Day in the Life of Dance

The Dance Enthusiast
Day in the Life of Dance: A Conversation with Mira Cook of NY Community Ballet

By Theo Boguszewski
Published on February 3, 2020

Thanks to NY Community Ballet, daily ballet class no longer has to be a luxury for professional dancers!

While most dancers warm up before rehearsal, there’s no substitute for a daily technique class, which is an essential part of developing and maintaining strong, limber muscles. It’s one of the great ironies of life as a professional dancer in New York that the opportunity to take regular classes dries up. With a couple of exceptions, very few of the city’s dance companies offer company classes.

Over the years, founder Mira Cook has been fortunate to have qualified teachers approach her. A major success was when Laura Rae Bernasconi, a favorite ballet teacher at Peridance, reached out to be part of the initiative. Cook has used a grassroots social media approach to boost awareness. While attendance has grown continuously, most classes fortunately still have room for new students.

So what can you expect from an NY Community Ballet class? Each one is different depending on who is teaching, but there is an emphasis on treating participants like adults. Most teachers will offer general feedback without singling anyone out extensively. With a mission of taking the stiffness out of ballet class, many teachers use their own music, so you could find yourself doing tendus to Billy Joel or petit allégro to Dolly Parton.

In terms of keeping class at a certain caliber, Cook finds that students tend to self-select. “We originally billed it as ‘intermediate-advanced,’ but we had some beginners show up, so we changed it to ‘advanced,’" she explains.

Most classes take place at the Battery Dance studios (380 Broadway), but in the past, NY Community Ballet has had a residency at Brooklyn Studios for Dance, and they have an upcoming residency at Gibney.