r/BALLET

Hello everyone- taking my first college dance course, I’ve always loved ballet from a distance so I wanted to try and immerse myself in it. Well, on my second day of prep class, the teacher wanted the whole class to do a minute long improv at the same time.

I had the bright idea to slide behind the barre, facing the mirror, legs first. Long story short, my bum got caught between the two bars and I couldn’t move. The entire class stopped, everyone tried to get me out. Giving directions, pushing, pulling. But I was stuck stuck. After like fifteen minutes they called the custodians to come and unscrew the barre so I could be free but… the damage is done. I was in there for a half hour. Will I ever live this down? Has this happened to other people? lol.

I can't seem to find any ballet groups that aren't just public ones posting nice aesthetic pictures of ballerinas (mostly by the admins) or have like no members/activity. I want something where you can post your stuff and progress and get feedback. There's so many for aerial dance so surely there'd be one for ballet? Any suggestions?

Hello everybody,

I have a question for our teens or for our
once-teen-selves. What makes you pull up your hair in a proper ballet bun, particularly when you can’t be bothered?

Thank you 🫶🏼

HI I'm dark-skinned and going to ballet in the us. Where im starting it says pink tights and pink shoes. Do you think i should get the pink tights and pink shoes or skin coloured? In the pics from the studio i don't see any dark skinned so I'm not sure if I should also wear pink or it js wasn't thought about. Also im too scared to ask.

I previously posted on here critiquing Luna for how she slandered her male dance partner in her vlog and was trying to get her viewers to hate him. I was briefly watching some of her most recent dress rehearsal vlog, and there is a part where she is upset because her teacher complimented her male partner and not her, because it made her insecure. To be fair, I did not watch the whole vlog yet, so maybe i ‘m missing some context. And she did express that it was her own insecurity being triggered, not necessarily that her teacher was in the wrong. But the way she framed it was still enough to fill her comment section with people complaining that her teachers at this ballet studio are unsupportive and she should leave their company, even though its not a company that is is a part of lol. She also complains about not enough people in her personal life buying tickets to the show, which has a lot of fans being sympathetic towards her. Her comment section is always heavily filtered to only show positive comments, so I am curious what other people’s thoughts are. If I were this ballet studio I would never want to work with her again personally.

Looking for honest perspective from people who’ve done ballet summer intensives, especially adult dancers/later starters.

I’m 24 F and have been dancing for about 4 years, training ~3x/week plus practicing at home. I’m good with ballet vocabulary, class etiquette, corrections, alignment etc, and I can usually keep up in barre. My weaker areas are fast/intricate centre work and pointe.

I signed up for a summer intensive and now I’m worried I underestimated the level. The lower tiers were mostly for younger dancers, so I ended up applying for the highest adult tier, which mentions around 6 years experience and starting frm age 16 and up. being able to follow combinations.

I don’t mind struggling or not fully keeping up personally. I mainly want to learn as much as possible and challenge myself while I still can. I’m more scared of being genuinely out of place or slowing things down for others.

Does this sound like normal first-intensive anxiety, or like a real mismatch?

i did not have to audition i just told tjem about my dance experience without going into too much detail. Suddenly i feel like i might have made a mistake. However i know i will regret not going for life probably.

I want to watch the entire performance.

i recently took a year off ballet due to an injury and my flexibility is GONE. i stretch once a day for about 30 minutes but i swear, it's like my hamstrings are made of rock. no matter what i do or how often i stretch, my hamstrings will not loosen up. it sucks because my hip flexors are strong and my turnout is decent but my hamstrings are so stiff which makes my extensions so low :((

what exercises and stretches do you guys do for your hamstrings and extensions in general? is there anything you swear by to loosen them up?

Hello! I can’t seem to get fully over my box on single-leg pointe.

I recently returned to pointe after a 5 month break due to an injury, although I continued dancing during that time, just not on pointe.

I’ve been on pointe for a little over 2 years now, but even before my injury, I still needed assistance from my other foot to get up onto pointe on one leg because it feels so difficult for me.

I’ve done countless foot strengthening exercises, but I still can’t seem to get fully en pointe on a single leg. Any advice, exercises, and recommendations would be really appreciated 😁. Thank you! 🙏

I just want to know if this is normal.

I've been in a beginner class for several months now. I'm currently 20, did ballet recreationally as a child, and also take tap classes so my ballet teacher feels I can move onto the intermediate class. She says she thinks I'm getting bored in beginners.

However the intermediate teacher told me I can't join her class until I have collarbones that stick out more prominently. She said the intermediate class would be too much on my joints until then.

I'm overweight but I'm not on pointe or anything so I didn't think the switch would be that dramatic? Also it's not advanced, I've seen the exercises done in both beginner and intermediate and the intermediate combinations are longer with more balancing and more extension but they're still on like single pirouettes and stuff.

I'm just confused. The people in the intermediate class are very thin but this just felt weird to me.

I'm getting back into ballet as an adult, and am having trouble finding tights that don't try to cut me in half. For reference, I'm 5'9, about 150lbs, wear a size 6. Bloch and Capezio were my go-tos as a kid, but they are so uncomfortably tight around the waist, even at size L or XL.

Any recommendations?

Hi! I am a professional ballet dancer and I am trying to get into cross-training and strengthening. I am currently on a summer layoff and would like to come back in good shape and ideally with more strength than before because I have extra time to focus on specifics.

Does anyone have any advice for what a week may look like for me? It can be overwhelming to come up with a plan and I know there are certain areas I could improve in. I have trouble conceptualizing the idea that consistency on one muscle group over time can lead to improvement and I don't know how much to focus on each thing. When I have had physical therapy in the past, I've been asked to do my exercises twice everyday but I know everything does not need to be repeated every single day.

For example: I would love to work on my hip/glute stability, my shoulders, and my core. I would like to implement cardio and I also would like to continue taking classes. How can I successfully plan for all of this? Can someone give me an idea of what a week might look like?

I don't have a gym membership at the moment but I am open to one (For cardio equipment and eventually other machines). I do take pilates 2x a week and have a DanceMasterclass subscription which I find helpful for certain workouts.

Thank you in advance!!!

Just a general question: at what point for adult beginners do you think taking more ballet classes will not help anymore? I often hear that no matter what cross training you do, the only way to improve at ballet is to do ballet, but at what point is it better to cut down on classes and replace them with cross training? (In a scenario where theoretically the adult ballet dancer has unlimited access to classes.)

For example, I’m currently taking class eight times a week (which I am very lucky to do since my current job allows me the flexibility to do so) and have the possibility of adding more. I think stamina/endurance-wise it wouldn’t be too taxing to add 2-3 extra classes per week, but I’m wondering if at that point it would just be better to replace time I would spend in class with cross training.

EDIT: More context:

I'm 23, and I'm currently at a stage in my life where I have the time and money to go all in for 1.5 years, so in this time I want to get as good as I possibly can. I would love to do some sort of dance-related thing in the future (I don't want to be presumptuous and say professionally) but when I get into hobbies I usually have an all-or-nothing attitude. I take one day off per week, and the class levels range from beginner to intermediate (taking classes with people aiming to be pros). I am not currently on pointe.