Adult Classes at CML

Adult Ballet Lab is offered in various levels. CML believes that Ballet can be a creative, freeing, and enlightening art form, where the artist’s body can continue to explore an ever-expanding sense of boundary-pushing. We also believe that Ballet can be taught in a healthful, accommodating way, where bodies of all abilities can learn to be both precise and exploratory. Adult Ballet Lab will give dancers at any level the space to explore and grow their technique and artistry.

With a strong basis in English, French, and Italian syllabi, CML’s Ballet Lab will also span many styles of ballet. It will teach traditional classical ballet foundations, as well as explore the changing demands for dancers in this current age. Classes will focus on developing strength, stamina, classical technique, and the individual artistic expression of the dancers. These classes will be geared toward the appropriate level and the developmental stages of each group. A particular focus will be paid to understanding the body and injury risk reduction.

CML’s Adult Composition class is divided into two sections over the year. The first section is a combination of lecture and directed improvisation, followed by supported creation of short compositions through the use of body, motif, phrase, and rhythmic structure. The second section of this class includes the use of compositions and phrasings, as well as the use of music, theme, staging, and technical aspects, to create a piece of choreography. We will work together to design and produce a performance made up of student works. Understanding the depth and terminology of this art form will help you to understand dances, whether or not you want to appreciate, perform, or create your own. Throughout this class we learn to view, understand, communicate, and create.

Like the musical form for which it is named, Jazz dance uses the complexities of rhythmic syncopation and translates it into isolated movement of the torso and limbs and a focus on locomotion. Jazz technique emphasizes and develops body alignment, coordination, strength, flexibility, rhythm, and Jazz dance vocabulary, as well as increased stamina, control, musicality and dynamics. There are many styles of Jazz dance, but all include a focus on performativity and response to popular and vernacular styles of music and movement. Adult Jazz Lab is curated for various levels so that dancers can drop in at any time!

CML’s Adult Modern Dance Lab is designed to build a technique balanced by correct alignment, strength, flexibility, coordination, and musicality. Using elements from Nikolais/Louis, Graham, Limón, Bartenieff & Hawkins techniques, dancers explore the inner connections (breath, core to distal, head to tail, top to bottom, homo-lateral, and cross-lateral) and somatic understanding that is necessary for freedom and ease in creative, outward expression.  This open class will be curated to the level of the dancers in the room. Creativity and full three-dimensional movement is encouraged in modern dancers on every level. Through playful interaction with gravity, dancers study the dynamics of energy that are the support and motivation for all movement.

Adult Ballet Basics Lab is for movers ages 18+ who are starting their dance journey! This class is designed to be your first ever Ballet class or a nice refresher after taking a break from Ballet. We will start with fundamental movements, positions, and terms in Ballet. The class is carefully structured to build a strong foundation in different movement forms through meticulous attention to detail and individualized attention. CML believes that Ballet can be taught in a healthful, accommodating way, where bodies of all abilities can learn to be both precise and exploratory. A particular focus will be paid to understanding the body and injury risk reduction.

Adult Jazz Basics Lab is for movers ages 18+ who are starting their dance journey! This class is designed to be your first ever Jazz class or a nice refresher after taking a break from Jazz. We will start with fundamental movements, positions, rhythms, patterns, and terms. The class is carefully structured to build a strong foundation in different movement forms through meticulous attention to detail and individualized attention.

Like the musical form for which it is named, Jazz dance uses the complexities of rhythmic syncopation and translates it into isolated movement of the torso and limbs and a focus on locomotion. Jazz technique emphasizes and develops body alignment, coordination, strength, flexibility, rhythm, and Jazz dance vocabulary, as well as increased stamina, control, musicality and dynamics. There are many styles of Jazz dance, but all include a focus on performativity and response to popular and vernacular styles of music and movement.

Adult Pointe Lab at CML continues the dancers’ Ballet foundation with strength, technique building, and an understanding of the body and injury risk reduction. All Pointe levels will focus on kinesthetic appropriateness, full-body awareness, and foundational strength. Adult Dancers can begin their Pointe journey by taking Pointe Lab on flat. This allows dancers to cultivate a detailed understanding of how the body works and healthful habits to reduce injury risk. Beginning Pointe is when full pointe shoes are introduced. Dancers will continue to build a physiological understanding of the body working as a whole in Pointe work while methodically progressing to more complex exercises at the barre. As the dancers’ Pointe journey continues, they will continue building stamina and strength to allow freedom, expression, and risk-taking in the same healthful, accommodating environment, where bodies of all abilities can learn to be both precise and exploratory. Requirements: All Pointe classes must follow a Ballet Lab to ensure the dancers are safely warmed up and prepared. Adult Dancers can discuss beginning their Pointe journey with Director Julia Wilkinson Manley and be properly fitted at Boulder Body Wear.

Adult Ballet Lab is offered in various levels. CML believes that Ballet can be a creative, freeing, and enlightening art form, where the artist’s body can continue to explore an ever-expanding sense of boundary-pushing. We also believe that Ballet can be taught in a healthful, accommodating way, where bodies of all abilities can learn to be both precise and exploratory. Adult Ballet Lab will give dancers at any level the space to explore and grow their technique and artistry.

With a strong basis in English, French, and Italian syllabi, CML’s Ballet Lab will also span many styles of ballet. It will teach traditional classical ballet foundations, as well as explore the changing demands for dancers in this current age. Classes will focus on developing strength, stamina, classical technique, and the individual artistic expression of the dancers. These classes will be geared toward the appropriate level and the developmental stages of each group. A particular focus will be paid to understanding the body and injury risk reduction.

Dance, and any activity that requires high energy and detailed use of the body, is a high-risk profession by nature. We cannot prevent injury, but we can do our best to stay safe by learning about the body, the terminology, and the how, what, and why of motion. Injury risk reduction is an important skill for everyone at every level. This class contains lecture and movement experiments to help dancers work in a healthy and productive way. Anatomy, physiology, & kinesiology terminology will deepen your somatic understanding and help you to communicate with medical professionals effectively.