At The Home Barre: The Best Online Ballet and Contemporary Dance Classes

The dance studios and weekly classes are all long gone, so what are budding dancers doing to stay in shape now? Luckily, the dance community are a highly disciplined, generous bunch. While we all indulge in some heavy isolation snacking, it's this lot's job to remain fit and healthy. Fortunately for us, they're imparting their knowledge through a selection of live streams, so we can stay home and stay rond de jambe ready.

Sander Blommaert - Level: Intermediate

Former Royal Ballet First Artist and now a teacher at Elmhurst Ballet School, Sander Blommaert offers accessible classes six days a week at 11am on his Instagram page. These classes are suitable for adults and students of dance and offer a challenge for all levels.

Sander's classes are well planned and he offers heaps of helpful corrections. Classes are usually one hour long followed by 15 minutes of workout and stretch. (Spoiler: there's lots of planking in the stretch part, which I'm not crazy about, but good to blitz all that extra lockdown snacking!) Vocational students can stay in shape, along with adult learners too. If you enjoy the classes, you can optionally donate - check his Instagram profile bio @sanderblommaert

Claudia Dean World - Level: Intermediate

Bunheads will be familiar with perky Aussie Claudia Dean and her online offerings @claudiadeanworld. Subscribe to Claudia Dean Live to access live streams of classes, technique tips and more. Claudia's core audience are young, aspiring dancers and vocational students, but her classes are engaging for all and not too complicated. Classes are available via Claudia's website and afterwards on YouTube.

ENB Company Class with Tamara Rojo - Level: Professional

Check out English National Ballet's social media pages for info on regular live streams of classes from Artistic Director Tamara Rojo - direct from the great lady's kitchen, no less. This is certainly a more advanced class geared towards keeping her own company's dancers in shape, but interesting for the ballet curious too. If you're anything like me, follow along with the first 20 minutes of barre and then just enjoy how fast a professional dancer's brain is at retaining complex exercises in a flash! Classes available live on YouTube and Facebook.

Kimberly Wyatt - Contemporary - Level: All

Just because it's fun to dance with a Pussycat Doll in this high-energy class. Kimberly's classes usually kick off around 12.30pm via her Instagram page, @kimberlywyatt, offering a selection of Pilates, dance drills, stretching and even classes for kids. PCD bangers are guaranteed.

En Avant Ballet - Level: All

For those after a more personalised experience, there's En Avant Ballet. Usually a leading provider of classes and unique ballet retreats, founder Karis Scarlette has begun offering paid-for classes via Zoom from Beginner level through to Advanced. You can check out the En Avant website for details of the online schedule for these special group classes. Private coaching is also available via FaceTime and Skype.

Ballerina classes

Advanced/professional level ballet and ballet barre sessions are regularly available from many of the UK based ballerinas.

Former English National Ballet First Soloist Crystal Costa runs a fast-paced ballet barre class ("juicy pliés" et al) on Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays at 11am, and "restorative flow" in the evenings all via Instagram live. You can donate via her page: @crystalgraceballerina

Royal Ballet's Tierney Heap (only just returned to the stage after injury and now in Corona lockdown!) offers a similarly demanding ballet barre usually two or three times a week via her Instagram page at 10.30am. Check out @TierneyHeap for details.

RB alumnus Camille Bracher gives followers a selection of workouts, including barre and stretch, on Tuesdays and Fridays at 10.30am. If you enjoy, you can also donate to self-employed Camille via PayPal. Details on her Insta page @camillebracher.

Dancewear brands

Some of the most famous dancewear brands are also getting in on the act, with a host of star names from the ballet world running one-off sessions for professionals and enthusiasts.

Gaynor Minden has teamed up with English National Ballet's Tiffany Hedman and Jurgita Dronina, and Bayerisches Staatsballett's Laurretta Summerscales - amongst others - for a class per day beginning this week. Check out @gaynorminden for more details.

Much-loved dance brand Bloch have already had a number of takeovers, such as this week's American Ballet Theatre dancers Christine Shevchenko and Irina Dvorovenko running a live class - plus a special Q&A to cool down with. Follow @Bloch_eu to keep up to date.

See you at the barre - or you know, the back of that chair, or the kitchen worktop! Know of any good classes that I haven't mentioned here? Get in touch on Twitter or Instagram!

Check out our interviews with teachers and students taking online classes during the shutdown here!

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