Marblehead School Of Ballet Opens 2021 With New Workshops

The Marblehead School of Ballet starts the New Year with three new workshop series to beat the winter blues, try new skills, and keep dancing and moving. The three workshops series feature the Monthly Dance Adventure with specialty dances from different time periods around the world, Modern Dance and Knitting for Beginners and Advanced Beginners.

The Monthly Dance Adventure

The Monthly Dance Adventure features five virtual specialty dance lessons presented virtually on Mondays from January 18 through May 10, 2021 from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. EST. Students will learn these styles: Balinese, Spanish Baroque, Cuban Flamenco, Commedia dell'Arte and French Baroque. Dancers and non dancers, ages 12 and above, can learn new movements and add skills to their dance toolkit.

Salem native Carlos Fittante, Artistic Director of BALAM Dance Theatre from New York City, joins the faculty as a guest teacher. A principal dancer and co-choreographer with the Boston Early Music Festival, Fittante graduated from the School of American Ballet and holds a Master of Fine Arts in Dance from the University of Wisconsin. He specializes in Baroque, Balinese, and Spanish escuela bolera dances and also works as a choreographer, dancer, and teacher. His choreographies received praise from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Village Voice, and Dance Magazine. Fittante performed his work with the International Arts Festival in Bali, Blue Hill Bach Festival, Apollo's Fire, Gotham Early Music Scene, Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors, Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, and 2nd Encuentro de Baile Contemporáneo in Mexico.

Modern Dance Basics

This introductory workshop focuses on modern dance technique. The workshop presents movement exercises and emphasizes basic musical concepts, including meter, down beat, up beat, rhythm and swing. The class meets virtually on Saturdays, February 20 through March 13 from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m.

Instructor Ivan Korn, a native of Santiago, Chile, hold an MFA in choreography at the Boston Conservatory and has performed in New England at the Boston Center for the Arts, Impulse Dance, Cyclorama, Copley Theatre of Boston, The Joyce SoHo in New York, and at Jacob's Pillow in Becket, Massachusetts. He works with Prometheus Dance and has also been a guest artist with Zoe Dance. He has taught at the Walnut Hill School for the Arts, Ballet Etc., and the Dance Workshop of Hanover. Korn focuses primarily on a post-Limon style emphasizing proper alignment and the use of weight.

Knitting for Beginners and Advanced Beginners

For dancers and non-dancers wanting to stay active during the COVID-19 pandemic or others seeking to add another skill to their tool kit or to brush up their technique, Marblehead School of Ballet presents an online, live Knitting series. Three sessions will be offered from January 14 through March 25 for beginners and advanced beginners.

Session One, Beginners, runs on Thursdays, January 14 through January 28, from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Students learn how to do a knitted cast on and long-tail cast on, knit stitch, purl stitch and bind off. This session prepares students for the Advanced Beginner session.

Session Two, Advanced Beginners/Above, runs on Thursdays from February 4 through February 25 from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. Students learn how to make a custom fit pair of leg warmers perfect for dancing or staying comfortable outdoors. In Session Three, Advanced Beginners/Above, students may attend, who do not finish their leg warmers in the previous session and require more help to complete them. This session runs on Thursdays from March 4 through March 25 from 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Youngsters, ages 11 and above, teenagers, and adults may enroll in any of these sessions.

Instructor Amy Novins will inspire others to pick up their knitting needles and make their own creations. As many children, Ms. Novins learned the art of knitting and crocheting from her grandmother. She pursued a career in industrial, exhibition, graphic and jewelry design and has knitted and crocheted a range of handmade products from scarves to stuffed animals, while also designing her own patterns. She has taught at various yarn shops, schools, as well as numerous elder care facilities.

Advanced registration is required to attend these virtual workshops. Registration and payment be done conveniently online at https://marbleheadschoolofballet.com/classes/schedule/#workshops. For further information, contact 781-631-6262 or msb@havetodance.com.