Hi ,

Before I jump in, the dates for December's pop-up classes have been chosen! You can join me this Saturday for Mobility with Stability, and next week for Nutcracker Ballet.

I tried something new last month. I started the core stability pop-up class with a ✨glamorous slideshow presentation✨ on dynamic core stability, how it helps your dancing, and the things that throw it off.

This term, we’ve been tuning into our bodies to find healthy movement within the container of ballet technique, and noticing when different cues change how the same movement feels.

What often comes up across ballet, conditioning, and private lessons, is society’s messaging around body shape and size, who decides if we’re working “hard enough,” whether our movement is allowed to feel (or appear) easy...

You might have learned cues like “hold in your stomach” or “don’t move your hips” in an old-school ballet class, or from a culture that tells us to make ourselves smaller.

Setting aside what that can do to your self esteem, those cues often cause your superficial movement muscles to work harder than they need to, disrupting the coordination within the deeper muscles and fascia. ☃️That snowballs into more tension pretty fast — plus you might’ve picked up some extra tension trying to get through the day in 2025.

When that happens, those layers of muscle and ribbons of fascia need a reset so you can:

• move fluidly and regain range of motion

• reduce load on your extremities, and risk of sprains and strains

• improve your stamina

• focus on ballet-specific skills like turnout and artistry.

• Feel comfy in your body as you roll into the holiday season

The first steps in restoring your dynamic core stability are giving your body support to safely relax the muscles that have been compensating, and flowing smoothly through your stable range of motion to wake up any tiny stabilizers who’ve gone offline.

This Saturday, I'm hosting Mobility with Stability — it's a restorative, follow-along matwork class designed to relax, unwind, and re-engage your subconscious stability systems as the layers of tension melt away.

It’s the last chance of the year to hop on the mat and move at your own pace with a group of folks who get it. The class is pay-what-you-can ($0-25) and is open to everyone, with or without dance experience.

If you voted for December’s classes you should already have the Zoom link in your inbox. If not, you can sign up here to join live or get the recording.

See you on the mat,

Natasha