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Welcome teenballet! 😊Please do introduce yourself in the Welcome Forum!! 👍

I have not yet, but it is on my list. So happy to read you enjoyed it so! 👏👏👏

Hi @mom2 Nice to meet you! :)

Hi teenballet! Welcome to Ballet Talk for Dancers. I hope you'll take some time to check out our various forums - there is a lot of information! I hope you'll have the opportunity to take classes before too long. All the best, mom2

I suppose it’s been a while since this thread Doormouse. How did everything turn out? Did you end up taking the exam? Is your dance teachers partner okay? I hope everything turned out alright in the end.

Clutter bug, I enjoyed the article you posted regarding dance and mental health. How insightful! After reading this article, it really opened my eyes to a downside of dance. I agree there should be a psychologist available to dancers when needed, and in my opinion, especially teens. They are at a growing, vulnerable stage of their lives. In regards to going into mental health as a career, and with the exception to the cost of schooling, what a great idea! Both the experience of dance, and knowing the mindset of a dancer, it sounds like this could be a great opportunity all around.

I love Misty Copeland's book, "Life in Motion: An Unlikely ballerina". I have two versions of it: junior and adult. Has anyone read this book?

I have to say... Misty Copeland and Dusty Button. Misty Copeland has actually inspired me to do ballet!

Hi! I have always loved ballet ever since I was little. I'd dance when a movie credits came on. Then (seven or six years old) I asked my parents if I could have ballet lessons... sadly, they said no. I was completely devastated. I had seen ballets on PBS. I was so in awe of the beauty and art. I wanted so badly to do it. I forgot all about ballet even though I still danced in front of my family. I still had that yearning to do something with dance. Now, I have found my passion again. I have been stretching, exercising, and doing things that could help me for future ballet lessons.

StormTrooper I kind of agree with you here, this has always been the case in my experience. I understand that there can be effective teachers who didn't go this route, but personally I haven't had any. Or maybe it is more correct to say that in my experience teachers who fit the above descriptions are always better (more knowledgeable, structure better classes, pick better music, more technically correct) than teachers who do not. My only distinction would be about "Class A" companies, because I think the 'prestige' of the company a teacher formally danced for contributes insignificantly, espe

So, Thomas, its now been a few weeks. Have you tried "exposing" your tights in class yet? IF so, how did it go. Once you get over that hump you will never go back. Post an update for us. Cheers. M

Here, here, Miss Persistent! I completely agree with this thought, along with your point that the relationship between student and teacher is also an important factor in progression. In my opinion, the importance of the teacher/student relationship and communication is often overlooked, particularly by adults who are not as skilled in identifying the subtle art and mastery of good teaching (which included me, back in the day, when I was trying to find the "perfect" pre-pro school for my DD, and so was looking for objective metrics to measure and assess)..... I wish it were the case tha

Brilliantly said Miss Persistent! Thank you. It is well known in the professional ballet world that often the better teachers are those who were not "famous" for their stage work. As for a syllabus, it can only be well accomplished through the melding of good teaching and a student who is willing to learn what is being taught.

As a teacher, I don't agree that syllabus class taking is the only way to progress technically at all. As an RAD Examiner, I teach both syllabus classes, and non-syllabus classes. I have taught in Australia and America in RAD and 'Vaganova-styled' schools. What is important is not the method or syllabus - it is that technical improvement is correctly structured, and there is appropriate and adequate progression. It is absolutely possible for a knowledgeable teacher to work without a formalised syllabus, as long as there are clear objectives and goals to what they are teaching. For

Here is a link to the 2020 "Dancewave through College and Beyond" https://dtcb.dancewave.org/

Looking for feedback now that program has transitioned to Walnut Hill. I am questioning the cost of the Boston Ballet pre-pro program. Is there a way for students to be de-coupled from the academic program at Walnut HIll? And transferring in junior year of high school seems very disruptive academically. Cost at $62k per year is crazy, if not looking for the academic but mainly for ballet training. It is way over the top compared to other US and even UK schools. I totally get the value of a Walnut Hill education, but if not wanting to get that education, and also transferring in towards e

These discussions amuse me. In these cases, heterosexual men want to explore ballet, but their sexual identity is threatened by engaging in an activity largely practiced by females. The male then endlessly wrestles with ballet apparel and seeks out advice here, Reddit, and elsewhere about what to wear. Of course, red-blooded American men don't obsessively discuss apparel choices. It's females who typically take delight in discussing how clothes look. Some part of me is thinking: "Be a man. Just put on the dance belt and tights and dance." It takes some courage to enter the studio. It

American Repertory Ballet would have been called Princeton Ballet at that time.

Kalashnikov is right about sizing and fabric, but HOW you put on a pair of tights properly has a big role in it too (which I'll explain since many guys just don't know) The best tights I ever found were made by Degas (in France). American brands just never really did it for me...and BTW Lycra sucks! IMO the best fabric is MERYL. Bamboo is OK too. They are both super soft (like cotton), real stretchy without losing shape, wick sweat much better than lycra, and they just feel so wonderful on your body LOL! What's real nice is that as your start to move around in them and build up

it’s a good publication!

RAD and Cecchetti both offer syllabi for recreational and for vocational (facility possessing dancers) ballet training. Syllabus class taking is the only way to improve technically that is cost effective, meaning unless you want to pay for private training, I think. Look for a teacher who understands well that children and adults learn differently. Most teachers have experience with 1) how they were trained as a youngster 2) teaching children and teens. These teachers often lack the insight to present ballet to adults effectively, most but not all such teachers. Teachers who are ex-

Welcome to Ballet Talk for Dancers Michael, and also welcome to another EngLit academic (I work on the 19th century but studied Modernism in my early graduate studies work). We don't tend to discuss fictional careers here - this part of Ballet Talk is very practically oriented. So you might enjoy reading through some of the threads on actual dancing careers. For the historical background you're interested in, you might find our sister board, Ballet Alert! really useful. That board is dedicated to discussion of the art of ballet, mostly from the point of view of spectators, as well as

Dear dancers, teachers, and balletomanes, I am an academic whose speciality is modernist literature, though have a serious interest in Balanchine in particular and what comes after him. I addition to my scholarly work on literature, I am also at work on a piece of fiction that engages my interest in dance, centring on the life of a character who, as the story starts, is a former dancer -- a woman. But I am not a dancer, and have knowledge of this world really only from books -- biographies, mainly. So forgive me as my question does not concern a 'real' career but the possibilities for so

Charles Maple’s academy in Orange County CA offers a terrific summer intensive for adults. The more technical background you possess the more you will benefit from the excellent teachers and the great facilities.

Charles Maple has for several years offered a terrific adult intensive (Sunday afternoon through Friday). Sun King has been inactive at Vancouver WA, so Maple’s is the only program being offered on the west coast. There’s a hotel within walking distance and a motor hotel with a pool for Ubering to/from. John Wayne Airport. Good program with excellent teachers and facilities. 5 thumbs up.