Including ballet etiquette when teaching your adult ballet beginners will give context, enhance the learning experience and create a deeper understanding of their place in the ballet world.

Ballet Etiquette Creates Boundaries

Most adults love rules. Rules help make sense of the world. Rules give understanding and guidelines of what is (and isn’t) acceptable. Ballet etiquette is the set of rules that allows students to explore their learning within a stable environment.

Setting boundaries creates a sense of security for the adult ballet beginner. When they understand what behavior is acceptable in the studio, it allows them to turn their attention to their learning. No talking in class means that everyone can keep their focus on their enchaînements. Treating their teacher, the barre and their fellow students with respect establishes equality within the learning cohort. We take these small rules for granted, and though they may not seem like much, when students know them and apply them, these rules help to develop harmony in the studio.

Ballet Etiquette Sets A Standard To Strive For

It’s helpful in the first lesson with your adult beginners to tell them that ballet is strict! Teaching your adult ballet beginners to always give their best effort in class gives them a standard to strive for. This discipline helps to build a solid learning pathway. Creating that standard will help your adults to realize that ballet is a slow, carefully constructed journey where the rewards may not be grandiose, but steady and consistent.

The ‘slow’ of learning ballet can be a refreshing change in this world of instant gratification, so it’s important for your adults to understand that there is no fast track to the learning process. What you can show them is the deep-seated satisfaction in taking the time to learn the technique, crafting it to fit their bodies and stage in life. Striving, achieving and then setting the next standard can take on a meditative quality that gives ongoing time out from the world.

Ballet Etiquette Connects Students To Ballet Heritage

Ballet etiquette is a direct connection to the heritage of ballet. The ballet experience is more than just learning the steps and terminology. To truly connect with ballet, and create life-long learners in this beautiful art form, it’s vital to give a sense of place in the world (and history) of ballet.

All ballet students continue the story of ballet. Talking to your adult beginners about their place in this story might be more rewarding than expected. Explain to your adults that the very nature of the ballet class structure is a continuation of ballet history. Building a sense of belonging to the ballet world for your adults, will give meaning and connection. Those who truly understand they have a place in the ballet world, despite being an adult beginner, will develop an enduring love and appreciation for ballet. This is just as rewarding from a teaching perspective, as beautiful technique.

It’s very easy when teaching adults to equate age with knowledge. Adults, we assume, have a general understanding on how the world works. However, this doesn’t hold true for the ballet world. We can teach our adult beginners the steps and terminology, but if we give them context through an understanding of ballet etiquette, then we set them up for a successful and rewarding learning experience.