Calling aspiring baby ballerinas! Registration now open for baby ballet workshops for RI's tiny dancers - 4/21 Pawtucket

Pawtucket—On Friday, April 21 Baby Ballet Long Island will offer two special workshops for Rhode Island’s littlest aspiring ballerinas at the Chifferobe Atelier, a dance studio at the Hope Artiste Village in Pawtucket.

The first, a mommy-and-me Ballet Basics workshop for walkers through age 3, will be held from 10:00 AM to 10:45 AM. Combining technical ballet in a warm, baby-friendly settling, ballerinas will move, dance, and practice positions of the feet before finishing with a special take-home craft. Admission is $15.

The second, a Swan Lake workshop for dancers approximately ages 3 to 5, will be held from 11:00 AM to 11:45 AM. Dancers will learn famous choreography from the ballet, dance in tutus, and make and take home feather headbands. No experience is required, but dancers must be accompanied by an adult. Admission is $20.

Miss Nikki Ciotta will lead both workshops. The founder and lead teacher of Baby Ballet Long Island, Miss Nikki attended the prestigious Northern Ballet School in her native England and holds a teaching certification from the Royal Academy of Dance and Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing. She put her own dancing career on hold when she moved to New York and had a daughter, but soon developed a baby ballet class for her own little one and other local children. Baby Ballet Long Island has grown to the island’s premier baby ballet company.

Baby Ballet classes exude warmth from the signature “Baby Ballet Warm Up Dance” to a final thank-you curtsy. Moms sometimes compare Miss Nikki to Mary Poppins for the combination of magic and precision her classes offer. “She teachers in such an imaginative way, like sneaking veggies into your kid’s food,” one said. Though onlookers often watch misty-eyed, classes focus on the technically correct; each dancer from walking age is taught proper technique, including positions of the feet and posture. Miss Nikki’s mission and goal is to instill these from the beginning for a safe foundation and “ignite a love of dance.” Practically perfect in every way!

For more information or to register, visit https://www.facebook.com/babyballetrhodeisland/

For more information about this story, please contact Allie Connors Johnston at 631.901.6825 or allie@brightonandbeacon.com.