Starting Ballet as an Adult: Things I Wish I Knew
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Starting dance as an adult often means that you have to manage your training on your own. You may start taking a few open classes but then be unsure about how to improve or how to make the best out of it.
Over the past few years, I looked back at what I learned in the process. Here are some things I wish I had known when I started.
Finding the right classes and teacher
This might sound like an obvious one, but when I started, I mostly stuck to the same studio and classes. It took me some time to build confidence when dancing, so it felt easier to just go back to the same classes and teacher. Only after a while, I tried different studios and saw the variety of teaching methods and the impact it had on my training. Some teachers would provide very little feedback and others would give corrections to every student in the class.
Given the time and investment I was putting into dancing, I realized how important it was to have a teacher that really cares about your progress and gives you good corrections to help you improve. Having a good teacher became one of my top criteria for choosing a school or studio.
Knowing the differences between the teaching methods
I used to think that the differences between the various ballet styles were mostly artistic. But later, I realized that the corresponding teaching approaches are very different, and some might be a better fit for me than others. Some styles will focus on speed and powerful jumps, others will focus on precise footwork or on expressive port de bras.
Good technique can be achieved through any of these methods, but I feel like it’s important to choose one that fits your artistic preferences and the way your body likes to move naturally.
The more dancing I do, the more conditioning I need
I started getting pain from overuse when I went from one class a week to two or three classes per week. Doing more classes helped me improve my technique, but it wasn’t enough to build the required strength to sustain my class load. It was especially true since I was only taking open technique classes, which don’t always include conditioning. I realized that I needed to spend extra time strengthening my core and my ankles. Once implementing more conditioning, not only did I progress faster--it also helped me prevent injuries.
Now that I’m doing four to five classes a week, I need to do even more conditioning and recovery routines to stay in good shape. Some schools will include such training as part of their program but if not, you may need to do it on your own time.
There are more opportunities than I think
This might be the biggest tip for me! I used to think I would only be able to do open classes and stick to that. The dance world has a lot of learning opportunities that are geared towards younger dancers, so I thought those opportunities would not extend to me.
Later, I met other adult dancers who did performances, went on pointe, did summer intensives or even landed dance gigs! That’s when I realized I shouldn’t limit myself and I should try to actively search for these opportunities. They’re not always easy to find, but I can see that more and more schools and studios are offering programs for adult dancers. I realized that one of the reasons I didn’t find these opportunities before was simply because I didn’t look for them in the first place.
These things have really helped me improve over the past few years. Everyone’s dance journey is different, but I think it’s important to find the training that works best for you, and to not limit yourself in your dance practice!
