The newly-launched Brookline Patch website opens with a feature article by Neal Simpson on TBBS highlighting the Boys’ Ballet classes.  One of Parren Ballard’s key objectives for the school is to develop fine young male dancers, working with them .  For the full story, including photos and video, go to: http://brookline.patch.com/articles/at-new-brookline-ballet-school-boys-can-be-boys

We’ve been so busy with all that’s going on at TBBS that we haven’t had the time to talk to you on the blog.  So let’s catch up a little.

We’ll be happy on Sunday to have Trinidad return from a two-week visit to Munich where she has been guest teaching at the Bayerisches Staatsballett.  She has been fortunate to make this trip during their annual “Ballet Week”, during which there have been nightly performances of each of the ballets produced during the 2009-10 season.  Trinidad has been teaching daily class for the company and a number of visiting dancers.  As during her visit in November, she has been very impressed by the talent and hard work of the company dancers and the wonderful productions.

Congratulations to Tim Hartshorn, who danced last weekend in the Festival Ballet Providence production under the artistic direction of Mihailo Djuric of Cinderella, with choreography and set design by Victor Plotnikov.  Tim is student in our Intermediate and Boys Ballet programs and had a featured role among the students in the production.

We are delighted to welcome Fawn Heart Cronin to TBBS and announce her two exciting new classes starting this week.  Fawn has joined TBBS to teach her Dance Groove classes for youth and adults, at the nexus between dance and aerobic fitness.  For more details, go to the Fitness/Dance Groove page on our website.

Finally, stay tuned for announcements in the coming week:
- Preparations for the end-of-year Youth Ballet Program showcase Sunday June 13
- 2010-11 Youth Ballet Program schedule and enrollment
- July Dance & Movement camp for children 4-8y.

For our Lunchtime guests, we are making some schedule changes in Floor Barre and Mat Pilates, so please check the Schedule or Registration pages for details of the changes.

We’re looking forward to an exciting conclusion to our first season and moving forward towards the summer and fall seasons!

Already two months have passed since our opening and we hope you have been enjoying TBBS as much as we have been enjoying your visits. We haven’t been very good correspondents in this space over these two busy months, so time to catch up.  We just sent our second monthly Newsletter, so in case you didn’t receive that, here are the highlights:

YOUTH BALLET SUMMER PROGRAM

The TBBS Summer Intensive Ballet Program for ages 9-19, to be held August 2-28.  Preliminary details are available on the ‘ballet’ webpage.

Auditions will be held on Sunday March 28:
Ages 9-13: 1:00 – 2:30 PM
Ages 14-19: 3:00 – 4:30 PM

Registration deadline: April 16. To enroll, please complete the enrollment form on the website and return it to TBBS, or call us at 617-879-9988.

APRIL BREAK

There will be no regular Youth Ballet Program classes (Pre-Ballet, Elementary, Intermediate and Advanced) during April public school break, Monday April 19 – Sunday April 25.

However, we will offer an April Intensive Ballet Program for intermediate and advanced students, 2 classes a day, Tuesday April 20 through Friday April 23. The tuition for this program is $185.  For more details, please contact TBBS @ 617.879.9988.

Note that during the April Break, all open classes, adult dance and fitness will take place as usual.

NEW FITNESS CLASSES

Weekend Yoga
We’ve had many requests for yoga classes on the weekends and are pleased to announce that we now offer:
Saturday 8:30AM Sunrise Flow Yoga with Ross Knights
Sunday 10:30AM (starting March 28) Alignment Flow Yoga with Cat Murcek, whom we’re happy to introduce as a new yoga instructor joining TBBS.

Mat Pilates 50+/- with Liz Roncka
Tuesday 7:00PM We have added a 55-minute Pilates mat class focused on safe and appropriate exercises for clients over 50. Clients under the age of 50 who feel they will benefit from a modified mat class are also welcome to attend.

Floor Barre Workout with Amy Robinson
Friday 12:30PM Amy joins TBBS to bring her special Floor Barre Workout to TBBS on Fridays.  This class has a two-fold purpose. It stands on its own as the most efficient way to develop functional core conditioning, while stretching and strengthening the body with an eye towards proper alignment and posture. For individuals interested in starting to study the art of ballet, floor barre provides the knowledge and tools to make this a rewarding and successful experience. Open to both beginners and returning dancers.

Pre-School classes
The second session of Pre-School classes is now under way.  Places are still available in several of the classes, you can register for the remainder of the session and if space is available you can also take a drop-in class to try.

Note that NO PRE-SCHOOL CLASSES ARE SCHEDULED DURING APRIL BREAK, Monday April 19 through Sunday April 24, 2010.

Sebastian goes to Nationals
Associate Director Parren Ballard is preparing Sebastian Serra for the Youth America Grand Prix Competition.  Sebastian, a native of Puerto Rico, has been training with Parren for the past 2 years.  Placing first in both the Classical and Contemporary categories in the New England Regional competition held in Providence in February, Sebastian qualified to compete in the National Finals to be held March 21-27 in New York City.  Parren will travel to New York with Sebastian to coach him in the finals, where he will be performing variations from Flames of Paris and Paquita, as well as original contemporary work.

Looking forward to a great Spring!!

After the torrential rain last weekend, this week’s warmth and sun has filled us with optimism about the coming of Spring.

As always, we welcome your comments and requests and will do our best to adjust our program schedules to meet your dance and fitness needs and aspirations.

Thanks once again for helping make our opening months so successful.  We look forward to seeing you all again soon at TBBS!

To celebrate our opening tomorrow morning, the TBBS dance and fitness instructors got together to see the studios and get to know each other.  The studio has really come together in the past week, and everyone is excited to start classes tomorrow.  Pictured below in Studio 2 are (front row) Ross, Michael, Stephanie, Saskia, Julia, Isabel and Lena, (back row) Renee, John, Anita, Michele, Annie, Marianne, Parren, Eve, Sydney, Cecilia and Trinidad.  Ama, Joanne and Liz could not make it to the party, but are also ready to start classes this week.  We hope to see lots of you in the studio very soon, as well.

A boston.com posting announces the TBBS opening on Monday January 11, tells the story of the studio’s founding and outlines the objective.  Follow this link to the story: http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/brookline/2010/01/brookline_ballet_school_openin.html.

The TBBS Team is happy to announce that today we completed updating the website to include our full schedule of classes as well as the bios of all the Instructors who will be joining the growing team.  As described in detail on the Calendar page, classes will begin January 11 with Studio 1 opening, and we should be up to full operations with Studio 1 opening the following weekend.

To enable our opening, the studio construction is entering its final phase.  This week will see a flurry of last minute activity and by the end of the week we will finally be able to take down the temporary signage on the windows and open the brand new front door, thus affording views of the studios and lobby entrance.   Many thanks to Ralph, Dana and George of GRM construction for moving the project forward, along with the many subcontractors and suppliers who have worked so hard to make the studios the great place to enjoy.

Just a week now until opening – we’re very excited to see you in the studio soon!

The TBBS Team is happy to announce that we have opened enrollment for the Youth Ballet Program for the Winter/Spring 2010 season.  Classes will begin January 11 and the term will complete June 19.

In anticipation of our opening, we are preparing a full update of the website and today we posted the Youth Ballet Program details.    Details of the Other Dance, Pre-School and Exercise classes and instructors will be posted within the next 1-2 weeks.

Meanwhile, the studio construction is proceeding well.  The sprung floor was installed in Studio 2 earlier this week.  The studio lighting is shining, the heat is on (just in time for this wintry blast) and the painting has begun.  There is still a lot of work to be done before the opening, though.  Next week the new front door and interior windows will be installed and, after that, the finishing touches can be made.

Just a month now until opening – we’re very excited to see you in the studio soon!

Trinidad is currently guest teaching at the Bayerisches Staatsballett in Munich, Germany.   She was invited by Ballet Director, Ivan Liska and his wife Colleen Scott with whom she danced at the Hamburg Ballet 25 years ago.  They have not worked together since, so she is enjoying the reunion.  Like the ballets in most major German cities, the Bayerisches Staatsballet and Opera receive state support and are able to develop large companies (~60 dancers!) and elaborate productions.  The night she arrived, Trinidad was treated to a performance of Kylian’s “Zugvögel”, which she described with the words “Wow! What an experience!”  It is a very unusual combination of dance, theatre, film, music, lighting and stage changes during the dancing.  Last Friday, she saw the beautiful production of “Lady of the Camellias”, with choreography by John Neumeier.  It is a story ballet with lots of passion and drama, and the costumes and sets designed by Jurgen Rose are gorgeous.  The ballet brought memories to Trinidad of when she performed it with Ivan and Colleen in the Hamburg Ballet more than 20 years ago.

Trinidad’s teaching work is going well.  She is impressed by the talent and hard work of the company’s 60 dancers.  They are currently performing two programs and also working on a piece by Nacho Duato, which they will perform in December.  This week they will start work on a new piece by Forsythe, called “Artifact”, which they will perform later in the season.  So Trinidad is certainly enjoying the amazing diversity of their repertoire.

The company works in two spaces.  The Nationaltheater (pictured below and on their website) is a beautiful classical building the Staatsballett shares with the Staatsoper and Staatsorchester; they have one big studio in this building.  They have another more modern building just for the Ballet a block away in the heart of the city with four beautiful studios where they also rehearse.  This past Saturday Trinidad taught class there and, aside from the great work of the company, was delighted that through the windows you can see a row of beautiful Bavarian houses.

We look forward to having Trinidad back with us in Brookline in a week, as we start into the home stretch to our opening.

Happy Thanksgiving to all from The Brookline Ballet School!

This week saw the “The Brookline Ballet School” and “”1431” signage mounted on the façade of the building.  The brushed aluminum lettering is beautifully set off by the “Royal Flush” backing over the entrance way and, at night, picks up the spotlight reflection that dances across the letters as you walk or drive by.  Inside, the framing is now completed as well as the rough electrical and plumbing work.  When the drywall and plastering work gets under way this week, the studios will really take shape.

We’re also getting close to finalizing our initial schedule.  We’ve had input from over 100 interested dancers and parents, and thank all those who have contacted us.  Taking these comments into account, we will be making some changes to the Youth Ballet Program as initially posted and filling out the schedule with a number of other offerings.  There is still time to provide us your comments and input at info@brooklineballet.com or 617-879-9988, to let us know what classes would appeal to you or your child and the ideal schedule for you, and to get yourself on our mailing list so we can let you know when we open enrolment.

We are planning to open enrollment at the end of November, working towards opening The School up for visits during the week before the holidays and start classes on January 4, 2010.  We’ll keep you posted as work progresses and we are able to firm up these dates, as well as schedule open house events.

Work is progressing well at The Brookline Ballet School (TBBS).  On the outside, the building put on a new face of Royal Flush framing the entrance way and Pewter gray outlining the studio spaces.  Inside, the Studio 1 floor has been leveled and the two pillars in the middle have been replaced by two beams that will be hidden above the ceiling.  The entrance way ramp was poured and the enclosure is taking shape.  Framing of Studio 2 and the changing rooms and restrooms is going on this week.