Esther Balfe
“Ballet training for all dancers”
August 7 – 11
11.30 – 13.30 H
Studio D
Advanced/Professionals
In English
Former Forsythe dancer Esther Balfe teaches a total approach to classical ballet class: Her workshop places emphasis on musicality and organic movement principles, working on clear lines and healthy placement of the limbs, additionally application on dissolving unnecessary tension in the body, capitalizing the flow of movement through a series of coordination techniques and organizing the body through the designated space. With a skepticism towards relabeling, ‘Ballet for Contemporary dancers’, her perspective is based on the information being correctly taught; any contemporary dancer can benefit from a basic technique that is required for complex co-ordinations of a more advanced ballet technique, culminating in a lively, vibrant and organic approach for every genus of dancer: Ballet for all dancers.
Esther has been a performer since 1987. Her extensive international collaborative experience includes Philip Landsdale, Liz King, Catherine Guerin, Jai Gonzales, Nigel Charnock, Christoph Winkler, Benoît Lachambre, Ivar van Hagedoorn, Michael Keegan-Dolan, Alex Gottfarb, Willi Dorner and John Gerrard to name but a few. She is a former dancer of the Ballett Frankfurt under the direction of William Forsythe and his Forsythe Company for over a decade. Esther is currently a lecturer for the Dance Program at the Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna.