Ballet Theater of Maryland

In Maryland the Ballet Theater of Maryland has four to five classes a week for the adult student of ballet.  Classes are held in Annapolis Monday through Saturday at two locations.  I have just taken all the classes currently available for adults this season.  The 'continuing beginner' class is the best level, short of the 'intermediate' which I find more appropriate for the professional dancer. They could use more of this level ( 'continuing beginner') and if the school could develop a deeper commitment to the adult dancer I'm sure a lot more mature students would come out of the local woodwork to address their interest in the study of ballet. It must be noted that the class prices even with the group discount are, in fact, the most expensive in the world that I have come across -four to seven dollars higher than any class in China, Europe, Africa, Russia, The Middle East,  South America, and the larger cities in America including New York and L.A.! This should surely be addressed if they have any intention of attracting more students. School tuition should be supporting the company but they are only hindering greater participation with such outrageous prices.

Paris

Since 1978 I have been taking the morning classes of Yves Casati, now joined by Frederick Lazzarelli at the Ecole du Marais Danse Center.  The beautiful class room has large French windows on two walls and its original hand painted medieval ceiling.  There is always a piano player.  Casati is from the Paris Opera Ballet and has a reputation- He seems strict, has a sense of humor and personally I adore him.  It is my favorite class in the world.  Following his career a the Paris Opera he has devoted himself to teaching and the 9:30 morning class and evening classes at 7 pm have become an institution.  I have breezed into them with all my bags upon arrival or just before leaving the city for over thirty years.  It looks like Frederick will guarantee the continuation of the class with his humor, joy, and equal commitment for at least another thirty years.

I also join a friend at a floor barre class at The Institut Stanlowa in the 8th arrondisment which has a full range of open ballet classes for adults during the week.

Guatamala City

A group of students visited Peridance from Guatamala City and gave me this link for their dance school which they say has open ballet classes for adults:  Arte Proyecto.  I will have to check it out myself at some point.

Downtown NYC new class Peridance

Just to make a note that the wonderful teacher Kathryn Sullivan has added a downtown class at Peridance. for adult advanced beginners.

Rome

Ballet classes for adults in Rome:
NO problem.. IALS is the incredible dance school for walk in ballet classes and lots of other movement classes. My wonderful teacher was Giancarlo Stiscia. http://www.ials.org/

Taiwan

Just met Tzu Ling Chang, a young dancer here at Peridance  (New York) from Taiwan.  He was a member of the Horse Dance Company located just outside of Taiwan in Bang Chow.  At their studio near the Ming train station Tzu Ling said that adults could take the morning ballet classes from 10-12:30.  The phone number there is 02-2967-4495.  You will see the website also has an English version but I think you will have to contact them and ask about joining the class.  Adults with at least intermediated training are welcome on an open basis.

Moscow

I was in Moscow for a long rainy weekend at the end of August this year– not long enough to figure out the dance school scene.  After a day and a half at the exciting Tratyakov Gallery's Central House of Artists , just north of Gorky Park I attended a floor barre class at a place called 5Life.  The class was taught by a woman called Svetlanna, and it was incredibly thorough and focused on classical ballet technique for detailed work on turnout and positioning.  Through the open door to the next studio though I could see a woman working on her pole dancing routine and truly I wondered what kind of establishment I had stumbled upon.  In any case Svetlanna knew what she was doing, clearly she had years of serious Russian ballet training and knew how to communicate it to an adult audience.  We need more classes like this in the world.