“Five, six, seven, eight. Piqué front, side, back, plie.”

The light brushing of toes on the floor blends with the sound of classical music. Two barres stand in the center of the studio, each host to four students.

Mistakes are met with laughs and gentle corrections.

It’s Thursday evening at Springs Dance, and Kamille Galant is teaching adult ballet level 5. Here, individuals can learn and practice ballet at any age. Some come with prior experience, wanting to return to previous passions; others come with no knowledge of dance, looking to finally live their dream of learning ballet.

Galant, who has taught ballet for five years, instructs several of the studio’s adult ballet classes.

“Adults are really there because they have the passion for it,” Galant said. “I think it’s really a different mindset coming from the adults versus the kids. So it’s really awesome. They create such a positive environment.”

For those interested in learning a new skill, there’s no better time to start. The classes continue year round, and are designed for those at all skill levels — from beginner to intermediate to advance. Some adult students even go on to pointe shoes.

“There’s five different levels for adults, which is unheard of,” said student Karen Donvito, 44.

Donvito takes the studio’s level 5 adult ballet class alongside friend Kate Margrabe, 42. Both women danced when they were younger and have found these classes are a way to return to something familiar.

“I danced very serious, classical ballet for like 18 years, when I was high school, growing up,” Margrabe said. But it wasn’t until her own daughter started dance two years ago that she decided to return, excited by the variety of adult classes. “I’d been wanting to get back into it, because it was such a huge part of my life.”

The studio offers morning and evening classes throughout the week, with class sizes ranging from a few students to just under 20 students.

A favorite part for Galant is carrying on the legacy of ballet as an art form.

“It’s kind of underappreciated,” she said. “I think that it’s really awesome to help these adults that may have never danced in their life understand how to move their body in different ways, especially for ballet — even versus another kind of style of dance like jazz. It’s super interesting and intricate the way that you have to engage your muscles.”

Ballet requires strength, Galant said, but this workout is quite different from going to the gym.

“Ballet in particular, you have to be really in tune with your body, so you gain a lot of strength in areas that you might have not thought of gaining strength in before,” she said. “It’s such a different way of engaging your muscles in your body, so you’re kind of gaining a graceful strength.”

Donvito echoed Galant, saying that the posture and strong core that ballet requires is a workout in itself.

“This is my gym, I don’t go work out. I don’t have a gym membership. I come here for two days a week — that does that,” Donvito said.

Outside of the physical, the sport is also a way to take a healthy mental break, Galant said.

“It’s kind of a cliche, but you really just leave your mind at the door and you’re focusing in class, so it’s 100% attention on what you’re doing to benefit yourself,” Galant said.

Margrabe said that mentally, it’s really helped her. For both her and Donvito, it’s a set-aside time where they can focus on themselves.

“After I had kids, I decided it was time to do something for myself,” Donvito said.

The dancers also look forward to a space with no judgement. It doesn’t matter what your body looks like or what skill level you’re at, there’s a place here for all, Margrabe said.

“It’s welcoming to anyone,” she said. “When we were growing up, it was like, ‘specific body type’ ‘specific this, that’ and here, it’s just ‘We want to be here.’”

Perhaps the most fulfilling part of the job for Galant: seeing her adult students learn and grow.

“When they get to that point, it’s really refreshing to see how well they feel about themselves, because they were able to accomplish such a hard thing, and in a fun environment too, filled with supportive people in class and and that.”