I have always loved teaching movement, and ballet has a unique approach and aesthetic appeal that allows it to take root in cultures where it is not commonly seen in live performance. In India, many contemporary dance forms that are rooted in both European and American dance traditions are referred to as "Western Dance" forms. Now while I have your attention...
I read this article from The Guardian (UK) lifestyles edition, and I got very excited about this writer's perspective on what returning to ballet class has done for her. The link I saved no longer works, so I am copying the article below, fully acknowledging that this is taken from The Guardian!
The one change that worked: I took up ballet – and
learned to live in the moment
Working long days as a
corporate lawyer, I needed an exercise regime to get me out of my head.
Reviving a childhood passion helped me reconnect with my body
Eloise Skinner
Mon 3 Feb 2025 10.00 GMT
My earliest memories of ballet will be familiar to many childhood
dancers: ribbons, shoe fittings, hairspray (lots of it). I attended my first
class at about four years old and continued off and on until my early teens,
when I started to focus on other activities and on studying for exams. Since
I was never planning to become a professional dancer, I didn’t consider
that ballet would become an important part of my adult life. But
today, at 32, it is one of my most meaningful passions – and I am
so grateful to have rediscovered it.
That
happened in my early 20s, when I was a corporate lawyer in London. The job
involved a lot of late nights and desk work. I was looking for a fitness class
that would get me out of my head and back into my body and I stumbled across a
beginner ballet class. There, I was amazed to find that I remembered some of
the patterns – the position of the spine, the arm movements (port
de bras) – and the French terminology. But what struck me most was how
good it felt to move with a group of dancers, to adopt the discipline of the
ballet technique and see myself improve – if only by a small amount –
by the end of the class.
Equipped
with my renewed love of ballet, I quickly discovered the huge variety of adult
classes on offer. Professional dance schools such as Central School of Ballet offer
adult classes (for “fun, fitness and wellbeing”) and there is a wide range available
for all levels at private dance studios. Throwing myself into ballet provided
me with a way to de-stress from work, reconnect with my body and centre myself
in the moment (try worrying about your emails when you are focusing
on a perfect tendu or plié).
I
quickly filled up my schedule, taking private lessons and courses and moving
into pointe classes – revisiting those shoe fittings after a break of almost
10 years.
I have
always had a love of fitness and movement – I am now a yoga and pilates instructor,
even teaching at the studio where I took that first adult ballet class –
but ballet offers something different. Many commentators have wrangled
over whether ballet is a
sport or an art, but it can encompass both: creativity and
athleticism; expression and physical technique. Ballet has a unique ability to
make you feel like a seamless part of a group and a
solo performer; to feel light and effortless one moment and to feel the intense
pain of pointe work the next.
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