Sharon 💜 by @emilydurhamphotography Do you recognise that gorgeous Leo and skirt?! 😉

❄️ Winter Workshops ❄️ Excited to announce two fun Winter workshops with me! If you want to squeeze in some extra fun before the holidays - come and join! These are going to be feel good, flowy classes to enjoy the music and celebrate our hard work this year ☃️💙 See you there! 📸 by @emilydurhamphotography

How gorgeous is this photo of dancers Salomé and Beth 🥹 Looks like a calendar shot! Thanks @emilydurhamphotography for your beautiful capture ❤️

Super sorry that things have been quiet on here lately everyone! A truthful share - (in addition to a very intense work schedule and new commitments), I’ve actually been chronically overwhelmed by the state of our world and even though I’m so grateful that this is my job and I’m very intentional about trying to never take that for granted, I’ve struggled with being ‘business as usual’ whilst the world feels in complete chaos and in a perpetual state of emergency :( It’s also been hard to share because it feels like I’m centring myself in a situation that truly is not about me. But also, I wanted to share - because, I think it’s normal to feel this way in these times and I’m beginning to honour that (and I really value that others are being open about it too, because it’s validating). So I just wanted to say to anyone experiencing the same, you are not too sensitive and you don’t need to ‘just get over it,’ it’s also natural and okay if you can’t compartmentalise the horrors and atrocities you are witnessing - I feel you! It’s tempting to disengage and feel less, because feeling it all is so hard to cope with and make sense of. But I am consciously trying to hold onto my human reaction too, and not become numb to what is happening. Not sure how to let all the polarities of life co-exist right now. Learning to make space for my grieving and my living and my commitment to this community at the same time, and I’ve not done the best job of that - clearly 😅. So, I am super sorry for the late replies and general absence! My thoughts are especially with all those in our community who are directly impacted, those exhausted but persistent in their political activism and also those who are trying to get by in the midst of it all, whatever that looks like for you ❤️ I also wanted to say it’s okay to not feel passionate about dance at the moment, or to need a break. It’s also okay (at any time, but especially now), to change your practice - to come to class simply for a brain break or to show up feeling only half there. Also it is totally valid and worthwhile to come just for the music or to feel connected to others. Take care of yourselves everyone - hugs ❤️

Hello everyone ❤️❤️ Gentle reminder that our half term starts tomorrow, which means there are no classes on, and everything will resume on Sunday 3 November with our next Variation of the Month. (Tonight’s technique classes are still on!) Welldone for your incredible dancing and hard work the first half of this Autumn term 🍁. It’s been fun to get to pop in and watch more sessions too! Have a wonderful week and Happy Halloween! 🎃

Hello everyone 👋🏽 A reminder that LBC has no classes running between Friday 25 October and Saturday 2nd November because of our half term. (If you have a membership with us the renewal date will be extended :) ). Our classes will restart on Sunday 3 November with our variation classes 🙌🏾 ⭐️Announcing our next Variation of the Month! Starting Sunday 3 November ⭐️ Sundays: 3, 10, 17, 24 November at The Place studios in Kings Cross 5-6.30pm: Intermediate/Advanced 6.30-8pm: Beginners/Improvers Week 4 is an (optional) solo/group performance day in the studio! Swipe to learn more about this variation and to see this variation performed by the one and only Svetlana Zakharova 🥰. ❤️ A reminder that our Thursday evening Technique classes support our variation classes, so if you would like extra support/practice with some of the trickier steps or aspects of the variation, definitely join us Thursday evenings at WAC Arts studio in Belsize Park. Each month we have a selection of focal steps to achieve this; so keep an eye out for what these are and practice incorporating them into class choreography every Thursday (Note: Our Technique classes also split into Intermediate/Advanced and Beginner+ classes too) 😊 (Slide 2 features a photo of Maria Alexandrova, taken by Irina Lepnyova).

Throwback to our last workshop with @leticiadias_ ❤️ Leticia will be returning to teach for us on Sunday 1 December. We will be learning the Swanhilda variation from Coppelia 🙏🥳

Our Wednesday Beginner Pointe crew 😍 It’s been SUCH a delight watching you all grow and piece things together over the last few weeks. Pointe is physically challenging and mentally scary and so many things are happening all at once. I am super proud of your mindful, focused approach, appreciation of the details, commitment to repetition and most importantly your consistency in showing up each week and practicing between lessons too! ❤️ Not everything needs to be a deep dive and intensely detail focused - of course some ballet classes are just for fun or for practice, but I really believe the start of your pointe journey does need to be as much detail as possible. Teaching this class has only reinforced my commitment to finding models that support the adult learning process and recognise how different this can be (and needs to be) from the ways in which we work with children’s bodies. Welldone everyone ❤️❤️❤️. If you have enjoyed this class or recommend it to a friend; please share your experience in the comments, because it might give somebody else the encouragement to try it out next term :) and start their pointe journey ❤️❤️❤️

Beautiful shot of the lovely Beth 💓 Captured by @emilydurhamphotography

Coming soon 👀 We are delighted to welcome Leticia back to lead another workshop for us this December. This Intermediate level workshop will be held at The Place studios in Kings Cross :). Bookings now open :)

Comment your dream variations below 👇🏽 Considering options for workshops and next term ❤️💜🙏 Photo by @emilydurhamphotography

A reminder of our Pointe classes throughout the week week: 1. Mondays, 8 - 9.15pm: Intermediate+ Pointe at The Place 2. Wednesdays, 7.45 - 9pm: Beginner+ Pointe at The Place 3. Fridays, 1 - 2pm: Pre-Pointe and Pointe via Zoom (mixed levels) - recordings available Message us to discuss suitability. Book via the link in our bio :) ❤️

Behind the scenes in one of my 1-1 sessions where we use posture work to better activate our ballet technique :) Here is Shin unlocking her potential for a sustained, secure single leg balance after just 90 minutes work together! (And us having a little celebration lol 🎉🥳). As you know, I love preaching about intentional work and here is a perfect example. Sometimes correcting something relatively small in our posture is a major unlock and massively transforms our balance. Not only because balance is much easier when we align ourselves correctly, but also because posture informs how the muscles activate (if our posture is not functional, some muscles overwork while others don’t engage. This imbalance makes ballet very hard - even if we are quite strong!). This particular session looked like: 1. A full body postural assessment to identify standing posture, muscle imbalances and movement tendencies 2. Body awareness exercises to help Shin differentiate between straight and hyperextended knees 3. Exercises for quad activation and finding connection to the deep external rotators (in addition to the glutes) for turnout 4. Breathing exercises to better understand and correct pelvic placement 5. Slow rewiring of Shin’s tendency to flare the rib cage on an inhale (a common breathing pattern which leads to curvature in the upper spine and a resulting anterior tilt of the pelvis). This one was more tricky to feel but gradually Shin moved away from accessory breathing to a more ‘three dimensional’ breath pattern. This was a bit of an unlock in this session! 6. Footwork exercises to mobilise the feet and develop awareness of how to manage pronation 7. We pieced it all together in basic standing work; gradually reducing the proprioceptive feedback to add a little challenge! 8. We applied the movement principles in a turned out position 9. We returned the original goal and successfully completed a single leg rise and balance - without the barre! TRICKY! 10. As you can see it’s a little harder on the leg with more hypermobility, but Shin achieved it on both! So proud of you Shin ❤️ and thank you for letting me share this moment with our community!

⭐️Every October we learn a corps routine in our Sunday classes - and this year we have something extra special for LBC’s sixth birthday. Expect a fun, celebratory, uplifting group number ⭐️ Sundays: 29 September and 6, 13, 20 October at The Place studios in Kings Cross 5-6.30pm: Intermediate/Advanced 6.30-8pm: Beginners/Improvers Week 4 is performance day in the studio! (In our Intermediate class we learn the original choreography and in our Beginners class we learn an adapted version inspired by the style of the piece) Swipe to learn more about this piece and to see a short snippet of the choreography 🥰. ❤️ A reminder that our Thursday evening Technique classes support our variation classes, so if you would like extra support/practice with some of the trickier steps or aspects of the variation, definitely join us Thursday evenings at WAC Arts studio in Belsize Park. Each month we have a selection of focal steps to achieve this; so keep an eye out for what these are and practice incorporating them into class choreography every Thursday (Note: Our Technique classes also split into Intermediate/Advanced and Beginner+ classes too) 😊 For this upcoming routine, both our Intermediate and Beginner classes will be taught by the lovely @lucinda_strachan_balletcoach - dancer with the English National Ballet. She is amazing, so come and join her ❤️🫶🏾🙏