Princeton Ballet School is set to offer new classes for its 2014-15 academic year.
This year, the school is offering Conditioning for the Mind and Body, or CoMBo. CoMBo will join CardioBallet on the roster of Exercise and Movement classes for adult students.
CoMBo was developed by Rider University director of dance Kim Chandler Vaccaro. It is a holistic movement system that integrates her knowledge of neuroscience, Pilates, yoga, T’ai Chi Ch’uan, dance movement therapy, Alexander Technique, Body Mind Centering, Ideokinesis, and many of the somatic modalities and dance forms that were introduced in the 20th century.
Throughout her academic career, Vaccaro’s main research has related to stimulating and utilizing focus, imagery, and visualization in movement and dance. She has taught Pilates classes at Princeton Ballet School for several years, increasingly implementing concepts from her research into class, making them more “contemplative and introspective” over the years.
CoMBo is an extension of this exploration, informed by Vaccaro’s recent research at Naropa University in Boulder, Colo., where she spent a semester on sabbatical from Rider University. At Naropa, she studied the creative process and mindfulness in conjunction with neuroscience, which led to her development of the CoMBo curriculum
As a daily practitioner of her own work, Vaccaro describes CoMBo as a class of “no pain, great gains.” With careful attention to progression, CoMBo takes participants through contemplative practices, core strengthening exercises, and dance movement.
CoMBo is part of Princeton Ballet School’s Open Enrollment series of classes. It is scheduled for Tuesdays from 7-8:30 p.m. and Fridays 9:30-10:45 a.m. at Princeton Ballet School’s location above McCaffrey’s in the Princeton Shopping Center, 301 N. Harrison St.
CoMBo may be taken on a drop-in, pay-per-class basis. Classes are $20.
More information is online at americanrepertoryballet.org.
Kim Chandler Vaccaro,
