Marisol Duarte
Founder and Principal
Ballet · here since 2011
Founded the school in 2011 and still teaches ballet six days a week.
Dance
Ballet classes in Woodside, Queens
The technique everything else in this building borrows from, taught slowly and in the same order every year.
“She keeps asking for ballet. Is four too young?”
What ballet actually is
Ballet is the longest ladder we teach and the one with the least hurry in it. A three-year-old in First Steps is learning to hear a phrase of music and stop when it stops. A fifteen-year-old in the Thursday technique class is working on the same five positions, at a level of detail that would have been meaningless to her at eight.
In the room
What is actually taught
- Barre work from the first class at every level above First Steps, because the barre is where a habit is built and the centre is where it is tested
- Centre practice, adage and allegro, in a proportion that changes with the level rather than with the term
- Port de bras and épaulement taught as part of the vocabulary rather than as a finishing polish
- A short repertoire study in the summer term, which is what goes on the recital stage
On the timetable
The classes
Every row is the real class: the day, the room, the teacher and the fee the enrolment system actually charges.
| Class | Day | Time | Room | Teacher | Places | Term fee |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BalletFirst Steps ages 3 to 5 | Monday | 3:45pm - 4:30pm | Studio A | Marisol Duarte | 12 | $234 |
| BalletBallet 1 ages 6 to 8 | Monday | 4:45pm - 5:45pm | Studio A | Marisol Duarte | 16 | $286 |
| BalletBallet 3 ages 11 to 14 | Monday | 6:00pm - 7:15pm | Studio A | Marisol Duarte | 16 | $338 |
| BalletAdult open eighteen and over | Monday | 7:30pm - 8:45pm | Studio A | Marisol Duarte | 18 | $338 |
| BalletFirst Steps ages 3 to 5 | Wednesday | 3:45pm - 4:30pm | Studio A | Marisol Duarte | 12 | $234 |
| BalletBallet 2 ages 9 to 11 | Wednesday | 4:45pm - 5:45pm | Studio A | Marisol Duarte | 16 | $286 |
| BalletBallet 4 ages 14 to 17 | Wednesday | 6:00pm - 7:15pm | Studio A | Marisol Duarte | 16 | $338 |
| BalletTeen technique ages 13 to 17 | Thursday | 6:00pm - 7:15pm | Studio A | Marisol Duarte | 16 | $338 |
| BalletBallet 3 ages 11 to 14 | Friday | 5:45pm - 7:00pm | Studio A | Marisol Duarte | 16 | $338 |
| BalletFirst Steps ages 3 to 5 | Saturday | 9:00am - 9:45am | Studio A | Marisol Duarte | 12 | $234 |
| BalletBallet 1 ages 6 to 8 | Saturday | 9:45am - 10:45am | Studio A | Marisol Duarte | 16 | $286 |
| BalletBallet 2 ages 9 to 11 | Saturday | 10:45am - 12:00pm | Studio A | Marisol Duarte | 16 | $338 |
| BalletAdult open eighteen and over | Saturday | 1:15pm - 2:30pm | Studio A | Marisol Duarte | 18 | $338 |
What it costs
The arithmetic, for one class in full
Ballet 1 with Marisol Duarte is one example. Every other class in this discipline, and every class in the school, is the same sum with different numbers.
How that figure is arrived at
- Ballet, Ballet 1 — an hourrate$22
- Mondays in Fall Term 2026, recess weeks removed× thirteen—
- Registration, once a school year per studentonce$30
- Fall Term 2026, this classthirteen sessions$286
$22 is the published rate for an hour, and it is on the fees page. That multiplication is the whole of it: no materials charge, no studio levy and no compulsory extras. A 10 per cent family discount comes off every class after the first, and a student joining part-way through the term pays for the sessions still to come rather than for the ones already gone.
Pointe work, and the honest answer about age
We do not put a student on pointe because she has reached a birthday or because she has done a number of years. The decision is about ankle and foot strength, the state of the growth plates, and whether she is taking at least two ballet classes a week — and it is made by Marisol, in the studio, one student at a time, in consultation with the family. Most students who go on pointe here do so between twelve and fourteen. Some do not, and continue in soft shoes to the top of the school, which is a perfectly ordinary way to be a ballet student. Any school that will put an eleven-year-old on pointe because the parent asked is selling something other than ballet.
Who teaches it
One teacher, and no rota
In a school this size, the person watching a technique in the first week of a term is the same person watching it in the last.
Before the first class
What to wear
- Soft leather or canvas ballet shoes, full sole for First Steps and split sole from Ballet 1
- A leotard, and footless or convertible tights; a wrap skirt if she wants one
- Hair off the face and off the neck — a bun above Ballet 1, a firm ponytail below it
- No jewellery beyond small studs, and nothing on the wrists
There is no school leotard and no compulsory colour. Any plain leotard is fine and we would rather you spent the money on the second term.
Questions about ballet
Is there a strict age cut-off for First Steps?
First Steps is built for children ages 3 to 5, and a child a little outside that band is a conversation with Marisol rather than an automatic no. What matters is whether forty-five minutes in a room of that size suits the child in front of her, not the date on a form.
When does a student go on pointe?
One student at a time, on ankle and foot strength and how many ballet classes she is taking, and never on a birthday. The section above on this page goes through it properly, and it is worth reading before you ask for it on the telephone.
Do you prepare students for ballet examinations?
No. Our levels are our own and this school is not presented as registered with any examination board, so no student here is entered for a named board's graded examination.
Ballet · one free trial per student
Book a free trial class
A trial is a real class and the student joins in — the only evidence about a school that is not marketing, which is why it costs nothing.