New Ballet School

[Guest ckdancegirl7]

I am from Pennsylvania and recently moved to Indiana to study with the Fort Wayne Ballet. I have been dancing at a smaller ballet school in my home town since I was four, and because I'm aspiring to become a professional dancer, I wanted to get better training during my last year in high school.

 

After auditioning, I was placed in the highest level at the FWB, and moved here in October to start training. There is a large number of excellent faculty here, and a much greater diversity of classes and performing opportunities. I'm very excited to have this great opportunity, and I hope this year will boost my technique.

 

However, I have been having an extremely hard time adjusting to the level of intensity. I dance six days a week, taking 1-3 classes per day plus rehearsals. Many days I have to dance in pointe shoes for three or four hours at a time, which is extremely tiring. The classes at the FWB are very fast paced, something I was not accustomed to at my previous ballet school. The teachers are also very picky about technique, which is great since I am hoping to improve alot this year; however, the classes are just so extremely difficult and fast paced that I am having trouble even getting through all the classes, let alone working on the many aspects of technique that I need to improve. At the end of each day I feel wiped out, frustrated, and like I have gotten nowhere. I have been here for a month already and still do not have enough stamina to put full energy into all my classes and rehearsals.

 

So, my questions are...

 

Is the level of intensity in a professional career anything like this? I want to be a dancer, but training in the FWB is helping me realize how exhausting it must be. I'm not sure if I would be able to make it through a career that is always this intense. Or...could I possibly be doing too much dancing? Will the stamina I need to get through all the classes and rehearsals eventually develop? After training here for a month I still feel as exhausted at the end of each day as I did when I first moved here.

 

These are questions I have been pondering since, as a senior in high school, I need to decide this year what I want to do as a career. I want to be a professional dancer more than anything, and I am a fairly advanced dancer (although there is definitely alot for me to work on this year!), but I need to know if this level of intensity should be expected in a professional career.

[Victoria Leigh]

That level of intensity and much more, ck. And no, that is not too heavy a schedule for a senior in high school. You need to be dancing several hours a day, including a LOT of pointe work. Otherwise you would never be ready for a professional company. They take class every morning for an hour and a half, and then they rehearse for at least 6 hours, usually all on pointe. The normal rehearsal schedule for our dancers is 9:30-6:15. They have a 15 minute break after class, and an hour for lunch.

 

The good news is that you will adjust to it and build the stamina. It may well take more than a month to do that. The bad news is that if you do not want to work that hard for the rest of your life, it's probably best to consider other career possibilites now.

[Guest ckdancegirl7]

Thank you Miss Leigh. I had a chat with one of the professionals in the FWB who teaches some of our classes...she also said my stamina appears to be improving and if I keep pushing hard it will come with time. I really want to follow my dream to become a professional, and I plan to push hard this year to build the strength and stamina I need!

[ekeetaxi]

Knock, knock - parent here so delete if necessary.

 

It seems important to mention the fact that your diet could be playing an important role in your fatigue/energy factor. The information on the Nutrition thread will be helpful for you.

[Guest ckdancegirl7]

That's something I never thought of! Thanks for the advice...I'll check out the nutrition threads.