 Chris Polydoroff / KRT
Instructor David Strite advises Chayo Smith on hand positions. |
For many adults, ballet class has been a long time coming. Some took ballet as children and are finally back at it. Others had never stepped foot in a studio but always wanted to. Some just want a new challenge. Their bodies may not bend as in youth, but it hardly matters. Rewards go far beyond the sweat and the stretch.
"I just enjoy the beauty of the dance," says Faye Duvall, a 65-year-old grandmother from St. Paul, who started taking ballet 35 years ago. "As an adult, you dance for yourself."
Plenty of adults are doing just that. According to IDEA, a fitness trade group, the percentage of clubs offering ballet and ballroom dance to members has been on the rise, going from 19 percent in 1996 to 35 percent in 1999. A Web site - www.blue-diamond-dance.com - for adult ballet students provides a forum to share information about the discipline that combines art, athleticism and fitness. Under the "Dance Teachers" button, it lists adult dance teachers in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
"It seems like at the studio where I study, adult enrollment has picked up just in the last month," says Susan Witt, 51, a former dancer with the San Francisco Ballet who takes three classes a week at the Ballet Academy of Texas in Bedford. "It's one of the best forms of exercise, and additionally, if you go to a gym, to me it's kind of boring to just sit on an exercise bike and pound away. With dance, the music inspires you, it's not just exercising."
"Everyone is broadening their definition of fitness," says Sara Stevenson, school coordinator at Zenon Dance Company and School in Minneapolis. "You're doing it not just to work up a sweat and build muscles and burn calories. You're doing it to create some beauty. That adds something."
 Chris Polydoroff / KRT
Dancers in St. Paul Minnesota practice ballet in a studio located above a hardware store. |
They're also willing to work toward a goal that doesn't come easily or quickly.
"Ballet does not give instant gratification," says Pat Alesso, co-owner of Alesso's Dance Spectrum in St. Paul. "It is definitely for the person who values the gradual learning and achievement."
Instructor David Stright of St. Paul was in that position 20 years ago. A former hockey goalie, Mr. Stright took his first ballet class on a dare from his future sister-in-law, a dancer. He was 24. His ultimate goal was to see if he could ever perform (he did). He never expected to make a living from it (he does).
"I remember what it was like to stand there and think, 'Oh Lord. How can I remember which foot is in front?"' Mr. Stright says. "I try to tell new students to make a commitment to try it."
Ballet teachers encourage students to take several classes before deciding whether ballet's for them. They also encourage students to wear - shudder - form-fitting clothes so they can see their bodies and correct form and technique.
 Chris Polydoroff / KRT
Proper foot position is one of the foundations of ballet. |
"People in ballet want structure and security," says Marcia Chapman, co-founder and executive director of Ballet Arts Minnesota in Minneapolis. "Once they feel secure, something really nice happens."
Two years ago, Martha Vickery, a 42-year-old editor from St. Paul, was diagnosed with arthritis. Ms. Vickery didn't expect her health to improve, but when it did, she returned to ballet, which she had first taken in college. Ballet helps Ms. Vickery break out of the box.
"When we're adults, usually what we're choosing to do are things we know we're good at," she says. "To choose things that we don't know . . . is a little scarier."
Ms. Vickery would love to dance on her toes someday.
"Every once in awhile I get a glimpse of myself turning and I think, 'Hey, that looks like a ballet dancer."' she says. "There is a small moment of joy that makes it all worthwhile."
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
06/12/2000
By Helen Bond / Special Contributor The Dallas Morning News
Whether ballet, hip-hop or jazz classes, Dallas-area dance instructors say they are seeing more adults in the dance studio.
Some dance enthusiasts are getting reacquainted with a passion they had as a child, while others, who have always wanted to take dance, are fulfilling that wish as an adult.
What they are finding is a fun way to get fit, says Jane Martin, assistant to the artistic director at the Chamberlain School of Ballet.
"People have definitely expanded their idea of what they want their exercise to be," says Ms. Martin.
To make it work for adults, studios must offer the movement of dance with the flexibility of the gym. The Chamberlain School of Ballet offers adult ballet classes and a Pilates-based stretch and toning class on a punch card system that allows participants to attend class when it fits into their schedule, instead of a tuition-based classes where dances are learned over time.
Sarasue's Academy of Dance in North Dallas is also adding classes that appeal to more than just kids, says Sarasue Rains, a 38-year veteran of the dance school business. Many women enjoy a jazz lyrical class that offers the "prettiness of the interpretive part of ballet, mixed in with jazz," says Ms. Rains.
The hip-hop class at Dallas Power House of Dance is the studio's most popular adult class. The facility, which aims to "empower" its students through dance, also offers cardio funk that focuses on "more aerobic patterns of dancing," says Ashley Rocke, assistant director at Dallas Power House of Dance.
"Every woman remembers her first dance class . . . there is no pressure," says Ms. Rocke.
But dance doesn't just appeal to women. Before his recent death, the 75-year-old father of Kathy Chamberlain, owner of the ballet company, was a fixture in ballet class to keep strong. Chamberlain's ballet classes appeal to all ages.
"I think it goes back to wanting that dance feeling instead of that workout feeling," says Ms. Martin. "That whole craze of work until you die, for some people, I don't think that is working anymore. They want to go back to something that is enjoyable and feels good."
© 2000 The Dallas Morning News
