How Adults Learn Ballet | Yes, They Can Learn! | Broche Banter Podcast Season 2 Episode 3

Today on the show, we're going to lay out all of the different facets of your ballet training:
- Breadth, this is the dancing
- The depth, this is the technique
- The performing and storytelling
- Personal and body strength
Join Julie on this episode as we dig into the different facets of training an adult to learn ballet.
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[@PaigeNewberry]

PLEASE INTERVIEW MORE older people 40s, 50s, and 60s + who have re-started ballet! The questions I’m interested are: what was it like in their body to begin again? How did they acclimate to the movements of ballet at an older age? Did they have trouble with anything in particular? How did they overcome it? And what has dancing done for them now, emotionally and physically? (I’ve only seen you do this one time on one video:… as interesting as her life stories was, it’s hard to find time to listen to all of that. Hearing about their Ballet journey is more important!) Thank you, Julie!

[@heike1570]

Thank you Julie, yes, yes, yes!

[@BrocheBallet]

Wonderful, I'm glad you enjoyed this episode! :D

[@Anna-vz5jl]

My favourite Ballet teacher is Anne Marie Cabri she is a wonderful ballet teacher from Toronto. Canada. She has trained at The National Ballet Of Canada. I love taking her classes on zoom . She has 50+ Adult ballet class twice a week on zoom . ( we cant open up the Ballet studio right now for classes due to pandemic 🤦‍♀️) She brings energy enthusiasm good vibes she is very encouraging and is a beautiful dancer as well . She takes the time to explain each variation to us . Some ballet teachers i have found maybe a one or two did not pay attention to me meaning they went through the variations to fast i felt so overwhelmed and stopped going ( before the pandemic) i felt disconnected felt like i did not belong. Personally i feel in my case it takes a lot of guts to walk into a major ballet school ( like National Ballet School Of Canada) to walk into a studio never had danced before and throw yourself mentally & Physically into the class. And i have to look at myself in the mirror all the time which is hard for me because Im obviously not a dancer. At first was very hard for me to keep up . So i practiced at home so i could learn at my own pace and feel more comfortable. And not be so hard on myself because it should be about Fun . Now i feel more comfortable Im now taking Advanced Introduction 2 On Zoom with “ Ballet Bob “ Robert McCollum He is a A wonderful teacher . He is teaches at Canada National Ballet School in Toronto. He focuses in Adult classes i think mostly. He is very popular alot of his classes sell out soon after the class is posted online . One of the reasons why i like him and so many people like him is he makes you feel comfortable. He is a good sense of Humour you feel relaxed around him He is so encouraging he is great energy you feel like you belong . Im taking his class on Zoom tomorrow looking forward to another 6 weeks of ballet class with him .

[@BrocheBallet]

Wonderful, thank you for this beautiful comment. I am SO inspired and jazzed to hear about the fabulous teachers that you'd written about. It gives us all so much hope that in the right environment and with the right encouragement, adult dancers can REALLY thrive and learn and grow! Happy dancing! :)

[@meaghanrenecoval]

I really needed this training. I can't wait to put this all together! The Breath is what I am struggling with. I really love how structured and routine is important for me! Thank you for another great video full of inspiring information. 👣

[@BrocheBallet]

You're so welcome, Meaghan! I'm sorry I'm just now seeing all of your lovely comments here on the channel. It's been so great to see you in class! :)

[@scorpiorisinggg]

Absolutely love this episode. I feel like my technique (and probably it applies to many adult dancers as well) is a Frankestein, lol - I kept collecting pieces here and there, studying on my own because I wasn't getting enough info from classes. You're expected to struggle and struggle until you can do the steps, but that usually doesn't mean you really know what you're doing, right? It's very frustrating.

[@BrocheBallet]

Absolutely. It is so challenging to put the pieces together over many different teachers, studios, etc. Keep going, keep seeking out those missing pieces of technique, and I'd love to see you in zoom class one day at brocheballet.com !

[@fancynancydancy2062]

Hi Julie, I’m enjoying the Broche Banter and learning your philosophy on teaching adult ballet. My question is about frequency. I’ve started taking ballet class as much as 5 days a week for 1+ hours per day. Is that too much. I love it and feel fine if I stretch enough daily after class. I’m not young - I’m 56 but have been exercising daily my whole life. Thanks.

[@BrocheBallet]

Hi Nancy, I'm so glad to hear you're enjoying the show! As for frequency, it's certainly highly individual how much your body can handle, but many of the dancers in our online studio who are your age take class 5-6 days per week 1-2 hours a day. So you're not alone in dancing that often! It sounds like you've learned how to take care of your body with stretching and resting as needed to be able to exercise throughout your life, and ballet is no different. As always, make sure to listen to even those little nagging aches and pains and take care of them, even though ballet is so fun and we sometimes don't want to take rest! :)

[@tammygant4216]

Samsies! Well, I'm not quite 56 yet (51 3/4), but the more ballet I take, the more I want to take, and 5 days a week still doesn't quite feel like enough :D

[@mvugt]

great one! And body dyslexia: totally me! Especially the left-right situation. I am totally fine with croise/efface though! I just can remember everything with how I am related to the audience/mirror, but not whether it's left or right ;-)

[@BrocheBallet]

Question for you on body dyslexia, since I understand it's all easier in relation to *you* and not hard directions .... do the terms clockwise/counter-clockwise work for you for turns?

[@mvugt]

@@BrocheBallet not really (at least at this point). I would have to think a lot about clockwise/counterclockwise, but en dedans/en dehors is easier because it is in relation to the feelings of the muscles in my body. I think it is a more somatic coordinate system I am using there, rather than the more external/allocentric coordinate system for clockwise/counterclockwise

[@debprof]

Me too! :) L/R is such a challenge!So interesting to hear the point of view of teaching directionally dyslexic people. And how kids learn from mimicking better than adults (in general). Great episode.

[@BrocheBallet]

​@@debprof So glad you enjoyed it! It definitely requires creativity to help directionally dyslexic people get the footwork and turning directions to sink into their bodies. It can be scary the first time a teacher experiences it, without having any different words to describe left/right and up/down. There aren't a ton of natural synonyms for those words, so the communication barrier is a challenge! Not to mention, the dancers who experience this often have SO much anxiety built up from past frustrated teachers, that the mind is so overwhelmed with anxiety and it makes it really difficult to think clearly when the dancer is so scared of messing up :( But, together, we work through it little by little and get to the other side!

[@debprof]

@@BrocheBallet definitely true about the anxiety from past experiences! Upstage/downstage works for me, and inside vs outside leg (but only at the barre). For choreography I rely on landmarks (like turn towards the window). But one time I learned a dance based on the monitor and windows in my room but was lost when we performed the piece on an outdoor stage! :D It must be very frustrating for teachers.

[@belkyhernandez8281]

I don't always remember left and right. I don't think I had that issue as a child. Weird. Yup on the mimic. I used to copy what I saw as a kid. Now I have to tell my foot or hand or whatever to do that thing.

[@BrocheBallet]

Definitely so different dancing as a kid vs as an adult! The mind/body connection is totally different. So glad to have you in the world of ballet, happy dancing! :)

[@margotkeulen1086]

Crisscross looks more feminine! OK, a lot people associated ballet with girly girls & pink tutus! First there is nothing wrong with that, and I like this ballet core! Unfortunately, I'm a blue collar dude who's liking his Monday evening ballet class! The ballet vocabulary is not a problem, or should, growing up in liege, Belgium (mandatory French Dutch German in Kindergarten & elementary school)