In a previous life as a professional violinist with a German state theater orchestra, Naples attorney Susan Nesbet-Sikuta played The Nutcracker dozens of times. Last winter, she found herself on the other side of the score, crossing the stage to music she once played from the pit.
One of 13 dancers in Naples Ballet & Company’s first adult recital last winter, Susan danced in high school and returned to the barre in the 2010s, when she enrolled her daughter at Naples Ballet and saw they had adult classes. Her classmate, Carol Rosenberg, started at 50 and has been practicing for two decades.
Long considered a childhood rite or punishing professional pursuit, ballet is shedding its expiration date. Across the country and in Southwest Florida, studios are adding or expanding adult programming, drawing back former dancers and introducing beginners to the art form. Naples Ballet and Gulfshore Ballet were early adopters, establishing adult programs two decades ago. Today, they’re joined by at least a dozen other studios, offering everything from evening schedules to age-specific programming.
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Photography by Christina Bankson
swfl adult ballet classes fitness etudes de ballet
Études de Ballet, in Naples, is the only studio in Southwest Florida offering the Silver Swans program, developed by London’s Royal Academy of Dance for dancers aged 55 and older.
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Photography by Christina Bankson
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Unlike popular barre workouts that borrow from ballet, these programs teach the traditional structure—complete with pink slippers, leotards and, at some studios, year-end recitals. Each class focuses on artistry, form and progression, but with different entry points and intensity levels.
Acclaimed Naples Ballet artistic director Christophe Maraval brings a classical approach to his thrice-weekly adult classes, which play out across five-month seasons. From warm-ups at the barre to floor routines, Christophe corrects adult beginners with the same exacting eye he brings to his pre-professional students, never letting posture or form go unaddressed. At Gulfshore Ballet in Fort Myers, former Miami City Ballet principals Iliana Lopez and Franklin Gamero lead four hour-long weekly offerings, including adult pointe. Students sign up for four- or 18-week sessions, with drop-in options for those who are unable to attend a multi-week commitment. Naples Dance Conservatory teaches its six weekly classes in the Cuban Ballet School tradition—an athletic, expressive form that blends Russian drama with Italian footwork and French precision.
While rigorous, the courses remain approachable for beginners. Classes build on each other and offer concrete goals to work toward, like audience-facing recitals at Naples Ballet or the chance to advance to pointe courses at Gulfshore Ballet.
Photography by Christina Bankson
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Where Christophe, Iliana and Franklin draw the challenge-hungry student, other studios center on maximum approachability. Cape Coral’s Art & Motion Studio tiers its curriculum based on experience. A free first class determines placement, whether that be private one-on-one instruction for advanced students, intermediate classes that emphasize form, or beginner sessions focused on getting you moving and engaged rather than drilling technique. “It’s not the same ballet that the younger dancers dance. It’s lower impact, calm, progressive,” says owner and instructor Aliosha Stefanicki. He and his fellow instructor, Rosmary Cardenas, keep class sizes capped at five students, ensuring hands-on attention and safety monitoring.
SWFL Ballet in Fort Myers schedules its adult classes in the morning and evening—great for Daniels Parkway commuters. Arts Bonita has a similar structure with twice-daily classes, sticking to a beginner’s curriculum. Across four-week sessions, dancers build strength and familiarity with foundational movements. “We’re an arts center first,” says Arts Bonita’s head of dance programming, Marissa Jankowski. “It’s less intimidating than a traditional studio, where you might be beside someone with a lot more experience.”
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Photography by Christina Bankson
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Naples Ballet & Company launched its adult program about two decades ago. Artistic director Christophe Maraval takes a classical approach, drilling technique with rigor and offering end-of-season recitals.
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Photography by Christina Bankson
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As adult ballet has proliferated, specialized programs have emerged to adapt the discipline for aging bodies without sacrificing the artistry. Études de Ballet, tucked beside a preserve off Pine Ridge and Livingston roads in Naples, is the only studio in Southwest Florida certified to offer the Silver Swans curriculum, developed by London’s century-old Royal Academy of Dance for dancers 55 and older. Instead of jumps and forced turnouts, classes emphasize modified movements that accommodate varying abilities, including seated options.
The program grew out of RAD’s Dance for Lifelong Wellbeing project, which promotes the physical, mental and social benefits of dance later in life. Balance, reaction time and coordination decline with age, but orthopedic doctors say those systems are trainable, and ballet challenges all three. Holding a turnout, keeping elbows lifted through a port de bras, and coordinating arms and legs to music require constant adjustments in balance and alignment. “People are discovering muscles they didn’t know they had,” Christophe says.
Over time, students gain strength and a fluidity of movement that extends into daily life. Rather than exercising for its own sake, dancers return to the barre to refine an art form, finding satisfaction in mastering new combinations, moving more expressively and seeing years of practice take shape. The studio becomes a community. For students like Susan and Carol, friendships formed at the barre continue through lunches, evenings at Artis—Naples or Barbara B. Mann shows, and recital rehearsals pliéing across the stage. The studio, Susan says, is a place where musicians, retirees, young mothers and late starters stand shoulder to shoulder at the barre, connected not by resume, but by repetition.
Photography by Christina Bankson
swfl adult ballet classes fitness student susan sikuta
Longtime Naples Ballet student Susan Nesbet-Sikuta returned to ballet as an adult, finding an artistic outlet and a community that has become part of her daily life.