parents don't want me to take ballet lessons

[Guest locket]

A while ago I asked my dad if I could take ballet lessons, and the bottom line was no. That was some time ago and I still really want to take lessons. So I am planning on asking him again. But I don't know how to convince him this is a good idea. I'm not doing so well with school, and we don't have a lot of money (but we are not poor, and I would be willing to pay for the lessons myself). I am not quite sure why he doesn't want me to be a dancer. I would like to hear about other's experiences with parents not supporting ballet, and maybe some advice I wanted to put this in the parents of dancers 13+ board because I wanted parent's imput, but I am not sure that is allowed.

[Victoria Leigh]

Hello locket, welcome to Ballet Talk for Dancers

 

I'm sorry to hear that your parents are so against your taking ballet. We have had a number of threads on the Young Dancers forums about this kind of problem. Perhaps your parents do not understand that just because one wishes to learn to dance, that does not mean that they are planning to make it their life's work. It would be good if you could get them to give you the reasons they do not want you to take classes. Perhaps if we knew that, we could be more helpful. In the meantime, you might prepare a list of all the positive things that the study of ballet can do for you, such as:

 

Increase your physical fitness and awareness of your body and how it works.

Improve your posture, carriage, and coordination, and make you more

graceful.

Increases your ability to prioritize and organize, as you will have to find a way to fit it into your schedule and still get all of your schoolwork done.

Teaches you focus and commitment.

May give you a chance to perform.

The challenge and the physical and mental work will increase your energy and ability to do more work.

It is a beautiful art form and you love it, and therefore would get a great deal of enjoyment from learning how to do it.

It is something you can do throughout most of your life, and it will keep you in shape through doing something you love as opposed to just "working out".

Just a few things I hope will help!

[Guest locket]

Thank you so much Ms. Leigh I'll see how it goes.

[Babysister]

Just don't give up. My parents don't want me to dance as well and they didn't let me to get into pre- professional classes when I was 11 . However, what I did was, I tried to convince that I will try my best in my school work (I am not really good at school work, only at some place near the bottom, not a brilliant student) . I tried really hard that year at my school and got a really good comment from my teachers and they helped me to convince my parents to let me get started on pre- professional classes!!!! Things can't be as great as that, my parents let me get into ballet and music and stopped pushing me too hard on my school work (but I still need to get a pass)!!! Now, I am working really hard on ballet and music and hope to develop a career on them.

 

So, never give up. Parents want us to be happy and develop our talent, but of course, they want us to have the ability to manage things well. So what you need to do is to tell them that you can manage yourself and you are serious towards what you are doing, not only making fun of it.

 

Good luck and hope you can get started on ballet soon.

[primasylph]

It seems to me that the most logical explanation would be because of your not doing well in school, your dad may think that more extracuricular activities will draw more attention away from school. Try talking to your dad about it and ask him why he's against your talking ballet and make a point to improve your grades to show him that you'll work hard at school even when you're taking ballet.