How Ballet Can Make You A Better Leader

The health benefits of ballet are proven, but can it also make you a better leader? Shellie Karabell, writing for Forbes, has some fantastic points to make.

1. You learn to focus. All those pirouettes don’t just happen. Dancers “spot” in order to turn. You choose a “spot” in the room or on the stage and keep your eyes on it, whipping your head around at the last minute to find the spot again. This is another version of “keep your eye on the goal,” but pirouettes bring with them an opposing allegory: if you don’t “spot,” you will become dizzy and fall down.

2. You learn to do several different things simultaneously. In ballet, your feet will be doing one thing while your arms are doing something else. Like patting your head and rubbing your stomach. Or like multi-tasking. But in ballet you learn to make things look effortless and graceful.

3. You learn that repetition and rehearsal lead to mastery. In other words, hard work and drilling may sound old-fashioned but they are time-proven effective way to learn a skill. Practice makes perfect. There are no short cuts.

4. You meet and spend a lot of time with people from all walks of life. In my years at the barre, I have met finance professors, international shipping executives, TV producers, elementary school teachers, oil industry executives…Cubans, Russians, Americans, French, Germans, British…gay, straight, men, women. In adult classes you will find a aide demographic spectrum – from teenagers to septuagenarians – all trying their best, undaunted, with varying levels of success. It’s diversity training at its best.

Ballet dancers of the Paris Opera Ballet. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

5. You learn to “present” yourself. Not in an overly dramatic ostentatious way. Basically, the posture and alignment you get at the barre will make you a more commanding figure. Good posture goes a long way  in helping you put your best foot forward (literally!), and it’s good for your health.

6. You finish things. Not knowing the routine, losing your tiara, missing a beat in the music is no excuse to stop in the middle of your routine. You ad lib the steps, ignore the fallen tiara, vamp until you re-locate the beat and you keep going. Then you “end” in a pose rather than just “stop.”

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Ballet Body Sculpture - New: Spring Time Program!

Happy Spring & Happy Easter!!! To celebrate a new season and help you to boost your body in time for the new dress style we have a created a fun, intensive and very effective exercise program for you! Designed specifically to bring you great results in just one week, despite your fitness level or body shape! As long as you keep up and we will motivate you along the way!

See your free BBS Spring program bellow:

Day 1

Goal: Stabilise your core, shape and tone up your legs ballerina style!

"BBS Pro ballerina legs" + "Perfect waistline & sides"

 

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Day 2

Goal: Ballerina posture & elegant body tone

"BBS Elegant arms & back II" + "BBS Tone & stretch express"

 

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Day 3

Goal: Boost your abs & firm your glutes!

"BBS Perfectly refined abs & glutes II" + "BBS Ultimate blast for the abs!"

 

 

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Day 4

Goal: Total body cardio

BBS Full Body Blast II

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Day 5

Goal: Stretch and lengthen

"BBS Stretch, flex & relax II"

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Day 6

Goal: Perfect legs and elegant posture

"BBS Posture & Legs Blast" + "BBS Elegant arms & back I"

 

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Day 7:

Goal: Sculpt, tone & polish your full body 

"BBS Full Body Blast" + "BBS Workout class – Barre I" (can be exercised holding a steady chair)

AVAILABLE ALL FROM THE COMFORT OF YOUR HOME!

See more details on:

http://www.balletbodysculpture.com

http://www.balletbodysculpture.com/online-classes.html

"Focus on where you want to go, not on what you fear." - Lets push through a few more classes before you can all enjoy lots of well deserved chocolate bunnies!!! :)www.balletbodysculpture.com
Posted by Ballet Body Sculpture on Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Meet the London Team!

Ever wanted to know a little more about your BBS teachers? Now is your chance, as we meet the London Team!

Julia Davies

From: Reading, UK

Favourite Role: Alice in Wonderland 

Career Highlight: Touring to Moscow, Toronto and the USA

3 Things you can't live without: Dancing, Pret a Manger and my diary to keep track of my schedule! 

Favourite Pre-Workout Energy: Nuts and dried fruit

Favourite Post-Workout Refuel: Lots of water

Best Fitness Quote: Excuses are useless, results are priceless. 

Ashleigh Wilson

From: Cape Town, South Africa

Favourite Role: Black Swan

Career Highlight: Performing for Will and Kate at the Variety Performance

3 Things you can't live without: My bike, my aromatherapy oils, falafel

Favourite Pre-Workout Energy: Coffee

Favourite Post-Workout Refuel: Green smoothie

Best Fitness Tip: Always remember your reason for being in class to push you forward

Helena Casado Cortes

From: Madrid, Spain

Favourite Role: Sugar Plum

Career Highlight: Perfroming the famous Swan Lake in the round with English National Ballet at the Royal Albert Hall

3 Things you can't live without: My Family, books & music, travelling the world

Favourite Pre-Workout Energy: Coffee

Favourite Post-Workout Refuel: Napolitan Pizza!

Best Fitness Tip: Always believe in yourself.

Find out more about the programme HERE

Hope to see you soon at one of our London Classes! 

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Ballet Body Sculpture - Great workout for everyone - London, Zurich and ...

The Health Benefits of Ballet

Forget the traditional image of little girls in pink tutus. These days ballet classes are just as likely to be targeted at older people as they are at pint-sized prima donnas.

But new dancers aren't lacing up their pumps with the intention of being the next Darcey Bussell or Matthew Bourne, they’re taking up ballet to keep fit. So who can benefit from ballet classes, and why?

A ballet class provide a rigorous workout.

When we see them on stage professional dancers' perfect poise and graceful movements make dancing look easy, but up close they are working hard and sweating! 

A ballet class will target many different parts of the body. The arms, back legs, stomach muscles, feet and ankles are all strengthened and toned.

Regular participation in ballet can improve posture and balance, resulting in a long, lean, elegant figure. It is, however, also an extreme form of movement that puts a lot of pressure on joints, and must be undertaken with an expert teacher.

The physical benefits of taking up ballet will become noticeable within a few weeks of regular attendance at a class. However, the feel-good effects of a lesson will be apparent almost immediately, because in addition to a physical workout, ballet is an excellent exercise in mental well-being.

While dancers are exercising their bodies their brains are also being given a workout.

At a class it’s not possible to turn up and tune out as absolute concentration is required. Pupils pay close attention to the teacher, learning and repeating choreography. They must work to improve steps and positions, judging their space in the room – and all in time to music.

This can be a tricky thing to do and as such it focuses and stimulates the brain. Studies have suggested that this can help to reduce the risk of dementia.

Ballet can also help those with Parkinson’s disease. Symptoms of Parkinson’s can include poor balance and a lack of coordination skills. Regular participation in classes can temporarily alleviate these conditions.

But while a class may seem demanding, it can provide excellent stress relief, as the dancer is entirely focused in the moment.

Classes are still predominantly attended by women, but as the physical benefits of ballet become more widely known more men are incorporating dance into their fitness routine.

Sportsmen Tackling Ballet

Many professional sportsmen have already discovered how ballet can help them. Famously, footballer Rio Ferdinand trained as a ballet dancer, while in the US it is common for American footballers to take classes.

While these sportsmen may have no intention of becoming the next Billy Elliot, they understand that ballet will strengthen their muscles while improving their balance and poise.

The Scottish rugby sevens team has even received sports psychology coaching from former Bolshoi ballet dancer Misha Botting, proving that competitiveness, team work and the need for peak physical fitness are not confined to sport alone.

As sportsmen and dancing pensioners would acknowledge, ballet can improve a person’s well-being significantly. With so many classes on offer around the country there’s never been a better time to head to the barre.

There's no better time to begin! Get yourself into one of our classes. 
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