3.19. I took my first class and I couldn't understand what was going on!
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This article is from the Ballet and Modern Dance FAQ, by Tom Parsons twp@panix.com with numerous contributions by others.
3.19. I took my first class and I couldn't understand what was going on!
This, I'm afraid, is all too typical. One's very first ballet
class is apt to be an extremely discouraging experience. In the first
place, ballet is *much* harder than most of us expect it to be. Second,
you're asked to do things you don't know how to do (the terminology is all
strange, and most of it is in French), so you stand there like a dummy
while everybody else in the class goes bounding across the studio.
The main problem is that the vast majority of ballet classes are
ongoing: they don't start out in September with rank beginners and turn out
some kind of finished product in June; they just go on and on and people
can walk in and begin any time. The only exceptions to this are some
children's courses and university courses, where they *do* start with rank
beginners in September. And at the David Howard Dance Center in New York
they used occasionally to offer a short course called "Introduction to
Ballet" for those who knew nothing at all. This was the ideal way to
start, because everybody in the class was presumed to be an absolute
beginner, but such courses are rare.
Failing this, look for Moss and Leopold's "The Joffrey Ballet
School's Ballet-Fit" (cited in the bibliography, Part 6). This book is
specifically written for adult beginners and is ideal.
Because of this, your classmates are all at different stages of
development, especially since you may stay a beginner for two or more years
and many of those supposed "beginners" with whom you're comparing yourself
have that much background behind them. And just to delight you further, a
few experienced dancers, and even some professionals, will occasionally
show up for a beginners' class, maybe just to get an extra workout, and
they *really* make you feel like a klutz.
Under those circumstances, it's no wonder that so many people try
one ballet class, think, "Oh, I'll never learn this!" and never come back
again.
Most teachers will take a little extra care when an absolute
beginner shows up, but there isn't much they can do, because there simply
isn't time to stop and explain each new step for newcomers and to give them
all the correction they need. So even with the best intentioned teachers,
it's mainly sink-or-swim. In a sink-or-swim situation, the only thing you
can do is *persist*. That's what sets apart those people you watch and
wonder at in your very first class: they were presented with the same
discouraging picture you're seeing, and they persisted.
If you are in a locale where you can shop around, you can try to
find a teacher who will take time to explain things for you, but remember
that in a large class it isn't practical to make everyone wait while you
master the step. You are not supposed to watch the others while you dance,
but at this early stage nearly everyone does. Certainly you should watch
everyone when you are not dancing yourself (for example, when you are
waiting your turn to do a combination). And go to performances and watch
the dancers. You learn dancing through a combination of seeing, hearing,
and doing. Learning your way around a studio takes time, and with time--
and sheer, dogged persistence--it will come to you.
In any case, bear in mind that the other people in the class will
*not*, repeat *NOT*, be laughing at you behind your back. They've all been
there themselves. You will be lost a good deal of the time for perhaps the
first six months, but gradually it all comes together. Some outside read-
ing will help; look around in the library or in bookstores for introductory
texts that describe the various steps. (Some of these are listed in the
bibliography, part 6.1.) You will never learn to dance just by reading
about it, but when a step has flummoxed you in class, it can help to read a
description of it in the relative tranquility of your own home. You might
also consider getting the ballet CD-ROM described in Question 2.18.
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