Ballet is beautiful

Dance is what we do when we let our bodies breathe our being into becoming and our becoming into being,” feels Ellen Davis who has been teaching classical ballet to children,adults and professionals for over 30 years. She uses dance as a way of evoking self-acceptance,beauty,balance,grace,a sense of unity and love for the process of learning. “Ballet is my area of experience,having been in the field for 50 years and teaching at the professional level,full-time,for over 31 years. It is what I love to do and a beautiful vehicle for me to reflect people’s love and beauty back to themselves,” shares the danseuse. On her coming to Chandigarh,Ellen says that she is here in response to an inner calling to serve in a way that her soul feels brightest. Twelve years ago she lived and taught ballet at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry and it was a wonderful experience for her. She loved being there,and her travels through Southern India,Orissa,Calcutta,Shanti Niketan,and Bodh Gaya. Ellen enjoys teaching both children and adults and she has classes available for all at ‘Pause’,an activity club in Manimajra. Adults and older children and teens are more immediately engaged and consciously collaborate in their learning process,mentions Ellen. “Younger children often get distracted more easily and have to be inspired but they do love it,” she smiles to say. Her ballet classes are all about love,materializing the spiritual,dancing in oneness with the music,imagination and the heart and soul. “We have creative movement for 3-4 year olds. These classes provide a structure that allows children to experience being in a class with respect for themselves,each other,the environment and the atmosphere that we co-create by what we bring in the room. We also do exercises to bring greater consciousness,strength,and flexibility to their body,” lists out the teacher.

Those in the age group of five to six years are given a pre-ballet class that prepares them for the rigours of classical ballet training. “They do a lot more improvisational dance exercises than the others. Children aged seven and up,teens and adults get classical ballet training,” she adds.