The Bonney Lake Senior Center will be offering ballet classes to children 8 and older beginning June 25.

Senior center member Kathe McElroy will teach the class every Friday from 2 to 3:30 p.m. until August 27. McElroy is a lifelong devotee of ballet who studied at the Semperoper opera house in Dresden, Germany before the outbreak of World War II, danced at venues across Europe and the Middle East after the war and taught ballet classes in Washington state for more than 15 years before retiring.

Students will learn the basic steps and exercises of ballet, hopefully advancing to a point where they can begin to link the steps together, McElroy said.

“The most important thing is grace and the ability to move gracefully,” she said. “Some students when they start cannot even stand up straight and they hold their arms out locked. If there’s a goal for the class, I think it will be to learn to move gracefully.”

Sign-up for the class is at the Bonney Lake Senior Center. The cost of the class is $50, which will go to center funds. Students will be expected to come to class dressed in a black leotard and to bring a large towel for floor stretches.

The Bonney Lake Senior Center is located at 19304 Bonney Lake Blvd, next to city hall. It is open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.