Adults starting, or returning to, ballet are often concerned about their ability to balance. The wonderful thing about working with adult students is that they can readily understand concepts to help them with their technique. Utilize the following tips and help your adult students demystify the art of balancing.

Having good balance in ballet is as essential as breathing. However unlike breathing, it doesn’t just happen – especially for the adult student! For your adults to balance effectively, they need to think in a rational manner – like marking off an internal checklist. Hoping that their balance will magically appear at the necessary moment is not an effective balancing technique!

There are three important considerations when explaining balance to your adult ballet student. The first is body positioning including weight placement, followed by lines of energy and creating useful tension, and finally the importance of breathing. These three elements combine to create the whole picture, which is of course, a beautifully held balance that feels fantastic!

Body Positioning For Balance

It’s important for the student to have their body weight positioned correctly, right over the ball of the foot with awareness of the toes connecting to the floor. The foot is the point of contact with the floor, so it’s vital to have a strong connection. If your adult student struggles to press their toes down, then their weight still needs to shift a little further to the supporting side, along the line of the standing foot. Adults have spent a lifetime carrying their weight in individual ways, so this might feel quite foreign to them and take some time.

Ask your adult to create a mental map upward through their body. They should sense that all muscles are engaged and drawing towards their center. This means that the leg muscles are pulling up, the turnout muscles are wrapping around to maintain stability and the pelvis is collecting up towards the belly button.

The top of their body should also be working towards their center. The shoulders are pressing down and the ribcage has a connection to the pelvis. It helps to think of the waist as the connecting point, like two plugs of a power cord in the moment when they are pushed together. When this connection is strong and solid, bonding the center of the body, balance is achievable.

Have your adult student focus just above eye level with the chin slightly lifted. This position should have a regal quality to it, calm yet completely engaged. Often adults look down to see what they’re doing rather than trusting how something feels. Ask them to check their eye line to help their balance. This lifted feeling is one that should be carried by your adult students throughout the entire ballet class!

Using Lines Of Energy And Tension For Balance

The flow of energy through the body should be overwhelmingly “up”, while maintaining a strong connection to the floor. Remind your adult students that this isn’t about lifting their shoulders or ribcage; those should stay down, strong and bonded to their center. This is about visualizing an imaginary central line running directly through the body like a golden thread. This line of energy has a continual two-way pull, and means that your adult student will balance at the top of their position without compromising their technique or connection to the floor. This upwards force helps to enhance a correct ballet ‘line’.

Whilst it’s important to stay calm in a balance there are some places in the body where tension is required. This tension is malleable rather than static and brittle. The core, which includes all of the muscles from the lower ribcage to the turnout muscles in the derrière, should gently radiate this tension. The upper arms and shoulder blades should also have a strong two-way pull. The upper arms are lifted to create breadth, yet the shoulders and shoulder blades are drawing down, giving a sense of carving space with the arms when they move.

Breathing For Balance

Last (but definitely not least!) is breathing. When your adults breathe in and hold their breath they will immediately notice how their body becomes tense and it will make them feel anxious. Adults tend to hold their breath when they need to do something difficult. As soon as they breathe out it’s easier for them to work their body and focus their mind; so, remind them to breathe throughout. Approaching a held balance with a sense of calm will help your adult students keep a clear head, and allow their muscles to work correctly rather clenching due to a fear of failure. A calm mind and a strong body are essential for the adult ballet student to develop a secure sense of balance.

Finally, remind your adult students that learning to balance is a process that takes time. These techniques remove the mystery around balancing well, and your adult students will notice an immediate improvement. If they fall out of a balance, ask them to think about why, rather than just feeling frustrated. We all know that the best way to learn to balance is with continued practice. If your adult students come down, send them back up!