“COME DANCE WITH ME” – A NEW BALLET CLASS
FOR ADULTS AND SENIORS TO IMPROVE BALANCE, TONE, AND POSTURE – CONDUCTED BY ROBERT DE WARREN
“Come Dance with Me” is a gentle and relaxing workout in various ballet styles to help adults improve balance, tone, and posture. Each Friday, at Soul Studios in Sarasota, Robert de Warren, age 83, instructs students, most of whom are “seniors” — and many of whom have never taken a dance class!
Robert de Warren spent most of his long and varied dance career as an international ballet director in Iran and Europe, and for 13 years he was artistic director of the Sarasota Ballet.
In between the hour-long class of dance movements and demonstrations, de Warren shares anecdotes and information about the history of dance and his own dance history – adding a very special dimension to the classes.
In 2010, de Warren founded the nonprofit organization Sarasota International Dance Festival (SIDAF) with the inauguration of the Carreño Dance Festival and Summer Intensive in 2011.
De Warren began his professional career in London at The Royal Ballet where he was a dancer and developing choreographer. He was a principal dancer with the Royal Opera Ballet at Covent Garden, the Stuttgart Ballet and the Frankfurt and Berlin Ballets. He served as director and artistic supervisor of Ballet La Scala in Milan and founded the Academia alla Scala in partnership with Milan’s Catholic University, which is now the largest Opera House Educational Center in Europe.
He also served as director of the Northern Ballet Theatre in the United Kingdom, instituting two-hundred national and international performances per season.
Robert de Warren spent eleven years in Iran (1965 – 1978) as the director of the National Ballet of Iran, under the late Shah’s reign, but more importantly as the founder and director of the National Iranian Folklore Society including the College, Research Unit, Archives and performing company “The Mahalli Dancers of Iran” all under the direct patronage of Empress Farah Pahlavi.
“Come Dance with Me” is a new project of SIDAF’s program “Dance and the Living Arts International.” Classes are $65 per month or $15 to sample a class. To register, visit www.sarasotainternationaldancefestival.org. For additional information telephone 941-706-3112, Email: [email protected]
