London Ballet Classes

Prepare for your first ever ballet class! - Saturday 4 January 2025

We know that attending your first ever ballet class can be a very daunting thing! Adult beginner ballet classes often comprise of students who danced as children and are returning after a break, people who have been attending a ballet class regularly for a while or higher level students dropping into a beginner class; this means your first class can feel like you’ve been thrown into the deep end! This is especially true if you never danced as a child and if you have no prior dance or movement training at all.

Your first ballet class as an adult is a huge step and this masterclass is designed to prepare you for it! We will provide you with a detailed breakdown of ballet fundamentals, and help you to understand what you can expect in terms of structure, pacing and movements in your first ever ballet lesson. It’s also a space to get any questions answered about what to wear, how to prepare and the etiquette of a ballet class. In addition to it providing the time and space to prepare you for the physical demands of ballet, if you are someone who experiences anxiety about group classes or new experiences, this is a chance to attend a class where you know what to expect. This class has been specifically designed and will be delivered as though everyone has ZERO experience. Scroll to the bottom for more information on what we will cover and to understand more about our teaching ethos and methodology.

Date: Saturday 4 January 2025

Location: Acosta Dance Foundation, Artillery Square, Building 40, 1 Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, SE18 6BH (5 mins from Woolwich on the Elizabeth line)

Time: 10.30am - 1.30pm

Level: Absolute Beginners with no prior experience at all! Beginner students wanting to learn from the basics up!

Price: £45

What to expect:

We will begin by covering the foundational aspects of ballet, starting with a review of basic anatomy and the five key arm and feet positions. This will give us a solid base from which to explore the ballet barre exercises.

Next, we'll dive into the structure of a ballet barre, explaining each exercise in detail and it’s purpose. We'll break down how these movements engage specific muscle groups, preparing us for centre work and choreography. Our goal is to give you a deeper understanding of how these preparatory movements build strength, balance, and coordination.

We'll also take time to review posture and alignment, discussing how your movement habits shape your ballet practice. By the end of this masterclass, you'll leave with a thorough understanding of how to align your body, use turnout effectively, and apply key ballet terminology to your practice.

We recommend reading our blog post: Everything you need to know before your first ever ballet class for more information about terms like barre/centre work etc.

Key Takeaways

1. A basic postural assessment and understanding of the link between YOUR posture and ideal ballet alignment

2. A review of beginner ballet positions

3. Detailed explanation of the structure and purpose of barre exercises (and some practice)

4. A better understanding of muscle groups required for ballet

5. Exercises to support you with the development of turnout (see more information on turnout HERE)

6. Basic ballet terminology and vocabulary which will help you to keep up in your first ballet class!

We can’t wait to welcome you. If you have any further questions, contact us at info@Londonballetclasses.com

About our teaching methodology:

Learning as an adult is a different experience to learning as a child. Most schools and syllabi continue to approach adult ballet learning with models and techniques that are designed for children. This is counterproductive and inefficient. One of the biggest advantages of embarking on ballet as an adult, is that you are already a skilled learner. You have already refined your ability to learn and this is something a ballet school should utilise!

For instance, adults have the ability to better comprehend instruction on a cognitive level. Cognitive understanding is step one of the motor learning process of new physical movements. Rather than hoping adults pick this up over time through lots of repetition (which is what we usually do with children), we can simply break down and offer this detail from the beginning. Adults also have better body awareness, perhaps even better control of certain muscle groups through prior movement practices (even if they don’t seem complementary to ballet). All of this suggests, adults should be taught in a completely different way to children to optimise results.

Most ballet classes involve brief explanations and the expectation that students will simply follow along and through time and practice they will gradually develop the ballet technique and see improvements. However, this often is not the case. Firstly, adults don’t have the luxury of years to develop basic technique. They don’t want to spend 10 years in a class before reaching an intermediate level (in the same way that children can). Secondly, adults have more established movement patterns - more and more practice can often lead to a more embedded habit of doing something the wrong way. The risk of this is higher when you condense the learning process. Adult learners are also often at much greater risk of injury too because their bodies are not as malleable as children. All of this suggests we should employ a teaching model which:

• Develops a comprehensive cognitive understanding of ballet movements (as opposed to assuming this will come naturally with minimal cues and physical repetition)

• Focus on detailed, thorough and timely corrections (because this matters more in adult bodies which have more established ways of moving)

• Utilise existing body awareness to make the motor learning process more efficient

• Adopt a holistic approach which incorporate conditioning and posture work to minimise the risk of injury, overuse or strain

• Help adults to identify their unique learning style and utilise this in the learning framework

Our school is designed for the serious student. It’s totally okay (and valid!) to go to a ballet class simply for the fun of it and to enjoy the music and movements. Many of our drop-in classes offer just that. But we also know that a lot of students embarking on ballet in adulthood have the desire to take it very seriously - and this requires solid foundations. Our masterclasses are focused sessions which aim to do just that. We believe adults should be invested in in the same way children and young teens are invested in at a pre-professional level. We never underestimate the power of personalised, focused support at the beginning of your journey. If you want to kickstart your adult ballet journey with us - sign up to this masterclass by clicking on the workshop date (see above) in the calendar on our booking page!