I attend Eric Bourman's adult ballet classes at Pacific Ballet Academy. His classes are listed as Adult Beginner/Intermediate, Adult Beginner, and Adult Intermediate; but any of his classes are fantastic for beginning and advanced students alike.
When you walk into his class, you can feel the energy and optimism radiating from him, which immediately helps put you at ease and sets the tone for the class. On top of this, he has the knowledge, ability, and patience to clearly explain technique. He not only teaches exceptionally well, but he also cares about the level of understanding of each student. It is clear that he wants to help every student get what he or she wants to get out of the class, whether that is getting a bit of exercise or learning the most minute technical details of the art of ballet. If you don't understand something, he will keep coming up with new ways to explain until it finally ""clicks"" for you.
Ballet classes are repetitive by design, but he is able to keep the classes fresh and interesting by continually coming up with new ways to approach the material. The time he spends in class with any student who has a question helps everyone understand more about the technique and art of ballet. He will never talk down to anyone or treat you like your question is stupid.
He understands how out-of-place and overwhelming it can feel to come into a ballet class as a beginner and his teaching style relieves those anxieties. He has the unique ability to make sure that you have fun while you learn and that is something you won't find in in any other adult beginning ballet class.
It is not possible to mention all of the qualities and benefits of Eric Bourman's classes here and those mentioned above only scratch the surface. I have so enjoyed every class that I have taken from him and I highly recommend that you experience it for yourself! He has a helpful and informative page (also linked to from Pacific Ballet Academy's site) at www dot ericbourman dot com
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