Meet Ebony Proctor, one of our invaluable teachers at the Academy of Northern Ballet. Ebony specialises in teaching our Creative Movement and Moving Minis classes and has been teaching with the Academy for over eight years.
Tell us a bit about yourself!
I was offered an apprenticeship with the Learning department at Northern Ballet. As part of this, I shadowed Annemarie Donoghue who had a lot of experience teaching the Academy's young children classes at the time and through her guidance I learnt the skills required for my role today.
Can you describe what happens at a Mini Movers / Creative Movement class?
Our Mini Movers, Moving Minis and Creative Movement classes are often the first route into dance for children aged 18 months – 3 years. In these classes, children learn how to interact with other children, dance to live music and start to understand spatial awareness. We have about 10 – 12 children in a class and classes are around 30 minutes long. It’s very friendly – we have a structure where we do exercises like warm up and balancing bean bags, but the actual content of the class is very creative and allows the children to move freely. Creative Movement allows the older children to continue to develop their creative and musicality skills a bit further.
Why are these classes so important for children between the ages of 18 months – 3 years?
These classes are beneficial for children, as we don’t only learn basic dance/ballet skills, but we build on their communication, spatial awareness and musicality skills. We also encourage the children to be creative in a safe dance space and to move in their own way through exercise.
What are the progression routes available for a child who might want to go further in their ballet training?
Children are able to move up in the classes, just as they move up in school years which encourages them to build on their skills they’ve learnt in their earlier classes. As children get a bit older, there are further opportunities outside of the Open Programme for children who want to take their dancing further such as masterclasses and audition programmes. Children have even given the chance to take part in Northern Ballet productions.
How do you join the Creative Movement and Mini Movers classes? Do you need to audition?
No audition needed, just apply online or email academy@northernballet.com to book a spot.
What is your favourite part about teaching?
I love seeing the children's creative skills shine and seeing how they interpret different instructions on tasks. It’s brilliant to see their progression and how they might start the term quite shy and unsure, and then their confidence starts to grow once they settle in.
It’s also great how creative the classes are, as it enables the children to gain dance skills without worrying about the formality of it all. These classes help children to gain a variety of different skills, and being the teacher who provides these just feels so special when you see that all develop and progress each week.
Find out more about the Northern Ballet Academy's open classes for children at northernballet.com/classes-for-children.
Photos, Emily Nuttall.