- The Ballet School of Colombo launches new certification in classical and jazz ballet in affiliation with the CSTD
The CSTD occupies a unique position amongst the dance societies of the world, catering for all major forms of dance. With its origins dating back to 1933 with the formation of the National Examination System and the Victorian Society of Dancing Australia, the CSTD is an authoritative examining body whose high standards are internationally respected.
The Ballet School of Colombo, instituted in 2016 carries with it a history of ballet in Sri Lanka (previously known as the Oosha Garten of Ballet, pioneered by the late Kalasuri Oosha Saravanamuttu-Wijesinghe). With students ranging from the ages of three-plus all the way up to advanced classes with many popular programmes such as adult ballet for beginners, stretch and tone, and acrobatics. With its affiliation to CSTD, The Ballet School plans to roll out many different dance styles with qualifications to pursue including tap dancing, contemporary dance, and theatrical dance.
“Having this unique affiliation to an international examination body gives us the ability to further train our students to be on par with international standards and provide them with fantastic opportunities to not only take part in exams but also APCA and global competitions that propel them to be the best they can be,” The Ballet School of Colombo Directors Tara Cooke and Romina Gyi shared. They also stated: “Healthy competition is good motivation, especially during times like these where children and adults alike spend more time in front of computers and devices and slowly descend into a sedentary lifestyle. We see a significant change in the students who did the exams this time. They are more confident, outspoken, and active and are very receptive to improving themselves further.”
Cooke also spoke with Brunch about how this milestone has become a way for The Ballet School of Colombol to make history in a good way amidst the pandemic. “We had our first set of exams on 7 August,” Cooke said. “We’ve been teaching online since the beginning of the year and we had 36 students who sat for the exams. They became the first batch of students to be qualified in the CSTD syllabus in Sri Lanka and we feel that this is a very significant moment for us to celebrate in terms of our country, as The Ballet School of Colombo is the first school in Sri Lanka to be affiliated with the CTSD.”
Cooke also shared that qualifications that students receive from the CSTD will help students with their applications to universities, both locally and internationally.
With the pandemic in full force, The Ballet School of Colombo has risen to the challenge of teaching virtually, with Cooke sharing that the school conducts all their classes virtually. Commenting on the challenges of teaching a medium like dance virtually, Cooke shared that while there are some challenges like keeping their youngest students actively engaged or imparting the finer points of technique to older students, the teachers at The Ballet School of Colombo have worked carefully to provide students with the most comprehensive education, breaking things into little components, and spending more time to make sure students are getting everything exactly right.
Cooke added that with the pandemic – kids in particular being stuck at home in front of a device for most of the day – learning dance gives them something to strive towards. Dance is also a physical activity, with traditional ballet being viewed as one of the most physically taxing careers outranking jobs like mining.
In addition, dance teaches students valuable skills that they cannot learn within the classroom alone, like confidence, discipline, focus, and mastering goals. “Discipline, focus, teamwork, and being goal-oriented are all attributes that I feel are very important for kids nowadays,” Cooke shared. “Kids today have grown to spend more time alone with their devices rather than talking to each other. They’re slowly losing their conversational skills and are not likely to be outgoing. These are all traits that kids should have because they’re going into a rather different world than we did. Ballet and dance help all of these things. It’s a good outlet. Especially as they progress towards their O/Ls and A/Ls, they’re going to spend most of their day buried in books, and doing ballet and dance is a physical activity as well as a way for them to express themselves better. Parents should definitely encourage their kids to pursue ballet and dance.”