Getting kids to love ballet

I work at a studio that has a lot of competitive dancers and some recreational dancers. Ballet is a requirement for almost all competition. We also do a Nutcracker performance which the kids love.

But I find it difficult to get them to understand the connection between being good at styles like lyrical, contemporary, and musical theatre and gaining a solid knowledge and technique in ballet. More specifically, they seem to hate barre. But obviously this is an integral part of the ballet class and they don’t really get enough of it as is. (Classes are only an hour, they take two, maybe three ballet classes weekly, because of our requirements.)

It’s frustrating because I love ballet. I remember not liking barre when I was a kid but somewhere along the line I grew to absolutely love it. It’s like meditation for me. I am sick of kids confidently stating to me, their ballet teacher, that they don’t like ballet, ballet is their least favorite, but they’d love to be Clara in the nutcracker this year 🙄.

I do things like use popular music for ballet class. I try hard to keep them moving and learning new things. I have tried lecturing them that ballet is foundational to some of their other favorite styles, and that it will help their quality of movement and control. But being lectured to isn’t fun and I’d love a better way to make them connect ballet with the things they love about dance. Or at least, if they don’t love it, I want them to respect it.

Any ideas to make it more palatable for the kids who really just want to dance to pop music and get trophies!? Or at least give them a deeper understanding of why they should treat it with respect (even, dare I say, reverence?)

in DanceTeachersby Scarlett_Billows

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Big-Violinist-2121

Honestly I think this is normal across the board, we all love the results but hate getting there. Ballet is hard and easy to sleep on! It’s all in incentive. Maybe try a “dance dollar” situation where over achievers or those giving 100% receive a currency to spend on prizes every month, maybe slow down videos of their favorite dancers doing other styles but make them point out whenever they see ballet technique. You could even oust the typical piano versions and just play the original versions of their favorite songs. You could also try to implement games or challenges that make them think about what they’re doing so that their minds don’t have time to wander. it’s hard though! I struggle with getting them to care too

maybewe1lsee

I started ballet at 10 and something that really got me into ballet was trivia and games in class. We would play a trivia game about once a month. Ex. Perform a move based on the term given for points. It helped me learn my terminology and motivated me to do better in ballet

happykindofeeyore

Storytelling.

Ballet is supposed to be a storytelling art in a way their other class styles aren’t (except for Musical theatre if that have that). Yet too often ballet is only approached as “technique” class, even though ballet has always been a theatrical art form.

Technique of course is important. But perhaps instead of only teaching combinations, teach them a variation and have them work on the acting part as well as the technique and musicality. Get into the nitty gritty. Teach them pantomime. Make up a dance with different characters, a story, a little plot.

darlingdiatribe

Yes to this! Pantomime is such a draw in for kids. They all want to preform - let them!

I could tell I was loosing some dancers at barre the other day, so I switched it up. At the end of the combination I had them ballet walk away from the barre in a circle and loop back for the other side. I added that for the combo they had to pretend they were overly sassy and regal (short little steps with the nose turned up).

They loved it and fully engaged again after a little laugh.

darlingdiatribe

What the age range of the students?

Scarlett_Billows

All ages. But it’s the older students who are taking ballet begrudgingly at times. So anywhere from about 9 to 18, with a lot of middle school and high school aged kids

Younger kids seem to love it. It’s when the class becomes very structured, like a traditional ballet class, with so many barre exercises, etc, that they seem to get “bored”.

darlingdiatribe

Gotcha. Yeah - unfortunately I think that’s pretty common.

Things I’m doing this year that are showing good results so far:

Learning a variation as a class. It’s something to work towards and I’m able to structure the class to develop the skills needed for the dance. We chop it up into combinations across the floor, piecing it all together after a few weeks.
Ballet notebooks. Each dancer has a binder that they bring to class. I have a handout on occasion. Sometimes it’s fun facts about ballet. Other times it’s terminology or technique based learning. I’ll give plot lines of famous ballets or stretching exercises they can do at home. If they bring their binder, they get a sticker. Even the teenagers are into the stickers. I purchased cute water bottle type stickers on Amazon and the kids get all excited to pick one out each class.
Goals. I set simple goals for each level (ex. double pirouette by Nutcracker) and had dancers come up with a personal goal for the year as well. Now there’s a reason to work at barre and healthy group accountability.
Driving home the concept that pointe shoes are earned and only allowed when an acceptable level of skill and strength is shown seems to be a motivating factor.
They know I’ll end class with something fun if and only if they give me the effort needed at barre. They’re still kids after all.

Competitive_labrador

I remember not liking ballet but I understood the importance and the technique that came along with it. So when it came down to it we mustard through it and got it done. However not sure what your curriculum is but we would do cool themes for recital and we would have fun ballet dances like wizard if oz, Pandora’s box and Alice in wonderland where we were still doing ballet but we got to play fun characters while still maintaining technique. But I totally understand your perspective I have a hard time as well with my students not liking ballet.

adknight11

I’ve found over the years that the more I connect with the students, the more their hearts soften towards ballet. Maybe have them create some personal goals for ballet so they don’t feel like they’re just going through the motions? I always tell my kids that I understand why they don’t love ballet, but they need to fake it until they make it. It’s gotten better, but I totally get it. It’s hard.

choreochef3499

I’m in the same situation. My oldest group of comp kids in ballet had a breakthrough this year with actually being motivated to come to class and work, from a sticker chart. Sounds silly, but I was desperate and underestimated what 13-18 year olds will do for a sticker….

I made a chart with all of their names and put a tally next to their name anytime they got a sticker. The stickers were little gold stars, I got a bulk pack on Amazon for a few dollars. They got a sticker anytime they did something GREAT- I would point to them and say “GOLD STAR!” and put the sticker on their hand. They love getting the sticker but more importantly, it celebrates them in front of their classmates so everyone learns what they did well. For example, my class struggled with basic ballet etiquette of holding a “finish” with arms down at the end of a barre combination, so when only one kid did it I would give them a star. Since then I’ve never had to remind anyone in the class to hold their finish. I gave out lots of stars for kids answering ballet vocabulary questions, applying corrections, being ready in class early, etc.

The chart resets halfway through the year (before Christmas) and at the end of the year (before recital). The person with the most tally marks gets to a pick a reward (teach the class for one day, pick and friend and get a skip one ballet class coupon, play a game in class, no dress code for a day, whatever works).

I also did events throughout the year that were “double star days”, where I would purposefully give out lots of stars. I made a printed ballet vocab quiz where they got a point for every question they got right. Another one was a game I call “ballet baseball” where they split into teams and have to demonstrate different steps or answer questions. Doing things like this throughout the year helped our class break up the monotony of barre and repetitive exercises (as much as I love those things, my priority this year was getting the comp kids into class and helping them enjoy it, once we get to the point that they care I can get into a more structured and consistent class!)

Rmdncr3939

We will break up the monotony of barre by doing center barre about once a month and then they come to appreciate the barre being there for them ;)