Marblehead Ballet School Director to Teach in Miami

MARBLEHEAD, MA - Paula K. Shiff, Director of Marblehead School of Ballet (MSB), has been invited to teach special classical ballet technique classes in Miami, Florida. From February 1 to 3, Ms. Shiff will teach students in the sixth through eighth grades enrolled at Southwood Middle School, as well as dancers enrolled in the ABC Dance School and Jill Mallory School of Dance.

Students in Miami are familiar with Ms. Shiff’s technique. Over the years, several students have studied at the MSB during the spring and the summer intensive. Her teaching emphasizes the internal mechanics of the body and not just the superficial aspects of style, bringing the dance to a higher level. In these special classes in Miami, students will learn proper technique, such as correct alignment, body mechanics and musicality.

“I look forward to visiting and teaching again the students who have come and studied previously at MSB and the other dancers in the Miami area, as well as meeting the teachers in their home towns,” said Shiff, recipient of Salem State University’s 2009 Lifetime Achievement Award in the Arts.

Her individualized attention meeting each student’s needs has not gone unnoticed. Their teachers identified the difference in their students’ dancing after studying with Shiff. “The work that Paula Shiff does with these students was recognized when they returned to Miami. We wanted the other students at the dancers’ schools to receive her customized training.

Also, this will inspire and provide the teachers with another dance school where their students can go and study in the summer and during breaks. Many students apply and audition for the larger ballet summer programs, but they do not get the individual attention that Ms. Shiff provides and the specific work that each dancer might require such as physical therapy and strengthening. The other intensives tend to follow a particular program and all the dancers must be able to follow it, explained Julie Pappas Smith, consulting teacher/choreographer at Southwood Middle School and instructor at ABC Dance School and Jill Mallory School of Dance.