By Icy Frantz
There’s an exciting new program in town called the The Greenwich Conservatory of Classical Ballet that will meet the growing needs of our young dance enthusiasts.
We asked Mimi Citeralla, program founder and director, to tell us about her program.
The Conservatory, she wrote, was created out of a deep passion and love for the art of classical ballet and a desire to make world class ballet training accessible to any interested child. Classical ballet is beautiful, historic, global – even the words of ballet are magical and evoke the beauty of movement (plie, piroutte, arabesque) – and ballet brings benefits to the children who study it and to the community overall.
Last spring I had the opportunity to visit one of the most famous ballet schools in the world — the Vaganova Academy in Russia. It was a life-changing experience. I saw first hand what the true educational experience of ballet looks like and felt there was an opportunity to bring some of these curricular and pedagogical teaching ideas to our community in a greater way.
I believe children recognize quality and are naturally drawn to it, and experience a joy from being in a quality environment and excelling in something they love. I see this with my own daughter who is a pre-professional ballet student, and with children as young as six years old who come into our studio and take our classes.
I also believe that a disciplined, ballet-training environment can be successfully matched with a nurturing, dancer and family-friendly studio culture. We also offer important classes such as stretch and conditioning and ballet acting, which help to build the complete dancer. These are the things we felt were important and our early indication is that our offering is resonating with students and parents in the community.
This summer, The Greenwich Conservatory of Classical Ballet is hosting an exceptionally high quality eight-week ballet camp at Greenwich Academy, June 11 to Aug. 3.
The program offers flexibility, and students can register for anywhere from one to eight camp weeks.
The curriculum is robust and includes ballet technique, pointe, partnering (for advanced students), ballet history, ballet acting, contemporary dance and more. The Conservatory takes great care in teacher selection and has assembled a list of faculty that is both technically adept and also highly passionate about teaching ballet and cultivating a love for the ballet.
The location at GA’s Wallace Performing Arts Center also gives students the unique experience of dancing every day on a full stage, which is a great training environment for both the students and teachers. After each two weeks of the camp, a stage performance gives dancers a chance to show their progress to parents and friends.
Registration and information can be found at Greenwichconservatoryballet.com. Spaces will fill up, so early registration is recommended, and auditions are required for dancers age 10 and up.
For any students interested in year-round ballet training, the Conservatory holds daily classes at the YWCA Greenwich Royce Porter Dance Studio, in central Greenwich.
Students can sign up for one or several classes depending on their level of interest and ballet objectives. Some of the Conservatory’s students dance on their schools’ dance teams (such as the GCDS Dance Team or Greenwich High School Dance Team), and take classes at the Conservatory to build a stronger ballet foundation.
Other Conservatory students are fully dedicated and take the full offering of classes available for their age and level and are even competing in national ballet competitions and studying ballet abroad.
The Conservatory also hosts two stage performances each year, which is a highlight for dancers, families and friends. Information about the year-round program can be found at Greenwichconservatoryballet.com
It is the goal of the Conservatory to begin a ballet program in the fall for special needs children. In addition, the Conservatory hopes to be able to offer scholarships so that ballet can be available for all students.
