getting started in ballet?

[xButterPecan]

Okay, I'm 14 years old, and I was wondering if it would be too late to start trying to do ballet? Most of the few that I know go to ballet class have been doing it for years.

 

I can belly dance, hip roll, and do hip-hop, bachata, and salsa styles of dance as well as a little krumping. But ballet is a whole different ball game.

 

Also, is it a problem if I have piercings? I have my nose pierced, and am getting my eyebrow and belly button pierced. I've never seen a ballet dancer with any facial piercings. It's not that I want to get into some big dance company and do it as a profession ; I just want to do it because I really like the way it looks, the way ballet dancer move, and it would be a good way to keep in shape, I would think.

 

I've kind of been secretly obsessed with ballet for a few years, but everyone always thought of me as the hip-hop and latin girl, so I was kind of nervous to try something.

 

Anyways, enough of me rambling...

Since, not to brag, I'm very good at other dance styles ballet would be easier than someone who does no dance? How different is it from the styles I currently know how to do?

How should I go about asking my dad if I can do ballet?

And is it too late for me to start?

 

Thank you so much.

[Mel Johnson]

Ballet, starting from the beginning is one of the most concentrated forms of dance, and extremely contained, while the forms you mention are dependent on explosions of movement which verge into the out-of-control. Later on, when you have developed strength, technique and flexibility, then the freedom comes. The discipline of ballet is tight, but it is a liberating discipline once you achieve it.

 

Piercings in any form of dance constitute safety hazards for you and those around you.

 

It is not too late to start, but a ballet career may be hard to achieve from 14. If, on the other hand, you're going to do it for fun and/or exercise, try away!