Ballet classes at URC March and April 2019; and new Saturday pointe work

See below for a schedule of BiSS ballet classes at URC from now on until the end of April, and the beginning of next term. Please read carefully to take note of any changes!  Although I will be not be teaching over the second half of March I am delighted to confirm that classes will continue pretty much uninterrupted, thanks to wonderful colleagues Ségolène Tarte and Lisia Newmark.

Saturday March 16th: No classes because of DANSOX conference
Monday 18th: Adult beginners 4.15-5.30pm, Intermediate 5.45-7.15pm taught by Ségolène
Thursday 21st: Advanced 10.00-11.30 taught by Lisia Newmark plus 11.30-12.00 optional pointework
Saturday 23rd: Adult beginners 10.00-11.15am, Intermediate/advanced 11.30am-1.00pm taught by Ségolène
Monday 25th: Adult beginners 4.15-5.30pm, Intermediate 5.45-7.15pm taught by Ségolène
Thursday 28th: Advanced 10.00-11.30 taught by Ségolène
Saturday 30th: Adult beginners 10.00-11.15am, Intermediate/advanced 11.30am-1.00pm taught by Ségolène
Monday 1st April: Adult beginners 4.15-5.30pm, Intermediate 5.45-7.15pm taught by Ségolène
Thursday 4th: Advanced 10.00-11.30 taught by Lisia plus 11.30-12.00 optional pointework
Saturday 6th: Adult beginners 10.00-11.15am, Intermediate/advanced 11.30am-1.00pm taught by Ségolène

I will resume teaching as normal from Monday 8th April up to and including Thursday 18th April. Because of Easter there will be no classes on Saturday 20th and Monday 22nd April. So the summer term of classes will start officially on Thursday 25th April with new material for adult beginners from Saturday 27th April, and continue on the usual schedule from then. I will teach on Mondays 6th May and 27th May despite the Bank Holidays and will not take a half term break.

For those of you on the waiting list for a place in the Saturday adult beginners’ class, I will be in touch nearer the time to confirm whether you can start from Saturday 27th April.

Next term Saturday pointe work
Over the summer term I propose to extend the Saturday intermediate/advanced class with an additional half hour of pointe work 1.15-1.45pm starting from Saturday 27th April. This is entirely optional and would cost an additional £4. It is open not only to those already with some experience of pointe work but also to those who would like a chance to explore this more advanced work on the demi-pointe. Please do let me know if you are interested in attending this.

For those of you that do not already know Lisia Newmark you can read her biography below.  It is lovely to have her back here teaching, bringing a wealth of professional experience.  And you can find full information about Ségolène on her blog here.

Enjoy!

Susie

LISIA NEWMARK

Lisia trained as a ballet dancer in Perth (Australia) with Sylvia Barnes, Diana Waldron and the Perth City Ballet.

In Europe Lisia danced with the Brno State Ballet (Czech Republic), Wiener Ballet Theatre (Germany), and in the Salzburg Festival (Austria). She then joined Independent Ballet Wales (UK) where she remained for ten years as Principal Dancer. Lisia performed the title roles in Cinderella, Giselle, Red Riding Hood and The Lady of the Lake as well as Titania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, Olivia in Twelfth Night, Carabosse in The Sleeping Beauty, and Kate in The Taming of the Shrew.

Lisia regularly returned to Perth as Principal Guest Artist for Perth City Ballet’s productions of The Sleeping Beauty (1997), Carmen (1998 and 2007), Don Quixote (2002), and Coppelia (2006). In 2005 Lisia was Guest Artist for the First Physical Company in Grahamstown, South Africa, where she also taught company class. In 2008 Lisia performed in The Solos Project at the Burton Taylor Theatre, in a solo choreographed by Susie Crow.

As a freelance ballet teacher, Lisia has taught at Rhodes University Drama Department (South Africa), John Curtin College of the Arts (Australia), and locally for Freefall Dance at Oxford University, East Oxford School of Ballet, Oxford Academy of Dance and St. Edward’s Oxford.

 

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Christmas break and start dates for next term’s classes at URC

Christmas is coming… so a note to clarify and confirm dates for the end of this term at URC, and the start of next.

Saturday 8th December marked the official end of classes for this term. There will however be one final Thursday morning class on 13th December, but beyond that I will be taking a break and will not resume teaching until the New Year.
Classes will resume on the normal schedule from Thursday 10th January 2019. This means that the first Saturday classes of next term will be on 12th January and the first Monday classes will be on 14th January. Apologies that the break is quite long; if you are looking for additional classes to attend over the Christmas period, I would advise you to contact the following teachers:
Ségolène Tarte – check out her class schedule here for classes in December and January.
Penny Cullerne-Bown, Principal of East Oxford School of Ballet, will also be teaching some classes over the break; for details email her here.

If you have been coming to the adult beginners’ classes and may be moving on or leaving Oxford, please let me know.  I continue to have a waiting list for the Saturday class, so it would be good to know any changes to your plans so that I can work out how many new dancers can be accommodated.

All that remains to say is have a joyous Christmas, and wishing you all the very best for the coming year!

Susie

Ballet classes at URC for Autumn Term 2018

Tomorrow September begins, and ballet classes at URC will shortly be resuming…

The schedule will follow the normal pattern of classes, starting next week as follows:
Thursdays: 10.00-11.30am Advanced, 11.30am-12.00pm Optional pointework from 6th September
Saturdays: 10.00-11.15am Adult Beginners, 11.30am-1.00pm Intermediate/Advanced from 8th September
Mondays: 4.15-5.30pm Adult Beginners, 5.45-7.15pm Intermediate from 10th September

Classes will continue without a half-term break till early/mid December, final class date to be confirmed. I will of course let you know if there are any changes to this schedule or cancellations.

Class prices remain the same: £10 per class with the 10th class free for regular attenders.
Students attending Adult Beginners pay £8 per class with the 10th class free; there is also a student term card of 8 classes for £60 for those attending any of the Intermediate or Advanced classes.

A note about pointework: this additional half hour session has been piloted over the summer, and it seems a good idea to continue it through this term to enable people to build their strength and confidence in this advanced technique. There is an additional charge of £3 for those attending the Thursday class who would like to stay on for this session. If you wish to work on pointe I advise that you should be doing at least three ballet classes a week to ensure you have sufficient strength and experience. Those with experience but who have not yet worked on pointe are very welcome to do the session and explore the material on the demi-pointe by way of introduction.

You can find further information about all the classes on the Classes page.

If you are looking for further classes, or the above times don’t suit you:

Friday classes taught by Ségolène Tarte for Oxford Academy of Dance will resume from 7th September:
Fridays: 6.15-7.30pm Adult Beginners/Improvers, 7.30-9.00pm Intermediate
Ségolène will also resume teaching her classes at Mortimer Hall in Marston from 4th September:
Tuesdays: 6.15-7.45pm Intermediate/Advanced; this class is a mixed level class which can accommodate learners from improvers to intermediate/advanced.
For full information about these classes and her regularly updated calendar go to:
http://dancingconvolutions.blogspot.com/p/teaching.html

Looking forward to seeing you in class…

Susie

Summer term 2018 ballet classes at URC with Susie

Now that spring has finally truly arrived, I look forward to resuming ballet classes for the summer term at URC from this coming Monday 23rd April on the usual schedule as follows:

Mondays: 4.15-5.30pm Adult beginners, 5.45-7.15pm Intermediate
Thursdays: 10.00-11.30am Advanced
Saturdays: 10.00-11.15am Adult beginners, 11.30am-1.00pm Intermediate/Advanced

Some dates for your diaries:
There will be no class on Thursday 3rd May because the URC Hall will be in use as a polling station for local elections.
Classes will continue throughout the term without a half term break.
The final classes of term will be on Saturday 14th July. I will advise nearer the time about any provision of classes over the summer holiday period.

See you in class soon!

Susie

Ballet in Small Spaces Review of 2017

Looking back on the last day of 2017… This site has been very quiet this year; but even if artistic production and performance has been less in evidence there has been significant BiSS activity of other sorts, both study and teaching…

Having formally presented to the Roehampton dance research community in November 2016, in the New Year I submitted an initial chapter and a summary plan of my dissertation for examination by my Director of Studies Emilyn Claid, supervisor Geraldine Morris and Internal Examiner dance philosopher Anna Pakes. A viva on these submissions in May happily confirmed my upgrade in the PhD progress; the green light to go ahead and write.

Ballet classes over Christmas 2017 period & term dates

Now that we are in December and Christmas is hurtling towards us, here are dates for the end of this term of ballet classes at URC and the beginning of next.  Classes will continue as normal until and including Saturday 16th December; the only exception being that Ségolène Tarte will teach the advanced class on Thursday 14th December.  I shall then take a Christmas break, resuming teaching the normal schedule from Thursday 11th January; thus the first Saturday classes will be on 13th January and the first Monday classes on 15th January.

Over the Christmas break however it will be possible to do advanced class with Ségolène at Mortimer Hall in Marston on Tuesday 19th December; and she also plans to resume teaching this class on Tuesday 9th January (to be confirmed).

Enjoy the festive season, and here’s wishing you a very Merry Christmas and all good wishes for a Happy New Year!

Susie

Ségolène Tarte teaches Tuesday evening ballet classes at Mortimer Hall from 26th September 2017

Delighted to alert you to the news that Ségolène Tarte has confirmed that she will be teaching a new ballet class on Tuesday evenings at Mortimer Hall in Marston, starting from 26th September, and every Tuesday evening until (and included) 19th December, see below for full details.  Ségolène has been an inspiring presence in URC classes both as a dancer and more recently as a teacher, drawing on her European training background to bring an enriching and distinctive flavour to her classes.  A great addition to Oxford’s ballet teaching provision – enjoy!

18.15 – 19.45 Advanced adult ballet @ Mortimer Hall (OX3 0PH)

She will also consider doing an improvers/intermediate adult class if there is sufficient demand.
The price for a class will be £10 pay-as-you-go.

Mortimer Hall is a lovely village hall with a sprung floor. There is an area for changing in the adjacent room, although no showers, and full access to the kitchen.  It is located at the Marston end of the Marston Ferry Road at 40 Oxford Road, Old Marston, Oxford OX3 0PH.
There is space for parking in front; it’s in easy cycling reach of the city centre and Summertown, using the cycle path along the Marston Ferry Road; it is also accessible by bus: 14A (stop: Old Marston Library), and 14, 700, X3, X13, S7, and S5 (stop: Cherwell Drive).

Ségolène requests that those interested in coming along to the advanced class, or in a possible improvers/intermediate class, should contact her with any queries: segolene.tarte@gmail.com.

Other classes she will be teaching on a regular basis this term:
Wednesdays at Rye St Antony [OX3 0BY] (for Penny Cullerne-Bown’s East Oxford School of Ballet) [1/2 term break dates tbc]
Fridays at URC [OX2 7HN] (for Paula Nattrass’s Oxford Academy of Dance) [1/2 term break dates tbc]

And here is a short biography for those interested in knowing a bit more:

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Ségolène Tarte studied ballet with Geneviève Guillée, of the Paris Opera Ballet, at the “conservatoire municipal du XVe – Frédéric Chopin” (Geneviève danced with the Paris Opera Ballet company for 20 years, reaching the grade of “grand sujet” in 1961; she further sat as a panel member on the jury of the Paris Opera Ballet company’s annual internal promotion contest in the 1980s, whilst teaching at the conservatoire). Ségolène pursued her ballet training in Berne (Switzerland) with Ivana Halamka (soloist at the Prague Chamber ballet, at ballet Karlsruhe, then ballet mistress at the Berne Statdttheater Ballet) and joined the semi-professional company City Ballett Halamka for 5 years where she danced a number of solos, whilst completing a PhD in Biomedical Engineering. In parallel with pursuing her academic career, working as a Digital Humanist in close collaboration with Classicists at the University of Oxford, Ségolène’s move to Oxford in 2008 has seen her debuts as a choreographer, improviser, and ballet teacher. She has shown her work at various venues in Oxford, including at the Pegasus Theatre and the Old Fire Station, and teaches for a number of well-established dance schools in Oxford. Drawing on her training in the French School of ballet, through her ballet classes, Ségolène strives to share the joy of movement and the subtleties of intention through movement. Her favourite technical foci are: presentation and articulation of the feet and lower legs; fluidity and breath in the movements of the upper body; and precision and clarity in the orientation of the body in space.