Connect with your inner dancer. Whether or not you can imagine your body moving as a ballet dancer does, you can experience joy in dance.
Geneviève Basu is a ballet dancer and teacher who believes that anyone can benefit from ballet. She sees great power in learning the movement of the arms, posture, how breath can match your movement, and that the experience can be very spiritual.
Moving through space in a soft way is very comforting. Like yoga, you can look internally and feel your body.
-Geneviève Basu
Geneviève loves helping people find freedom in movement and the artist within themselves. Discover, through dance, that you can develop more confidence in your body and a great sense of purpose in your life.
Geneviève was introduced to ballet at age 3, and began with American training at the Boston Ballet, then at age 14, transitioned to Russian training, and later studied at the Kirov Academy in DC.
You always challenge yourself to go beyond...in ballet and in any athletic sport, there is always more to think about. It’s very humbling.
-Geneviève Basu
So much of a ballet dancer’s focus is in service of telling a story. Dancers are driven by a feeling that came from childhood experiences watching ballet and ballet dancers overcoming discomfort in their bodies to tell a story for an audience.
When Kathryn asked Geneviève about the pain of being on toe shoes, Geneviève laughed and explained that, as a 9 to 11 year old, when you are just learning to be balanced on your two feet, then you try toe shoes. It does not feel “good,” but you are so excited about the image of yourself spinning and flying across the stage on your toes, that you act like it doesn’t hurt.
We were determined to meet our goals of standing on point. In ballet you are never supposed to show that you are in pain...you are telling a story.
-Geneviève Basu
Geneviève loves teaching children, adults and professionals. Adults pose good questions and engage in thoughtful discussions. Children are like sponges, being delighted as they learn to control their bodies. With professional students, “you get to pull the artist out of them.”
In teaching, I love unlocking something that tells you that you can be the dancer you never thought you could be.
-Geneviève Basu