Advanced and professional level ballet technique with Birute Barodicaite – Ballet Mistress, Adv/Pro Program. Live piano accompaniment by Maralgua Darjaa.

Weekly Classes from August 26, 2024 – June 8, 2025

Tuesdays & Thursdays from 11:00-12:30 PM | Studio 1 (Larry Long Studio)

Location: Ruth Page Center for the Arts | 1016 North Dearborn St. Chicago, IL 60610

The primary purpose of this class is to introduce and perfect ballet vocabulary. The barre exercises are more complex and incorporate combinations that stress muscle stamina and strength. Center work is designed to expand the dancer’s vocabulary with exercises that are longer and more physically demanding. Adagio work which may include pirouettes in open positions. More attention is given to traveling steps incorporating multiple turns. Intricate petite allegro (jumps) are embellished with battierie which may also include aerial turns. The grand allegro and coda sections may include steps in manages. Musicality, phrasing, and epaulement are stressed.

Ms. Barodicaite trained in Chicago with Richard Ellis, Christine DuBoulay, Larry Long, and Ben Stevenson. Ms. Barodicaite danced with the Chicago Ballet, touring throughout France, Austria, and Germany. Ms. Barodicaite has staged Ruth Page’s The Nutcracker for Chicago Ballet, Con Spirito by Jim Clouser for Chicago Ballet, Anton Dolin’s Pas de Quatre, and Napoli for Ruth Page School of Dance. In addition to teaching for the Ruth Page School of Dance for many years, she has taught in Lithuania for Lithuanian National Ballet, Ballet Moscow in Idaho, and Chattanooga Ballet. In Chicago, she is on the Lou Conte Dance Studio faculty and has taught company ballet classes for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and Luna Negra Dance Theater. She was the rehearsal director and ballet mistress for the Ruth Page Civic Ballet, the official performance company of the Ruth Page Center. She has been a guest teacher for the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater, Grand Rapids Ballet. Ms. Barodicaite has also been invited as a guest teacher at Escuela Nacional de Ballet de Cuba in Havana.