Getting in step with Adult Ballet for Boomers at Prairie School of Dance

Forming a chest-high oval with her arms, ballet instructor Sarah Linner Quie spread them like wings and began her count: “Ready, here we go. And one, two, three, four …  one, two, three …”

With the count, six suburban women of the post-World War II generation moved forward: toe/heel, toe/heel, toe/heel.  The Oct. 3 session of Adult Ballet for Boomers is one of the adult classes at Prairie School of Dance (PSOD). After 26 years in Eden Prairie, the full-range, four-studio dance academy relocated last year to a single site in Chanhassen. 

“Dance is the incarnation of joy,” says Quie, herself a boomer. “If you’re stuck in thoughts or being in a bad mood, it brings you to being in a good mood.”

Quie began taking ballet lessons in kindergarten. She kept them up through high school and majored in dance and religion at St. Olaf College. She subsequently became the dance director at Macalester College and taught dance and choreographed sacred dance and festivals in South Bend, Indiana. After returning to Minnesota, she founded the St. Anthony School of Dance, which grew into the St. Paul Ballet. 

Prairie School of Dance was formed in 1997 at Prairie Lutheran Church. Her husband, Joel Quie, now retired, was pastor of the southeastern Eden Prairie congregation. Fourteen years after adding two studios at Grace Church, Sarah Quie sold PSOD to associate and friend Sarah Steichen Stiles for the move to Chanhassen.

Sarah Quie remains a consultant and teacher. She says Minnesota Ballet Theatre legend Loyce Houlton is among those who most inspired her approach to dance, choreography and teaching.

Quie repeated the count, “four, five, six. Keep it smooth. Backing up now. One, two, three …” 

Some of the boomers were relearning the five basic ballet positions and many moves they may have mastered as kids. Mary Allen of Richfield is not one of them. “I have never taken a dance lesson, and I have no rhythm,” she says.

The 66-year-old mother says balance and pointing her toes like a ballerina are really hard. “At this age, we get a lot of cramps,” she says. Her confession was bracketed with short chuckles. But ballet lessons, she added, make her days and life better. “I wish my mother had signed me up when I was 7.”

Midway through the hour, Quie punched in a bubbly, classical piano recording to nudge students toward the graceful realm of the ballerina. Beginning with tendu devant (toe points on the floor) and chaînés (twirls), the hyper-focused ladies did not suppress an occasional smile as they navigated the floor.

“You get older, you think you cannot dance anymore,” says Quie. “This is the class that says, ‘Yes, you can.’  It connects you to your center, your balance and your muscular structure, and you’re moving to music, and you laugh at yourself if you cannot quite get it. It has a wonderful community feel in the class.”

Minnetonka resident Kim Herzog agrees: “There is no perfection here, no expectations, no judgment here. You’re just here to enjoy yourself.”

The sessions respect the boomer age set in another way. They begin slowly, with foot massaging, stretching, and movement exercises to stimulate circulation in the muscles. Participants use a ballet barre to practice basic positions and moves, and they learn some French: plié (bend), grand plié (big bend), tendu (to stretch), dégagé (to disengage), rond de jambe (round of the leg).

Herzog appreciates the spiritual component of Prairie School of Dance, an aspect she has observed is missing at commercial gyms. There is no (religious) push here. “As Sarah Quie says, ‘“We are spiritual beings in a physical body, not physical beings in a spiritual body,'” says Herzog.

The final moments of the boomers’ class were quiet, maybe prayer-like. PSOD describes itself as a non-denominational, faith-based dance school, open and welcoming to all age groups.

PSOD executive director and owner Steichen Stiles has subbed for Quie a few times. They’ve worked together for 17 years. Steichen Stiles also graduated in dance from St. Olaf. She has performed nationally and in Russia, France and Cuba. As a noted choreographer, she knows the emotional chemistry and power of dance.

For boomers fitted with soft ballet slippers, she sees an innocence and curiosity more typical of 3- to 5-year-olds. “There is that beginner’s mindset that we are trying something new …,” says Steichen Stiles. “They are not taking themselves all that seriously. The boomers have lived enough of life to know.”

The New York Times and Minnesota Public Radio reported a year ago that ballet for senior women and men is trending. Students and teachers have found classes to be good for balance, dexterity, strength, and cognition.

Getting started

Both Sarahs say the boomer ballet lessons are designed for adults at any skill level at any time during their run through May 2025. Classes are Thursdays from 10 to 11 a.m. Participants should bring their own ballet slippers. Loose-fitting shirts and tops are welcome.

Prairie School of Dance is at 18946 Lake Drive East in Chanhassen, about one-third of a mile west of Dell Road. For more information, call (952) 829-9436 or visit the PSOD website.

Editor’s Note: Writer Jeff Strate is a founding board member of Eden Prairie Local News.