How to become a male ballet dancer
Top Tips for Male Ballet Dancers - Alberta Ballet School
A GUIDE FOR Male DANCE STUDENTS IN EDMONTON AND CALGARY
Male ballet dancers possess many admirable qualities, such as being reliably strong, that make them excellent partners in adult ballet. Since ballet is traditionally a female dominated art form, male students are in the unique position to become role models for boys who wish to pursue dance. In addition to having a number of responsibilities that go beyond playing a supportive role to their ballerina, being a male dancer comes with its own set of challenges and rewards amidst the myths and cliches that surround male ballet dancers. If you’ve always dreamed of becoming a ballet dancer, don’t let the stigma stop you from reaching your goals. Find the perfect ballet classes and programs for you at our dance academy in Edmonton or Calgary today.
5 TIPS EVERY MALE BALLET DANCER SHOULD KNOW
If you’re interested in taking adult lessons to become a ballet dancer or you’re wondering how to build on your existing training to advance your career, here are 5 tips that can help you break down barriers and become a more successful dancer:
- Release Your Inhibitions: Don’t let a dance studio dominated by females stop you from pursuing ballet if you’re interested in learning more.
Female dancers always welcome the addition and joining a dance class is a good way to get exercise, learn discipline and build your confidence. If you have a young son who expresses interest in taking ballet classes, it’s important to support your child in making the decision to attend a dance studio. If you’re already a male dancer, don’t let your peers stop you from achieving your goals of learning ballet.
- Connect with Your Teacher: In ballet class, it’s important to ask your teacher questions – teachers are there to support you and demonstrate how to perform movements properly. If you’re too intimidated during class to raise questions or concerns, approach your teacher afterwards for help. They will be happy to offer you assistance as they want to see you succeed as you progress through your dance classes in Calgary.
- Stay in Shape: Ballet dancers have the unique ability to make the art form look easy to enjoy the benefits of dancing. However, as a male dancer, it actually requires you to have a high level of strength, stamina, and flexibility.
It’s important to vary your fitness routine between cardio and weight training to help you stay physically fit throughout training at your Edmonton dance academy. Eating a healthy and balanced diet is also important and avoid anything that contains excessive amounts of sugar. - Apply for Dance Programs and Scholarships: Male ballet dancers may be rare, but that can certainly work to your advantage. Companies and schools are eager to welcome male talent, so it’s important to do your research and apply to train at any studios you are interested in. If your goal is to pursue a professional dance career, consider applying to an intensive program at a major ballet company.
- Build Your Resumé: Always be on the lookout for opportunities to train and perform. You may want to consider training with multiple instructors which can help build up your resumé. Additionally, volunteer in community dance programs and events to further build your experience and expand your network.
FOR THE BEST DANCE CLASSES IN EDMONTON AND CALGARY, ENROLL AT ALBERTA BALLET SCHOOL
Male dancers always have a place in ballet class, especially at Alberta Ballet School.
With locations in Calgary and Edmonton, Alberta Ballet School offers both and programs, taught by our highly educated and qualified faculty. Male students will receive quality instruction and our staff are committed to ensuring all dancers can develop their skills in a safe, and positive learning environment. Whether you pursue dance recreationally or go on to have a professional career, our goal is to inspire a life-long love and appreciation of this art form through an intensive and inspiring curriculum.
Whether you’re young or mature, male or female, everyone is welcome to train at our dance academy in Edmonton and take dance classes in Calgary. For more information about any of our dance programs, please give us a call at 403-245-2274 ext. 722 or fill out our online contact form and we will be happy to assist you.
Atlanta Ballet | Ballet FAQs
What are male dancers called if female dancers are called ballerinas?
A male dancer is called a danseur or a principal dancer, if he is ranked highly in a professional company.
What do dancers do when they aren't on stage?
When not on stage, dancers take daily ballet technique classes and rehearse for upcoming or current programs. A typical day of work for a dancer starts early with an hour and half class to warm up and refine their technique. Class is followed by four to six hours of rehearsals, sometimes followed by an evening performance. Dancers also get 1-2 days off a week where they are found doing normal activities just like you and me (grocery shopping, laundry, a stroll through the park, stuck in Atlanta traffic or capturing a movie or two).
What do dancers eat?
Dancers eat just about anything. They do not all survive on carrot sticks and celery. Dancers must eat a good balanced diet that provides plenty of oomph in order to maintain the level of energy needed to exert their bodies during demanding physical rehearsals and performances. And yes, you may occasionally see a dancer in line at Jake's for a double dip chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream cone.
Are pointe shoes made out of cement, metal or wood?
Pointe shoes are made of layers of fabric and glue covered with satin. Pointe shoes do not have a heel like normal street shoes but have a sole which is made of hard leather. Dancers sew satin ribbons and elastics around the ankle to keep the shoes on securely. The price of pointe shoes varies between $50 and $80 depending on the make and style of the shoe. Many professional dancers have shoes custom made to their feet, which costs quite a bit more than a standard pair of pointe shoes.
How long do pointe shoes last?
The life of the pointe shoe depends on the dancer's individual feet and what they are dancing at the time the shoe is worn. Most ballerinas go through a pair of pointe shoes in one performance, sometimes more.
How long does it take to become a professional dancer?
Training to become a professional dancer takes between 8-10 years. Students begin at about age 7. Beginning ballet usually consists of 1-2 ballet technique classes a week.
As the student gets older, around 14, they are heavily involved in about 10-15 classes a week made up of ballet technique, pointe (for women), jazz, modern, partnering, and more. Atlanta Ballet Centre for Dance Education offers a nationally accredited program of classes that prepares students of all ages for a future in dance or just to have fun.
How long is a dancer's career?
The length of a dancer's career is very similar to any other professional athlete, depending on the dancer's individual body and avoidance of injuries. After retiring from the stage, dancers can continue a career as a ballet mistress or master, choreographer, or instructor, or choose a different career altogether. Many dancers today are getting degrees through universities with programs that are tailored around a dancer's vigorous schedule.
where to study, salary, pros and cons
Author: Professional Guide
Updated by
Dancer is a person of art who performs rhythmic movements to music, taking part in theatrical performances, shows.
The profession belongs to the type “a person is an artistic image”, it requires excellent self-discipline and, of course, talent. Children who distinguish literature, physical education, music and singing from all school subjects can become dancers. By the way, the ProfGid career guidance center has recently developed an accurate career guidance test that will tell you which professions suit you, give an opinion about your personality type and intelligence. 9Ol000
Brief description
This profession has a rich history and is closely associated with the arts. However, the success of dancers by more than 50% depends on dedication, endurance, self-discipline. A specialist can work independently, performing solo choreographic numbers, it is also worth highlighting pair and collective dances.
There are a lot of types and techniques of this art direction:
- ballet;
- pop and folk dance;
- historical dance and others.
See also:
Also distinguish styles such as street jazz, hip-hop, R'n'B, contemporary dance, street dance, etc. Dancers choose the style and type of performing arts based on their physical abilities, temperament, personal preferences. On stage, they create artistic images, convey emotions, making the hearts of the audience tremble.
Features of the profession
Anyone can become a professional dancer, but it is worth starting training in childhood. Choreographers recommend giving children to dance studios at the age of 3-7 years, which will allow them to develop good posture, plasticity, stretching, a sense of rhythm and other skills necessary for professional performance. Dancers most often work in 1-2 overlapping styles, they pay special attention to training and rehearsals, maintaining excellent physical shape.
A career is short, because its peak is at the age of 15-25 years, and after 30 years, most specialists change their field of activity. They can realize their talent and knowledge in other areas, working as directors, choreographers, school teachers.
Dancers independently or under the guidance of a choreographer create performances: choice of music, sequence and rhythm of movements, costumes and image, facial expressions, plasticity. Before performing the dance, they rehearse for a long time, honing their skills. Many members of this profession often travel around their home country and travel abroad, where they give concerts. The activity is associated with certain difficulties, which leaves an imprint on the lifestyle and character of the dancer.
Pros and cons of the profession
Pros
- Excellent physical development, because dancing strengthens the body and willpower.
- Opportunity to work on the best stages.
- Talented dancers achieve success quickly.
- The profession is interesting, active and ambitious people will like it.
- Opportunity to earn income from various sources, because dancers work alone or in pairs, can take part in private productions, star in music videos.
- Useful business connections in the world of art.
- The opportunity to change the field of activity, because dancers often open schools, give private lessons, work as choreographers - the choice of directions is huge.
Cons
- High injury rate.
- Serious injuries can put an end to a professional career.
- Short career period.
- Very high competition.
See also:
Important personal qualities
Dancers have excellent plasticity, but in this profession not only technical performance is important, but also emotionality. The dancers convey the idea of the performance with the help of movements, facial expressions, so they must be distinguished by well-developed artistry.
Increased efficiency, resistance to physical stress and low pain threshold are very important, because rehearsals and performances often end with sprains, dislocations and other minor injuries. Only those people who do not suffer from laziness, negligence, and excessive self-confidence ascend to the pinnacle of success.
Dance training
Professional education can be obtained in different institutions:
- schools and academies of choreography;
- dance studios;
- colleges;
- universities.
There are no special requirements for the education of a dancer, the level of his skill is determined during choreographic tests. It is worth starting training at a young age in order to reach a professional level. Let's consider the most interesting directions:
- "The art of dance (by type)", implemented in choreographic colleges and schools. You can start training after grades 7-9, which depends on the requirements of the college;
- The Art of Ballet.
The direction of training is open in many creative colleges, studio schools, academies. Children who have completed the 4th grade of the school are invited to study.
You can also go to study at a university, choosing a specialty related to choreography, folk dance and other areas. Primary training can be obtained in public and private schools of choreographic art, during individual lessons.
Universities
-
4 years
90,000 ₽/year
12 budget places
-
4 years
158,100 ₽/year
23 budget places
-
4 years
65,000 ₽/year
8 budget places
-
4 years
200,000 ₽/year
16 budget places
Best Primary Schools
- Dance Quarter School.
- School for children "Dancevaliya".
- State 27 Dance Studio.
Best colleges and academies for dancers
- ARB im. A. Ya. Vaganova.
- MGAH.
- MCU at the Moscow State Academy of Theater Arts "Gzhel".
- School-studio (school) at GAANT them. I. Moiseeva.
- KMTI them. G. P. Vishnevskaya.
Best universities
- IPCC.
- GITIS-RATI.
- MGAH.
- ARB them. A. Ya. Vaganova.
- Russian State University A. N. Kosygin.
- ISI.
- UGAI.
- SPbGUP.
- AGIIK.
- KemGIK.
See also:
Place of work
Dancers are in demand in theaters, film industry and organization of holidays and events. They can work as teachers, find vacancies in nightclubs, private groups - there are many options for employment.
Salary
There is no exact tariff rate in this segment, because everything depends on the style in which the dancer works, personal qualities, education, reputation and experience.
Dancers can receive a fixed salary or fees for each performance, lesson.
Dancer's salary for November 2022
Salary information provided by hh.ru portal.
Russia 20000–50000 RUB
Moscow 40000–70000 RUB
Professional knowledge
- Classical choreography.
- Acting.
- Fundamentals of physical training.
- Art History.
- Foreign languages (for professionals who work abroad).
Famous dancers
- Karen Hardy.
- Ekaterina Krysanova.
- Yankovsky Vyacheslav Vyacheslavovich.
See also:
Examples of companies with vacancies as a dancer
The profession of a ballerina is considered one of the most hazardous to health. News. Channel One
This profession is considered one of the most traumatic and can turn even the most trained person into a helpless invalid.
It's about... ballet. Looking at graceful slender ballerinas, who, it would seem, twist fouettes with such ease and make dizzying jumps, it is hard to believe that during rehearsals they have to knock down their legs in blood and dance, sometimes overcoming terrible pain.
Report by Maria Torlopova.
Ten-year-old ballerinas, even if they are very tired, will never admit it. They want to pull the toe and arch as gracefully as Ulyana Lopatkina or Diana Vishneva. The Moscow Academy of Choreography is visited not only by enthusiasts, but by those who are in love with ballet.
Varvara Tereshina, student of the Moscow Academy of Choreography: "In order to dance, you need a very strong character, so as not to fall to the floor, not to sob from impotence. You have to endure everything, go through pain, go through everything, every lesson!"
40 beginners enter the first class of the Academy of Choreography. Only 20 make it to graduation. And only a few become prima.
Such is the harsh ballet arithmetic!
The Bolshoi Theater knows this arithmetic perfectly well. Even with a diploma from the choreographic academy in the most famous ballet troupe, at first everyone dances in the corps de ballet. Further, if you're lucky, - the role of the second plan. And only then - the main parties. Soloist Anastasia Goryacheva walked this path in eleven years.
Anastasia Goryacheva, soloist of the Bolshoi Theatre: "It was from school, I wanted to come to the Bolshoi Theatre. Naturally, when you get here, there is a feeling that a dream has come true."
The profession of a ballerina is hardly the most traumatic. More fractures and dislocations except for skiers or football players.
In the Department of Sports and Ballet Trauma of the Omsk Regional Specialized Traumatology and Orthopedic Hospital, dozens of dancers and dancers are received every week. The most difficult thing for doctors is not just to put the patient on his feet, but to restore his ability to dance.
Vyacheslav Goryachev, Head of the Department of Sports and Ballet Trauma at the Omsk Regional Specialized Traumatology and Orthopedic Hospital: "Injury to ligaments can lead to disability and disability!"
But girls who are in love with ballet are not afraid of injuries. The Academy of Choreography accepts only physically hardy and healthy children. Medical examination is one of the main tests on the way to the school.
Daria Bochkova, student of the Moscow Academy of Choreography: "When rehearsals go on for four hours, then the fingers start to get tired, and it hurts to get up the next day. Then you change your mind, and it's fine!"
They carry needles and threads to sew ribbons onto their pointe shoes. Every free minute they warm up, even if the next lesson is literature. And for many, many years refuse sweets. Excess weight is the main enemy of the ballerina. For him, as well as for poor progress, they can be expelled.
Marina Leonova, Rector of the Moscow State Academy of Choreography: "The tendency to be overweight is so difficult to determine! In the first grade, a child can be thin, thin.
By the age of 15, no one can know in advance what will grow out of him!"
Almost half of the students of the Moscow Academy of Choreography are not Muscovites. They do not see their parents for months, miss them very much, but still do not return home. The Italian Irene recalls how her desire to study ballet in Moscow made her master the Russian language.
Irene Stellini, student of the Moscow Academy of Choreography: "They were talking, I watched them laugh, how they joked. I didn't understand anything, I was very sad. I wanted it so much, I wanted it so much. And, it happened, I taught!"
Six-year-old Asya Monina is still far from the entrance exams to the Academy of Choreography. But she already imagines herself a student and even persuaded her mother to buy pointe shoes of the smallest size.
Elena Sukhoveeva, mother of Asya: "I would like my daughter to be happy! I would like her to be realized, no matter in what area. If it is ballet, I will be happy!"
When they try to convince Elena that dancing is still too hard for the fragile Asya, she only shrugged her shoulders.
Because she knows that her beloved daughter literally takes her breath away as soon as she hears classical ballet music.
Presenter: What should parents do who dream of their child becoming a real star of the Bolshoi Theatre? Director of the choreographic school of the Musical Theater named after Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko, People's Artist of Russia Vladimir Kirillov will tell about this.
Presenter: Tell me, at what age can a child be sent to a ballet studio?
Guest: You know, there is an opinion that you need to study almost from the age of two. But I think that this is deeply mistaken. It is possible to develop a child and all the inclinations that nature can have in him in one direction or another, at a very early age, starting from the age of four. But the child who has completed the fourth grade of a general education school can actually enter the first grade of a choreographic school.
Presenter: Is it possible to somehow determine whether a child is really given to become a star in choreography?
Guest: It's unlikely to be a star, but it's certainly possible to determine a penchant for choreography.
Presenter: What do they look at first of all? For stretching? I know that the foot must also have a special bend...
Guest: There must be a big beautiful instep. There must be a stretch. There are many factors here - flexibility, height, body proportions; still very much means coordination of movement. Moreover, the child grows, develops, someone is full, someone is too thin, someone's eyesight "sits down" - you never know what deviations the child manifests in the learning process. Therefore, the dropout is very large, about 50%.
Presenter: There is an opinion that it is undesirable for girls to be tall if they want to be ballerinas.
Guest: Ilza Liepa is very tall. But, nevertheless, this did not prevent her from becoming a very good famous ballerina. Why? Because hard work, inner talent did their job, and she found her own repertoire.
Presenter: Ulyana Lopatkina is also quite tall.
Guest: Of course, she is very tall, and partners of average height do not look very good with her.
She needs a tall partner.
Presenter: What should my child get before taking him to a ballet studio?
Guest: Actually, you don't need anything special, a bathing suit is quite enough, and you can take it to the teacher to have a look at it. And then, as in any sport, there are many, many "bells and whistles": woolen, tutu, half tutu, skirt, half skirt, ribbon.
Host: Any hair ornaments?
Guest: Of course, girls are girls everywhere, they want to look beautiful.
Presenter: So this is a costly hobby for a child?
Guest: No, I don't think so. Some parents from low-income families, in the end, just sew themselves or order some familiar craftswomen. For little money.
Presenter: How much time do you need to devote to ballet in order to achieve serious success?
Guest: The fans spend the whole day, getting good results. There are people who are naturally very gifted, they spend two or three hours a day. Everyone, of course, sees himself, especially in childhood, that they are in the center of the stage.
It's understandable, it's popular and all that, but you can have a very interesting life without standing in the middle. You can be a characteristic dancer, dance your own specific repertoire. You can be an amazingly developed actor and dance many, many different acting bright roles. Theater is a big world, and as in any business, you just need to find your place in this world.
It is best to start ballet seriously at the age of 10. While the child is very young, you can enroll him in a dance club or enroll in singing classes. This will help develop a sense of rhythm and plasticity.
To become a good dancer, diligence alone is not enough. Relevant natural data will also be needed. The future artist must have excellent stretching, good coordination of movements and a proportional beautiful body.
And, by the way, keep in mind that if a girl's family is all stately and tall, then her heredity can take its toll. And it is much more difficult for tall ballerinas to find a suitable partner and succeed on stage.
