Is there a a thing as too MANY classes?

[OsipovaFan21]

Victoria Leigh said in another post that a professional dancer, or an ongoing professional dancer would need to do 3 hours of class a day a minimum.

I used to do 9-10 hours at some point of my dancing time. Now, getting back, I´m wondering if this was being contra-productive. But I have also heard that it´s normal to have 8-9 hours of dancing per day.

How many hours do you think gives BEST results? How much is too much? Or is there even a too much for class? (I´ve already read here, that it´s important to have one day without dancing).

Also, maybe anyone knows this, I´ve always wondered how many classes students at the Vaganova and Bolshoi academy take? I guess if there is a thing as a maximum, we can find it there..

Thanks for any replies!

[Mel Johnson]

I don't recall Ms. Leigh saying that. Rehearsal time is of course very valuable, and a 90-minute company class eats up enough of an eight-hour day to leave a decent chunk of time to do rehearsal. Of course, I'm talking about professional dancers here, and many take classes outside of the company regime. For students aiming in a vocational track, then yes, three hours in two classes through a day is a realistic minimum classload, although many take more than that. Nine to ten hours of class per day is vastly counterproductive. And believe it or not, you don't really learn that much about ballet from rehearsals. You learn ballets, but you don't learn about ballet. For a professional-level student who's not working, two 90-minute classes and one or two one-hour specialty classes like pointe, variations, pas de deux (all done on pointe) and character, modern, jazz, etc. 6 days a week is a sensible classload. And yes, one day a week completely off!

[Victoria Leigh]

Yes, I was discussing a pre-professional student class load, not a professional dancer, Ossipova. And Mr. Johnson is correct in terms of the 3 hours a day being a minimum. For students still in high school, that may be all that they can do. I feel that they must have one full technique class, one pointe class, and then, if there is another dance form such as jazz or modern or character, that would be fine. If there are rehearsals in addition to the technique and pointe, that is also fine. But too many technique classes are definitely counter-productive.

[dancemaven]

We no longer permit 'knock-knocks' (and haven't for quite a while as they became more the rule than the exception). The answer to the question 'what would be a good break down of classes by age) can be found by searching the YD forums and the Parents Forums. There may even be Stickies with the information , I seem to recall.

 

Now, let's return the thread to the YDs and the Teacher-Moderators.

[OsipovaFan21]

We no longer permit 'knock-knocks' (and haven't for quite a while as they became more the rule than the exception). The answer to the question 'what would be a good break down of classes by age) can be found by searching the YD forums and the Parents Forums. There may even be Stickies with the information , I seem to recall.

 

Now, let's return the thread to the YDs and the Teacher-Moderators.

 

what do you mean by knock-knocks?

I´m not sure, I´m not a native speaker, if you were saying that I did something wrong. If so, I apologize.

[Mel Johnson]

Not at all, Osipovafan, another longtime member who remembered the days before stricter etiquette on this board was in play posted to the thread. That post is no longer visible. Now, the Young Dancer forums and the Nutrition and Health forum have evolved a rather stringent rule about only the Young Dancers or original poster and the dedicated teacher-moderators posting to YD threads. Before, it used to be that anybody could enter at the discretion of the moderators across group lines, just by putting "knock-knock" first. We still have the vision of a great large mansion house with many many rooms as a metaphor for Ballet Talk for Dancers.