Everyday Encounters: A ballet teacher at Marin Dance Theatre builds community in Marin

Lexi Pittman pauses during her morning walk at Blackie’s Pasture Jan. 29. The Marin Dance Theatre instructor walks the Tiburon waterfront path most mornings before teaching ballet classes. (Tyler Callister / The Ark)

Between teaching young ballerinas their pliés and older students their pirouettes, Lexi Pittman says she needs a reset. Most mornings, the 25-year-old Marin Dance Theatre instructor walks the waterfront path at Blackie’s Pasture, earbuds in, letting podcasts and bay breezes clear her mind before the afternoon classes begin.

“This is kind of like a reset for my brain,” she says.

But Pittman’s most meaningful work at the San Rafael ballet school goes beyond teaching classical technique. Over the past few years, she and a colleague have developed an adaptive dance program for students on the autism spectrum and dancers with other sensory sensitivities — filling a gap in Marin’s dance community.

“That’s been really eye-opening,” she says. “We’re trying to build more of a community focus in Marin, because there hasn’t really been a program like this here.”

Read the complete story in our e-edition, or SUBSCRIBE NOW for home delivery and access to the digital replica.

Comment on this article on Nextdoor.