Toronto has much to offer all sports and keep-fit enthusiasts. Everything from full-impact boxing lessons to adult ballet classes, you can find it here. These two opposing examples go to illustrate its big-city appeal, offering something for everybody.
Most people in Toronto follow some kind of exercise/fitness programme because keeping fit is an important part of daily routine. Gym activities such as Pilates, gymnastics or yoga, or fun activities such as group dancing, country dance or ballroom dancing, all have the same objective: get the body moving. Ballet is exercise and dance combined and it moves every part of the body. It is an excellent keep-fit alternative. The bonus point here is that, while ballet develops and streamlines muscles, the student ballerina acquires tone, poise and grace, and maybe loses a couple of pounds.
It is true that ballet is a hard discipline that should be practised from an early age. Still, there is no reason why an adult cannot take up ballet as a beginner. True, the body’s agility and flexibility diminish somewhat with age, but the basic steps, exercises, positions and choreography can be learnt by anybody who has enough interest to give it a try and stick with it. Many mothers whose children do ballet get caught up in the passion and enrol for a course at institutions like the Donita Ballet School; thus mothers and daughters acquire a common ground with a shared understanding of the difficulties and the joys of ballet dancing.
Many women who studied ballet in their youth come back to it at a later age, and even those who have never danced are often curious enough to experiment. Ballet is becoming more and more popular at an adult level as it is a graceful alternative to hip-hop or zumba. Being in an adult ballet class in Toronto, with the same doubts and difficulties like other adult students, is a great incentive. Gone are the days of feeling inadequate as the only adult surrounded by supple young girls; it is no longer rare to see an adult learning ballet dancing. Today, more and more adult women are appreciating the benefits and the fascination of ballet.