New Beginnings:
New Season, New Home & Studio, New Courses, New Approach
October, 2018
New Season
It has been rather long since the last blog. The summer is over and as we move into the new season, I have lots of news to share with you.
New Home & Studio
The major news first: I moved into a new home and with it the Holistic Ballet studio.
After living the past 17 years in Shoreditch, seeing it transform from a fairly isolated place to being the secret hang-out for the cool and trendy, to becoming London’s food and party hub, I moved two Tube stops farther East to Mile End (on the Central Line).
Being 17 years older too, I will miss the amazing food available at my doorstep but not the 24/7 parties that come with it. Hence, I am thrilled to have found a beautiful new home and studio space in the quiet development of the former St. Clements Hospital where my little abode used to be the Occupational Therapy Unit!
Junker ballet sprung floor being installed
New Courses
Creating the new studio space, I invested in a state-of-the-art sprung floor, an additional mirror and an extended wall-mounted ballet barre. People who practised at my previous studio will appreciate the levelness of the new floor that is not ‘sprung’ because of the loose wooden planks.
With such a brilliant space, although it is still being built, I am excited to be able to offer more small-group courses. Working with a maximum of six students over several weeks proved to be a highly beneficial way to learn intensively and study certain aspects of ballet training in greater detail and receive individual attention.
To christen the new space, I scheduled three pointe courses for different levels, see below, and continue with the monthly stretch & meditation classes.
I am open to your suggestions for the coming year too. Do let me know what you would like to be taught, e.g. more pointe work, certain ballet class movements, Pilates, etc.
New Approach
I also did a lot of reflecting on my work since I came to London two decades ago and how I can use that experience to better serve my students and clients.
I will resume offering one-to-one ballet lessons and Pilates/Gyrotonic® sessions but it will work a bit differently than before. We will have a one-to-one ballet lesson or conditioning session in a month to discuss your goals, strengths and weaknesses. Based on this, I will create a personalised training programme and guidance video for you to use at home.
I will be available via email and phone for support and hold you accountable in the month following our session.
To help you to achieve your personal goals, I created three different arrangements to choose from that you can view here: Holistic Ballet Lessons Overview & Pricing
This monthly format not only allows enough time to implement the points we discussed in the ballet lesson or conditioning session and to notice tangible changes but also motivates you to take charge of your own development and to depend less on a teacher, something that will serve you well into the future
Cat-Update
On a less joyful note, I had to let go of one of my two cats. I mention it here because many of you showed great concern. My grey one moved in with his new cat parent, a lovely lady of the same hair/ fur colour, just before my move.
He is doing well and already ruling the house. The brown one, Herbert, who stays with me is the happiest single cat now after five months of cat-to-cat tension and only struggles a bit with all the new noises in our new home.
My heartfelt thanks for all your sympathy during this personally difficult time!
The good times, when Mattie & Herbert loved each other