Written by Elliott Coombes // Graphic by Makayla McDonald
Those who always wanted to dance now have the opportunity, thanks to student-led ballet classes. Sophomore Reed Wilson hosts the classes by taking advantage of room reservations in the Reynolds Center.
Friday or Saturday nights, depending on availability, Wilson uses Room C207, or the “mirror room,” for open-door, informal classes for her fellow college students. All students are welcome, and participants don’t need any kind of sign-up sheet to attend.
“I have no idea how many people are gonna be there until it starts,” Wilson said.
Wilson, who has been leading ballet classes for approximately a year, said some of her friends had expressed interest in it.
“I started it up last spring, and I was talking with some friends about how they always, as kids, wanted to learn how to do ballet,” Wilson said. “And I was like, ‘It’s never too late to start.’”
Wilson’s most central advertisement has been word of mouth, spreading from everyone she knows to everyone they know. She structures her class just as a typical ballet class would be. All the lessons are choreographed. She teaches the steps first, then introduces music.
“We start in the center at first, and I go over some feet and arm positions, and then we go to the bars, so you’re holding on to the wall, and we do some stretches,” Wilson said. “And then we do combinations across the floor, and some more combinations across the center, and then we stretch, and then we’re done.”
What makes the class atypical is its casual focus. No equipment or experience is needed, and there are no expectations. Everything is aimed at beginners.
“A lot of times people ask what to wear,” Wilson said. “The biggest thing I always say is just wear whatever you’re comfortable in. I think that’s representative of what the whole class is: just do what you’re comfortable with. If it’s too hard, then don’t do it. Or if it’s too easy, make it harder.”
One attendee, sophomore Baylor Cooper, expressed his first impressions regarding the class.
“I was nervous to go at first, just because it was a bunch of different people that I didn’t really know,” Cooper said. “But the environment there is just so supportive, and everybody’s just so encouraging, and there’s no need to do well, because nobody’s great at ballet. We’re all just there having fun, and you just slowly become friends with the whole community.”
Attendee senior Will Nixon explained how much the class has grown.
“I think the last ballet we had last week, there was close to 80 people there, and it probably started out with 15 or 20,” Nixon said.
Nixon gave his thoughts on Wilson’s decision to share what she is passionate about.
“This is something she’s been doing since she was really little, and it’s her passion, so I think it’s really cool how she’s sharing that with other people,” Nixon said.
Wilson’s goal is for people to have fun but also to learn. In addition to teaching the moves, she teaches the technical French terms.
“People who come to a few classes, they remember those words,” Wilson said. “Things like that, people learn over time the more they come to the class.”
Above all, Wilson emphasized the no-pressure atmosphere.
“What I tell people is, just come for 15 minutes, and if you don’t like it, then don’t stay,” Wilson said. “And people always stay. And a lot of times they come back too, because it’s fun.”
