Continuing Education
for Dancers & Dance Educators
Many areas in education require continuing education experiences to keep educators on top of their game, but the dance industry doesn't always emphasize this need. We know that the more you learn, the more you can offer your students in the studio. Ballet Co.Laboratory has curated two areas of focus for Dance Educators to sharpen their skills and learn new modalities of instruction. Explore our summer continuing education opportunities for dancers, professionals, educators and aspiring educators.
Future Continuing Education sessions are not yet scheduled. If you are interested in bringing a session to your staff, please contact Ballet Co.Laboratory School Manager Anna Betz.
Questions? contact Anna Betz at abetz@balletcolaboratory.org
Registration available at bottom of page
Creating a Foundation for Young Dancers
Dates & Times TBA
Teaching Artists Anna Betz & Rosa Prigan
Learn how to structure a ballet class for young dancers and set them up for success. This 3-day session features daily seminars focused on creating and developing comprehensive lesson plans for dancers aged 3-12. Over the course of the session, you will learn how to build your own progressional exercises and classes for various ages and abilities while gaining knowledge on how to manage a classroom, adapt to specific classroom environments and feel confident in your ability to discern and implement proper training techniques for safe and successful ballet training.
Main Objectives:
Creating classes for dancers aged 3-12
Classroom Management
How to teach progressions of movements
Incorporating anatomical development into classes across age groups
Tools to teach in a range of environments (recreational, pre-professionals, etc.)
How to choose music for exercises
Learn how to progress dancers seamlessly through levels of training
Administering proper verbal and physical corrections
Pace of class
Proper demonstration
About the Teaching Artists
Anna Betz (she/her) studied ballet from the age of 3 and graduated from Classical Ballet Academy of Minnesota in 2010. Anna received additional coaching from Gelsey Kirkland, Oksana Konobeyeva (of The Bolshoi), Ted Kivitt (of American Ballet Theatre), Karen Burns, Kiril Bak, and Svetlana Gavrilova (Mikhailovsky State Opera and Ballet Theatre). Anna pursued a career in teaching and completed her Vaganova Teacher Training Certification in Denver, CO with mentor Elizabeth Shipiatsky of Mariinsky Ballet in 2015. Her mission as an educator is to bring each dancer individualized training that allows them to reach their full potential as artists, while also generating a studio environment that contributes to a brighter and more mindful future of ballet and the dance industry at large that prioritizes diversity, equity, access, and inclusion.
Rosa Prigan (she/her) is from Columbus, Ohio and began her training at BalletMet Columbus. She obtained her BFA in Dance Performance from Butler University, where she was a recipient of the Director's Award for Choreographic Excellence and the Margaret S. Rosenblith Scholarship. She has trained at a variety of summer programs including Ballet Chicago, Cincinnati Ballet, the Bolshoi Ballet Academy in New York City, and the American Ballet Theatre. Rosa has danced a variety of roles in both classical and contemporary ballets such as Swan Lake, Giselle, Sleeping Beauty, Bella Luna, Carmen in the 1920's, Gentle Human, and George Balanchine’s The Four Temperaments. Rosa is founding member of Ballet Co.Laboratory and a Lead Teaching Artist for Young Dancers, Beginning Ballet, and Level 2 in The School of Ballet Co.Laboratory.
Exploring Functional Anatomy in Dance
Dates & Times TBA
Teaching Artists Andrea Mislan
Throughout this workshop we will demystify dance technique with a simple, digestible approach using imagery and proprioception techniques, gaining a felt experience of bone rhythms and efficient coordination patterns. Unlike a boring anatomy class, we will experience exercises that develop awareness of where excess tension is being recruited, learn to release it, and apply the new efficient movement patterns to our dance movement. We will discuss cueing, how to approach movement from various perspectives to best connect with each individual body, possibilities of movement through initiation, experiencing our relationship with momentum, visualization tools for successful movement, and experience the connection between our mind and movement. Join us to discover how to bring organization to the body as a dancer/teacher and bring a sense of well being to your dancing!
Each day will begin with a ballet class led by Andrea, followed by workshop exploration and learning.
About the Teaching Artist
Andrea Mislan is a professional dancer, singer, actress with a career spanning over 25 years. Her versatility in movement and dance genres has fueled her passion for finding efficiency in coordination to best transition from one style to the next and maintain longevity as a performer. Certified in Clinical Somatic Movement, The Franklin Method, and Anatomy in Motion, her training in understanding movement through the nervous system, skeletal coordination/bone rhythms, and Dynamic Imagery has led her to pair this knowledge with dance technique, bridging the gap between outdated anatomy and cueing concepts, and current evidence-based movement models.
