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My students have described my ballet teaching style as supportive, knowledgeable and thorough.
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This is Sephyra, one of my advanced students. When she first came to me, I saw a dancer, full of potential, but with a lot of unaddressed “bad” technical habits.
Sephyra was extremely eager to learn and she was truly craving feedback and constructive criticism. Very quickly, she started improving her alignment, she became stronger and recently, she’s started teaching ballet in local studios.
I’m really proud of her! See below her amazing transformation ✨👇🏼
“I started learning dance at a very young age, to become a professional ballet dancer was my biggest dream. And then something happened in my life [and] for several years, I couldn’t take dance classes anymore, I had to train at home. When I resumed taking dance classes with a very good studio, I found myself in a situation where I was much older than the other girls in my classroom and I was below their technical level. So I became very frustrated. I felt that I had too many students with me, I couldn’t catch up with them. My teacher wasn’t really focusing on me. I had specific problems; I had poor feet, I had poor muscle strength, difficulty to jump, to turn… And then I met Olia on Instagram.
“I started learning dance at a very young age, to become a professional ballet dancer was my biggest dream. And then something happened in my life [and] for several years, I couldn’t take dance classes anymore, I had to train at home. When I resumed taking dance classes with a very good studio, I found myself in a situation where I was much older than the other girls in my classroom and I was below their technical level. So I became very frustrated. I felt that I had too many students with me, I couldn’t catch up with them. My teacher wasn’t really focusing on me. I had specific problems; I had poor feet, I had poor muscle strength, difficulty to jump, to turn… And then I met Olia on Instagram.
So this was my first experience with private lessons on Zoom. I had never even taken classes on Zoom before. And I was a little scared that it would be difficult because […] classes on Zoom are not the same as in person classes.
So I started anyway, and I found that Olia was just the teacher I needed. She focused on my own specific problems. She looked closely at what I was doing and she gave me specific advice. I had so many issues that other students didn’t have. But Olia really looked at them closely and she gave me specific exercises.
When she gives me the classes, she watches everything I do. She makes me repeat, repeat and repeat again, which is exactly what I need until it’s really good. So, I’m really thankful because she gave me the hope that I could become a better ballerina than I thought I could. So again, thank you so much Olia, and I really recommend her classes.”
“Hello, I’m Sephyra and I’ve been doing ballet since I was five. I discovered your classes, Olia, about two years ago on Instagram. And I do two classes a week now.
I really enjoyed everything, basically. I think that the steps, all the steps are really important. The four steps of the C.O.R.E. acronym are really a very important thing for any dancer. I feel like the whole technical aspect is a little bit summed up in the last part, “Experience”, which is perhaps the one I enjoyed the most, because it shows you how you can integrate all of this into a whole, to really help you with your ballet journey and to improve.
So, I think every part is pretty important. I really enjoyed all of it. For me, the very important thing is the “Centre”, because that’s what I really have difficulty with. But on the whole, everything is really relevant and I really appreciate watching all of it.”
I chose to work with Olia on polishing a solo for an upcoming performance. Olia reviewed my practice video and sent an encouraging email before we started working together sharing that she saw a lot of potential for artistic expression waiting to come out. I appreciated that!
During our six sessions we broke down various parts of the nearly 3-minute piece to focus on and hone.
She’s supportive, knowledgeable, and brings a lot of passion to her work. I’m delighted to share that I placed second in the beginner solo section and credit Olia with helping make it happen! “
I chose to work with Olia on polishing a solo for an upcoming performance. Olia reviewed my practice video and sent an encouraging email before we started working together sharing that she saw a lot of potential for artistic expression waiting to come out. I appreciated that!
During our six sessions we broke down various parts of the nearly 3-minute piece to focus on and hone.
She’s supportive, knowledgeable, and brings a lot of passion to her work. I’m delighted to share that I placed second in the beginner solo section and credit Olia with helping make it happen!”
I’ve danced for four years. I’ve been on pointe for two. And the opportunity to work with Olia, in her one on one mentoring programme, it was definitely a really good decision. I didn’t think I was the ideal student due to my age, but actually, I am and so are you. It doesn’t matter what age you are.
Olia helped me in several areas. She helped me with confidence, technique, and goal setting and all of those kind of go hand in hand. Olia is like having your ballet best friend, your ballet encyclopaedia and your ballet instructor all rolled into one person. So if you choose to work with her, you’re going to see improvements. My instructor saw improvements in me. And that’s been really exciting for me.
Also, she has a membership that I’m a part of as well with classes and I think that her classes are good for any level of dancer, going over technique, getting corrections, and just answering questions for all of us. So I think that you’ll be really happy if you choose to work with Olia. I know I’ve been really happy and I don’t want to live without her in my life ever again.”
“Working with Olia is one of the best decisions I’ve made on my ballet journey. She has given me tools and tips that have improved my confidence and performance. Olia has taught me how to set measurable, realistic goals that I can track, and that keep me focused.
She has also been a wonderful resource answering my many questions over many ballet topics from technique, to confidence, to performance. I never realized how much I needed Olia, until I worked with her. Now, I know I can’t live without her! Having Olia as a mentor is that last piece of the puzzle that will help any dancer achieve their goals. Every dancer can benefit from her wealth of knowledge, technical experience, and psychology of ballet.
I highly recommend Olia’s services whether you are an aspiring professional dancer or a recreational dancer looking to improve and build confidence. Her mentorship is priceless. She is the Ballet Bestie you never knew you needed but always wanted. 💗”
“I enjoyed the whole course and loved the barre class. But I think what I found really useful, helpful and meaningful was the focus on the C.O.R.E. approach and the information about anatomy and muscle groups. It was very detailed and I felt I learned a lot.
I know it is very different to teach and learn at adult level and I certainly did not experience this theoretical focus as a child learner. I also particularly appreciated the pace of the lessons.”
Sarah M.
The Ballet Foundations Masterclass & Ballet Posture in 5 steps student
“I enjoyed the whole course and loved the barre class. But I think what I found really useful, helpful and meaningful was the focus on the C.O.R.E. approach and the information about anatomy and muscle groups. It was very detailed and I felt I learned a lot.
I know it is very different to teach and learn at adult level and I certainly did not experience this theoretical focus as a child learner. I also particularly appreciated the pace of the lessons.”
Sarah M.
The Ballet Foundations Masterclass & Ballet Posture in 5 steps student
“Being now almost 4 months part of The Dancer Next Door I can truly say that it was the best thing that could happen to me on my adult ballet journey. Thanks to Olia and her wide spectrum on technique and countless variations I could improve more in this short time than in 4 years of class.
The most valuable aspect for me is that Olia offers to all problems -as huge as they might seem – perfect, fast and individual solutions. Her caring and respectful guidance as well as the feeling to be taken seriously made all the difference to my confidence to be on the right track getting to a level I never thought I could reach, no matter how long it takes!”
Uschi Schinkovits
“I’ve been working with Olia [for a few months now] when I joined both the [group class] and also her private lessons. We have been developing my skills so much, both in the classes and in our private lessons. And I’m so grateful to all the help that she has given me over the past few months that we’ve been working together. We have lessons twice a week […] for an hour. And I think that advances me more than anything, because I’m able to get really personalised technique.
Also in private lessons Olia makes sure to have a plan every single day. And […], we go through the order of the barre, focusing on what I need to really work on. And there’s always homework at the end of the lesson too, that I try to always keep up with. And then we do some centre work and some allegro and pirouettes depending on the day and try to fit it all in.
We also have some great times where we catch up either at the beginning or end of the lesson, which I always enjoy getting to hear about how everything is going with her life and I really cherish having those times to spend working on my ballet. “
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