At every age ballet can be fun, creative and confidence-building.
I have been dancing all my life, and I found that ballet helped me to express myself as well as give me so many skills, most especially self-discipline and resilience which has lasted a lifetime. It also builds a strong and agile body with wonderful posture! I firmly believe this can be available for all.
You don’t have to do ballet as a career for it to be exhilarating and satisfying. As a form of exercise, it can be demanding, but why not? Life inevitably throws us challenges but ballet throws us beautiful ones!
To be an effective teacher you must be a lifelong learner. I strongly believe that a child’s true potential can only be realised when they feel happy, motivated and confident about their learning environment.
Teaching in itself is an art and a process of being curious enough to learn from your students and the ever changing ballet profession. I find that acquiring new strategies, ideas, and philosophies as a result of professional development of pedagogical skills is personally ever rewarding and enables me to continually pass on new ideas to students.
Goals for students in ballet class
As a teacher of classical ballet, I have two essential goals for students in class. The first is to understand and practice the technical elements of classical ballet vocabulary. The second goal is to empower students to make personal artistic choices alongside the technical elements. This is especially important in order to prepare students for potential auditions and can be achieved by allowing students the freedom to explore and develop their own sense of artistry in combination with strong musicality. They must be confident in their own ability to contribute.
A balance of ballet technique and artistry
Classes are centred around a theme and learning outcomes to facilitate development of pure, strong, clean, and correct technique, placement, and alignment – enabling the dancers to perform ballet’s technical skills. I believe that with a strong base, dancers have the ability to investigate and develop their individual artistry as they progress. Students should understand the idea that technique nurtures and supports artistry while, at the same time, artistry and musicality facilitate technique.
I work hard to understand and know the students, so that they feel empowered and can support their own learning. I allow students space and time to process and learn, instilling a work ethic and a sense of personal discovery. I encourage the student to think and invite them to learn – rather than merely tell them what to do – and above all, allow them to have fun within the environment of a ballet studio.
I always give positive feedback, paying particular attention to effort, in order to encourage further growth and development from each of my pupils. I appreciate that students are all unique individuals.
Inspiring students
I take inspiration from my own past teachers of varying artistic lineages, together with current new academic and scientific research into the best way to cultivate the learning process, ultimately training students to be artists capable of flourishing.
The ideal goal is to inspire students to be curious and knowledgeable about their subject on both a physical and mental level so that they truly understand the depth and possibilities within the art of ballet. There never has been and never will be a short cut to the form of classical ballet. It is, therefore, important to enrich and renew the learning experience of this art with ‘new life’ according to each individual’s reality and imagination.
