Ballet: A School for Life
Dance, especially ballet, is not solely a training ground for pirouettes and pointe shoes. It is a productive school for life, developing your spirit and shaping your character, for both inside and outside the studio. I know this firsthand from studying various genres of dance practically my whole life and from being part of the professional world of ballet. Here are a few invaluable qualities fostered through dance, focusing particularly on ballet.
Imagination and Creativity
These concepts are explicit in the ballet instruction of young children. Elements of class, such as structured play and imaginative exercises that involve pretending to be butterflies, fairy princesses, animals, kings and queens, etc. all while learning to plié and to leap, help children to develop a love for the art of ballet. If you continue to more advanced or professional levels and gain technical proficiency, this imagination will continue to be engaged as you perform different roles in classical story ballets, such as The Nutcracker and Giselle, as well as new choreographic works.
The ability to inhabit and to portray a character or to convey the mood of a dance can translate to empathy and understanding in the real world because you have practiced “stepping into the shoes” of someone else in another time and place.
The creativity and artistry of ballet unites the heart, mind, and body, reminding the dancer and the audience alike that humans are both physical and spiritual beings.
Discipline and responsibility
From a very young age, ballet class teaches students self-discipline and personal responsibility. At 5 or 6 years old, this may look like keeping your hands to yourself, not talking when the teacher is talking, or not treating the ballet barre like a jungle gym on the playground.
Naturally, the expectation of discipline and personal responsibility only increases as the student advances. Taking classes several days a week, often for multiple hours a day, demands discipline. Not to mention the necessary outside time devoted to sewing ribbons and elastic on pointe shoes, doing supplemental exercises, etc. This responsibility also extends to the logistics of ballet, such as making sure you arrive at rehearsals and performances on time with all necessary “equipment” and that hair and stage make-up meet the requirements of the part, etc. Dance teaches two of the most essential ingredients of any commitment, namely, discipline and responsibility.
Hard work and perseverance
These two go hand-in-hand with discipline and responsibility. Obviously, the hours of time put into classes, rehearsals, and performances are hard work, physically, mentally, and emotionally. Moreover, they require perseverance. Any dancer will tell you that you must persevere when studying ballet. A simple example would be practicing the same step over and over again until you have achieved its execution. Another would be persevering through physical growth spurts (which change your strength and center of balance), through injuries, and through inevitable disappointments that arise in the pursuit of personal goals. Ballet teaches the old adage that “anything worth having is worth fighting for,” whether that’s an elegant arabesque, an academic degree, or the continuance of a relationship. Plus, dance shows that the hard work and perseverance can be rewarded through the joy of a successful performance, choreography finally mastered, or a role finally earned. The hard work makes the victory even sweeter.
Time management
With all this committment and discipline, you necessarily must become a capable time manager in order not to overlook the other aspects of life. A serious ballet student must balance schoolwork, family life, downtime, and other activities and pursuits. Sometimes this means having to sacrifice one thing for another, such as having to choose whether to attend a high school prom or perform in a spring dance recital. But in the general daily schedule of activities, a dedicated student of dance will learn to use time wisely, doing schoolwork between classes or while being driven to class by their equally dedicated parents. When I began to be serious about studying dance, my parents made the decision to homeschool me, and I remember reading school assignments to my Mom while commuting to ballet class. I also watched my friends with whom we carpooled finish up their homeschooling assignments during drives as well.
Time management is a lesson that can be drawn upon in any career or at any phase of life.
Teamwork
This one might have you scratching your head quizzically. “Ballet isn’t a team sport,” you say. Well, while there is debate as to whether dance is a sport or not, it most certainly requires teamwork. Anyone who has seen or been a part of the perfectly symmetrical lines of ballerinas comprising the “corps de ballet” in something like Swan Lake can attest that the dancers had to work together to achieve their common goal of pristine columns of swans. One person off a mark and the effect can be dashed. Spatial awareness is key, but the importance of simply being able to get along amicably with others during all those hours of rehearsal and meticulous polishing of the choreography can’t be overstated. You must put aside any personal disagreements and work together professionally for the good of the production.
While, obviously, there is far less pressure put on young students in a dance recital than there is put on professional ballerinas performing in a company, the same basic principle can be learned. Your friends are depending on you to do your part and you don’t want to let them down- this is also where responsibility comes into play again- and it is a lesson that can be applied in many scenarios of life.
Self-worth and how to handle disappointments
It’s no secret that the world of ballet can be harsh and heart-breaking at times. However, this unfortunate reality can be a means to learn about yourself, to develop perseverance, and to grow as a person. Particularly in the advanced, pre-professional, and professional realms, events such as the casting of roles in a ballet or acceptance into summer programs or companies can be nerve-wracking and the results either full of elation or devastation. You must come to learn that a disappointing outcome does not diminish your worth as a dancer or especially as a person.
Everyone has his/her own unique strengths and gifts to share. If you are continually striving to improve, doing your best, and mostly, deriving joy and giving joy to others through your dancing, no more can be asked.
Sometimes, a subjective casting decision or an acceptance or rejection has nothing to do with your ability but everything to do with something completely unrelated to you, such as budgets, or something over which you have no control, such as your height. As an above-average-height female dancer, I’ve had my share of disappointments as it relates to casting due to my height, but I’ve also had heartwarming, memorable experiences precisely because I am tall.
Painful learning moments offer a chance for reflection and for reassessment of your dance goals: How do you want to proceed in your journey with dance? Do you want to continue or do you believe your recreational or professional path in dance may be leading elsewhere or coming to an end?
The most important thing to remember is that you are more than what you do.
An appreciation for beauty
One of my favorite authors, J.R.R. Tolkien wrote in his epic work, The Lord of the Rings: “There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that, in the end, the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty forever beyond its reach.”
You ask, “What does this quote from a fantasy trilogy about two hobbits’ quest to destroy an evil ring have to do with ballet?” One word: beauty.
The beauty and grace of ballet is undeniable. Grace and poise, whether feminine or masculine, is not something highly emphasized in today’s culture. Yet, humans seem to have an innate respect for beauty, poise, and grace when they are encountered. Like Tolkien’s hobbit Sam, who saw the shining star, something makes us stop and appreciate and marvel. This appreciation is vastly different than the amazement we experience when encountering the advancements and utility of technology. In the presence of beauty, we experience something more organic and more human: wonder and awe. For many people, beauty connects them to a Higher Power. This is something I have personally felt through dancing and performing.
Studying ballet for one year, two years, or a lifetime can cultivate a sense of grace and beauty so they can be more readily recognized and valued in the arts, in music, in literature, in nature, and in the people around us. This is an inestimable lesson that certainly makes life fuller and more worth living.