Tips for Teaching Ballet to 7 to 12 Year Olds

Today, I bought my oldest son, Hudson, ballet shoes. I was trying so hard to contain my excitement. Being a boy mama, I knew my chances of buying any of my kids a pair of ballet shoes were slim. Hudson’s reaction—when he saw the pair of black ballet shoes to try on, he said, “Mom, these are BOY ballet shoes!” He was SO excited they were black. I guess he thought I was buying him pink ones!

My point?

Really, I don’t have one. I just wanted to share my little piece of joy from today. :-)

In case you don’t know, we’ve launched a 7 to 12 year old curriculum recently. It’s called our Story Ballet Curriculum and teaches beginning ballet through classical ballet stories—similar to how our Fairy Tale Curriculum uses fairy tales and our Little Dancer Curriculum uses themes. I’m going to video working through some of the exercises and combinations from our new, older curriculum with Hudson. (That’s why he’s getting ballet shoes!)

Mark Your Calendars!

Our Fall Sale is happening next week! You can save 50% on select curriculums from November 1st through 4th!

3 Tips for Teaching Ballet to 7 to 12 Year Olds

Finally, I’d like to leave you with 3 tips for teaching ballet to 7 to 12 year olds:

Keep Beginning Ballet Very Simple

Your barre exercises may look something like two tendu en croix. Your centre exercises may look like a simple piqué to sous sus across the floor. Keep your combinations simple so your students can work on their technique.

Focus on the How, Not the What

In early levels, focus on HOW your students are executing the technique. Are they using the correct muscles? Are they making the correct form or using the correct coordination? Allow your students to develop correct technique. THEN, in your intermediate levels, focus on level of difficulty when it comes to things like tricky or complex combinations.

Build a Strong Foundation

When your students are technically strong, they’ll be ready for anything later on. Don’t be afraid—in the beginning levels—to keep your students facing the barre until they get a step right in terms of alignment. Don’t be afraid to have them hold their hands on their shoulders in place of port de bras until they can get their footwork right; or to work solely on port de bras.