Dutch National Ballet Launches New Series Of Online Ballet Classes On World Ballet Day

For the ninth edition of World Ballet Day on 2 November, Dutch National Ballet is launching a new series of online ballet classes. Following the previous successful series, a new ballet class will be posted online every week for five weeks.

By popular request, this series of classes has been made especially for beginners. The classes are given by ex-dancers Simona Ferrazza and Dario Elia, who are now teachers at the National Ballet Academy. The classes feature Junior Company dancers Kate Myklukha, Louisella Vogt, Luca Abdel-Nour, Koko Bamford and Mila Nicolussi Caviglia. Dutch National Ballet's programme for World Ballet Day comprises a ballet class by the dancers and a pas de deux performed by principal dancer Olga Smirnova and soloist Victor Caixeta. World Ballet Day and the ballet classes can be viewed on Dutch National Opera & Ballet's YouTube channel.

During the first lockdown at the beginning of 2020, the Dutch National Ballet dancers were forced to stay at home. The company decided to provide the dancers with their daily ballet class via Zoom. Initially, the classes were also streamed every week on Dutch National Ballet's Facebook channel. This enabled the public to see how the dancers took classes from Ernst Meisner, artistic coordinator of the Junior Company, in their living rooms, in order to stay in the best shape possible.

The viewers' reactions were so enthusiastic that it was decided to make some of the classes open to the public on YouTube. At the end of March 2020, the first free online class was given, which got more than a million views. At the beginning of May, the dancers were able to return to the company's studios and the series came to an end, after a total of over 4 million views.

Ernst Meisner about the new series: "In recent years, ballet fans all over the world have followed our online ballet classes. Many of them made online requests to have simpler classes, at a level more suited to beginners. So I'm delighted to announce that we're now going to post a new series of ballet classes online, especially for beginners. So this is a great opportunity for everyone who's always wanted to try ballet but never got around to it!"

World Ballet Day is an annual celebration of ballet, when ballet companies all over the world give a unique glimpse behind the scenes, with livestreams of rehearsals, teasers for new productions and opportunities to watch the great stars of ballet in action. You can watch previous editions of World Ballet Day here.

Photo credit header: Mila Nicolussi Caviglia, Koyo Yamamoto, and pianist Paul Lewis © Michel Schnater.