Neil Towers, who trained at the Northern Ballet School and danced professionally with Slovak National Ballet, is opening new Ballet Classes in Liverpool City Centre for adults of all ages. Neil has been dancing since the age of 11 and feels dance can be as beneficial for everyone as it has been for himself.

The classes are part of a new branch of KNT Danceworks, a Manchester based company who have been teaching Adult-only Dance Classes since 2009. The Manchester classes have grown in popularity over the last 3 years and are now attended by 300 adults from all walks of life every week, and Neil is now expanding the company into Liverpool city centre.

The whole philosophy of KNT Danceworks is absolutely anyone can dance. Whether young or old, rich or poor, athletic or couch potato, coordinated or two left feet, everyone can enjoy an adult dance class and the health benefits it brings.

The classes are focussed on enjoyment. Many people initially turn up just wanting to burn a few calories without pounding the treadmills and to increase flexibility. What they don’t realise until a few lessons later is that they haven’t thought about how many calories they’ve burnt at all, because they’ve just been enjoying themselves. The classes provide a great place to meet likeminded adults, empty cluttered minds at the end of a busy working day and to learn a new hobby that for many lasts a lifetime.

When asked about his reasons for starting the classes, Neil said ‘We originally started the classes in Manchester because that’s where we had trained to dance ourselves. We felt the dance world had an exclusive feeling and was intimidating to non-dancers. Many people just don’t think they can understand dance, but they don’t realise how easy it is to get immersed in.’

‘Many people try dance as a child then quit as a teen, or when they move away to University. Sometimes people stop dancing because unfortunately there aren’t many places that properly cater for adults. It was a bit like, if you aren’t going to start training to dance professionally at 16, then you just have to stop. Others have never danced and don’t think dance is something you can get involved in as an adult. We sometimes get people asking “I’m 20 something, am I too old to dance?”… We have some dancers in our classes who started after the age of 50 and they dance brilliantly!’

‘We felt starting classes exclusively aimed at adults would really benefit the dance world by helping generate more interest and show people who were previously hesitant to watch dance just how absorbing it is. We also saw how much it could enrich people’s lives providing the obvious physical health benefits, but also the mental wellbeing it can provide.’

KNT Danceworks, Liverpool will be opening on Tuesday 3rd April at The Elliott Clarke Theatre School, Sefton Street. We’ll be starting off by opening Adult Ballet Classes but we’re looking to have opened classes in most styles of dance by this time next year. For more information, please visit KNT Danceworks, Liverpool’s website: www.kntdanceworks.co.uk/liverpool