My ideal adult ballet school/classes

[whatsthepointe]

My ideal classes:

1) are given by a kind but strict teacher - one that really corrects the mistakes but also points out all the good work the students are doing.

Reason: we need to improve - there is no improvement without corrections - but there is no need to demoralize us because we do not learn "fast enough".

2) are organized on at least a twice-a-week attendance, but allow for a pay-as-you-go policy.

Reason: adult students recover more slowly from injuries... Sometimes we cannot help but skip a class. Or we have a sudden work/family commitment. But there is no way to seriously do ballet on less the two classes a week!

3) are based on a continuous program, which develops over each single term to achieve set goals at the end of the academic year.

Reason: we need to work gradually from the basic to more advanced steps. We need teaching, not choreography (at least at the beginning). Having homogeneous levels also helps.

4) are open to expanding our experience by offering pointe, partnering and character classes. It's not a waste to invest on our formation!

 

Sigh...

 

What about you? Have you found your ideal studio?

[Laschwen]

No ideal class yet but I had a newish teacher to me do something I found wonderful at barre last week. We did a step away from the barre ( a chasse or tombe pas de bourre or something) before doing a pirouette and then another step back to the barre to continue the exercise.

For those like me, who can't seem to get over the fear of smacking our knees into the barre and never get a decent pirouette near one, that was a wonderful idea that I have never seen in class before, and hope to again.

I will go back to her class again more likely than my other choice at another school an hour later based on this alone. I haven't yet met the new teacher at the other school though.

[Mazenderan]

I agree on no.3, too.

 

I have good classes, but I would like to see:

 

Emphasis on class etiquette (for those of us who, apparently, have no sense of personal space. How do these people function in everyday life? )

 

Uniform. I'd like to don black leotard and pink tights, but I feel like an imposter, or like I'm pretending to be something I'm not . So please, force us all to wear them. We'd be secretly thrilled!!

 

Physical corrections. Sometimes, I think you need to be 'shown' where you're supposed to be, so you can commit the feeling to memory.

[Guest MasterPuppeteer]

Whatsthepointe -- I completely, 100% agree!!! My additions:

 

4. For new students of the studio -- an evaluation for all but the beginners for placement;

5. For current students -- teacher approval before you move up a level;

6. And for the guys -- free classes! Hey, I'm all for equal rights but we need as many pas partners as we can!

[whatsthepointe]

Many years ago I had a teacher who would "invite" students to move up a level, usually people who were progressing and needed a little challenge above their level. She would also take the time to bring them up to speed with the rest of the class. Otherwise she would frown to see a student in a class too difficult for her/him. But she was a great psychologist and could read people's intentions!

She also had a habit of grabbing sickled feet and make them point a la seconde.

[olddude]

...

6. And for the guys -- free classes! Hey, I'm all for equal rights but we need as many pas partners as we can!

MP, speaking for myself at least - if I could find a pas de deux class, paying for it is no barrier! I've gone to the Richmond camp the last two years, and enjoyed the heck out of the partnering classes - but been more than a little embarrassed at my total lack of knowledge. Three or four classes all compressed in one week out of the year is no substitute for drilling every week for a few years!

 

Of course the other thing I miss is a men's technique class. They are much harder to find even than an adult beginner's pointe class. I can't help wondering whether a combined class would work - perhaps a men's class could be preceeded or followed by a class in pas de deux?

[missvjc420]

I'd like an adult variations class (men too)- I really miss learning repetoire! I'm not into wearing pink and black all of the time- been there, done that, paid my dues as a student and working dancer and am not 13 anymore (I do adhere to code if in a teen class, as I consider myself a guest in those). If there can't be a men's class, how about a jumps and turns class after class that would have emphasis on the types of turns and jumps men get to do in classical choreography? I LOVE big jumps and turns a la seconde!

[ripresa]

Performance at the end of every semester.

 

I do get to perform every semester, but it's not in a ballet production :/ Just musical theatre, but it still involves dancing.

 

I'm between levels right now, and it's annoying... barre work in intermediate bores me enough to discourage me from going to class.. but the next level up, advanced, is such a huge step.

 

I want a school with more granularity between levels.. maybe levels 1-6 ideally. Not just: absolute beginner, beginning, int, adv.

[airchild]

I agree with Whatsthepointe and MasterPuppeteer's points. I would add:

 

- Evaluation of adult students' posture (testing for structural integrity/alignment) before even starting the beginner class. Reason: pre-existing musculoskeletal dysfunctions, which are more commonly found among adults than children, could be precursors to injuries. It would be great if those dysfunctions could be corrected first. (While it is commonly perceived that ballet helps to improve posture, I have observed that existing poor posture makes it very difficult for a student to come into the proper ballet alignment, which is so important in literally every step we take!)

 

- Beginner class to start with introductory lectures about certain basic knowledge, such as class etiquette, ballet terms, feet and arm positions, stage directions, etc. Reason: too many adult beginners jump into a class without having any idea of what these are and feel totally lost among other students who have been doing ballet for some time.

 

- Teachers taking pointe assessment seriously rather than just adopting a laissez-faire attitude toward adult students who want to go en pointe even though they are not ready yet.

 

- Perhaps some sort of "inspirational" instructions to help students improve musicality, rather than just using simple counting and pounding !

[jimpickles]

"- Beginner class to start with introductory lectures about certain basic knowledge, such as class etiquette, ballet terms, feet and arm positions, stage directions, etc. Reason: too many adult beginners jump into a class without having any idea of what these are and feel totally lost among other students who have been doing ballet for some time."

 

I wonder if schools taking starter (or restarting) adults could just hand out a single page with this basic information. "I'm sure you know all this already, but we just produced this for the few who dont, so here you are..." etc.

 

I know with spacing etiquette everyone is trying their best in the classes I'm in, but if there were some ground rules set out, it would make things easier for everyone (because everyone would work from a common set of expectations).

 

Also, different schools do some things things differently (eg stage directions - I think I'm trying to sort out 2 or 3 different systems).

 

Jim.

[skyish]

I thought there was already a topic like this but I may be delusional =P

 

Not only for "adult ballet", but I wish we had variations and pas de deux class. Because there is an unfair condition within my studio, which is that all the solos and lead parts of the performance are taken by the same students every year, and the students who are taking these parts improve more and more every year opening a gap between the others and themselves, so for the next year they are always sure to get another big part... And for these students our main teacher work really hard whereas she leaves the others to the assistant teachers, so they (assistants) prepare easy choreographies for those because they do not want to take big responsibilities so the students really do not have the chance to improve with an ordinary corps part.

 

For this condition, I started something between me and my best friend from ballet... We are not after big parts for our performance.. but we want to learn and to work on different variations. So we started to meet at the studio occasionally to analyze different variations and to try to learn them coaching each other. Which sounds a bit pathetic since no teacher is there to help us. (I'm trying to learn Esmeralda PDD and she is trying to learn Kitri lol).

 

And also, though my teacher is really really good at what she does, I cannot receive any attention or help for my pirouettes or port de bras, because she clearly thinks that they need to come from the early stages of ballet education and that I'm obviously too late. She sometimes acts like I would never be able to learn how to turn... So I wish there was a whole class for just turns and jumps and port de bras. And I wish I could take more than 4.5 hours/week.

 

Shortly, everywhere in the world, all the adult students have the same complaints =P Even if the chance for me to become a pro is zero, I still want to be trained as if I HAVE TO to become a pro to survive *sigh*

[whatsthepointe]

I won't be sitting around and keep dreaming... To turn this thread from a wish-list to "ballet action", I will reorganize all the information here in a document and give it to my school coordinator. Hopefully he can find some inspiration!

The disconnection between the adult ballet offering and the demand might be caused sometimes by the fact that schools indeed do not know what our expectations and desires are!!!

[Garyecht]

I think the school I go to is excellent. First class all the way. Rather than give a wish list (we all wish for something more no matter what we have), let me say why I think my school is so good. Essentially, I think it boils down to three reasons: it’s not too far away, it’s big, and they have hired very good people to teach there.

 

Location is big in any kind of business. If the greatest ballet school in the world is two hours away from me, as an adult I’m not going to drive there to class, excepting perhaps a weekend class now and then.

 

Size is important also. A big school can have more variety in its offerings, more types of classes, and more catering to different wishes.

 

But most important are the teachers the school hires. I think in almost any kind of dance, the school isn’t really the important thing. It’s the teachers. Adult students tend to gravitate to certain teachers and stay with them. I know a few people who have stayed in one beginner ballet class for several years simply because the teacher is superb. I never refer to a class by its content (say something like intermediate ballet) but rather by the class given by whatever teacher. Once past the first few years of dance, I’m not sure anyone pays much attention to levels anyway. It’s the teacher, regardless of the level.

[whatsthepointe]

Very true. I recently changed from one teacher to another in the same school because I felt that the first one didn't give enough importance to arms and epaulement. After three years of arms a la seconde, one needs some challenge! But I still find that there is some resistance in giving adult beginners more options - provided there is sufficient request. My school caters to about 400 students in its adult ballet division, according to its web site. I cannot believe that there are less than 10 women among them who are fit to dance on pointes or would like to take character dance classes.

[Laschwen]

My school caters to about 400 students in its adult ballet division, according to its web site. I cannot believe that there are less than 10 women among them who are fit to dance on pointes or would like to take character dance classes.

 

 

Seriously? 400 Students? How many classes are held held in a week and how many come to classes? The last class I went to had a grand total of 3 students in it. We have had about 4 in that class since the fall session started but the summer session with the same teacher had at least a dozen coming in twice a week. I guess in my area, asking for more variety in the offerings would just be silly. we are lucky to keep one mixed level full.