Category Archives: Youth Impact

Blog, Youth Impact

Youth Impact Class: Week 3

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It’s been three weeks since we began our Youth Impact (YI) ballet class. What a fun time we’ve had so far! Here’s some of what we’ve been working on.

The dancers practice grand battements at the barre

Barre

Each class, we begin with stretches and a standard ballet barre. Most of our YI students haven’t had any formal dance training, and for those who have it’s been many years. For these new dancers, we’re focusing on learning the “basics” of ballet positions, placement, and form. Later, we’ll add other aspects of ballet and dance in general.

Center

After barre, the dancers work in the center of the studio, now relying on their own balance and focusing more on moving their whole body. This week and last week, we learned about swinging movement. The dancers’ homework last week was to use the “swings” we practiced in class to make up their own dance. They could dance in their bedroom, in their yard, anywhere they wanted. Several of the students wanted to share their choreography this week during class – it was great! We love to see them thinking creatively and putting concepts together.

Adagio

We also talked about adagio this week during center. The girls were really apprehensive about moving so slowly and with their legs high in the air! But when it came to doing the adagio combination, they did great. No one fell over or stumbled, though afterward they said it was harder than it looked.  This project is funded in part by the Weber Arts Council.

Blog, Youth Impact

New Youth Impact Classes Begin

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About the class:

For the 2011-2012 school year, IBT was awarded a grant from the Weber Arts Council to begin a class in collaboration with Ogden’s Youth Impact program. Today’s Youth Impact program is guided by an active Board of Trustees and motivated staff members who continue to mentor the youth at the highest level. From 2001-2008, the Youth Impact Program had maintained a constant enrollment of at least 150 participants. In January of 2008, Youth Impact began maintaining an enrollment over 200 youth. Their target population is directed to children who reside in Ogden’s inner-city limits; according to HUD, Ogden has two of the four poorest neighborhoods in the state.

This is an exciting opportunity for both IBT and Youth Impact as we begin bringing the classical art of ballet to students who might not otherwise have the opportunity. One of the most valuable experiences for a child is exposure to the arts. With school programs being cut due to a lack of funding resources, the arts must sometimes be brought to children from outside sources. Through this exposure to dance, the students will build confidence, express themselves, learn a new skill, and develop an appreciation for the arts.

Update from the barre:

Today’s class went very well! The students were excited and (maybe a little nervous!) to begin. We discussed attire, the proper behavior for during class, learned about the barre, stretches, plies, tendus, grand battement, and saute. The class was eager to learn and good at following directions. They were excitedly talking as they observed the other class in Studio 1, asking, “Will we be that good soon?” and “Look how pointed their toes are!”

Next week we’ll focus more on the structure of a typical ballet class while learning things about movement, ballet, and musicality.