If you take ballet, what are your classes like?

Question

When I took ballet class, my teacher was a really nice, refined lady. She taught all the boys to bow properly and the girls to curtsey. At the end of the class we always bowed and curtseyed to her.

She always used the French terms for the steps, and made sure we knew how to pronounce them correctly.

She watched us really carefully and never, never yelled at us.

She played beautiful classical music for us to dance to, especially when we did work in the center of the room

She made sure we always looked nice, out hair done nicely, and that we smelled sweet and clean, our clothes impeccable. She also was very protective of us and never let the girls go on point before they were ready, usually two years into our training.



And she did it without strain or temper. It was like a finishing school!

On top of it, her mother, who appeared often, was inordinately fond of chocolate truffles and always wore navy blue dresses and hats. A very genteel lady

Answer 1

At the end of class we have to bow/curtsey as well...
No term is in english - she'll ask us what they mean and if we pronounce them wrong she'll correct us.
No, my teacher would never yell either - she didnt have to - one look and the student would stop misbehaving.
She watches us carefully too - not just for the technique but to make sure the steps go with the music and look nice.
There is a piano player in our class.. so its always classical music.
Yes - she'll help people put their hair up if they needed help and she cares that we are neat and tidy.
Haha, I dont understand why any teacher would let the girls on pointe without at least two years of training - their feet wouldnt be strong enough. -we are allowed on pointe when she thinks we are ready - she has to talk to you individually...
^_^
yep.
It hasnt changed. and hopefully it will never.

Answer 2

I had 3 different teachers.
My first teacher was very nice. Everyday when class started we would speak a little bit of french and then we would begin class, most of the time we spoke the steps and numbers in french. She was protective and didn't want us to get hurt.
My second teacher was a male. He was really nice. We all loved to joke around in his class and he was okay with it. But he felt like he couldn't teach point so we got a new female teacher to come teach us one of the other days of the week the next year.
She was strict. We couldn't joke around or do anything for the most part, and that's not why any of us were there. We were taking ballet for fun. We didn't want to be professionals.

Answer 3

My teacher is from Italy and has studied ballet for well over twenty years. She is very kind and patient with us but she moves very fast. Same as your teacher she uses the correct Ballet Terms and makes sure we know them very well. Although she dosen't make the decision who goes on pointe,our director does she will voice her opinion and often helps decide who is reafy and who is not. We must wear a leotard,tights and pink ballet shoes and our hair must pulled back in ethier a bun or a short ponytail-so we don't wack ourselves in the face. Our bangs must also be out of our face. My Jazz Teacher is the same...although they are both preformers so i understand.

I really appreciate her being strict because in the long run we will be better dancers all together.

Answer 4

My teacher is friendly, she's strict, but only because she wants us to know the perfect technique and do our very best. Like your teacher, she uses the correct ballet terms and makes sure we know them well. She doesn't yell because she knows that won't help, and she helps us through every mistake so we don't get into bad habits. We use classical Cd's instead of a real piano. Some of her classes have strict dress codes, but for the young adult/teen classes she lets us off easy. As long as we wear tight fitting clothes (non revealing) and our hair is off of our face and neck. We usually do floor stretches first, then we go to the barre, and last we dance in the center of the room. Sounds like you went to a very nice studio!

Answer 5

I have a lot of teachers since I trained at School of American Ballet... Some we are all a bit scared of (but it makes you work really hard) others were nicer. But all of them demanded great technique, taught the right words, had someone playing the piano for class (we had to take music lessons too in middle school) and almost never gave out compliments. It's excellent training and I'm really glad to have it.

Answer 6

wow, i wish my ballet teacher was like that.
mine never really got a temper, but she was a slack. she did use the french terms, but she never slowed down to explain how to do this or that, you would have to ask her over and over until you got her attention THEN you could ask her but even then she would slack off and give you a poor "definiton". also, this was suppose to be my first year of pointe and she could care less. she didn't care if your ankles were strong enough, or if you had many years of ballet training. as long as they were fitted right you were in the pointe class. i've quit with her and starting in january i'm starting with this new lady in town that use to do the coroagraphy for this real nice dance company. me and this other girl in my ballet class went to watch one of her dance classes with the girls our age...AND OMG SHE WAS AWESOME!!! she made everything look fun and be fun, the other teacher could care less about fun, she took time idividually with each girl with whatever they were practcing. and when one of the girls would be pestimistic towards themselves she made all the others make a circle around her and sing a happy song. she never did say bad things to the girls, she encouraged them, and if they did somthing wrong she would make them go back and try again and not say a sour word, but keep a smile. i can't wait to start with her!!!!!!

Answer 7

i loved my ballet teacher! she was so nice! but now i'm taking pointe, but that is a higher level of ballet and i still love my teacher! she never yells and always points out are mistakes and tells us what we can do to improve it,

Answer 8

i took ballet for 2 years but i had to quit because we moved...i know it flexes your calf musscles verry well

Answer 9

all the girls i see in ballet are sexy

leotards and tights are sexy on slim fit girls

Answer 10

HARD AND TAKES PATIENCE AND STRENGtH