Did you do ballet as a child?
Would you have loved to do it as a child but did not have the opportunity?
Has your taste for ballet been an acquired one?
Do you just love to dance?
Would you like to learn but are a little wary of what you will be asked to do?
If you answered yes to any of these then you are like any of our adult ballet students at the Waipawa Dance Centre.
Let’s face it. Learning anything new is daunting, but when you think of adults doing ballet the mind automatically turns to thoughts of supple professional dancers in beautiful tutu’s who can stretch their legs around their ears and can leap tall buildings in a single bound!
Of course the reality is vastly different and this is something that is completely understood by Esther Juon Veitch. She runs three classes of adult students at various levels of training and although some students are now training at Grade 5 level all students have started with the basics. No-one has been pushed into doing anything that they are not fully capable of or that they do not feel confident doing.
What’s even more amazing is that Esther’s adult ballerinas voluntarily go through the same British Ballet Organisation (BBO) examination curriculum with the same 100% pass rate as the younger students. In fact in 2011 ten of Esther’s adult students achieved a grade of Honours for their exams – this is highest award attainable under this syllabus and notoriously difficult to get!
With all this success you would imagine that Esther is a very hard taskmaster, but in reality the opposite is true.
Esther runs classes that are more like social gatherings where Esther takes the lead and she is well known for her patient guidance and sense of humour.
The atmosphere is relaxed and friendly but once the music starts the concentration and focus of her students is almost tangible – not in severe sense, but in a working concentration sense. There is always room for a giggle if a Grand jete or pirouette doesn’t quite come off as planned!
Then there is the environment that you are dancing in.
Polished wooden floors, sparkling chandeliers, full length mirrors, a balcony, barres on three walls ……. Everything that you could wish for in a dance studio.
The music is of course simple, elegant piano, but often Esther will surprise students with a CD that has the piano performing more contemporary classics. Imagine doing ballet exercises to a version of a Carpenters song or the ‘Day-O’ Banana song?
So, what are you waiting for?
You can fill out the application form now or you can contact Esther by email or phone if you have any questions. You can even take a personal tour of the studio – but whatever you do, prepare to be enchanted!
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