Starting Ballet in Adulthood
Coco’s Tips and Tricks for Your First Class!
By Coco Liu, DWC Ambassador
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Starting ballet as an adult can be a terrifying and nerve-racking experience. But it should not limit you from giving ballet a chance because when you look back, it will be worth it.
My Very First Ballet Class
At a young age, I was able to see quite a few well-known ballets, such as Swan Lake and The Nutcracker. I was just mesmerized by the dance form itself, I never truly understood how difficult and technical ballet was. It took several months of taking ballet classes that I truly grasped the difficulty. To this day, I still remember stepping into my very first ballet class. It was winter of 2018, I found a beginner ballet class at The Ballet Studio in University District. The moment I stepped into the classroom, I felt like I didn’t belong. The studio was wooden-floored, the barre and mirrors were a bit outdated, a pianist was sitting in the corner of the studio, and several students were already stretching by the barre. The teacher, Renzo, came up to me and introduced himself: “Is it your first-time doing ballet? Just follow along!” Renzo asked me to stand in between some experienced students so I had someone to refer to on both sides. We then started the class. Throughout the class, Renzo used ballet terminology in French and my brain just went, “sorry Tendu what?” I tried to copy whatever Renzo was demonstrating, but was not able to focus on my form. I didn’t know what I was doing. At the end of the class, I honestly felt a little bored and did not think ballet was physically challenging, simply due to my lack of knowledge in ballet technique and lack of preparation for my first class. Since I was determined to dance ballet in the center, I wanted to give ballet a shot for at least a month. After gaining more understanding of the technical aspects of ballet a month later, I realized how difficult it is.
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How to Prep and What to Expect For Your First Class
Here are some tips I wish I would have known before attending my first ballet class.
Learn basic terminology, for example:
Turnout: feet are pointed more to the sides of the body than the front and legs are rotated outwards
Tendu: working leg is extended along the floor until only the tip of the toe remains touching the floor
Plie: knee bending; used in jumps and turns to absorb shock
Eleve: lifted up; rise to stand on the balls of your feet
Watch some Youtube videos from the comfort of your home
Be patient!
I went back home and reflected on my first class then decided to do some research on my own about basic ballet techniques. I watched hours and hours of YouTube videos on basic techniques like tendus, plies, arm positions, etc. I wish I had some of these basic terms in my back pocket before going into my first class. Ever since then, I would watch a couple of new technique videos before attending ballet classes.
Here are three Youtubers I watched:
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I started truly loving ballet after learning the basic vocabulary and having some understanding of how to use my muscles correctly. Then, when I attended classes, all the basic movements became so much more interesting and challenging because I was able to focus more on muscle movement.
Introduction to ballet can also be quite boring because all the movements are slower and smaller. But these basic movements are crucial for building the correct muscle for all the big jumps, turns, and fancy movements you will get to do down the line. So being patient at the beginning is key!
How to Make Progress
One of the main practices that helped me was to set a weekly or biweekly goal. For example, I wanted to have a better second position arm placement at the barre and in center. Then, for the next week or two, I would constantly make mental checks on my arms at the barre and in center to make sure I was engaging the correct muscles and training my body to remember this position. By repeating this, my body would eventually build the correct muscle memory so it can hold the position without me giving it too much thought. Then, I would focus on something else. I have been using this technique for the past 3 years and have been very happy with the progress.
Set Your Expectations and Goals
Imposter syndrome in the dance community hits me quite hard. Whenever I browse Instagram or watch a professional ballet performance, I always wish I could be more like the professional ballerinas. But realistically speaking, I was not able to train at a young age, I am not able to dance every single day due to my full-time job, and the list goes on and on. As someone who began dancing as an adult, it would be very difficult for me to have super-high extensions, out-of-this-world flexibility, or do thirty fouetté turns, so it is important to set our own goals and create our own challenges. Ballet has become an important aspect of my life and a passion I would never give up. Dance can still bring us so many benefits in our life, such as providing us with a safe space to express ourselves, becoming healthier, stronger, and more confident, and building a supportive community that shares the same passion as us.
If you are reading this blog post and have some desire to try ballet, please don’t hesitate to try a class! I would strongly encourage anyone to step out of their comfort zone and give dance/ballet a chance. I currently dance at Dance Underground with 2ndActDance and also teach a beginner class that focuses on fundamental movements and muscle usage so dancers can move to the next level with a strong foundation. Feel free to reach out to me on Instagram @x.co.x.co.x or visit our website at https://www.2ndactdance.com/
