Ballet Intermediate with Marie-Astrid Mence
Summer intensive 2024
About Ballet Intermediate with Marie-Astrid Mence
Improve your technique, develop your artistry and gain an insight into creative practice in ballet.
Former soloist with Ballet Black Marie-Astrid Mence leads an intermediate class for those with a grasp of the basics of ballet.
This is an exciting opportunity to learn from an expert dancer who trained at Alvin Ailey School and toured extensively with Ballet Black. You will benefit from Marie-Astrid's extensive experience as a professional dancer who has worked with incredible choreographers such as William Forsythe, Annabelle Lopez-Ochoa and Cathy Marston to name just a few. The intensive will help you develop your artistry with exercises to improve technique and insight into creative practice.
The class will be accompanied by celebrated singer, songwriter and pianist Isaac de Los Reyes de Gallego.
About the artist
Marie-Astrid was born in Paris, France where she began dancing at a private dance school before continuing to the Higher National Conservatory of Music and Dance in Paris. She was a member of the Junior Ballet of Paris and danced in works by Jiří Kylián, William Forsythe, Larry Keigwin, Christopher Hampson and Annabelle Lopez-Ochoa. She continued her training as a scholarship student at Alvin Ailey School in 2012 and was invited to dance in Revelations for Judith Jamison’s (Artistic Director of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre) birthday.
Marie-Astrid joined Ballet Black in September 2014 and performed the lead role of Anna in the children’s ballet, Dogs Don’t Do Ballet (Christopher Marney, 2014), the re-staging of Will Tuckett’s 2009 ballet, Depouillement, and Second Coming, created by Mark Bruce. In the summer of 2015, Marie-Astrid joined Phoenix Dance Company and had the opportunity to dance in TearFall and Melt by Artistic Director, Sharon Watson as well as Mapping (Darshan Singh Buller), Undivided Love (Kate Flatt) and Until Without Enough (Itzik Galili). Marie-Astrid returned to Ballet Black in September 2016 and danced in new ballets by Christopher Marney and Christopher Hampson.
In February 2017, Marie was Dancer of the Month in the British dance magazine, Dancing Times. She was also one of the principal dancers in Michael Corder’s 2017 ballet, House of Dreams, and danced numerous parts in Annabelle Lopez-Ochoa’s Red Riding Hood. In 2018, Marie-Astrid created roles in The Suit (Cathy Marston) and took on the role of Hermia in Dream. Marie-Astrid was promoted to Senior Artist at Ballet Black the start of the 2020/21 season.
important information
- Enrol for the week for £65.00 to save and guarantee your place or drop-in for £15.00 per class.
- We encourage you to get in touch with us if you have any access requirements to ensure our classes are delivered in the most inclusive way possible. You can find an outline of our access information here.
- Please arrive on time - unfortunately, we cannot accommodate participants over 15 minutes late, as the warm-up is an important part of the class.
- Unfortunately, we are unable to offer refunds or exchanges, unless there are extenuating circumstances. You can read our booking Terms & Conditions here.