Breathe Life into Your Teaching with Stories

When we teach ballet though stories, we immediately open up a new world for our students. The way ballet is often taught is like watching a silent, black and white movie from the 1920s. Teach through stories, and it’s suddenly like watching in 4K color.

I’m not saying ballet isn’t hard. I’m not saying it isn’t technical. While ballet is an art, it is physically and mentally demanding. It requires focus, effort, and drive to progress from one level to the next. But when we add stories into the equation, we’re adding one source of inspiration and motivation.

When I started teaching, I couldn’t figure out why my preschool and beginning students had trouble paying attention, following instructions, and standing in lines. I was frustrated that so few of them were truly engaged in class.

Then I started teaching my preschool classes through fairy tales. It was a night and day difference in how my classes behaved. I was still teaching them correct, age-appropriate technique. But I did so through a story. Our tendus might become showing off Cinderella’s glass slippers. Our runs en demi pointe we’re done pretending to be scurrying field mice. Our prances were as proud horses drawing Cinderella’s carriage to the ball.

Suddenly, ballet class was not only fun—it was the highlight of my students’ week. I had parents tell me how much their child loved ballet and that they were practicing at home.

Later, I decided to apply the same concept my older, beginning ballet classes. I couldn't make it quite as immersive because there is a higher level of technique required. But I decided to introduce my students to various classical story ballets as I introduced ballet to them. I’d use music from the ballets in class. When I could—particularly in center—I would pull from the stories. A balancé combination might become dancing as the peasants from Giselle’s village as they celebrate the grape harvest. A petit allegro combination might be danced as Myrtha, queen of the Willis.

I’d tell my students fun facts about the ballets themselves—whether it was how they came to be or something about their plots. I might point out something different from the common version of a story many of my students may know. In Sleeping Beauty, for example—the number of fairies visiting baby Princess Aurora is different. I’d also recommend YouTube video clips for them to watch at home. I wanted the ballets themselves to come to life for my students, and for that to really inspire them for class.

I could see a difference in how my 7, 8, and 9 year old students worked, how they behaved, how much harder they tried after I started teaching this way. And it doesn’t have to be fairy tales or classical ballets. As long as it’s a story, a theme, or something that moves students emotionally.

And when I looked back at my own motivation, stories were always there. I was first inspired when I saw The Nutcracker on TV. I begged my mom to sign me up after that and a school field trip to Cinderella. Several years later, I was in my first ballet: Cinderella. As the years went by and I progressed through the levels, the drive came from the upcoming production—a STORY ballet.

You may also like: Introduce Your Beginning Ballet Students to Giselle with our OUB Story Ballet Curriculum.