⭐️ Announcing our September Variation of the Month ⭐️ We’ll be learning Aurora’s Act II Vision Variation from The Sleeping Beauty, a dreamlike solo filled with lyrical musicality, sustained lines and quiet strength ✨ 📍 Sundays at The Place, King’s Cross 6, 13, 20 and 27 September 2026 5–6.30pm: Intermediate/Advanced We teach the original choreography. 6.30–8pm: Beginners/Improvers We teach a simplified version that captures its essence and style. 🌟 Week 4, Sunday 27 September, is an optional performance day. A chance to set yourself the goal of performing the variation, either solo or in a small group. About this variation: In Act II of The Sleeping Beauty, the Lilac Fairy conjures a vision of Aurora for the Prince, guiding him towards the sleeping princess. Unlike the lively, youthful Aurora of Act I, she now appears distant, luminous and almost otherworldly. Set to Tchaikovsky’s beautiful score, the choreography should feel fluid and suspended, as though Aurora is drawing the Prince towards her while remaining just beyond his reach. Every line, gesture and transition contributes to the dreamlike atmosphere. This month, we’ll focus on sustained balances, delicate footwork and seamless transitions. We’ll explore how to keep the lower body precise and secure while allowing the upper body to remain soft, expressive and free. The challenge is to make considerable strength and control appear effortless, using musical sensitivity, épaulement and moments of stillness to bring Aurora’s presence to life. Swipe to the end to see Megan Zimny Kaftira (Dutch National ballet) perform this variation ✨ Use the link in our bio to sign up, click Sunday 6 September on the calendar to book Week 1! We think this is the perfect start to our Autumn term 😍 Our Thursday evening Technique classes support our Variation classes, with focal steps inspired by the monthly choreography and separate Intermediate/Advanced and Beginner levels. Our Intermediate Pointe class also focuses on key components featured in the variation. 📸 Megan Zimmy Kaftira #londonballetclasses #adultballet #classicalballet #auroravariation #sleepingbeautyballet

A moment to appreciate these hair pieces for performance week in Sunday Variations class 🌸🌺🌼🪻 Thank you to everyone who participated in our classes this term! Huge congratulations to everyone for their amazing Sunday performances too. We are now closed for our Summer break and will re-open for our Autumn term on Sunday 6 September, kicking off with a new variation - we will be learning Aurora Act 2 from Sleeping Beauty 🫶🏾 Have a beautiful end to August; enjoy the sunshine and the rest. See you all soon! 🥰

Rond de jambe trains the circular motion of the working leg while stabilising the pelvis and maintaining turnout from the hip. At the barre, the aim isn’t simply to “draw a circle,” but to pass through each position with clarity and control, keeping the hips square and both legs fully engaged. We articulate through devant, à la seconde, and derrière, constantly refining weight placement over the supporting leg while the working leg stays lengthened and alive. The movement should flow cleanly through first position each time, without any collapse in turnout or loss of energy. 🧠 Things to focus on during this exercise: - Initiate the circular pathway from the hip rather than the lower leg - Maintain turnout dynamically through the movement, not just in static positions -Transition cleanly through each position, especially first and second as the leg traces its semi-circle -Coordinate the circular action of the leg with a stable spine and pelvis, allowing for fluid and elegant movement This coordination directly prepares us for centre work, for example movements such as renversé, which combines a circular leg action with an upper body spiral, and pas de basque, which uses a similar floor pathway to help us change direction. Even fouetté turns rely on a rond de jambe pathway to generate rotation and momentum. As you progress into Intermediate repertoire, you’ll notice just how often this fundamental pattern appears. This exercise at the barre also develops proprioception and dynamic stability, teaching us how to keep one part of the body grounded while another moves freely through space. Without this ability, many centre movements can feel disconnected or unstable. We learn to separate the moving leg from a steady torso, an essential skill for travelling phrases and turns. 📸 edit and slides by @sharon.yau #adultballet #balletcore #balletdancer #londonballetclasses

🍂 Our Autumn Term is now open for booking! 🎉 Join us this September for another term of adult ballet classes in London, whether you’re taking your very first lesson or refining advanced technique. Our classes are designed specifically for adults, with a supportive, inclusive approach that combines strong technical foundations with thoughtful, anatomy-informed teaching. This term’s programme includes: 🩰 Absolute Beginners, Absolute Beginners Level 2 & Beginners Technique 🩰 Improvers Ballet & Inter/Advanced Technique 🩰 Beginner & Intermediate Pointe 🩰 Beginner & Inter/Advanced Variations This term’s Variations programme has been guided by your suggestions and features choreography inspired by The Sleeping Beauty, Coppélia and The Nutcracker. There are optional end-of-month performances for those who’d like the opportunity to perform within class. 📍Classes take place at The Place (King’s Cross) and WAC Arts (Belsize Park) from 6 September – 10 December 2026 (dates vary by class, with no classes during our half-term, 26 Oct - 1 Nov). Whether you’re returning after the summer or joining us for the first time, we’d love to welcome you into the studio 🫶🏾 Book your place via the link in our bio. Both term packages and drop-ins available ❤️ ✨ We can’t wait to dance with you this autumn! #AdultBallet #LondonBalletClasses #AdultDance #BalletForAdults #balletadulto

⭐️ Announcing our August Variation of the Month ⭐️ We’ll be learning Flora’s Variation from The Awakening of Flora, a bright, delicate solo filled with discovery, youthful playfulness and blossoming confidence 🌸 📍 Sundays at The Place, King’s Cross 2, 9, 16 and 23 August 2026 5–6.30pm: Intermediate/Advanced We teach the original choreography. 6.30–8pm: Beginners/Improvers We teach a simplified version that captures its essence and style. 🌟 Week 4, Sunday 23 August, is an optional performance day. A chance to set yourself the goal of performing the variation, either solo or in a small group 😍 About this variation: Flora is the goddess of flowers, and this variation captures her awakening as winter gives way to warmth, light and renewed life. Light, delicate and playfully youthful, the choreography should feel soft and radiant rather than forced or fragile. Each gesture unfolds with ease, as though Flora is gradually opening into the world around her. The arms, épaulement and musical phrasing carry a sense of curiosity and blossoming confidence, calling for precision and classical clarity alongside freshness, warmth and wonder. This month, we’ll focus on expressive épaulement, delicate footwork and coordination of the upper and lower body. We’ll explore how to make our port de bras feel alive, move through transitions without losing lightness, and use musicality and dynamics to suggest Flora’s journey from stillness into joyful awakening. Swipe to the end to see Maria Khoreva perform this variation ✨ Use the link in our bio to sign up — click Sunday 2 August on the calendar to book Week 1! 😍 Our Thursday evening Technique classes support our Variation classes. Each month, we select focal steps inspired by the variation and break them down in an open-class format, with separate Intermediate/Advanced and Beginner levels. Our Intermediate Pointe class also supports each month’s variation, focusing on key components that feature in the routine. 📸 photo of the beautiful Evgenia Obraztsova, and video featuring the exquisite Maria Khoreva ❤️❤️

Jetés at the barre (also called dégagés or glissades) teach beginners how to execute a sharp, controlled brush off the floor, a movement that forms the basis of many jumps in centre work (think about how assemblés and brisés begin with the same brush-off motion). At the barre, we focus on pushing through the toes with a fully extended, turned-out leg, engaging the ankle and foot to create a clean, articulate line. This brush off requires firing the knee and hip extensors (to help straighten the leg) while maintaining turnout from the hip and stability through the core. The working foot should glide just above the floor with speed and precision. It is very important to learn to control the elevation. Whilst we are often cued to throw the leg into its position, we must do this without compromising stability in the supporting leg or any compensatory leaning in the upper body. Closing back sharply into a stable fifth or first position trains our body for clean and secure jump landings, where turnout is maintained and the upper body stays upright. In the centre, we need to absorb impact. Maintaining aligned hips and core activation supports doing this in a controlled and safe way. If you are a bit bored of this exercise, just remember: this repeated practice of push-off and controlled return strengthens the muscles needed to launch and land safely in jumps during centre work. All your hard work will help to make jumps more fluid, precise, and secure! 📸 visuals and edit by @sharon.yau #adultballet #balletdancer #ballerinasoftiktok #balletcore

Let’s talk about tendus! Tendus are a technical and neurological blueprint for the complexity of centre work. They help us internalise turnout, coordinate limbs, control weight, articulate the feet, and engage the core, all of which are essential once we leave the barre behind. At their most basic, tendus teach us to work through the floor with control to a fully extended, pointed position. We learn to articulate through the foot, from heel to toe and back again. This reinforces proper technique for pointing, flexing, shifting weight, and pushing off. This isn’t just about aesthetics. Making this pathway automatic is essential for training the body to extend into long, lengthened positions with straight legs and pointed feet, critical for movements like arabesques and développés. Most centre work involves directional movement and weight transfers, think pas de bourrée, chassés, and pirouettes. At the barre, we practise tendus to the front, side, and back, each demanding subtle shifts of weight and balance. These are foundational patterns for how we move through space in the centre. In fact, many centre combinations and movements begin with a tendu. That’s why it matters how we do them. Many beginners tend to tap the foot into position without working through the floor. When we skip this articulation, we miss the chance to strengthen the ankles and arches, which results in jerky, laboured movement instead of smooth, efficient transitions. It also shortens our lines and makes weight transfers more difficult, leaving us feeling unprepared and unstable in centre work. But when we work against the resistance of the floor with intention, we strengthen the feet, build stability, and create a kinesthetic reference that helps keep the working leg turned out and engaged. Done well, tendus are not just a warm-up, they are training us for every step that follows. So stick with them, a clean, controlled tendu is the basis for everything! 📸 slideshow and edit by @sharon.yau ❤️ #adultballet #balletdancer #ballerinasoftiktok #balletcore

Why do we start every class with pliés? Because this exercise lays the foundation for all that follows, gently warming up the joints, checking our overall posture, switching on our turnout muscles and checking our placement in key positions from 1st to 5th. Pliés aren’t just a passive warm up, they’re about aligning, and preparing your body for the more dynamic work ahead. And why does this matter so much for centre work? Pliés are how we power up our jumps, and how we land safely from them. They are the preparation for various turns, giving us impetus for multiple turns too. Whilst this is a relatively ‘relaxed’ exercise at the barre, don’t be fooled! Pliés are probably the single most important movement when it comes to unlocking your turnout, power and elevation in the centre. If our pliés are off - nothing quite works! Get more out of this exercise by making it active and engaged. Consciously think of growing through the spine every time you bend the knees; try to experience a little resistance on the way down to avoid collapsing into your joints. And make sure you always transition through demi-plié to a grand plié, this makes us switch on the correct muscles of the legs! If we lift the heels too soon, we never learn to deepen our demi-plié position, which is one of the reasons we do this exercise at all. Remember how you perceive movement affects how the muscles fire and work; so thinking of growing taller even as you descend, this helps to add a little bit of resistance so your muscles work harder! A controlled slow movement on the way down and back up is the most effective way to warm up for class :) For our Absolute Beginners joining us this term, this is one of the foundational exercises of ballet, and it’s how we start every class. Focus on establishing a secure and stable starting position and correct alignment of the lower body to avoid excessive strain on joints or ligaments :) #adultballet #balletdancer #ballerinasoftiktok #balletcore 📸 slides and visuals by @sharon.yau and featuring @silvia.scivales ❤️🙏🏽

Our Summer Schedule is here ☀️🩰 Swipe to browse our in-person weekly classes running from 29 June – 23 August 2026, plus check out our Variations schedule on the final slide 👀 We offer classes from Absolute Beginners through to Intermediate/Advanced, including Technique, Variations and Pointe options across our studios at The Place (King’s cross) and WAC Arts (Belsize Park). Term and drop-in bookings are now open via our website! ✨ Term: £108 ✨ Drop-ins: £15 Not sure which class is right for you? Each level is designed to support a different stage of your ballet journey — from building strong foundations to refining technique, developing pointe work and learning classical variations. Send us a DM if you’d like help choosing the best fit. To enrol for the term, head to the booking page via the link in bio and select the ‘Packages’ tab above the class calendar. Scroll down to the ‘Courses’ section, choose your Summer Term course, and you’ll receive an email with key information once booked. P.S. Check out the highlight on our Instagram profile for more information on how to book via our website, or drop us a DM if you run into any issues. If you’re new to LBC or unsure which level is right for you, message us — we’re always happy to help 🥳 #londonballetclasses #adultballetcommunity #adultballet #londondance #balletclasses

⭐️ Announcing our next Variation of the Month ⭐️ 📍 Sundays at The Place, Kings Cross 12, 19 and 26 April 2026 5 - 6.30pm: Intermediate/Advanced (in this class we teach the original choreography) 6.30 - 8pm: Beginners/Improvers (we teach a simplified version that captures the essence/style of the choreo) 🌟 Week 3 (26 April) is an (optional) performance day in classes. A wonderful chance to set yourself a goal of performing this piece (solo or in a small group 😍) About this variation: This variation is from a beautiful ballet in the Romantic ballet style. It features a sylph, a mythical spirit of the air who embodies delicacy, freedom and weightlessness. As you will see in the video, movements are characterised by an airy and fluid quality, to create the illusion of continuous suspension and flight. The goal is to blur the boundary between Earth and air - and make it look light and easy! This month, we’ll focus on ballon - the bouncy quality in jumps, soft cushioned landings and of course expressive épaulment, which is so important in this role, and in the romantic ballets in general. To achieve the effortlessness and delicacy of this performance, we will also work on refined use of the upper body and explore different arm variations. Swipe to the end to see clips of the phenomenal Lis Jeppesen perform this variation. A perfect sylph 🥹 ✨. Use the link in our bio to sign up — click Sunday 12 April on the calendar to book Week 1! 😍 ….. And a reminder that our Thursday evening Technique classes support our variation classes, so if you would like extra support with some tricky steps from the routine, join us Thursdays at WAC Arts studio in Belsize Park. Each month we have a selection of focal steps based on the variation, that we breakdown and practice in an open class format. (Note: Our Technique classes also split into Intermediate/Advanced and Beginner level too). In our Intermediate classes we will focus on jumps and batterie in the centre with a particular emphasis on ballon (bounciness and elevation). In our Beginnere class we will focus on sissones, with clean take offs and landings. 📸featuring Lis Jeppesen ❤️