Dancer: Maggie Carey
Photo by: Geek With a Lens

A friend and colleague recently posted a quote on her Facebook page and it got me thinking.  Mr. Balanchine once said: “If you don’t feel challenged, it’s because you’re not doing enough. Ballet should never feel comfortable. Comfortable is lazy!  If you’re comfortable when you dance, you’re not pushing yourself hard enough.  100% is not enough.  You have to give 200%.  One tendu takes years of hard work and will never be perfect.  Everything in ballet is a challenge.”

I cannot tell you how many times I’ve heard from my students, ‘Ballet is boring.’  Now, I’m going to get up on my soap box and give one of those, ‘in my day,’ speeches that is sadly, long overdue.  I never remember feeling this way and I never remember any of the kids I grew up with ever feeling this way, let alone saying it to an instructor.   In fact, I wouldn’t want to imagine what would happen to us if we had.  The world is definitely changing.  Students today think that a challenge is doing multiple, badly performed pirouettes, fouetté turns and big jumps.  They want to perform the steps, but they have no care about how well they execute them.

I highly dislike and get frustrated when I hear students say a class is not challenging enough for them.  Margot Fonteyn notoriously took beginner classes several times a week in order to perfect her technique. She challenged herself in the lowest class levels even though she was at the top of her profession.  I’m sorry to say that none of my students that have told me this is a Margot Fonteyn and never will be with that attitude. 

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Dancer : Rachel Ferring
Photo by : Geek With a Lens

Inevitably, every summer I run into parents outside of the dance school who tell me that their child is miserable because they, the parents, have decided it was a good thing for their child to take the summer off from dance.   These are, by the way, usually the same parents that end up complaining that their child did not get moved up a level when all his/her friends did.  When I then explain it was because all of his/her friends had taken classes over the summer, I usually hear, ‘well it’s not my child’s fault that he/she didn’t take classes.  I made him/her take the summer off.’  I then explained that we are not punishing the child at all, but we are also not going to punish the kids that took summer classes and improved while their child stayed home and regressed.

The above annual conversations started me writing an article on the importance of summer study:  To Take Summer Classes or Not.  In the middle of writing that article; I began to think about exactly what these parents were saying.  I also began thinking about a recent question I received from a former student of mine who is now teaching herself, ‘How do you feel about parents that refuse to let their child use their talents and make a career out of dance? ’ Before I knew it, I was writing a whole other article.

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Dancer : Maggie Carey
Photo by : Geek With a Lens

It always amazes me how many parents and students ask the question, ‘Is it really necessary to take summer classes?’  YESSSS!!!!!

I tell all my students to take at least a few summer classes and no, I do not tell my students that they should take advantage of summer study opportunities in order to make money!  In fact, I prefer and encourage all my older dancers to go away for summer study if they can afford to do so.

The truth is summer is the best time for school aged students to achieve real progress in their dance education.  Without the stress of academic school, they are more focused and less tired and therefore can make a huge amount of progress in a small amount of time.

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Dancer : Maggie Carey
Photo by : Geek With a Lens

Okay, so I have written what dance teachers should never say to students and what students should never say to their dance teachers, so I guess this is the next progression.

The other day a colleague of mine turned to me and sighed, ‘If only all our students were orphans, this job would be so much easier.’  Well, I’m not sure about that, but it did get me thinking that this article was long overdue.

Yes, all these things have been said to me over the years.  When I was a young teacher, I would just stare in shock at these comments.  However, as I grew older and more confident in myself and my profession, I used them as teachable moments to explain to parents why these aren’t exactly appropriate to say to professional dance teachers.  I learned that most of the parents weren’t trying to be rude or offensive; they just didn’t know how their questions and comments sounded.

Do you have a real job?  Excuse me, but you did pay for your child to learn from me.  Teaching dance, or any art form for that matter, is a calling that all of us teachers take very seriously…for us it is a very real job.

I know I don’t know anything about dance, but….  Please, stop right there.  In fact, that’s usually when I hold my hand up.  That’s right you don’t know anything about dance which is why you pay a monthly tuition for me to teach your child.  If I say the child isn’t ready to be moved up a level, have pointe shoes, or dance that role, I am not saying that to be cruel or unfair.  I’m saying those things to keep your child safe and because I know what I’m doing.  If you don’t trust my expertise, judgment and that, just like you, I want what is best for your child, then you really should find another teacher that you deem more trustworthy.

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