Stavro is a Star

Tombe pas de boure (to fourth preparation) inside back attitude to the right land in arabesque releve, step coupe jete with a back attitude to the other corner then immediately prepare with the left foot in front (the same left foot that was just in back attitude in the jete) and double inside turn with leg a la second and arms in high fifth before landing in a plea arabesque to the left...and to finish tombe pas de boure glisside jete (with a straight leg, not sot de chat)!

Talk about quickly finding your center.

Natalya Stavro's ballet class is no beginner's ballet. In fact, I think that her class is the equivalent of three slower paced and less rhythmically challenging ballet classes. Natayla walks into the classroom every day with an air of pride, beauty and ferocity. Combine the femininity and daintiness of Anna Pavlova and the fierce, powerhouse quality of Matthew Rushing(Alvin Ailey), and you will get a clearer picture of her quality as a dancer. She is usually wearing a beautiful, royal purple long sleeved leotard, black leggings, a pair of grishko ballet teaching shoes and a flowery, chiffon ballet skirt. Her hair is a deep red, brown that is very similar to the cherry of a cigarette that is always burning when she is teaching a class. She performs and looks like she is in her early thirties, but this would defy logic, so this age deception factor is reason enough to idolize her.

She brings into the classroom a rich Russian history of the Vagonova Ballet School, where she trained, and I am truly in love with this technique. Although, it is not just the technique that is so dazzlingly challenging and fulfilling...it is her talent to perform this technique in class as she teaches, providing a shimmering example of what all of us strive to be- a wise, technically proficient and free-spirited dancer.

I believe that this branch of Russian ballet has no mercy. The speed at which it is taught and the exponentially increasing difficulty of the class as the class goes on so that the dancer is never free from a pounding heart and stinging sweat in the eyes makes it so that one does not plateau in Stavro's ballet class.

An interesting fact is that she labels her class as Advanced Beginning Ballet on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and this class is just as if not MORE challenging than the Intermediate Ballet class on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Natayla makes sure that her Friday class is the biggest killer so that you end your week of Stavro Ballet feeling defeated and more inspired than ever to have your revenge on the beast that is Stavro Ballet on Monday morning.

This is what makes you grow as an artist...constantly having the illusion that the ART itself is greater than you so that you spend your life attempting to conquer it, but never really grasping it or "finding" it, therefore seeming never to "win" the battle that life tends to become with your art. This can be deflating to the point of a lack of inspiration for many until they get over that hump of the illusion of winning. For "it" to remain illusory, which is frustrating at times, is an illusion in itself because the ones who have "found" "it" realize that "it" is a journey.

If you feel as though you have conquered the thing that you love the most, well...that is kind of like conquering your family...why would you want to do that? Why not put it on a pedestal and basque in its brilliance and absorb all of the wisdom it sporadically shares with you along the way to keep you growing, happy and, most importantly, a creative person.

Now that's spicy.

Natalya Stavro Ballet Class
Broadway Dance Center W. 45th St NYC (Yes, this is right next to Flash Dancers)
Mon, Wed, Fri 12:00-1:30 PM
Thurs and Tues 11:30-1:00 PM