Teaching Ballet to Young Children

By Mignon Furman 

Key Techniques Enable Teachers to Work Easily with Preschoolers

“When I stop dancing, I might as well teach ballet to young children.” How often this career move is heard without being challenged by such questions as: “What do you know about the learning capabilities of children at their different stages of development?” And “What makes you think that because your Giselle brings tears to the eyes of the audience that your emotive powers translate into teaching children the basic concepts of movement and music?” Dame Margot Fonteyn, perhaps the greatest ballerina of her day, told me that she could never be a teacher of ballet. “I would not have the patience that is required,” she said. The art of teaching ballet and the art of dancing are two different arts, not always achieved by the same person.

Teaching young children is both a skill and a vocation. Like other vocations it requires training, knowledge, and practical experience as well as commitment and devotion. It also requires the ability and the personality to concentrate the interest of the child on the activity of the moment. A high school math teacher once told me that he would never attempt to teach math to an elementary class because the technique is different, and he felt he was not trained for it.

To be a public preschool teacher requires at least four years of academic training in areas such as social and physical development, child and educational psychology, and teaching methods, a portion of which should consist of practical teaching at an established school. Yet so many former dancers move from the performance stage to the classroom in one step, often untrained, unknowledgeable, and inexperienced.

An ex-dancer may be very capable at setting combinations for the older students, but how capable are they at molding young bodies, and stimulating in young children the imagination, and enthusiasm for ballet that will maintain their interest through the formative years until young adulthood? Retiring dancers should be willing to admit that the teaching of young children is an art that needs to be studied; and to enroll in a teacher’s course, serving an apprenticeship at an established ballet school, before casting themselves in their new profession—and it is a new profession—as a children’s ballet teacher.

I have been teaching ballet for 50 years: young children, teenagers, students at univer-sity graduate level, and teachers (both trainee and professional). Naturally I have given considerable thought to the learning process, and have already profited from the trial-and-error of what works for the ballet student, and what does not. I have devised a special program for the three to eight-year-old age group. Over the years I have initiated and composed many teaching aids, and developed a philosophy of teaching. Here are some points that I feel are of key importance.

• Do it yourself.
Do not leave instruction of young children to a teenage assistant, unless they are trained, and have a suitable personality.

• Demand discipline.
By this I mean the discipline that is inherent in listening attentively, not talking while the teacher is talking, following instructions, being prepared to be a part of a group, taking turns without trying to monopolize the class, and sharing the time of the teacher without attempting to be the focus of attention. A three-year-old child can be taught this type of class discipline. Young children have short attention spans so it is up to the teacher to create an imaginative ambience so that the child’s attention does not wander. This attention keeps undisciplined actions from taking place—like climbing on the barres. The time spent on each activity is governed by the student’s attention span, but the teacher is also a governor and must know when to move on to the next acti-vity. This can only be gauged by experience. 

• Plan the class.
Coming to class prepared is crucial to success. Plan your classes in meticulous detail so that “What do I do next?” is never unanswered. 

• Set goals.
Set a goal to be achieved for each class. This gives focus and allows for a progression of activities. Think of imagery that will give visual definition to what is being taught, so that the child’s imagination is stimulated while learning. 

• Use names.
Know the names of all the children and address them by name. This makes each student feel an important part of the class. Give each one an opportunity to be selected to demonstrate an activity for the class. 

• Create circles.
If children stand in a circle, rather than in a straight line, it gives them a feeling of being part of a group and of identification with the teacher, who may also be part of the circle. The circle is universal, embracing all the children with no child being in front. This concept is not rigid—children move out of the circle to skip or run, or form other groups. 

• Speak clearly.
Always speak slowly and clearly. Instructions should not be ambiguous. 

• Barre work
This should not be undertaken until the child has an understanding of correct stance. By this, I do not mean the detailed concept of the balletic stance manifested in the turnout, weight placement, and alignment of the head, shoulders, and hips. However, at a young age, I would expect the child to stand straight, with shoulders and hips aligned, and to attempt to keep the back unarched. Barre could be started at about age seven. The child should face the barre holding on with both hands and facing the teacher. This can be achieved if the barres are fixed about twelve inches from the wall so that the child stands between the wall and the barre. If children face the wall, as in conventional studios, they will twist to see what the teacher is doing and so lose the value of what is being taught. A better idea is to use a free-standing barre in the center of the studio. Corrections should be simple—not more than one at a time. Too much talk diverts the concentration of the child. 

• Music
Music is a most important part of early ballet education. Young children should be encouraged to recognize happy music, sad music, and music that is fast, slow, loud, and soft. I have found that if children sing along with some of their activities, the relationship between the activity and the music is enhanced. 

The End Result
One purpose of early ballet education is to prepare the young child for what ultimately can be intensive ballet instruction. In addition to props, narration, incentives, and imagination, teachers should use music—even sound effects—to stimulate the imagination of the child and relieve the boredom of doing the same things over and over.

Two New Programs
During summer 2004, the American Academy of Ballet launched two new programs that incorporated my principles for young ballet students at its Teachers’ Intensive [Training] Course at Purchase College SUNY in New York. About thirty-five teachers attended from all over the United States. The feedback I received from teachers was the most enthusiastic I have ever heard. They said that the programs had “jump started” their teaching and inspired them for the start of the new teaching year.

The program for three- to five-year-olds is called “The Enchanted Doorway, Adventures in DanceTM”. The first class in this series, entitled “The Magic Carpet©”, includes special props, and a CD with narration and sound effects. Conceived by Merle Sepel, director of Academy of Dance in Santa Ana, California, the program provides material for a class of 45 minutes that develops over a semester.

The second program,”First Steps,” is for the young dancer ages five to eight. This one was initiated and composed by me and is documented on DVD, video, and CD. It expands on the ideas I mentioned in this article. For more information, contact me at the American Academy of Ballet at 212-787-9500 or office@ameracademyofballet.com.3

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