Sunnyside Arts Cooperative Offers Cool Classes For Little Queens Kids

4/18/11 - By Kathleen Tipton

As of 2012, it seems like the cooperative is no more. However, Sunnyside Ballet has moved to a new larger space.

Here in Sunnyside, Queens, just steps away from the 40th Street-Lowery Street stop on the 7 train, is a lovely little studio for kids' dance and theater classes. The name of the Sunnyside Arts Cooperative says it all: It was launched in June 2009 by several moms, all working arts professionals, who wanted to share their expertise with neighborhood families.

Their vision is paying off. One of the founders, Catherine Lutton Espinosa—a former performer with the Martha Graham Dance Company who teaches creative movement and is also studying for her master's in early childhood development at Hunter—says that not only the kids are learning, the moms are, too.

Read on for an inside look at this unique community spot.

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Upon entering the studio, I was surprised by its small size, especially considering all of the classes on offer. But when I considered the size of the children, it seemed just right. It certainly doesn't feel large and vacuous like other spaces, and the kids are clearly very comfortable expressing themselves in this cozy setting.

Coop cofounder Reveka Evangelia Mavrovitis, a principle performer at the Metropolitan Opera, originally rented the studio to house a Baldwin grand piano she'd been given. But she and her husband soon overhauled the space by adding mirrors, new floors, a coat of pink paint to the walls and lots of teachers and classes.

Programs include ballet, tap, theater arts and creative movement. Most classes are geared toward children ages 5 or 6 but there are also a handful of adult courses.

There's Sunnyside Ballet, a joint venture between Yasko Tekano-Williams and Melissa Orlando. Yasko offers dance instruction in English and in Japanese starting from age 3, and the company has an annual recital in June.

Cofounder Larissa Kiel, whose one-woman show about motherhood, For a Girl to Disappear, ran off-off Broadway last summer, teaches very popular theater-play classes.

Tuition is quite reasonable: Just $65 per month per weekly class. Enrollment is ongoing. There's also a drop-in rate of $20 per class. Many of the programs are drop-off, so you can go grab a coffee or browse the shops along Queens Boulevard. If you prefer to stay put, there's a waiting room where parents and caregivers can relax and watch the students in action.

If you're interested in enrolling your child in any of the programs, it's best to contact the individual teachers directly. You can find their email addresses and bios here.

There are a few additional offerings at the Coop, like Suzannah Scott Moncrieff MA, MT-BC, LCAT, who specializes in music therapy. Go to asoundspace.com for info.

The Queens branch of Music for Aardvarks and Other Mammals, run by Allison Tartaglia, also uses the space. Visit musicforqueens.com for info. Take note: These programs adhere to a different (and admittedly higher) pricing system.

The Sunnyside Arts Cooperative is a neighborhood gem for families that want to expose their kids to top-notch instruction and creative sensibilities.

 

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