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Adult Ballet: Complete Guide for Beginners: 2. The First Class: What to Expect
Published 08.07.2024, author Евгения Будрина
"Before I began teaching my own adult ballet classes I attended a 'Beginner' class with my grandma. It definitely wasn't beginner!", Georgia Canning @thebalancedballerina, professional ballerina, ballet studio owner (Gold Coast, Australia) and teacher, a great motivational speaker (TED-talk "Why ballet is brilliant").
Lifehack 2. Come to your first class earlier to have 15 minutes for warm-up.
As a rule, a warm-up is not part of ballet classes (surprise!). Students usually come earlier to have time to warm-up and stretch. Even if it's your first class ever, don't be shy to warm up even using the most basic exercises. Bend right and left, try to reach the floor with your hands while standing, legs straight. Rotate your feet clockwise and anti-clockwise. Do the exercises that are familiar to you. Do not try to repeat after the others not to pull your muscle because of some unknown excercise. After some time you will know your body better and will also learn special technique for the warm-up that suits you best.
During your first ballet class
What to expect
- Very calm tempo
- Lots of explanation from the teacher
- Focus on the basics: for example, learning the correct posture and working with arms.
What not to expect
- Pirouettes and splits
- Point shoes and tutus
- Learning "Paquita" variation
Dimitra Karagiannopoulou¹: Even if you're lucky with the teacher, the first class is always a small shock, ballet is not easy. It's hard for your body, for your focus, breathing and coordination. But despite all those difficulties you will feel light, inspired and even thrilled after your first class.
Elisaveta Klesheva²: Your first class might seem a bit monotonous due to many repetitions of the same basic exercises. Some students find barre exercises boring. They want to dance immediately, and expect fouettés and pirouettes etc. But it's important to understand that regular barre exercises will prepare your body for more complicated tasks, such as dancing combinations without barre.
Ilya von Gessen-Darmstadt³: I recommend trying to relax as much as you can during your first class. Everything is so new, your brain needs time to get used to new and unusual body positions. Usually the fist class is very slow and may even seem dull, but that's the beauty of it. At that slow tempo the teacher and the students have time to go through every tiny detail.
What to wear for you first class: tips and tricks
Elisaveta Klesheva²: Your first class might seem a bit monotonous due to many repetitions of the same basic exercises. Some students find barre exercises boring. They want to dance immediately, and expect fouettés and pirouettes etc. But it's important to understand that regular barre exercises will prepare your body for more complicated tasks, such as dancing combinations without barre.
Ilya von Gessen-Darmstadt³: I recommend trying to relax as much as you can during your first class. Everything is so new, your brain needs time to get used to new and unusual body positions. Usually the fist class is very slow and may even seem dull, but that's the beauty of it. At that slow tempo the teacher and the students have time to go through every tiny detail.
What to wear for you first class: tips and tricks
- Don't buy a leotard and ballet slippers for you first class. You do not know yet if you will like it and stay, which is why it's better to wait. You can wear yoga clothes or just your gym tights, a t-shirt and socks for your first ballet class.
- Do not buy pointe shoes. You will need to go a long way before you can wear them. Even students in professional ballet schools need to reach a certain level before they can wear pointe shoes.
Natalia Afanasieva⁴: You can wear anything you want, as long as it allows you to move freely. It could be yoga clothes, your favourite t-shirt and leggins etc.
How to behave at a ballet class
There is such a thing called ballet class etiquette. It's a set of unspoken rules that ballet students follow all over the world. They exist due to the fact that ballet has always about serious discipline. Don't be scared though, these are not some complicated rules that you won't be able to follow as a beginner. They are more like subtleties that you need to take into consideration. Here are the most important ones:
There is such a thing called ballet class etiquette. It's a set of unspoken rules that ballet students follow all over the world. They exist due to the fact that ballet has always about serious discipline. Don't be scared though, these are not some complicated rules that you won't be able to follow as a beginner. They are more like subtleties that you need to take into consideration. Here are the most important ones:
- Do not enter the classroom when the music is playing. If you're late for your class, wait until the music stops, enter and take a free place at the barre.
- Do not comment on the teacher's explanations. Even if you're really eager to give your point of view, please refrain from talking and, instead, approach the teacher when your class is finished to ask your question.
- The teacher is often the one who will indicate where exactly you will stand at the barre and in the center. You cannot stand where you like just because you like it.
- No talking during class. You cannot exchange a couple of phrases with a friend like you do at a group class at the gym. The teacher is the only one who talks.
I was once at a class where students went to sip on their coffee and take a selfie after each exercise at the barre. I was shocked, to say the least of it. I'm used to serious discipline at ballet classes (I did ballet in Russia for 9 years) and it was the first time I saw students basically doing what they want at the class and the teacher didn't say a word. I never came back to this class.
Notes:
1 - Dimitra Karagiannopoulou - Teaches ballet in National School of Dance in Athens, in private professional ballet schools and in ballet studios for amateurs. Bolshoi Ballet Academy graduate, ballet teaching methodology course graduate in Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet.
2 - Elisaveta Klesheva - Ballet teaching methodology course graduate, Bolshoi Ballet Academy. Founder and teacher of STUDIO-LIK ballet studio for adults and kids in Moscow, Russia.
3 - Ilya von Gessen-Darmstadt - Bolshoi Ballet Academy graduate, ex ABT dancer in New York. Currently teaches in Dance Secret adult ballet studio in Moscow, Russia.
4 - Natalia Afanasieva - @natti_afanasieva, ballet studio owner (Moscow, Russia), experienced adult ballerina.
