WHAT BALLET TEACHES US
If you’ve ever worked with a ballet dancer, you will no doubt agree they make excellent employees. They are disciplined, they show up on time, know the value of team work, how to listen and take on your feedback extremely well. They have developed a strong level of grit from hours dedicated to the mastery of their body to learn such a beautiful and complex art form. From a mother’s viewpoint, we look at what she sees ballet is teaching her daughter.
What Ballet Teaches Us
As a parent of a student of ballet I have discovered the incredible benefits of ballet. You see, despite the tuition fees, mum’s taxi to and from classes, extra rehearsals, costumes and the never-ending repurchasing of ballet tights, ballet shoes, bun nets and pins - there are powerful life skills being taught within a ballet studio while learning to perfect the pirouette and plié.
1. Focus
Whenever my daughter attends her ballet classes, for that one hour within the studio she has no time to think about anything else, except one thing – how her body and mind move together. The art of ballet requires incredible stamina and the focus required leaves no room for thinking about the disagreement they may have had with a friend in the schoolyard or the spelling test she has tomorrow. Ballet is very much a meditative state that teaches children to focus on one thing at a time and do it well, over and over and over again.
2. Discipline
My kids have a number of coaches and teachers for various sports and activities, but I’m yet to meet someone of the same calibre as my daughter’s dance teacher. You see, she takes her role incredibly seriously and I like that. She is firm, but kind and expects your child to work hard during their lesson. She is there to get the best out of my daughter and ensure she believes she is capable of achieving anything IF she is willing to put in the effort. From discipline grows respect and respect develops character. Bad behaviour is not accepted and neither is a poor work ethic. Discipline is paramount to achieving success through life and ballet brings that in spades.
3. Pride
To spend half an hour trying to perfect the curvature of her arm takes not only a level of determination I never knew existed but develops a sense of pride in whatever task she undertakes. Sometimes tasks are tedious, but so is housework and parts of your job and this is where ballerinas are good at seeing the bigger picture. Every lesson, they take enormous care in how they present themselves, not only in their uniform and well-groomed hair but their attitude to the lesson and the outcomes they are working towards. She takes pride in everything coming together in an organised manner to allow her to solely focus on her art form. Being proud of something you’ve achieved or do brings a strong sense of self-worth to who you are as a person.
4. Resilience
While this is a term bandied around quite regularly, it can be glaringly obvious to teachers and other parents when a child has a strong level of emotional intelligence to different situations that aren’t always favourable. At my daughter’s dance school, if you aren’t good enough to be in the routine, then you aren’t in the routine. There is no ‘let’s be fair and give everyone a go’. If you didn’t make the cut, you probably didn’t practice enough or have the right attitude. If you want it, you work for it. If you aren’t good enough, keep working for it and don’t give up. Ballet teaches you this life lesson pretty early on and the sooner your child learns this, the better off they’ll be as an adult. The last thing you want is to be that parent that thinks their child deserves a place. They have to earn it. Instead, teach them to keep going and grow from it. That is resilience.
5. Friendships grow from a creative environment
This is one of my favourites as it serves a number of purposes. My daughter dances with her ballet friends four times a week. She trains with them, creates with them and competes with them. She is around these friends in an individual learning capacity and as a team. They’ve got each other’s backs. They all celebrate when one achieves, and they show up with support when one needs it. They share a bond (a love of dance) and provide a safety net to each other outside of their home and school environment. Creativity is inspiring and they fuel their creativity from each other.
6. Posture
There will be many times in life you will have to stand tall. Whether that is a challenge to overcome or to literally stand out amongst the crowd. Your posture is a defining physical characteristic that reflects how you feel about yourself and how you present yourself to the world. Good posture is noticeable and allows you to carry the world confidently on your shoulders. Ballerinas have this tenfold!
7. Respect
Ballet isn’t an environment where you can perform cartwheels while waiting for your turn. Nor can you chat during class. It is a place to respect learning, respect the teacher, respect your peers. As a sport that requires enormous strength, flexibility and coordination, ballet teaches you to be grateful for your body, health and your learning. Each lesson starts and ends with respect for the teacher and for the environment in which you learn. Being respectful is part of the framework for life and the ballet studio is one of the best training grounds for respect I have ever seen.
I hope my daughter continues to dance through life. It brings enormous joy to watch her develop into an incredible and confident young woman with these foundations guiding her to be the best person she can be.
