact JLD School of Dancing in Kingsclere. www.jldschoolofdancing.co.uk. There website is being revamped but their contact details are there. They do adult ballet on Thursday mornings, mixed abilities with a wonderful teacher. They also do adult Tap on Tuesday evenings. 

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1 hour ago, RuthE said:

Given that there must be quite a lot of people who come on here looking for beginner adult classes, it's one of the most likely first things they'll find in a search. 

 

I've suggested much the same thing on several occasions, @RuthE I'm grateful to the Moderators for splitting off the other discussions & non-blog-like posts by the rest of us so that incoming new adult dancers can find the more varied posts & posters in this forum. There's loads of good discussion & advice in that tread as well - but those posts can tend to get lost unfortunately. 

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7 minutes ago, youngatheart said:

 Yes BAD has been v good for me and where I first looking at ballet and their Thurs adult class fitted in well but just little ol me and the instructor for 4 weeks so class stopped as not economical. But, for those 4 weeks I was offered such a lot to help and gained what may be possible with one-on-one instruction. 

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If you had good teaching and a positive experience at BAD, would they be amenable to you joining one of the classes for older teens? There might be a mismatch of levels, as older teens are likely to be more advanced, but you could work at the back and start to pick things up. It might be worth asking them.

 

After all, ballet developed from Baroque dance, so you have the historical foundation for ballet 😀

 

 

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I'm sort of conscious I may not be responding as positively as I'd like so below is current schedule - I'm in full time employment so only available to get to places in the evening or weekends

 

Mon - fencing, London (back midnight)

Tues - Baroque dance, London (back 11 pm)

Weds - fencing, Southampton (back midnight)

Thurs - free

Fri - free

Sat - Baroque all day once a month, Bath so mostly free

Sun - Baroque all day once a month, London so mostly free

 

So apologies in advance if I seem picky.. just me trying to work the schedule, looking where I can rest (avoiding London!)

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5 minutes ago, Kate_N said:

If you had good teaching and a positive experience at BAD,

 

 

 

Thanks, yes, that is an idea. I haven't asked for this - with BAD I feel I could be too pushy or over enthusiastic and my gut feeling is they'd probably not go for this - but an option to ask.

 

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1 minute ago, Fiz said:

Are you a history buff too, Alexander?

 

Me? Well, probably a good idea if I did read the historical dance and fencing texts. But I just like the notation and pics, mostly. Though I adore Baroque music. Doing this stuff I can't really escape the history though there is always the tension between how authentic we can or want to be and what we have to accept as non-historical. But, that is perhaps a dry topic and I'm a great fan of microwaves and modern plumbing.. and mass transit systems to flee London.

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1 hour ago, Kate_N said:

 

I've suggested much the same thing on several occasions, @RuthE I'm grateful to the Moderators for splitting off the other discussions & non-blog-like posts by the rest of us so that incoming new adult dancers can find the more varied posts & posters in this forum. There's loads of good discussion & advice in that tread as well - but those posts can tend to get lost unfortunately. 

 

The thread is too long, isn’t it.  I think the time will soon come when we need a new “Adult Ballet” thread for ALL our growing number of Adult Ballet students to discuss anything and everything to do with being an adult Ballet student.  We can still have specific threads for finding classes and so on but as the Forum is designed for discussion and not blogging, it might be easier to find information if we do as other internet forums do and limit some threads to a more manageable number of pages before closing them and reopening “Adult Ballet Part 2” and so on.   Would that be helpful?

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3 hours ago, RuthE said:

 

I have wondered on several occasions whether the aforementioned interminable thread ought to have its name changed.  Given that there must be quite a lot of people who come on here looking for beginner adult classes, it's one of the most likely first things they'll find in a search.  A metaphor about dolphins getting inadvertently stuck in giant fishing-nets and losing the will to live comes to mind.

 

We do actually have another Adult Ballet thread - somewhere ...

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