Ok dancers, let's be realistic. Isn't Ballet just another skill??

Question

I mean. Think of it this way: You go to Germany without knowing a word of German (and never having learned another language in your life). Once you go there and take a few German lessons and stuff, you becomes such a wiz at German that you can say anything with great profession.
How this relates to Ballet: Once you get your legs all stretched out, and your ankles and hips good and strong, isn't Ballet just another skill that you don't need a gazillion years of training to be good at?
I knew a guy who learned to read for the first time when he was 90. And all those people on Dancing With The Stars learn how to dance at a professional level in only.. what.. a few months (I've never really watched the series.. i have a class when it comes on)?
I can tell that Ballet is trickier than it looks, but does it really require so many years of experiance? I know companies only accept "the best" and stuff. Do companies even look at those who HAVEN'T been in training since birth?

I have taken a Ballet class THANK YOU VERY MUCH! It was an average adult beginners class and I didn't find it to be that difficult (it was really fun). Please don't judge me. I was not at all saying that Ballet is simple! I do know that it is somethign that cannot be learned in one day! sheesh!

Answer 1

I can understand how from the outside, ballet does seem like a skill that can be mastered in a few years like a language. however, there is so much more to it. Yes, you have to have strength and flexibility and all of that, but I have worked with many people who have those qualities and are very discouraged when they begin taking classes and realize how much more there is to it than that. There is a lot of blood sweat and tears that goes into the art of learning the technique. If ballet were just something that people could pick up in a few years and become great, there would be so many more people that are great at it. There is no way to compare the art of ballet to the art of linguistics or the sort. I appreciate your question though and your willingness to learn about the subject. Have a great day!

Answer 2

It is a lot more than skill. If ballet is just a skill then Goethe was just another native speaker of German.

Dancing is an art that requires a lot of skill. Skill however *is* required.

As a trained ballroom dancer I can tell you that those celebrities on Dancing With The Stars are not anywhere near professional level. They look like well trained beginners.

If it was possible to teach someone to be a good professional dancer in just a couple of years that's exactly what people would have been doing. Yet, ballet schools compete with each other who's method is more effective, and it still takes years to train a dancer.

Answer 3

Well first off i think you're being way to harsh on Ballet. Ballet is very hard to do. it Depends on your body type. If you are naturally flexible and strong then you will most likely get better faster. Other people may have to work on flexibility to become very good. Even if your are flexible that doesn't mean you barley have to work though. Ballet requires so much strength i doubt you could just call it "another skill" it may seem like that at first if your doing well, but honestly there is probably some other type of ballet that you wouldn't be great at. Unless you are some super lucky person who was born with perfect ballet atributes.

Answer 4

Obviously its a skill... but did you learn to walk the second "your legs got stretched out"? Do you have any idea how long it takes to get your feet and ankles to be strong?There's a reason companies don't look at those without the years of training... its the same reason art schools don't look at people who buy finger paints when they're bored...Taking a few German lessons will get you the same place taking a few ballet classes will: nowhere near perfection.
The guy who learned to read at 90 didn't just pick up "Pride And Prejudice", his ability to read developed after almost a century of exposition to linguistics and audio-visual stimuli that he eventually translated into the ability to interpret those phonemes in printed form. The people on Dancing with the stars are by no means professional, but most of them have performing or athletic bakcgrounds that enabled them to grasp the material more quickly. No, you don't need to pop out of the womb in pointe shoes but come on, give credit where its due, dancing is one of the hardest things in the world to learn, and even harder to excel in.

Answer 5

This is great, everybody in an uproar.

Ballet is not a skill - it's technique.

That guy might learn how to read but he doesn't know how to write - or write well.

It's a skill to learn how to paint a house - it takes mondo technique to paint like the Dutch Masters, and yes: they studied a lifetime.

Stretching and jumping is just learning how to use the brushes and stretch the canvass -- it takes years of technique to be able to paint or dance ballet.

Those Dancing With The Stars guys - it's be like me learning One Song on the piano by practicing it over and over until my fingers learned it. It doesn't mean I know how to play a piano nor am I a musician.

Peace.

Answer 6

It depends on the level you want to reach, and how much natural talent you have. I'm taking ballet now, and i don't find it hugely difficult, but I know what I'm doing isn't that hard. If you want to be a profesional dancer, you have to be awesome. You have to have all the tiniest details perfect. Just watch a profesional dance show really carefully, and you'll see. You never know how hard it can be until you've gotten to the highest level. I haven't personally, but some of my friends have done dance for years, and it gets tough. The better you are, the harder your pushed.

Answer 7

ballet is so much more than stretching their legs out. it requires at the least of six years with experiance. companies that only accept "the best" are usually acadamies that you try out for, or just strict studios. the studios that allow older students to begin dance DO look at the student who HAVEN'T been in training since birth. which by the way, if you are talking about three year old ballet, all tehy do is jump and hop around the room and play with ribbons. there is no point in putting a child/infant in ballet untill they are 7 years old which is usually the age requirment of Ballet I-II. ballet is strong work and you do have to have many years, about six, to get into pointe [ballet on your toes in pointe shoes] which is most dancer's dream. do me a HUGE favor and try a ballet class and then ask this question again. also its not just getting your legs all stretched out, it takes a few good years of stretching to get into splits and other exercises.

Answer 8

Be live it or not, it actually shows when you dance. The way your body moves and the way you point your feet can tell how long you've been dancing.

As for the "Dancing with the stars" people, they usually have taken classes related to dance, such as gymnastics. But they don't start taking dance until later.

Answer 9

this is on no account too overdue to commence dancing, taking ballet, jazz, present day training even on an intermediate point. do not concentration too a lot on growing to be a Broadway action picture star. fairly concentration on embracing the remarkable thing approximately dance and the sensation it supply you. i don't be attentive to concerning the U. S. standards for dancers, yet when I examine your physique specifics, i'm particularly satisfied i don't stay there. even however I certainly have taken some training on the Alvin Ailey college in ny, which I enjoyed! permit me merely stay here and be a dance instructor who does not care approximately physique specifics and here the place human beings additionally do not likely care approximately them. ;-) stable success with beginning your training!

Answer 10

yeah sure of course it's a skill. All dances are skills. I mean, I learn tap dance, jazz, street jazz, ballet and spanish dancing and I think it's a really cool thing to get involve in