r/BALLET

Hi! Question for people who put their hair in a bun: how do you protect your scalp from tension that causes headaches and traction alopecia? I have thick hair and I end up with a tension headache halfway through the day. I'm not sure if it's in my head, but I think I also notice my part thinning.

How do you do your hair to prevent this? Thank you!

I (M25) have been playing for classes for about 6 years now. I had roughly 5 years of experience in my undergrad before I was picked up by one of the major US ballet companies a little over a year ago. I love this job so much. I love the people, the city (moved 800 miles for this job), but I feel so stuck and uninspired during classes. I am an avid improviser and can sight read like hell, but I feel like I’m lacking more material and repertoire. I play plenty of jazz and broadway standards as well as some classical rep thrown in every now and then, but with how fast paced classes are, I often just improvise on some themes or make up my own material and go from there.

Today a dancer approached me and asked, somewhat condescendingly, if she needed to buy me more books so they (her and the rest of the dancers) could hear more music that they’re familiar with. This is not the first time this specific dancer has approached me or reached out to me. She’s DM’d me, unprompted, on social medias sending posts of other pianists saying something like “this guy is great.” While I do appreciate her actually voicing her opinions with me and trying to share useful material, it’s gotten to a point that it just feels disrespectful and like my music is unappreciated.

Rant aside, what music do you all enjoy hearing in class? Classical, modern, jazz / show tunes, anything. Obviously, no one piece of music will work perfectly for any given combination, but that’s just the beauty of my job lol.

I was recently approved to start going en pointe and already had my shoes approved aswell. I take a dance class at my highschool and I'm in colorguard aswell, which allowed for my feet to get stronger fairly quickly.

My dance teacher recommended me difference places to get approved since i was strong enough and was planning to go into performance arts education as my major.

I'm taking an open class for beginners ballet right now and the teacher there is the one who approved me. I'm planning on taking it once every other week due to financial issues and time limitstions, aside from that one class I'm not taking anything else outside of school.

I don't see myself going into ballet professionally with a company or anything but I still want to have the skills to open up more opportunities incase my plans change. My knowledge on this is pretty limited and I haven't talked to the dance teacher at my HS yet but I wanted to see what options I have and paths I can take moving forward.

Pauline Clayden, a British ballerina who was the last known surviving soloist from a performance that changed the course of American dance — the opening night of Sadler’s Wells Ballet’s “The Sleeping Beauty” at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York on Oct. 9, 1949 — died on July 21 in Salisbury, England. She was 103.

Hi! I am hoping someone can guide me on shoe sizing- our two daughters have just begun Pre-Professional Ballet III. We had previously worn leather slippers by Bloch. Their teacher has said she would like them to begin wearing canvas shoes now, and recommended Capezio Juliets. Our younger daughter was easy to size and is wearing a 5.5 in them. Our older daughter has wide feet, and their teacher estimated a 7.5 W for her. We ordered on Amazon, as we don’t have a close dance shop locally. They were enormous on her, like fell right off her feet. So we ordered the 6.5 W. These were super tight and narrow across the width of her feet, but too long and loose length-wise. We are afraid to go down another size because the width will be even less. Are there similar canvas shoes you could recommend? Luckily, when they are ready for pointe shoes, the class makes a trip to a store to be fitted but it’s out of state, so I’m hoping to figure out their canvas shoes from home😅
Thank you in advance for any help you can offer!

This isn't really a question more of a complaint against myself.

Signed up for two classes one morning and one evening class in the same day. After my morning class I just felt really warm. Like right after a good warm up, but not quiet that burn after a good workout.

Decided to hike a 5k right after. This was a bad decision. I should have not done that. For the record I do a 5k at least 3 times a week on average, so it didn't sound crazy to me at the time. This is mostly because on average I try to walk 4 miles a day to get my steps in. I'm just sedentary most of my working day and this is the easiest way to get them in.

After my second class where we did jumps my legs felt like jelly. Will not be making that mistake again.

this is lowk a bit of a vent post (nothing too heavy, just reminiscing/being a bit emo lol)

i grew up doing very casual ballet classes for a fair number of years, i think from when i was about 4, until i was 13 almost 14. im ftm and didn't realize i was trans until that last year i took regular ballet classes, and i was id-ing as nonbinary at the time, so i was trained as a girl. that last year of dancing was a lot of fun in many ways, but i was also just hitting puberty, and i felt like i was at war with my body.

and then COVID hit, and it felt like i had been handed the perfect opportunity to quit on a silver platter.

so i stopped dancing, lived my regular smegular life, and got through high school (mostly) in one piece. i moved to college in 2024, realized/accepted that nonbinary and they/them hadn't really felt right for a long time, started using he/him, and realized how much i missed dancing.

yall ever see those videos of that one guy dancing in abandoned places/fields and shit? i had been getting that guy's videos on my fyp for months, and it honestly just brought back that spark for me, reminding me how much i love dancing. that, plus the show Étoile. idk something about them just made me want to go back.

so i did. i found a class in my area that was (somewhat ironically) taught by one of the teachers i had had growing up, not that she really remembered me lol. going back to ballet after 5 years off is not easy, especially with how much my body had changed from when i had last been dancing. but it felt so good too. i had no stamina, no strength, no flexibility, nothing. everything that used to feel easy (or easier) and natural, was foreign and challenging. not that ballet every really is easy. but i stuck with it, i kept going whenever i had time, i even managed to get into one of the only ballet classes offered on campus at my college last spring. i have regained so much of the strength i had lost, but im inconsistent and poor, so i can't always go to classes when i want to.

and that comes to now. as much as i love ballet, as much as i want to keep dancing and getting stronger and better, the emotional pain has been getting to me. i am at such an awkward stage of my life and my dance journey. im 20 years old, almost 7 months on t (!!!), and about a year back into ballet. i see all these other 18, 19, 20 year olds who are in preprofessional and professional programs/companies, and i get so sad because i never even gave myself the chance. to be fair, i never had a real chance anyway, as i was at a non-competative, non-preprofessional school growing up. i know why i had to quit, and i also know what would have happened if i hadn't quit when i did, but a small part of me is so angry that i just gave up.

i also just feel stuck in my dance journey, because i never had the opportunity to learn male technique, jumps, turns, all that classic masculine ballet shit, and it feels impossible to find anywhere to learn. i don't have money for private coaching, i barely have money for weekly classes if im lucky. it also goes back to that awkward age to be in, where i am seeing more classes teaching male technique, but theyre all aimed at kids/teens. i dont want to seem like a creep and ask to join one of those classes, but i honestly dont know how else i would learn. idk.

i also know that there is practically no world in which i would be able to dance professionally for a multitide of reasons, but a part of me still hopes/wishes/dreams it could be possible.

at the end of the day, i love dance, i love ballet, and i am glad to be back. i hope i am able to get over some of these jealousies and hurt spots, and just really get have fun, but i think it will take some time.

wow. this has kind of turned into a whole essay. idk what i want out of this post, but if you read this, thank you, i appreciate you.

Me and my friend are starting at a new school because we moved, and they require a red dark red leo. In our other school, we had freedom of clothes as long as we were able to move freely.

Now, the problem is my friend has a pretty big chest and had to wear supporting bras underneath, but with the kind of Leo they want us to wear (spagetthi straps no bra visible) that might not be possible.

Does anyone have tips for the bigger chested girlies? Thanks in advance!

Hi, I think I’m just looking to vent, but recently I got rejected to audition in the best ballet company for me which is the only one in my country. English is not my first language so sorry if something is not well redacted.

Well, I studied at the national school at my country and as a male I started late (18) and on my last years Covid hit, and I was really struggling with mental health so I stopped dancing, I was 23 by that time, two years later I came back to ballet to give it another try and just do it because I enjoyed it, and eventually I got back on track and even got the chance to audition to this company at 25, I made it to the last round of the audition but didn’t got in. And after that I’ve been giving it a try the last two auditions just because I live here and it’s not difficult for me to audition, but I couldnt get past the preselection.

I know I’m old for a professional company as I am 28 now, but what I feel is sad is that I have achieved a decent level, the thing is that this company is one of the best and recognized worldwide. But is the only one that offer a job and a decent pay in my country. So they normally expect a superhigh level to get in for someone my age or more experience which I don’t have. They have offered contracts to people even older than me but well they were in that position.

I’m truly sad, I know my pros and cons and the mistakes I made in the journey, I’m sad at this point after this rejection, I’m surely going to stop dancing ballet. I’m not really mad but I feel exhausted of being demanded a level like if I was one participant of the prix de Lausanne.

I know how competitive this world is but i get this feeling on my throat like im getting choked and feeling like I’m never enough, even though I know I have conditions, I have great feet, lines, pirouttes, jumps, but im also short in height and old. And I know even the slightest can make the jury or the director to chose another dancer.

Anyways, If anyone can give any advice I think it might help me.

I need a new pair of canvas shoes which fit me better. I have a couple weird quirks about my feet which have made it hard for me to find a shoe that works. My primary issue is that my second toe is my longest toe. I also have bunions but narrow feet. My big toes point towards my pinkies. My big toes naturally rest underneath my second toe. I don’t want to post a pic but my feet are very V shaped

I currently wear Bloch Performas but they start to dig into my second toe pretty badly like halfway through barre. By the end of class I’m usually bleeding but only ever from my second toe. I bought a second pair of performas in a different size after explaining my problem to the girl at Bloch but those are so bad I don’t ever wear them. They’re way too big. I like that that there’s no pain but i am already clumsy and an adult beginner - i dont need anything extra to trip me up.

I know my foot anatomy is a little odd. If the way my feet are means that any ballet shoe will feel a big uncomfortable, I can deal with that. What I can’t deal with is having only my 2nd toe bruised and bloody while the rest of my feet are a-ok. I’d rather the pain be distributed over a larger area to make it more bearable. Does anyone else have strange feet? What are you wearing? I thought performas were good but they’re proven to be a bad fit for me