Recently joined ballet, will I be able to achieve anything performance wise once I have much more experience?

[Leo0821]

Hello everyone!

so I’m 25, male, and am getting into ballet. I’ve always wanted to do it when I was younger but being already a feminine boy getting bullied I was too afraid to go even further when I was younger. Nowadays I will admit I’m not as I was, kind of butched up now because of that, but apart from that I am getting back into ballet and am going full force. Taking beginners classes and soon independent classes. Doing stretches everyday for my flexibility and strength training for my legs for extensions. Basically I want to train and my question is will I be able to do anything with it? I don’t want to have it as just a hobby, I would love to be able to perform!

[Miss Persistent]

Hi Leo821 and welcome to BT4D!

You are not alone as a later started who has found a passion for ballet There has been many a discussion about what is possible for late starters and it always just comes back to - you ever know! There are practicalities involved in the journey, but as everybody's journey is different there is no answer.  It is also important to remember there are many different ways to get involved in performing.  There is everything from professional companies, to pre-pro Nutcrackers, to a ballet school show - all of which can be satisfying.  Have a read through some of the other posters stories and you will see that there are many roads to be taken.

[Redbookish]

Welcome to Ballet Talk for Dancers, Leo.

As Miss Persistent says, you never know! There may be super-numerary parts in your local ballet company (non-dancing roles, but important in some of the larger classical ballets as stage extras) through which you can learn about stage craft.

The main thing is to get a lot of classes in - with good teachers. I'd really advise against  self-teaching as it's too easy to pick up bad habits, and it takes far longer to re-learn the correct techniques. To really seriously train, the best way would be to start with 3 90 minute classes a week, and build up to 6 days a week. It might be difficult to have those in person at the moment, but look around for expert teaching via Zoom. It's also going to cost, financially, but that's a given in any scenario. 

I'm finding the silver lining of this pandemic (with lockdown & restrictions in the UK) is that a lot of teachers are teaching online via Zoom, and I'm able to do a 75 -90 minute class 6 days a week. You have the chance to work with expert teachers from all over the world! 

[Andy32]

If you commit to improving and look for opportunities, I'd say you have a good chance at performing in some role later on if that's your goal. I started at 28 and have not performed, but in my city there are a couple places that have adults in recitals, plus I've been offered the chance to be in a Nutcracker at one studio and super-numerary at our top local company. Some places will have adult intensives where they work on a small performance piece as well.