Ballet at Session House is taught by dancers who have spent their working lives on stage, in a 131 m² basement studio with a 5-metre ceiling and a sprung floor. Two open classes run each week, one on Monday afternoon and one on Wednesday evening, and both are open to anyone - no membership, no term to sign up for, and no audition.

 

Dancers from other genres are welcome. Many of the people in these classes are contemporary dancers using ballet as a common language for the body rather than as an end in itself.

 

Yasuyo Omoto - Ballet, beginner to intermediate

Read the teacher profile of Yasuyo Omoto

Wednesdays 19:30-21:05

 

A class about building a body that can keep dancing for a lifetime. Yasuyo Omoto, who danced at the front rank of Japanese ballet for decades, works from the fundamentals upward, whatever your age or experience. Classical technique is laid over a contemporary sense of the body, so that ballet becomes a vocabulary you can carry into any genre. The class ends with pointe work, so there is something to reach for as the basics settle.

 

Because the studio is also a theater, the daily class quietly turns into preparation for standing on a stage.

 

Yasuyo Omoto

Senior principal of the Tani Momoko Ballet. First prize and the Minister of Education Award at the National Dance Competition (Tokyo Shimbun) in 1973. Studied at the Ballet Nacional de Cuba and the Academie de Danse Classique Princesse Grace in Monaco as an overseas fellow of the Agency for Cultural Affairs, 1978-79. Tachibana Akiko Prize (1987) and Chieko Hattori Prize (1989). Visiting professor of the ballet course at Ashiya University, judge for the National Dance Competition and chair of judges for the Kamakura Ballet Competition. Director of the Session House Planning Office.

 

Ms Omoto also runs the children's school at Session House - see Omoto Children's Ballet.

 

Akiyo Ando - Ballet, beginner

Read the teacher profile of Akiyo Ando

Mondays 14:35-16:15

 

“Once the basics are properly in the body, you can shine at any age and at any level.” Akiyo Ando teaches with close attention to each person, asking dancers to feel the music, the breath and the muscles rather than to copy a shape. Dancers from other genres often find something new here. The enchainements are a little more involved than in a pure basics class, so it suits anyone who wants to move up a step.

 

Akiyo Ando

Studied with Hiroo and Isoko Okura, Akira Egawa and Chieko Kishi, and in France with Daiji Kudo in 1992. Second place, senior division, at the 10th All Japan Ballet Competition. Soloist roles with the Japan Ballet Association (Kitri's friends in Don Quixote, the pas de trois in Swan Lake, the jewels in The Sleeping Beauty) and with the Inoue Ballet Foundation (the Snow Queen in The Nutcracker, Myrtha in Giselle). Has appeared in works by Tatsue Sata and Shinichi Sasahara, among many others. Taught the classical ballet workshop at the 10th conference of the Japanese Society of Dance Medicine and Science in 2019, and has been an instructor on the Japan Ballet Association summer course since 2010. Now works as AKIYO BALLET; instructor at Dunlop Sports Club and part-time lecturer at Shinagawa Gakugei High School.

 

Enquiries about this class may also be sent directly to Makiyoballet2018@gmail.com or through Instagram.

 

Fees - tax included

Single class JPY 2,500
4-class pass JPY 9,600 (valid one month)
10-class pass JPY 23,000 (valid three months)

 

Booking and what to bring

Advance reservation is required. Book through the reservation form, or write to mail@session-house.net - we answer in English. Bring ballet shoes, or socks with some grip, and clothes you can move in. Please arrive about 10 minutes early; the entrance is on the right-hand side of the building and there is a lift down to the studio.

 

Venue: Kagurazaka Session House B1F, 158 Yarai-cho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo - a minute and a half from Exit 1b of Kagurazaka Station (Tokyo Metro Tozai Line). See Map & Access.

 

 

 

 

The class schedule can change; for the most recent timetable and any substitutions, see the Japanese ballet class page or write to us.