I spoke to a Teaching Methods class this week. They’re all young college students preparing for a career teaching dance, and the professor invited me to talk and answer questions about my teaching career. She especially wanted them to hear about how my dance career detoured to 23 years of working at a bank before getting back on track. It was wonderful!
It’s been YEARS since I’ve posted on this website. I’ve felt like an imposter because I hadn’t been in the classroom or on the stage in such a long time. When I could leave the corporate world in 2024, I returned to teaching. Now I’m an instructor at the Charlotte Ballet Academy in North Carolina. I’m teaching 9-12-year-olds in the lower school. During The Nutcracker, I worked backstage getting kids in costumes and leading them to and from the stage for several shows.
The important thing to note is that even though I’d been away for a very long time, I remember everything. I told the directors of the school how out of shape I was, that I was worried I couldn’t demonstrate because when I pointed my foot, it immediately cramped. I felt overweight. They sent emails back, allaying my concerns, saying that my resume made me more than qualified.
I needed six months, but I returned to teaching within two
weeks of the interview. It wasn’t easy. My feet cramped, my legs ached, and my
HIPS! Oh, my hips would have cried if they could. It’s impossible to teach kids
at that level without demonstrating, and it’s impossible to demonstrate without
standing in 5th position. I’m teaching three 90-minute classes a
week, plus an hour of pointe strengthening/beginning pointe, as well as
substituting occasionally at this school and another school nearby. My hips still
hurt when walking up steps after teaching, but six months later I’ve lost
weight and gained strength and confidence.
When I started this website, it focused primarily on
combinations for ballet class. I’ve compiled a lot of combinations into a book, Classical Ballet: Ten Complete Advanced Classes, which is available on
Amazon in print or kindle and is selling well. As years went by without
stepping foot in a classroom, I didn’t feel confident giving advice to teachers
by writing posts. But I’m back!
There were a lot of points made, and questions
asked/answered in the Teaching Methods class, and I think I’ll break them down
into separate posts because there are stories that go along with each. The
interesting thing is that while I always felt dance prepared me for so much of
what I had to face in life, on the flip side, the living that I’ve done has contributed
to what I bring to the classroom in new ways.
Having kids of my own is probably the biggest factor. I’m more aware of issues that students face, and it tempers my interactions with them. Some are coping with the death of a parent, others with eating disorders or dyslexia. I’m doing my best to offer them a supportive and positive environment to learn new skills and improve their technique. It doesn’t matter if they pursue a professional career in dance. I am focusing on today, and regardless of where dance takes them, I hope to teach them that discipline begets progress and that a stick-to-it attitude will enable them to achieve their hearts’ desires.
Many children who start beginning ballet will be coming with a background in creative movement. I think it’s important to retain some of the aspects of creative movement in pre or beginning ballet, because the fact that they are continuing their ballet education means they’ve enjoyed dance up to this point. So for the first few lessons I’d say it would be good to begin in the center instead of at the barre, doing some stretching exercises for their legs and feet. You can also work on posture in the center before bringing them over to face the barre.
Use of the Feet
There are so many things for beginning students to learn about using the feet. Try not to overwhelm them in the beginning or they won’t be able to retain any of what you say. It’s all right if they don’t do everything right, as long as they are working on the aspects of what you’re trying to teach them that day. You can also work on some of the foot exercises while seated on the floor. You can begin with flex and point, stopping midway between so they can see what it looks like when their toes are flexed and their foot is pointed (you can show them that this is demi-pointe when standing). Holding their feet in a pointed position while they are seated on the floor, you can have them practice just lifting their toes and then pointing them repeatedly, and instill an understanding of the phrase “working through the metatarsal”. I don’t think they are too young to begin hearing such references to the anatomy of the foot, as long as you clearly explain to them what you mean when you say it.
Standing at the Barre
Once they are at the barre, it’s important to teach them the proper way to use it. This might take a good portion of the first few classes, just having them standing facing the barre with a light touch and elbows bent. Teaching them how to recognize if they are too close (elbows scrunched into the body) or too far away (hips pushing back) is an important lesson that they’ll use throughout all their years to come in ballet.
Using Good Posture
It’s hard for children to stand with their tummies in and their spines lengthened for any amount of time. Making a combination of this alone would be good a good exercise to include in each class, so that when you remind them to “pull up” and “lengthen your spine” during tendus or plies they will know exactly what you are wanting them to do. I think including breathing techniques would be an excellent thing to do when children are first learning ballet, so they do not equate pulling up with holding their breath.
Use of Turnout
If ever there’s a topic for disagreement among ballet teachers this is it! My point of view may not mesh with that of the directors at the school where you are teaching, so please understand that this is only my recommendation. I don’t believe in forcing turnout. Now that I’m over 40 and suffering the effects of forcing my own body into positions it wasn’t naturally inclined to make, I’m even more against it. I think it’s possible for someone to achieve a beautiful line and to dance with great technique and grace without having perfect turnout. To me, working with what you were given should be a top priority. If anyone tells you that you should consider buying fancy contraptions that stretch your limbs to an unnatural limit, or that you should even consider surgery, cover your ears and run in the other direction! This is not necessary, and it is definitely not healthy.
Again, sitting or lying on the floor is a great way to work on demonstrating turnout before involving the traction of the floor. Having the students lie on their backs and flex their feet, then slowly open their toes as far as their hips allow will show them where their natural turnout is. Of course, dancers work on increasing and improving their range of turnout, but I’m firmly against standing in a perfect 180 degree first position or working your leg directly to the side when à la seconde. At the barre, it’s good to teach the basics of plié and tendu and degagé from a parallel position before introducing the steps using turnout. This means mostly working to the front, but there are a lot of mechanics involved in using the feet properly, lifting the metatarsal and lowering it back down when closing. And for plié, keeping the body lifted as the legs bend and not letting the torso drop forward. After they have mastered tendu and degagé to the front from a parallel position, you can introduce the steps working to the side with their feet in a V (I wouldn’t necessarily call this first position right away, or they may begin trying to force their toes out too far).
Epaulement
In addition to working on plié, tendu, and degagé, you can begin working with epaulement in pre or beginning ballet. Teaching children all the ways to use the head is important, and will greatly aid them later when they are asked to use their head and arms along with their legs and feet. Just doing exercises that involve keeping the neck long when looking up, down, side to side, and inclining the head so the ear bends toward the shoulder is good for them. Slowly adding these head movements to plié or tendu facing the barre will help them to incorporate such techniques more quickly when they become more advanced. It’s a little like teaching someone to play the piano with two hands instead of just one. You don’t want to put this off for too long, or they’ll never feel comfortable with it.
Other Positions to Practice
Second position of the feet, Sur le cou de pied, sous sus, retire. Gradually add ¼ rond de jambe á terre en dehors after introducing tendu from 1st position.
In the Center
Easy steps for beginning students to practice in the center include temps lié through second position, which is also a good preparation for glissade, which you can break down for them to learn slowly. Using port de bras with head is a good exercise to do in the center. Kids love to jump! Teaching sauté in 1st and 2nd positions usually goes over well, emphasizing the importance of keeping the arms still and the torso upright. In preparation for turns you can have them practice spotting the front of the room while shuffling their feet in a circle.
Across the floor
It’s pretty easy to transform gallops into chassé across the floor, and prancing into embôité in low attitude devant. I also enjoyed teaching this age how to do chainé turns. I usually did this with their hands either on their hips or on their shoulders so they don’t have to worry too much about what their arms are doing and so they don’t get twisted up. We would practice just stepping on the flat foot to the side with head looking over their shoulder, then flipping (like a playing card) so their body is facing the back of the room and they’re looking over the other shoulder. Getting them to continue turning in the same direction is the biggest trick! 🙂
In all, this is a very fun age to teach. I think being sure to make the transition from creative movement to the more structured ballet class slowly is what will keep them wanting to come back. If you make too drastic a change they might just lose interest in ballet. Good luck! And if you have other ideas that work well for pre-ballet or beginning ballet classes, please share them in the comments!
This can be a tough age for ballet, especially depending on how long the student has been taking ballet prior to this age.
Ballet Dress Code
When I was the director of the ballet program at Town and Village School of Dance in Paris, Kentucky, I had a dress code that seemed to get the kids excited about moving into the next level. I can’t remember the basic colors anymore, but everyone wore pink tights and shoes (the girls anyway–boys wore black leggings and white shirts with white socks and shoes), and each level had a different color and style of leotard. Some had short sleeved maroon leotards, others had camisole green, and the oldest group could wear any style of black. You wouldn’t think a simple thing such as dress code could motivate students, but it really did. And at the age of 10-12 was about the time they were allowed to start wearing camisole leotards instead of short sleeved or cap sleeves. They couldn’t wait to get into that level so they could look more grown up and wear a completely new color (it was like a forest green).
Ballet Exercises
As far as exercises go, this age group is looking forward to pointe as the next big step. It may not happen for the next 2-3 years for them, but explaining how releves can be done by snatching the foot underneath or by going over to the toes (and telling them that this is important information for them to know when they go on pointe), also piques their interest, because they know right around the corner they will be looking forward to pointe shoes. Sometimes at this age, if the students have been taking ballet previously, I would allow them to get the pre-pointe shoes that have a hard box and no shank, just so they can get the feeling of working in a pointe shoe without actually going up on the toes.
Some steps I remember this age group enjoying were waltz turns that sweep across the floor, varying the arm movements and allowing them to really travel and feel like they are dancing. Also teaching them emboite turns is great at this age, and pirouettes. I always started out with pirouettes from 5th position, working on 1/4 turns first, then 1/2 turns and single full turns. They also enjoy learning jumps that have beats in them, such as royale, jete battu, as well as entrechat quatre and assemble battu.
At the Barre
At the barre, adding doubles to frappes is always a fun exercise, especially once they understand it and can do it. Also adding some simple turns at the barre is good at this age. It can be frustrating at first, but I think flic-flacs are great to teach to this age level, both en dehors and en dedans. Rond de jambe en l’air is great, starting out at 45 degrees so they can keep their alignment squared off, and having them do stretching exercises with a partner can also be helpful. The person holding the working dancer’s leg when it is 90 degrees side can learn how to tell if the person is using their turnout and letting go of the big muscles or not. “Let me have the weight” is a good thing to have them communicate, so the working person can relax the muscles and settle into a very square, turned out position that is right for them, before the other person lets go and allows them to imprint the feeling in their muscles.
Perk up the Ballet Class
Using fun music is always a good way to perk up class if you feel they are losing interest. Keeping them challenged is the most important thing you can do to make them feel that they are learning new things all the time and that they are getting ready for pointe work. Doing lots of releves on one or two legs to strengthen their calves and ankles is important. Working through the feet so they can articulate very clearly between a fully pointed foot and a foot pointed just at the metartarsal is good for strengthening their feet and toes.
Appropriate Level
Give them things that are too hard for them to do in the center, without the aid of the barre, such as entrechat quatre or even entrechat six, jete battu or assemble battu, sissone, etc. Maybe even allow them to observe your most advanced students in a class where they can see them doing these steps with ease will also serve to keep them interested in continuing their ballet education so they can make it to that point too.
Good luck and let me know if any of these are helpful tips. If you have more to add, please share them in the comments!
Ballet class with children ages 3-5 is often called “creative movement” rather than ballet class. Then at age 6 it is sometimes referred to as “pre-ballet”, which is when they are usually ready to stand at the barre and learn the mechanics of alignment and ballet positions. Creative movement can be taught many different ways—none better or more effective than another—so I will just share some of the things I did with this age group (and felt were effective) when I was teaching them dance.
First of all, kids this age don’t have a very long attention span! Two minutes is about as long as you can stretch one activity before moving on to something else. I always felt that a 45 minute class was the absolute longest these kids could handle, unless you are combining it with some tap, too. I’d also say that if you have more than eight children in the class then you should probably have an assistant there to help you out.
Begin sitting in a circle — stretching and singing
I structured my creative movement classes more or less the same way each week. Kids do like repetition and it helps them feel more comfortable if they have a good idea what to expect. We would begin sitting on the floor in a circle, wide enough that when they put their arms out to the sides they wouldn’t touch their neighbor. At the beginning you can have them sit cross legged or with the soles of their feet together or their legs stretched out straight in front of them. Sitting cross legged is easiest for them, and when you want them to focus attention on sitting up straight and using good posture through their backs, necks long, and shoulders down, this is helpful. Continue reading “Teaching Creative Movement”
