If you are looking at starting ballet classes, especially as an adult, you will probably be looking for ballet tips for beginners, so these are some of my tips on how to start training for ballet, especially if you start when you are older than the normal age of five.
If you are an adult wanting to get good at ballet you will need to be spending at least three hours a week in class, especially if you are an adult beginner, as your body has set, and the movements will be a little more difficult to master than a child whose body is still soft and pliable.
You will also need a lot of work in the beginning so that your body can learn the muscle memory required for ballet so be patient with yourself during the first year or two while your body learns what it should be doing.
Learning your basic arm and leg positions is a good idea to do before you attend your first official ballet lesson.
Ballet Tips For Beginners
These ballet tips are designed for the older beginner who would like to take his or her dancing to the next level, and not just somebody who is doing ballet for fun and exercise purposes.
Ballet Tip Number One:
Don’t Be Obsessed With Your Body Shape
The body shape is really important in ballet and some people are born with that perfect ballerina body. But for the majority of us, we have to make the best out of what we are given. Learning ballet will give you grace and improve your posture, so already you will have a major advantage over the majority of the population.
Work hard in class and concentrate on what muscles should be activated at what times, and in this way, you will always improve on what you have.
Supplement your ballet training with some yoga and Pilates as this will strengthen and tone all the right muscles.
Ballet Tip Number Two:
Learn To Take Correction
Your teacher is there to give you help and correct your technique. Sometimes it may feel as if she is picking on you, but this is not the case, and you will most likely find that she is only trying to help you to be the best dancer that you can be.
If you get corrected, try to absorb and work on the correction as the smaller details are what is going to make you the better dancer in the end.
Ballet Tip Number Three:
Do It Often
Ballet is not something you are going to improve in if you choose to take one lesson a week. The more you do it the better you will get. One lesson a week students generally are in the class to get some exercise and not to actually improve their dancing skills in a hurry.
Ballet Tip Number Four:
Listen To Your Body
Ballet is a physically demanding art that requires your body to do all sorts of things that are not normal.
Don’t try to get there in a day. Work consistently to strengthen your muscles and don’t force your joints to do things that they are not ready for.
Some of the most common mistakes beginners (and even more experienced dancers) make that can cause damage to their bodies are:
- forcing their feet to turn out instead of using the hips to turn out the legs and feet.
- trying to do dangerous leaps and jumps without learning to land properly first.
- going into pointe shoes before the muscles are sufficiently trained.
- doing backbends without supporting them with your core muscles.
- forcing or bouncing stretches. Consistent gentle stretching will get you there in the long run.
- only do what your body feels comfortable doing, so if you have bad knees, don’t do full plies, or if you have back problems don’t kick your leg too high behind you.
Ballet Tip Number 5:
Stretch Often
Try to do some stretching every day, as having a flexible body will leave you less prone to injury, and your dancing will also look better if your body can move freely.
For some great stretching routines I highly recommend this stretching article and the course recommended at the end of it.
Ballet Tip Number 6:
Practice, Practice And Then Practice Some More
During class time, take advantage of the time you have in the studio and with a teacher.
Put in your best effort all the time and don’t be tempted to do anything half-way because you are getting tired. If you channel your energy into the right places, you will get the results you are wanting.
More Ballet Tips For you:
Here is a great video to give you more tips on the actual ballet steps that you are learning and doing.
If you have any more ballet tips for beginners, please feel free to add them to the comments section below.
I am a dancer, but have no experience with ballet. I always thought that you can only learn and practise ballet as a child. My sister studied ballet through school while I was caught up with tennis and track and field. We are now adults and I can see how the many years of training gave her the posture, the form and the way of walking that I don’t have. Thanks for this article that introduces the do’s and don’ts and the approach that helps to succeed in carrying out this practise. Will I try ballet? I am thinking about it.
Lots of people think that you have to start young, but in fact, you can start at any age and still benefit a lot from ballet training.
I have always had a thing for ballet and ballet dancers. It’s just divine and now that you’re giving some tips to give beginners, it just opens up a hope in my heart that maybe I too can dance ballet because I mean it doesn’t seem so hard does it. I think listening to my body is an attribute that I really have and i am ready to take to corrections.
Go for it Riley. But believe me it is harder than it looks, so you will need to be patient with yourself.
l love ballet. Hope my daughter will love it. She is 4 1/2 years old. Good age for start up? What is your opinion? Thank you indeed!
Anywhere between 4 and 7 is great, but it gets more difficult to start up after that, although many do.