New series of ballet lessons online

What started as a forced solution during the first lockdown; online ballet lessons via zoom for Dutch National Ballet dancers grew into a worldwide success.

After enthusiastically received live streams on Facebook, the Dutch National Ballet made a series of ballet lessons on YouTube. The series subsequently achieved more than 2.5 million views and many viewers 'practiced at home'. By popular request, a new series of ballet lessons will start on the YouTube channel of Dutch National Opera & Ballet from Saturday 6 March. The first lesson of the new series is given by Ernst Meisner with piano accompaniment from pianist Paul James Lewis and dancers Elisabeth Tonev and Davi Ramos. Until the summer, a new online class can be seen every two weeks.

Online succes

During the first lockdown, now more than a year ago, the dancers of Dutch National Ballet were forced to stay at home. The company decided to offer the dancers their daily ballet lessons via zoom. These lessons were initially also streamed weekly via the Facebook channel of Dutch National Ballet. For example, the audience saw how the dancers were taught in their living rooms by teacher Ernst Meisner, in order to maintain their fitness as much as possible.

The response from viewers was so enthusiastic that Dutch National Ballet decided to make some of the lessons public, for free on YouTube. The first lesson came online at the end of March 2020 and has now been viewed more than 1 million times. At the beginning of May, the dancers were allowed to return to the studios of Dutch National Ballet and the series ended, which has now been viewed more than 2.5 million times.