Ballet, Zumba, Yoga, Pilates and MORE!

What fantastic week we had last week at our South End studios! On Monday morning, 60 slightly bleary-eyed middle school girls entered the building at the early hour of 8 am to embark on a full week of ballet, theatre, yoga, Pilates and health & wellness classes through our Taking Healthy Steps program. While this program (offered virtually cost-free to participants) has been around for a number of years, I would have to say that this is the most amazing group of girls we’ve ever had. By 9 am on that first day, they were already dancing and shaking, learning merengue, salsa and samba in their Zumba warm-up class. All of the students are enthusiastic as well as being considerate and respectful not only of all their teachers and teaching assistants but of each other as well – a truly incredible bunch! One of the highlights for the week has most certainly been that Zumba warm-up class. Our instructor Katie Moncebaiz’s energy is infectious – she gets those girls working out without even realizing it! Boston Ballet faculty member, Jenn Markham, adds a little grace to the day in her beginning ballet classes while Theatre teacher, Alicia Greene, encourages the girls to think about and engage in activities about the importance of choice in creating one’s destiny. Dance enrichment classes are peppered throughout the schedule and include Choreography, Modern Dance, Hip Hop, Musical Theatre, Jazz and West African Drumming. Health and wellness discussions focus on Healthy Relationships, Injury Prevention and Cyber Bullying Prevention. The day is rounded out with post-lunch Pilates and a Yoga cool down at the end of the day. At the end of the week, students presented what they had been working on throughout the week for family and friends.

And now…we are doing it all over again this week with a brand new group of girls!