r/BALLET • u/MinaHarker1 Ballet Mistress • Jul 04 '25
Constructive Criticism Question for Recreational Adult Dancers
Hi all! I’ve been teaching ballet to kids and teens for many years now, but this summer, I just started teaching my first adult ballet class. Most of my adult students are beginners. My question for the adult recreational dancers on this sub is this: what words of advice do you have for me? What do you wish the wider dance world knew/understood/appreciated about adult rec dancers? Thank you!
Edit: thank you all for the very helpful feedback! I will keep these things in mind with my adult dancers.
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u/vpsass Vaganova Girl Jul 04 '25
I’m not a beginner so I might not be your target audience, and while I still consider myself a lifelong student I taught beginner and intermediate adult ballet classes.
The biggest thing that I hate is when the teacher treats the ballet class like it’s not as serious or as important as the other classes at the studio. This can take forms such as giving the adults shorter class periods, not teaching technical foundations (e.g. just letting adults try all these difficult steps for fun without any of the foundational technique to execute the steps correctly), or prefacing any hard steps with “you guys don’t have to do this as well as the teenagers” as if being older somehow made you less capable.
My feedback from my own personal adult students has always been that I shouldn’t be shy to give them corrections and that the reason they come to my class is because they know they can learn and grow from it.
Ballet is super accessible to those who start as adults. Dancers who start as adults can grow into really advanced dancers with strong technique and artistry. Just like a youth class, a good adult class is welcoming to students who are dancing for fun and dancers who are in class to get better and stronger. The biggest disservice a teacher can do is to teach someone a “lesser” version of ballet because they are over the age of 20. It makes no sense.