Regardless of age or experience, a decision must be made about why one should take (or continue) ballet lessons. Is the dream performing in a professional company? Is the desire a full and healthy life filled with beauty? If the goal is performing in a company then there is a highly structured method of producing professional ballerinas. In these pages, this method is referred to as "Professional Preparation" or "Pro.Prep". If the goal is health and fitness, then the method is referred to as "Life Long" in these pages. One is no better than the other. "Life Long" is not an excuse for bad technique or laziness. Both require dedication and commitment. All teachers must help students understand the difference for a student cannot participate in a Life Long program and expect to enter a professional company. A student with no desire to join a professional company, may be needlessly deprived of time, needlessly limit access to other enriching activities.

Both Life Long and Pro.Prep begin the same way with one class per week, learning the basics of ballet. Both advance through developing quality technique. There are differences in program structure. The beginner must be helped to realistically define goals and select the path that is right for the student. All too many think that attending class sporadically is the path to life long health and beauty, or that the path to performing is a couple classes a week between football games. This is not the path to either Pro.Prep or Life Long.

Schools, Methods, Systems:
Within the umbrella of Professional Prep there are "Schools" of ballet. These are more methods of teaching than schools located in a specific place. These methods have been passed down from one teacher to another. There is the Royal Academy of Dance (RAD), Checcetti Method, Italian School, French School, Vaganova System, that are taught all over the world. When a Life Long instructor is asked what "method", he or she is most likely to reply "eclectic."

The "Eclectic" is one who has taken from, observed, studied with many teachers, many schools, attended many master classes and workshops. The "eclectic" uses some of this and some of that, mixing it all together to offer a unique teaching style and often produces a unique form of ballet dancing. This is exciting for the Life Long dancer seeking to express his or her individuality, and a bit frustrating to the Professional Ballet Company instructor attempting to get all dancers moving as one with every finger held at the exact same angle. Maria Dare was a good example of "eclectic." When I was a high school student attending her Pro. Prep classes it was very similar to the Russian/Vaganova style. When I took my youth filled intermediate students to her for a guest class, she would pull out combinations that I had not seen her use before. I would ask her the source and she would reply "Oh that was a Checcetti." or "That was French School." But when she taught her Adult Ballet classes, it was a flowing mix of all that could not be identified as "Checcetti, or "English" or "French." It was Maria Dare Style. It was unique.

Professional Preparation Structure:
The process for developing professional ballet dancers has been around for centuries. It begins at age 6-7. Level 1 (Beginning) one class per week. Level 2: two classes per week, Level 3: three classes per week. Level 4: four classes per week, Level 5: five classes per week. Pointe shoes arrive after Level 3 and after age 10. Teen years are spent in intensive summer workshops and by age 16-18 the dancer is ready to perform. Age 18-21 the dancer is ready to join a professional company. If the dancer has not made it to the pro's by age 25 the career is over before it began.

Life Long Health and Beauty Structure:
Life Long Health and Beauty has no such rigid formula. A dancer may start at any time. As long as pleasure is derived from sweat, the dance continues. Preschool ballet and Adult ballet classes belong to the realm of Life Long, not Profession Prep. For Life Long health, a dancer can have other priorities. This does not mean that the dancer can attend class sporadically. A dancer can take twice a week and maintain a healthy, strong, flexible body. At three classes a week, a dancer can make progress. Skip a week and the strength and flexibility slips away. Life Long dancers can get pointe shoes after bones in feet are hard enough, muscles are developed and good technique has become a habit. Normally this occurs after age 10 and while taking three or more classes per week. (Dancers who begin pointe work after age 20 seem to have a bit more of a challenge getting up on pointe. Perhaps because bones in feet have become too hard, too set in their ways of moving.) Life long fitness dancers have opportunities to perform in community events and local productions, but should not expect to see their pictures on the cover of Dance Magazine, or get a hand written invitation to join New York City Ballet Company.

Adult Ballet Dancers in Life Long Health and Beauty:
I received an email from a woman in her twenties. She contacted a ballet teacher and said she wanted to begin ballet lessons. The teacher laughed at her (most likely a Prof. Prep. teacher). My advise to the woman was to contact another teacher, and keep contacting teachers until she found the right teacher. A couple weeks later the woman emailed me again saying that the 2nd teacher she contacted was great and the woman had taken her first ballet class and loved it.

There are many more Adult Ballet Dancers than the public thinks. This is because most do not perform. No performance, no public visibility. Few Life Long Fitness adults perform because they have chosen a life with other priorities (work, family) and this makes it difficult to find the time to polish up a performance. Older adult dancers face the problem of keeping muscles warmed up well enough to do a great performance. Back stages are drafty places and thin ballerina costumes offer little protection. The warm-up barre taken before climbing into the costume gets lost in the draft. One day I will develop a beautiful flowing costume that fits over something like a surfer's wet suit and then the public will be amazed at how well 80 year olds perform on the stage.

Class Structure:
All ballet classes have the same structure. Class begins with Barre (the warm-up) then Center (exercises performed in the center of the studio facing the mirror) then Cross Floor work (exercises moving across the floor, from one side of the studio to the other)and ends with Reverance (a bow.) Many instructors interject exercises performed while lying down on the floor, and many place a set of cool down exercises prior to the Reverance.

Class Length & Frequency:
The following are suggestions based on personal experience and knowledge of how the body works. For Toddler & Preschool ballet classes follow the guidelines listed under "Ages 3-5." Adult Ballet actually refers to persons well over the age of 21. The age 17-21 bracket are included with the over 21's because someone beginning ballet at age 17 will not find a place in the Prof. Prep. structure. The body of the 17-21 is not by any means "over the hill," and should go for the maximum lengths and frequencies recommended rather than the minimums. Barre work length is listed because warm-up is a critical factor in injury avoidance. Youth are always on the move - it's hard to get them to stand still. As a result, youth are warmed up before the warm-up begins. As the ability to concentrate develops so does the ability to stand still and as a result the body is not warmed up before the warm-up. The length of time it takes to get muscles warmed up increases with age. It must also be noted that one class per week is recommended for beginners regardless of age, or path. This is because the goal is to teach basic technique, not develop strength or flexibility. Never try to increase strength and flexibility before understanding the basics of body alignment, turn-out, etc. Once alignment is in place, then the body is free to move and develop in the right direction. Before the alignment is in place, the body will develop in the wrong direction. Age makes a difference in how long it will take the student to figure out what correct alignment is all about. The 10 year old will be ready for 2 classes per week much sooner than the 6 year old. Adults vary. For many, good alignment comes naturally and thus can increase to multiple classes per week fast. Others have poor alignment. The longer the body has been out of alignment, the longer it should take to get it into alignment. Small gradual doses of change works best.

Ages 6-16

Ages 17-80

Ages 6-16

Ages 17-80

Ages 6-16

Adult 17-80)

Class Goals:
Many think that the goal of a ballet class is to learn ballet steps, or a ballet dance. The purpose of every class is to improve the body's ability to move by increasing strength, flexibility, precision. Few ballet instructors use these terms, they just lump it together and call it "technique." Every class also challenges the student's brain. The student learns how to remember, multi-task, and cue movements to music. Students develop a senses of awareness that lets them know exactly how close or far away they are from the other dancers, while listening in on their own body cues about what muscles are being used and not used. Beyond this there are goals that are level specific. While accomplishing the above, a student will learn ballet steps and positions. Once ballet steps and positions are learned, a student will learn to bunch them together and that is called a ballet combination. Several combinations grouped together is a ballet dance. Several dances group together (that communicate a story) are called a Ballet. Please don't get so hung up on learning ballet steps that you forget the purpose of the class.