Iloveballet2804

Dr dance - you summed up EXACTLY wht I felt! To be given no feedback except your not trying hard enough when your trying so hard to be noticed is so damaging! Anjuli bai - yes this is true! I'veprogressed a lot technically but there was a point when I almost gave up which is a huge step backwards. It's taken quite a while to regain that this summer through workshops and things.

When I was about nine I almost gave up ballet! I was finding it so boring and i wasnt really progressing! It would have helped a lot if someone had explained clearly what was expected of me as I progressed further and given me some inspiration to carry on. Maybe showed me some steps from higher grades to give me an idea of what all the hours would result in. Just to have someone explain where I was heading and what ballet would mean to me later on. So many of my friends left at this age - you need to be given some encouragement and incentive to want to progress x

I dance at two different school - one for intensive classes and the other for recreational shows and exams. As they are so different and I don't take part in competitions I doubt the schools would ever have a problem!

I think what's important is to keep control without being too harsh and empowering. The problem with my teacher is that she gives very little individual comments. She addresses the class as a whole but this doesn't really give you a lot of feedback individually. If she does, it's always critical and I struggle to take a lot from it without getting frustrated after too much criticism on attitude and effort which is so untrue x

Thank you so much for this shimmer that explains things! Im still indesicive about what I want to do and I want to make sure that all my options are open until I have to make a final desicion so if I'm able to do this without changing too much that's great x

Yes haha! Thanks for your advice everyone

She seems lovely outside of class so yes it may just be the way she teaches. Her technique has worked as I'm so much better than before - just wish I could have enjoyed it more at the same time. It did affect me as it did most of the girls in the class but i love ballet too much to stop. I'm hoping for a different teacher next year and I'm moving up so hopefully this will happen!

Yes I agree with that! Just a little praise would have been very helpful!

I had a teacher last year who was brilliant in getting us to move forward. I have improved so much this year it's unbelievable! The only problem I found was that she constantly was telling us we wernt trying hard enough. She'd say things like 'if you continue with this attitude you will go nowhere in ballet' and 'I think I'm wasting my time with you'. She'd address the whole class with things like this but it would really get me down as I'd try so hard until I was hurting and she never gave me a piece of positive feedback. I can definitely take criticism but I do think that this was a bit too far! It resulted in a few girls quitting and classes became very tense. Do you think this is normal? As I said she was a brilliant dancer and has taught me so much but I struggled to keep on with it this last year and that had never happened before.

I am currently working at grade 5 level and am planning to continue all the way to intermediate. I would love to do this even if only part time and locally. Thanks for your replies - so if I carry on with what I'm doing it could work? X

Try this workout which I do every night: •cardio - jumps, running on the spot, skipping •muscular training - crunches, sit ups, squats (I do sixty of each but whatever works for you) •stretches - calf, thigh, hamstring, leg on the bar and lean over, splits side and front, straddle etc. •ballet - plies, tendus, foot stretches, grand battements, changement. By doing the basic ballet movements at the end of the workout you are enabling your body to do these without hurting anything. My rule is: if it hurts a little stop immediately. If you do this workout every night I think you can get by (atleast while you are still only beginning) on one class a week. I'm thirteen and this workout keeps me going over the summer when I have no ballet. Xxx

I'm thirteen and love to dance - I do ballet and contemporary at northern ballet in Leeds. I currently take four dance classes a week - would this be enough to look in to teaching as a possible career later on? I know to dance professionally I would need to join a vocational programme and this is something I would not want to do but is this the case for teaching? I love to teach dance and run local workshops over the summer at the moment - what are your thoughts? X