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The Women's Page
Tales from the adult dance student avant garde

Working Toward Becoming a Ballet Teacher
When I was 33 and had just had my second child, I began to feel the need for personal fulfillment and relief from the demands of being a working mother. When I sat down and gave it some serious thought, I realized that I wanted to dance.

I had studied ballet as a child and also some in college, and I had done ballroom dancing for several years as a teenager, even to the point of doing exhibitions and teaching my parents to dance. Now what I really wanted to do was to take a ballet class again.

But I was 33, and imagined that everybody else in the class would be under 25 and that I might be laughed at. Then I remembered having seen a ballet workout video advertised in a book club announcement, so I bought a copy of it and began using it. It was so much fun that I did that same video every other day for about two years! When I learned that there had been a second one made by the same teacher, I bought that one also and did it for another year.

Finally, I grew tired of doing the same exercises over and over in my living room. Now that I felt I knew a little something about ballet, I gathered up my courage and called a dance studio to find out about ballet classes. To my utter delight, the teacher informed me that her students ranged in age all the way from 5 to 75! So I joined the class.

The first thing I found out was that my alignment was all wrong. Videos don't correct anything, so if you don't really know what you're doing, you'll just keep doing it wrong. Also, I learned to do turns and flying leaps for the first time in many years. I planned to take two classes each week, but after the first class, I was so sore that I couldn't go to the next class. Then I realized how much work I would have to do to really learn ballet.

The classes became almost an addiction for me. I started going to class four nights a week and went home feeling totally exhilarated. Furthermore, learning ballet was giving me confidence and poise. I was also starting to like my body again. I was slim to begin with, but now I was also becoming muscular. While other people my age (I was now 37) were getting fat, I was actually improving my body. But more importantly, I was beginning to feel a passion and a love for dance that filled my heart. I was truly a person with a new lease on life.

Toward the end of my first year, my class of adults was asked to be in the yearly recital. I didn't know if I would like performing, but decided to try it. It turned out to be a wonderful experience. Rehearsing for shows made me feel like a "real" dancer and it turned out that I loved performing!

However, the most exciting thing about that year was yet to come. I was going on pointe! I had had a dream of dancing on pointe since I was a child, but had begun to think I was too old and that I'd have to forget about it. However, my teacher was very open-minded, and she encouraged it. The only thing more exciting in my life than getting my first pair of pointe shoes was having my two daughters.

By this time, I was very serious about ballet. I was going to class four nights a week and rehearsing for the yearly recitals. It was amazing how far I had come since the day I had called about my first class. Now it was time for me to figure out why I was so serious about ballet when I was in my late 30s. What could I do with it? I just wanted to dance, but who would hire me? One thing to consider was that I had learned so much that the ballet teacher occasionally asked to substitute for her in teaching children's classes.

The next phase of my development came when I moved to a different city and enrolled in classes at two studios. One of the classes was a teen-adult class in which the teacher corrected only the teens and mostly ignored the adults. That was not what I wanted. I was there to learn, so after two or three classes there, I left.

The other studio had a teacher who taught the Royal Academy of Dancing ballet syllabus. I found that method very interesting. The exercises were deceptively simple: they looked easy but were very challenging. I learned quite a lot of technique and placement from that teacher. Now I had knowledge of two different schools of ballet, but then the RAD teacher left. She was replaced by a succession of very good teachers, most of whom were supportive of adult students.

One night in class I noticed that there were several students who were very new to ballet and the teacher was confronted with the problem of teaching basic beginners and intermediate students in the same class. I wished I could work with those people and teach them the basics. They were lost and discouraged, and didn’t return to the class the following week. I knew why that was and wished I could help them.

So my dream became this: to give others like me the opportunity to learn what I have learned and to discover that they can do things beyond their wildest expectations. I want to teach people who nobody else wants to work with and help them fulfill their potential and make their dreams come true. My own dream has mostly come true already, but teaching others would complete it. My ultimate goal is to own my own studio.

When a person finally figures out her calling, defines her dreams, and achieves them (or at least works toward them), she gets a degree of joy out of life that nothing can equal. This has made me a better person in all areas of my life because I’m so much happier now. So I say to everyone reading this: you can do it! Pursue your dreams. If you love ballet—or any kind of dance—don’t let anything stop you! -- Olive G.