The Marblehead School of Ballet (MSB) celebrates its 46th anniversary this fall with a new season of classes for 2017-2018, beginning on Monday, August 28. Classes are taught at the school’s studio, located at 115 Pleasant Street, in picturesque Marblehead, Massachusetts.
The 46th season presents the school’s renowned curriculum to dancers of all ages and levels and features a new workshop series presenting the fundamentals of ballet and Pilates. “Our curriculum focuses on the internal mechanics of the body and proper technique, including alignment, body mechanics and musicality. The Marblehead School of Ballet looks to introduce and develop ballet in a new generation of artists, who will perpetuate this art form and its related disciplines. Students, who always wanted to take ballet or Pilates or need a review of the basics, will want to attend the Fundamentals Workshop Series,” said Paula K. Shiff, Director of the MSB and recipient of Salem State University’s 2009 Lifetime Achievement Award in the Arts.
Fundamentals Series
The Fundamentals Workshops are scheduled conveniently on Sundays in September. Instructor Jimmy Raye, a dancer trained in classical ballet and Pilates, begins the back-to-basics series with the Pilates Fundamentals workshop on September 17th from 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Raye studied Pilates with master teacher Romana Kryzanowska, the inheritor of Joseph Pilate’s studio, and he became one of the first teachers to bring Pilates from New York City to the North Shore. Shiff, who trained at the Boston Ballet, continued her studies at the American Ballet Theatre and the Martha Graham Studio and performed with the Boston Ballet, teaches the Fundamentals of Ballet workshop on September 24th from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
With a motto of quality education, individual attention and working with people to reach their goals, seasoned dancers, avocational and up-and-coming dancers of all ages — children, teenagers, and adults — will find a range of opportunities available to meet their interests at this dance oasis on the North Shore. The MSB provides weekly classes in ballet, pointe, and variations; pre-ballet and creative movement; modern and jazz; repertory; Pilates, stretch and strength; and partner dancing with ballroom, fox trot, swing, Latin, Argentine Tango and salsa. A special feature is the adult ballet class in the fall schedule on Thursday morning from 10:30 a.m. until noon taught by director Paula K. Shiff.
Dancers Drawn Worldwide
Dancers come from near and far to study at the school. Students attending the MSB come from the surrounding cities and towns of Beverly, Boston, Boxford, Danvers, East Gloucester, Hamilton, Haverhill, Ipswich, Lynn, Manchester by the Sea, Marblehead, Melrose, Nahant, Reading, Revere, Rockport, Salem, Saugus, Swampscott, Topsfield, Wakefield Wenham and Winthrop in Massachusetts. Others attend from out-of-state, including Maine, Florida, Texas, New Hampshire, Vermont and countries such as France and Italy.
MSB Graduates Perform Globally
The MSB’s graduates continue their dance studies at some of the most prestigious ballet companies worldwide, including Eliot Feld, Alvin Ailey, Houston Ballet, Metropolitan Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, Lemon Dance Company and Ballet de Lorraine in France, among others. Alumni have graduated from leading postsecondary institutions, such as the Boston Conservatory of Music, New York University Tisch School of the Arts, Johns Hopkins University, University North Carolina School for the Arts, and University of Utah, and pursued careers in a range of fields globally.