Ballet1

It’s 2019. We’re keeping up with the Kardashians (even if we don’t want to), we follow pro-athletes, sure, but also celebrity chefs and doctors and lawyers and fitness instructors. The cult of personality is everywhere and you can’t really unsubscribe.

There are plenty of great people who have managed to build up a following. And there are plenty of reasons not to listen to the majority of those people. Did you find your doctor on Instagram? We’re worried.

Which is all to say, we review experiences and not the people who started them. So here’s an exception to the rule: Ballet1 is really great, and it’s really great because of Eva Alt.

A lifelong dancer, Eva knows what it means to dance professionally, but also knows what it’s like to be a young professional in New York who needs a break from the internet and the constant internal dialogue that plagues us all. No, seriously, because when she’s not dancing, Eva is a Social Media Editor at Glossier.

Dancing classes can be intimidating, even ones that are billed as beginner-friendly. Ballet1 is all levels and it’s filled with Eva’s friends and friends of friends, so it feels more like you’re being welcomed into a dinner party with a bunch of people you actually want to get to know rather than just taking a class with extremely talented dancers—you’re doing both!

The class itself starts with pliés to warm up your calves and feet, a bit of skipping and leaping, which will make you feel like a kid again, and ends with a short routine. The skipping and leaping is the ultimate icebreaker and it’s pure joy.

The class is educational, too; Eva manages to share facts and stories about ballet that you didn’t know you wanted to know, like the meaning behind certain poses or the inspiration behind the choreography. In a city of harder, better, faster, stronger, Ballet1 is a great place to move intentionally with like-minded people.

No one here is judging and it’s totally cool if you mess up the moves. Eva’s kindness and warmth translate into true permission—permission to dance around, get into it, and give it your best go. Eva bills Ballet1 as “ballet for fun, ballet for exercise, ballet for learning about yourself, ballet for learning about other people, ballet for poetic expression” and honestly, we couldn’t have said it better ourselves. It’s truly an opportunity to move freely.

The class happens once a month, which makes it a real treat. Rearrange your schedule and leave class feeling like a happy camper, knowing you live in the greatest city in the world where people are doing cool things, having fun, and want you to join them.