“Plie, then passe. Releve. Balance, girls.” Barbara Marshall with a spectacular Lake Worth story

[Update: this article is in the print edition of today's (9/26) paper.] This is a must read article by the Post's Barbara Marshall; below are the first 5 paragraphs in a highly interesting article which includes some of the history of dance right here in the City of Lake Worth:

“Plie, then passe. Releve. Balance, girls.”

     In an old Lake Worth ballet studio where newly-installed “sprung” floors rebound with each step, Deborah Marquez calls out a dance sequence. Her students move through the classical ballet exercises while balanced on two-inch rectangles of cardboard and satin at the tips of their pointe shoes.
     Marquez changes the angle of a dancer’s foot as she gently rotates it from the hip for a deeper turn-out. She steadies another dancer as the teenager arches lower, lower, lower until her torso is bent backward, parallel to the floor.
     Earlier this month, this renovated vintage dance studio on a moribund stretch of N. Dixie Highway became the new home of the School of Ballet Arts, Marquez’ 5-year-old ballet school. [emphasis added]
     The Cuban-born former professional ballerina, who danced with the Cuban National Ballet and Ballet Florida, has dreams for the school as lofty as her advanced students’ jetes.

The ballet school is located at 924 Dixie Hwy in Lake Worth. The phone number is 561-582-3100 and they also have a Facebook page.