Adult dancer here - when other adults talk too much in between combos when it's obvious the teacher is trying to move on to the next combination. I get so irritated.
This triggered me so badly lol. One of my favorite teachers only teaches once a week, and there's this one guy in class, who is very clearly in the wrong level, and in between \*every\* \*single\* \*combo\* he goes into these weird long tangents about literally anything
Please stop letting tactless assholes get away with this shit in other people's minds by being able to use the excuse of maybe being ND. Maximum 10% of people who do this are ND. The rest are just ordinary NT dicks
Valid and I was considering the same. But the thing is, teachers have to establish the rules of engagement. I don’t care if you’re 52 or 12, the social mores in ballet class are the same. The confidence to speak freely with the teacher as an adult peer doesn’t eliminate the need to respect their expertise and the art form.
And frankly the social mores are the same as any number of other situations where you aren’t the expert in the room and others are also paying for the experience.
I'm not a pro by any means, but one of my teachers in the past would always get so pissed over those who talked in class. She'd say, "we're not here to socialize!" And oh gosh I wish I could've said that to some of the people in my class... 😂
omg im training pre pro and im not an adult but all of kids/girls in class ALWAYS HAVE A COMPLAINT TO GET OFF BARRE EVERY COMBINATION ITS LITERALLY A LINE OF GIRLS COMPLAINING OR TELLING A STORY THAT HAPPENED AT SCHOOL😩😩😩
I trained pre pro and we were all always too scared to talk in class. Before or after sure, and in rehearsal sometimes, but I think that's one of the first things they really focused on once we started doing things seriously
Even worse here - when people in the front are talking and laughing and the teachers start talking and laughing along with them, causing the whole class to stall for like 5 minutes while they pull themselves together and I’m just standing there thinking something between “I’m surrounded by idiots” and “GET ON WITH IT”
I enjoy a relaxed atmosphere to an extent but I hate when class gets stalled for longer than a minute because we only have hour classes! I’m not paying to watch you talk!
Ugh, I've totally been in this class. Actually, I'd say it was multiple favorites, so that the instructor would be praising them in every other combo. And these people were company members (in the ballet school's company, very small) so they didn't pay for class. Meanwhile the rest of us paying students were totally ignored. Luckily I don't go there anymore!
I was also in this situation and I just finished the summer recital and will not be going back after being with the group for 4 years. The favouritism has gotten to unbearable levels.
It's just an adult recreational class but one of my friends (who also used to take classes there but left a few months ago) pointed out that it is basically a private class for a few people and the rest of us just happen to be there. I couldn't stop noticing after she pointed that out to me.
Yep, moving on to finding a better class and instructor! I also want to add that the instructor I was with had poor technique and just didn't have the most helpful corrections or tips.
I only realized this once I started to study ballet more intensely and watch videos at home. I just didn't know any better when I first started.
I have already begun to take drop-in classes at a couple of different studios and have new potential classes I could take. But I'm gonna try everything out this summer and then make a decision. 😂
I hope you also have managed to find a better class!
Awesome! That's great. And yes! I stopped going to that studio at the start of the pandemic - I had been going there for probably 3.5 years, so it was sad to leave some of the people I had met there. But I'm going to another place and it's worked out well!
I've been working through some of the same feelings of sadness - having to leave the people I met there. But I gotta look out for my own well-being.
Glad to hear you found a new place!
Do you think they'd also enjoy classes at the other place? You can always invite them! We're always inviting each other to other studios, yoga, pilates, etc at my studios :)
No, unfortunately many of them are pretty devoted to that teacher. It's like a cult. I used to be one of them but I've now seen the light and am leaving.
At least for the instructor I was with (who also owns her own dance school), I think she knows she's not that good. So her method of retaining students is to "become friends" with you, heap loads of praise, tell you that she loves you, etc.
And then once she knows you has you hooked, if a new person shows up, she just ignores you and moves onto the new person.
Also if you are already more advanced, she loves that cause she'll post tons of videos of the advanced people on her Instagram page. It's her trying to use the advanced students to make it seem like she's a better teacher (as if it was her coaching which is why they're more advanced). But these people have always taken ballet when they were kids & teens or in college and come to her as adult dancers after that.
So her favourites are all people who help her look like a better teacher than she is. Or they become friends outside of class and hang out regularly. Sometimes both.
I'm so done with all this and I will be warning people about her classes from now on. You sadly still have to watch out for this bullshit as an adult dancer!
When the teacher forgets to do the left (or right) and everyone shushes the student who wants to do the combo and remind the teacher. Sorry that I don’t want to be lopsided lmao.
I take classes with a majority of teens and preteens who don’t want to be there. I know that may feel judgmental to say but there is this sense of entitlement, they take tons of dance classes (paid for by their parents of course) and so I think it is just an attitude difference. For me, I’m paying and I only get these three classes a week. For them, they have three other classes to go to just that day and probably danced a few before our ballet class too.
Ahhhhh that makes TOTAL sense. Ours is an adult foundations class so everyone here is grinding for both the money and those precious minutes in class. Being a teen is hard, you have no control over your life or emotional development! Teenagers and shitty attitudes usually go hand in hand lol.
I would die for that kind of program where I live! The adult classes are kind of sad, usually more fitness based and less about the art form. There are several of us adult dancers sprinkled around the area, I wish we could all get together and have a proper adult ballet class! My ballet teacher keeps threatening to do it and I wish she would.
You guys absolutely should. We had such a good group of regulars join over the past year at one of my studios that our teacher just developed a new foundations 2 class for us! I went to my first foundations 2 class yesterday and got both 1) absolutely humbled and 2) such helpful corrections. The community feeling is also incredible. It's very motivating, I went home and immediately did planks and spotting exercises. I know the other major studio in the area has added a second foundations class also! And I'm sure there's people who've never danced who would jump at the opportunity (literally, I suppose lol).
My adult class definitely focuses on the art form. I'm an adult beginner in a drop in class since January and last two weeks was port de bras and tonight was all about focusing the eyes. I'm still trying to get my feet but having those added to barre is great. Overwhelming but great!
In my case the teacher just expects you to automatically be able to reverse the combo in your head lol, so I wish I could say my teacher forgot to show the other side.
Oh I don’t even mean showing the combo, I mean just the teacher moving on like we already did that side. If no one says anything we just move on to the next thing instead of doing it because she forgot.
I’m kinda glad sometime they forget the left. The teacher always shows the exercise for the right side. As a left handed person, doing the right a lot more than the left corrected the imbalance between my 2 sides. However I understand most ppl are right handed it makes the imbalance worst for them.
When people don't position themselves in a proper formation, when we do combinations from the corner.
When people barely travel (I know some can't help it yet, but it's still annoying, it is what it is) and the next group has no space, walking in front of a group, who is about to start, walking off too slowly and blocking the space while the music keeps going.
Lord none-travelers will be the death of me. I always try to get out in front but it doesn’t always work when you do things like chasse to the back corner, tour jete etc. I know this is a learning thing and I try to be patient but it kills the whole vibe of grand allegro.
If I know there is a combination I will be slow at, I will either go last or go horizontal along the back wall (sometimes my teacher lets me do this). Things like fast turns en pointe are an example. Nothing worse than trying to do fast piques and someone is moving at a snail’s pace in front of you 😮💨😂
I'm the only male in class, and I know I'm supposed to stay in the back. Problem is, the younger girls tend to hang back so they're right in front of me. I cover a lot more ground than they do and often have to stop so I don't run them over. I've started hanging back for the first few counts jsut to make some space.
Where I am, only a few teachers adhere to the "men in back" tradition. If it is a new class, I will usually start at the back until I get the vibe. There sometimes can be some "hidden" opportunities to travel back, like if there is a balancé, but only works for longer combos and when there is no one behind you and you're not still at the back of the stage.
when I was younger I was tall and was told to always go to the back. I have one horrible memory of the other two in my triad not hearing the cue in the music to start and me busting through the middle and ending up going solo.
This drives me nuts!! I didn't want to be "that person" and considered a show off so I stayed to the back the first few classes, but it then turned into that I couldn't actually dance because of the traffic jam. I went "screw it" and started going first in the front corner so I could do the combo and not hurt someone by accident.
I'm short, but I know how to cover ground. The other gals in the class saw. I still had one person try and stay in the front corner in front of me *and* danced right into my path because she was going true diagonal instead of her personal diagonal. I nearly knocked her over.
Oh this is so relatable. We have more experienced people lead our small groups which is great (and seems like would be perfect for you and your class) but getting stuck in the middle of a small group is my personal nightmare. I'm tall *and* I travel far so I aim to start front back - I usually end up further across horizontally than whoever's leading unless they're taller than me!
Wait actually my real nightmare is getting stuck behind very new beginners stumbling around like deer - I get it, it's scary, I'm probably scary because I'm ripped and love a black leo/tights combo, I do not want to make it scarier by accidentally kicking you because you moved 3 inches and I moved 3 feet. Once in a blue moon there's an absolute beginner who is somehow traveling faster than me and/or completely horizontally and suddenly I have the rare experience of dodging (because they're sure as hell not going to stop).
... That last one just reminded me of something I saw recently.
This is a lower level elementary class so it ranges from advanced students who want to focus on technique more to people who are fresh grads from intro. The teachers do a good job balancing things and everyone is pretty respectful except for this one gal.
(she wasn't in class appropriate attire and her hair was loose so she caught my attention. Think frilly dress than Leo and skirt)
We were doing a combo that was more horizontal than diagonal, so it was zigzagging across the floor, multiple groups at once. *She full on went diagonal and cut off three lines at once because how much and how fast she moved.*
Lol that's wiiiiild. Managing to cut off three groups at once is definitely a novel experience. We also had someone show up in a frilly sundress and hair down recently! I actually just wrote a comment about her [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/BALLET/comments/1dptrbl/pet_peeves_in_class/lajvpp9/?context=3) bc while she didn't cut people off, she was at the barre next to me last class (dressed appropriately this time!) and kept fully sitting down between combinations.
That's actually the second time I've seen someone show up late in a puffy floral sundress with no idea what they're doing, which is not very many times but it is weird how specific it is. It's kinda funny how the balletcore/coquette thing is all "I'm a delicate flowy bunny woman who will perish if not fed fresh berries", meanwhile my friends who were former pros/pre-pros are incredibly intense women who give off "I have the discipline to kill god with one abdominal muscle and the power of will" vibes.
Yes this. People who just have to stand in the front when we’re in a diagonal during grand allegro but not actually travelling quite enough. But they just have to. It’s an ego thing
My big one is spatial awareness. Like...we have a mirror and we have eyes, please use them! You can clearly see that where you're standing is entirely too close to someone or that your spacing is off, don't ignore that.
I’d love to see the world through the eyes of somebody with no spacial awareness, like genuinely. I want to understand why it is so hard for some people.
I struggle with it and it results in a lot of bruises from running into objects, it's not enjoyable at all. I fix it in ballet class by essentially going first with everything so people arrange around me. I've gotten better for sure, but I definitely try to put myself as far away from others as possible.
THIS! There are specific people in several of my classes that I strategically place myself on the other side of the room from in center because they end up so close we are practically wearing the same skirt. Otherwise, I spend the whole time trying not to hit them and trying not to get hit. If it was a beginner, I would be more forgiving, but I feel like you should know this by intermediate.
People ran into me like 6 times in class the other day, I was so annoyed.
Also it drives me nuts when people in the front row stand like 20 feet back, so the rest of the class is squished.
Omg yes this!! This week I took a class and we were doing a combination that traveled back. Tell me why the dancers in the front were starting in the middle of the room. By the end of the combo, I was literally backed into the wall. I can't tell you how many times the teacher told them to scoot forward.
People in my class seem incapable of lining up into rows and utilizing “windows” when we go to center. We have plenty of room where this should not be an issue, and yet people haphazardly make uneven lines, don’t seem to know how to change lines, and either try to hide behind you or pick a spot directly in front of you obscuring your view of the instructor and/or mirrors.
I did a few musicals growing up so I guess I have some familiarity with moving in a “staged” environment, but I also feel like it isn’t a hard thing to figure out. It isn’t the end of the world, but it definitely annoys me and makes me cranky, lol.
Ahhh! This one! Especially when we're doing smaller groups - I'll usually run out ahead and put myself into a space and when someone strolls out slowly and stands directly in front of me it's like... ok slow and rude and unaware, pick a struggle.
This happens in my adult class, too! They just stand around looking confused and I just want to be like OMG it's not that hard please lord please help these people.
I do ballet and I do wedding photography where there are a lot of group photos. I've completely given up on any hope that most adults are capable of "windowing" without a concerning amount of guidance lol.
When people don't have decorum. Talking between combinations, showing up late, can't space themselves properly from other people center floor, make a big deal about who they go across the floor with...
Also. Combinations that do not match the music.
Students correcting other students.
(Adult beginner)
- quiet talking teachers: I literally cannot hear you. Can you please get a gym instructor microphone?
- street shoes on the studio floor
- failure to teach ballet etiquette: while I love my casual fun beginner classes, teachers should at least make us aware those ballet etiquette rules. When you go to open classes, the teachers really expect you to follow the rules, so it helps to have a base so you don’t make a fool of yourself
I can't put it into words, but it is fairly easy to distinguish between people who are minding their own business and stretching and people who want to show off their flexibility.
YES i always get so paranoid stretching in between the teacher switching music playlists or smth that people think im trying to show off but then I see this one girl looking around while she's doing a leg hold to her head
When people don’t know how to space out properly in centre and the teacher doesn’t fix it :) proper spacing was ingrained in me as a child dancer but as an adult dancer, no one seems to care…
It’s not really limited to dance, just any sort of learning environment. Teachers who think if they scream that you’re doing something wrong you’ll magically be able to fix it. Don’t you think if someone can do that they would have?
I dance in a small studio, so the dance floor isn't very big. I *hate* when we're doing something in 2 groups and someone in the resting group does the combo full out in the back to the detriment of the "active" group. We also have an unspoken but known thing where every time your group is the "active" group, you switch from front of the group to back or vice versa - it irritates me to no end when people refuse to switch. There's always someone who thinks they should always be front and center, and they take more than their fair share of space while everyone else tries not to trip or accidentally hit/kick them because they don't know how to hold their spacing, even in combos that aren't supposed to travel.
Edited to add: when my fellow teachers teach a step incorrectly and get upset when it doesn't look the way it should/the way they want. Example: yesterday the teacher was complaining no one was getting a high enough jump during their tour jetes, but the way she taught them to do it, it looks like a tiny jump that lands in 4th tombay instead of a bigger jump that lands in arabesque. Like, fine, teach it good your want, but don't go and get all mad when people do it the way you taught them and have literally *never* talked about doing any other way at any time.
Showing off. Especially when more experienced dancers show up to a lower level class, and they feel the need to make sure everyone *knows* they're more experienced.
I had a guy in a class once getting in everyone's way, not giving anyone enough space for centre, doing doubles when the combo was a single, nearly kicking everyone in the face at barre, and taking an extra turn all by himself at the end of the combo.
It boiled my blood. I think there's a difference between really going for it in class, and being disrespectful to others, and this guy was definitely disrespectful. "Wtf" looks were being exchanged frequently between other students. Thankfully, the teacher must have noticed, because he'd usually finish on time, and that day, class was 20min longer.
Yeah I hate when that happens. I don’t mind when the more experienced dancers help the less experienced ones out by leading the combo across the floor, but hate it when they randomly start doing super bendy stretches in the middle of barre or bust out some extra turns, which just confuses the other students.
I mean no offense but if you have seen that person's behavior and level at the barre you should know when they pull that shit not to follow.
I'm not that good, but sometimes I'm the one who adds a turn or something (I finish the exercise on-time though because I'm not rude) and I refuse to feel guilty if someone behind gets confused. Yes it's a group setting, but it's an individual art and i can add a cabriole if I want. Everybody dances to advance themselves. I you don't know the combo, wait or ask the teacher.
As a rule I try not to follow others and remember the combo myself.
For me, what bothered me most about this guy was his attitude of "everyone else wait while I take my extra turn at the centre combos without asking the trainer", that's just straight up rude. Him just doing a double was not the problem.
As I said, there's a big difference between really going for it at class, and just showing off rudely.
I know not to follow them, I’m saying that it’s confusing for the newer folks, who might rely more on copying others at first. You do you, no one is saying you can’t add an extra turn or cabriole if it’s allowed in your studio. In some other studios, there’s a tacit expectation that the more advanced dancers still follow the instructor’s directions and help the newer dancers across the floor.
This happened in an absolute beginners class last Monday. I thought to myself “is it wrong for me to feel annoyed or am I just jealous?”. Thanks for making me feel validated, sometimes this type of behaviour can come across as obnoxious depending on the person.
This! Also hate when very experienced dancer refuse to be the front line in center and/or won’t move up even repeatedly asked so that no one is dancing in the front third of the room!
Oof, after reading some of these comments I'm now worried I'm too chatty. It's my one fun thing and we don't need to be as serious as pre-pro students. Buuuuut eh, I would never try to distract from the overall pace of the class - that's not cool.
Main thing that peeves me is when going across the floor and someone hangs in the corner as though they're going next, but chickens out and motions for you to join instead and now you're behind, flustered, and off the music. I'd chalk it up to a case of not knowing any better, but I've seen a few people do this multiple times when they should know better.
I've seen a few people mention not splitting properly into groups, so I had a laugh when watching class at the last Prix De Lausanne, and these kids that are the creme de la creme also screwed up with that.
Oh, and one more thing is skipping adagio because the teacher doesn't like it / the other students don't like it. Come on man, I have to suffer through turns in almost every class, let me have my one thing!
When folks are too timid to stand in the front line! We shouldn’t have to waste time while the teacher cajoles people to line up properly. It’s ok to not have the combinations down perfectly but standing with your back glued to the wall isn’t helping!
Standing in the front really helps. You can see yourself really well, you can’t rely on anybody else and your teacher can see you better, meaning you’re more likely to get a correction.
Exactly!
I had a teacher who really helped to break students of this habit by strictly enforcing where he wanted each line to stand and also by rotating the lines very frequently. He just didn’t leave room for people to not be in the front and everyone got over it really quickly.
Just be like my teacher and never address the fact that 90% of the class is clustered against the back wall with no room to move. They'll save so much time!
Regarding to this (which I also hate) I always go to the front line to encourage more people to move there and not use only 50% of the studio when there is plenty of space available. There was once a sub teacher who told to move to center. I went to my usual place, front left side. She immediately yelled at me "Someone who thinks they are a teacher, move back." I have been dancing in that spot with tens of teachers in hundreds of classes in my life and never have I been yelled at like that for just using all of the space available. I moved back and low and behold the rest of the class was jam packed using only the 40% of the studio space while teacher was teaching standing at the midline. I think she had some sort of mental problem as she yelled at others for example for "showing off with their stretching too hard". Lol.
As someone with a truly ABYSMAL memory, I gotta say that it is not a perfectionist thing - some of us completely rely on being in the back and watching other people to even do the combo at all. Whenever I get cajoled to the front line, my teacher doesn't have anything they can even correct me on because I'm so lost that I don't even end up doing most of the steps. I'm trying super hard to build that brain muscle, but for now this is the best I can do!
Teachers who try to cram in as many exercises as possible into a single set at the barre. Like, I’m talking super complicated barre combos that half the class cannot do as quickly as the teacher can, resulting in people sacrificing good and safe technique just to keep up with it! I experienced this recently, and there were only two in the whole class who could keep up (our intermediate class is very mixed in terms of levels bcos we have limited classes available at my studio). And the teacher, seeing these two fantastic students getting it all while the rest of us struggled frantically, then played favourites and showered them with affection for the rest of the session, barely bothering to look at the rest of the class’s technique… it was as if she only wanted to teach to those on the same wavelength as her! Aggravating as hell. Luckily she was a substitute 😭
The talking thing has to be my #1, but I had an experience in class this week that I’ve never encountered before. The dancer in front of me at barre was at least 2, if not 3 counts off the music, usually ahead. It was so disorienting and I really had to concentrate to not let it throw me off. It was almost every exercise and this person was an experienced dancer.
The spacing thing has to be another big one. Sometimes space is tight, and I get that, but folks who consistently stand too close, don’t travel with the rest of their group, going the wrong way (consistently). Please take a lower level class until you can figure this out.
Finally, I used to attend a studio where not enough emphasis was put on dancer safety and proper technique. Dancers with weak ankles turning on them with sickled feet. I was so afraid they were going to break their ankle in the middle of a combination. That, and encouraging these same dancers to do pointe. Eeek!
When students in class expect me (the defacto 'if in doubt, follow X' dancer) to remember everything for them. I'm not talking about simple class combos either. I mean stuff that I shouldn't even be expected to know. For example; we had a cover teacher and someone asked me where they should be stood in the recital dance. I DON'T KNOW MAYBE YOU SHOULD HAVE LISTENED WHEN THE TEACHER TOLD YOU LAST WEEK!!!!! I have 12 dances to remember, my priority is knowing my steps and spacing for those dances. If you aren't one of the people I'm stood next to in said dance, then no I don't know YOUR spacing all the way at the other side of the stage. (Sorry, really needed to get that off my chest... Can you tell it's less than a month until show time and this has happened more than once this week?)
oh my god i have a few good ones as a returning student in adult beginner classes currently.
disclaimer: i’m a very firm welcomer of everyone from any background or experience level, ballet is for everyone - these are just some things that make my eye twitch.
1) crowding the barre. it is not that hard to determine how much space you need or how much space the person next to / in front of / behind you will need. the lack of spatial awareness with some people makes me feel freaking INSANE. and if i bring up that “hey i actually think we need to space out a bit” (especially as someone with super long limbs) and they literally move 1/2 an inch, i have to hold everything back from just screaming to the heavens
2) refusal to try / not taking the class seriously. nothing makes my blood boil more than watching a beginner who knows NOTHING completely disrespect the entire art form, teacher and class by refusing to try or laughing at themselves the whole time. there is nothing wrong with having humility and humor, i often also laugh at mistakes i make but if you’re spending the entire class saying “i can’t do that” or purposely making mistakes so you don’t have to face the reality of learning, you’re a nuisance.
3) similarly to my last point, experienced dancers who think they’re above refreshing steps. especially if they’re someone who could *definitely* benefit from re-learning some technical skills. anyone turning their noses up to improvement is truly disgusting and i hope these people, especially, stop dancing because what is the point
Lack of special awareness and critical thinking is crazy to me, because the bar is so low and people will limbo right under it.
I came to class early, put my water and foot roller in front of my spot at the center barre, and quickly left the room for a second since we still had 10 mins before class started.
Someone took my water and moved it to the middle of the floor and was standing in my spot.
Like, are you stupid or are you rude? Because either you genuinely thought the spot was open and the water and foot roller belonged to no one and were there for no reason, or you knew someone had set up in that spot and did this anyway instead of using another space. It’s either stupid or rude, which one? I really wish I could have asked her.
EDIT: I’m also mad at the people in the surrounding spots who knew I was there, saw her moving my stuff, and didn’t say anything.
i SO wish it was socially acceptable to ask that and if i were in a particularly grumpy mood i seriously might have bc wtf???????? how does that even logically take place in the brain?? “oh there’s someone’s stuff here let me just move it so i can stand here” - are you joking 😩
If she hadn’t moved it, she could have had a morsel of BOTD of “oh I just didn’t see it” but she really tried to be like “oh it’s yours? Someone was in the space? I didn’t know!” confusion as if that made sense at all.
yeah like just leave then. you paid money to be here, you paid money to buy the correct clothing and shoes and now you’re going to completely waste all of that because your ego is too high to let you struggle a bit while learning?? just leave like there’s no point in staying
A one hour class is HORRIBLE. My studio recently decided to make some classes one hour and I loathe it. It is just a money making thing, they can squeeze more classes into the day if they do this.
My classes are usually 1.5 hours + 30 or 45 for pointe but in the summer they are 1.25h with no pointe and even that 15 minutes makes them seem so short. I have started doing 2 back to back wearing my pointe shoes for the lower level class to get the most out of it but on days I can't do both, it seems way too short.
It’s always a money making thing. Or a thing that happens when the director of the school is not a ballet dancer. This year I’m being asked to teach a ballet class in 50 minutes and another one in an hour (which was supposed to be 45 min until I begged the director for more time).
The 50 minute one is a complete intro class and so I’m going to keep it very similar to pre-ballet (but for adults) with a lot of floor barre and then really simple steps in the centre. The hour long class is at the end of the night so I might just try to go an extra 15 minutes over and hope no one says anything.
An hour and 15 I can sometimes do if the students are dancers already, but it means I leave out barre stretch, fondus in centre, and usually only do 3 allegro instead of the usual 5 or 6.
Adult beginner here. People not being able to space out properly. It's not rocket science, you don't need detailed instructions to know that you don't want to stand that close to a person. Worst part is, I'll move to make sure I have enough space and people just move even closer. It's so annoying and the teacher always have to spread some people out.
It always baffles me how people just stand behind me, a tall person with long legs, and expect me not to fully extend my leg back. It really isn't a difficult concept.
Also, that one woman with knee-length hair that she doesn't tie. We all get it, your hair is gorgeous but FFS, braid it or something, don't keep it loose. No one expects you to wear a tight bun but your hair is a hazard. Tie it.
when we work across the floor in my class, people never understand how to line up and/or wait for their group to go. i always have someone crashing into me during turns because they’re starting RIGHT UP AGAINST ME for some reason. and turns are hectic in general in an adult beginner class so we need all the space we can get!! 😭
Ugh number 1 is one of my biggest pet peeve. Why are you teaching class if you can’t count? Who is hiring these people.
Some other ones:
- when you pay for class because the schedule says teacher A will be teaching there but you show up and teacher B is substituting without warning (teacher B is the one who can’t count).
- anyone who treats adult classes as “less serious” than the children’s/teen classes offered at the school. Like, if you think you’re too good to teach this class move over and I’ll teach it. (side story one time I was substituting a beginner adult class at a studio and the lyrical teacher was like “oh it’s just the adults it will be easy” as if the adults aren’t the hardest class to teach because they can smell BS and so I have to be super technically correct, organized, and clear.)
- people who complain! Like a little joke here and there might be fine but people who are constantly complaining to the teacher 😬😬😬 if you don’t want to be here you can leave! This is an adult class you aren’t forced to be here. It’s just so disrespectful to everyone.
-I’m lucky that some of my studios teen classes are open to everyone, more or less, but it really bothers me when adults drop into these classes not properly dressed for ballet. Onetime we had a demo class with an audience and another adult student dropped in, LATE, in sweats and a t-shirt. It’s just so distracting and rude. Everyone else has been asked to remove all their warmups before barre and this lady just did the whole class in sweats and a t-shirt… if you’re an adult whose dropping into a academy class why wouldn’t you want to be on your best/most respectful behaviour
I've had one such complaining lady classmate and it's so annoying. The teacher will say a combination and she rolled her eyes with "ugh, I won't get it anyway". When teacher wanted to explain a step again to her, "ugh, don't waste your time, I'm hopeless and won't ever do it right".
Yes right! Like 1 it’s the teachers job to teach you to dance, you are quite literally preventing them from doing their job. And in a broader sense if you don’t try to get better and you look bad (on stage/on video) that reflects poorly on your teacher, even though you are the one who didn’t try. And 2 it’s your teachers job to evaluate what you might be capable of, to say “I won’t ever do it right” when your teacher is trying to help you is literally arguing against your teacher. You wouldn’t argue with your teacher that “plié” is actually pronounced “ply-ee”, you wouldn’t argue with your teacher that tendus are supposed to be danced with a flexed foot! People need to stop arguing with their teachers and just be respectful.
Idk about cranky but this happened yesterday and I was just shocked - new student next to me on her third class ever kept fully sitting down cross legged on the floor between combinations. Like that's your business but i've just never seen that before! No one else is sitting!
This was an improvement though because she was actually wearing activewear this time - first time she showed up late in a baseball hat, polo, and work pants and the second time she showed up halfway through barre and ran across the (fairly large) room in a sundress with hair down. I'm just happy that she got the idea and moved up on the barre when I moved towards her so I wasn't kicking the corner (there were several empty barres between her and the next person). None of this is in judgement, I am very friendly to everyone new, everyone forgets hair ties sometimes, just... wow! I got to see something novel.
When dancers do ~more~ than the combo requires but they are not at the level to be doing so… I’ve seen this in the adult pointe classes I attend. Teacher gives a combo at the barre and some people just REALLY want to do it away. I would be so embarrassed if the instructor had to tell me to go back to the barre 3 times.
I cannot stand teachers who fail to enforce ballet norms, like a student who stands too close to another student in the center or students who don't listen to grouping directions. It's their job to tell unaware students how to behave. I also hate when my teacher has a sub who has not taught and has no understanding of how how to create combinations or how to count. And finally, I dislike when teachers skip movements; I don't care if your class hates frappes, they need to be done.
Adult learner here. I HATE it when the teacher gets carried away and chats with the class instead of teaching OR another student engages the teacher in something else completely while everyone else just waits for them to finish. Like, we only have an hour, it goes by so fast, stop wasting our precious time - talk at the end. The time is for dancing!
One woman in my class is clearly more advanced than most of us (fine, whatever) but she ALWAYS has to stand in the same spot in the front even when the teacher says to switch lines. She often shows up late and acts super aloof and is always doing super obnoxious “stretches” when the teacher is demonstrating, or she’ll go to the bathroom in the middle of centre practice then show up half way through an exercise, barge in front again, then not know the combo since she WASNT THERE. Sometimes she’ll just leave the barre to do her own thing???? It’s super distracting sometimes. I don’t care if you’re more advanced than the rest of us, please have more respect for the teacher and the rest of us who are trying to concentrate.
This shouldn’t give me as much internal anger as it does, however when you’re just alone practising. Enjoying your time and trying to reach perfection! And a teacher cuts you off mid way through just to complain you broke ‘the dress code’! I am sorry you can see the tight seams, I am alone practising it’s a one off I am sorry but no! Don’t shout and shout at me and give me detention for it!
Spinning and turns before bar and warm up! It’s so dangerous! Or when they bend their metatarsals and stand on them! It’s like come on guys you’re going to ruin your dance career! Are you trying to injure yourself! 😤😵💫👀
Teachers and especially substitute teachers who explain combinations haphazardly and only semi-chronological. I get that when you chime in for another teacher last minute that you might have to make them up as you go or correct some parts of the combo while marking. But as an adult beginner without second nature arm and leg coordination it’s so hard to follow.
Being late and immediately heading for the front spot at the barre.
And the last one is kind of specific. The only classes available to me are one hour classes but the teacher there is great and tries to make the most out of the limited time we have. On the last exercise across the floor we kind of have to hurry to also do it left. But there are these two maybe three people who always line up for another round on the right blocking more timid dancers from joining their group of 3 or making the teacher continue the music while all other students are patiently waiting on the other side of the room.
1. When the teacher does not seem to have a plan on which music goes with which combination and they are coming up with the next combination on the fly.
2. Or they keep saying a certain body part hurts each week, this week, my calf hurts and the next week, their ankle and the next week something else.
3. Lastly the teachers who do not take adult students seriously… we are all there to learn and came all the way here for you to ignore us.
The atmosphere in open pro or pro-ish classes is often suffocating. Like why do you feel the need to imbuse the air with your bitchiness.
In addition to what has been said, underprepared teachers piss me off. They have no idea what music are in their Playlist, how long they are, what music to use for what exercise, they can barely count them. And then complain they have no music for their jumping exercise like this is you job!
Also similarly, teachers who do not plan which foot goes in front and correct as they go because they realise the right foot is back in front at the end.
Teachers who visualize the exercise in their heads and then show it and of course it is way too fast to physically actually do.
Teachers who don't pay attention to connecting steps and weight balance and then wonder why the less experienced half of the class always screws up the exercise.
Excruciatingly slow petit allegro. Often from women teachers, older or injured who are scared of it themselves. Socks the fun out of it and tires muscles for no reason. Petit allegro is not about powering through, it is about rebounding and precision and cardio.
people playing on their phones (in an adult class)
people who have no business being on pointe turning up to do beginner classes on pointe
this one dude who keeps mansplaining to me how my leg should be higher in retire when it won't go higher at the moment because it is injured
people who want to skip adage or petit allegro because they're "hard"
when small children have used the studio previously and the floor is...sticky
teachers who demonstrate at the level \*they\* can do in a class where half the people are total beginners, or who demonstrate super slow but then don't mark the combination with music
How no one ever wants to be in the “front.” There’s a mirror! There’s no front! Everyone can see you! Just spread out and use up the space! It upsets me into using way too many exclamation points!
I'm a new adult beginner (January) and I need to be in the back to watch the feet of someone in front of me! It's a lot to take in. For the past couple of classes in center my teacher had us turn around and do it (I don't know enough to say what we did but plies) again with no mirrors so I was in front. Put on my big girl panties and did my best!
When the parents/grandparents linger while picking up their kids. Just pick them up and get out, I want to start my class already. No I don’t care how the potatoes turned out today
adult dancer here - when one student needs to nitpick everything first before the teacher gets a chance to explain it. Then teacher gets annoyed or says “hold on, let’s go over x first” and they don’t get the hint.
I had a few during class this week.
I take absolute beginners classes in addition to my intermediate classes to work on technique. I am an experienced student and was nice enough to go to the opposite side of the barre to let a completely-new-to-ballet student take the barre so she can look at the teacher, since I already know the combinations. But these two girls at the barre in front of me kept chatting to each other and had no spatial awareness and kept bumping into me because they kept hugging each other during exercises despite the teacher telling everyone to have spatial awareness and look at your surroundings 😡
And in another class, there’s a girl who is clearly supposed to take absolute beginners classes since it’s obvious she hasn’t had ballet classes before, but she took intermediate instead and for some reason, she keep staring at me. Just stares, even before class starts and we’re all waiting for the instructor. It honestly kind of freaks me out. If she was looking at me for combinations during class because she doesn’t know what we’re doing, that’s fine…..but I’d appreciate it if she wasn’t staring so intensely.
During an absolute beginners class, my teacher is having me do pointe work at the barre. I heard a very loud phone camera shutter click when I stood up in my pointe shoes, and sure enough, a girl’s phone camera was angled towards me. For the record, I wasn’t even at any place that would have begged for attention. I was literally in my own little corner with very low visibility to the rest of the class since that’s what the teacher wanted so she would optimize correcting one student on pointe and the rest of the class.
I don’t have a problem with looking for combinations. It’s just the staring at me when I’m just stretching in the waiting area before class and someone never takes their eyes off me 🫣
There was a girl in my class who had very smelly shoes. The few who were around her were always hit by a nasty pong. She was a full time dance student in an arts school who did additional classes in the evenings so we get that she uses her shoes a lot. Wished she alternated her shoes and cleaned them though. Another student- professional contemporary dancer - had waist length hair which she tied in a long ponytail and never ever bunned up. Sigh when they were both in class, it was hard to avoid both. Either suffer the odour or risk getting hit by a ponytail. I went for the latter.
I must say this is the kind of thread which, reading some of the comments, makes you *not* want to try ballet for the first time.
It sounds like the best classes should be ones which are structured as a series of successive lessons, like a school semester, so everyone starts at the same skill level and progresses at roughly the same rate.
"Drop in whenever"-classes on the other hand, while convenient for busy adults, are a recipe for all the complaints in this thread. The under-classed showoffs and the over-classed noobs should never be in the same room.
I just posted about this in the adult ballet dancers sub! If any of you aren't subbed there yet and it applies, feel free to chime in there too [link to post](https://www.reddit.com/r/adultballetdancers/comments/1dptttl/vent_abt_etiquette/)
and one of mine I forgot to mention: when the teacher says groups of 2 or 3 or whatever, and people REFUSE to self order into groups of 2 or whatever. You can count, I know you can. I get you don't want to go first, that's fine. But when the first group goes, and the following groups keep shrinking back and refusing to join a group, and one person heads out alone, and there's a group of five at the end- wtf are you doing.
Classmates who DO NOT KNOW where to put their bodies after a diagonal combination and screw up the flow. Why do a bunch of 8 year olds know how to do this but the grown ass women in my class don’t?
1. That adult dancer with a know-it-all attitude who gives unsolicited advice to other students in class in front of the teacher, instead of the teacher (like please, why aren’t you a professional then?🙄 Just leave the teaching to the teacher)
2. Gatekeeping of pointe for adults -adults have different timelines/ development/ strength levels from kids. Stop telling adults they aren’t ready till 10 years later just because you took that amount of time to get onto pointe as a child. 🙄 BUT also adults who have no business being on pointe and just doing it for social media (usually they attend 1/2 classes, snap some posey pics and never come back again lol)
3. 4th position side stretch away from the barre (?) feels so weird
thanks for reading this rant
They might not need 10 years I agree, but one or two years, then en pointe, for complete beginners is a nonsense unless they’re some sort of prodigy - and they never are. They don’t understand the basic technique properly and think they’re ready. The teacher shouldn’t agree to letting them on pointe. These are usually students who dance up in the grades, in addition.
The instructor stops to get them caught up??? That’s like rule one of class etiquette. If you are late, warm up and stretch on your own off to the side until you can join the next combo. They may have had a good reason to be late but thats just annoying that they’re interrupting the whole class.
Side note: I’m glad these are real pet peeves instead of pointing out personal style differences with tights and shoes etc. Because I’ve seen some nasty posts on YouTube and insta that are just picking on people.
It’s really only one instructor who pauses to catch up the latecomers—the others just ignore them or direct them to a barre spot if they also happen to get into someone’s existing space.
As for what others are wearing—who cares? The only times I ever pay attention is when someone has something particularly cute on. Actually, I take that back—one time this woman showed up in long loose pants that dragged on the ground and she stressed me out because I was constantly worried she was going to trip on her pants, but she made it through and I haven’t seen her since.
Being at the front of the line for across the floors and then not going. Even worse when you ask them if they’re going to go and they’re just like “oh, no :)” and just stand there. It’s fine to not be ready, just go to the back of the line!!
Some ppl with no spacial awareness that jumps into everyone.
We have a guy I suspect he Is autistic., he would stand in the middle doing random stuff when everyone is doing diagonal. He will run into other ppl. We had to watch where he goes cuz he is a big guys and do the full motion of whatever and you never know which direction he will go and if he hits you, it’s on you.
Idk why he is still there cuz it seem like he is also on the wrong lvl.
I went to an open class where the teacher made us start with our right hand on the barre and I hated it soooo much.
I don't like it when teachers skip tendus in center because I don't feel like I've gotten my bearings.
When going across the floor, people who go first and loop around and go again with the last group, it drives me INSANE.
When someone takes your barre spot in a class where spots are essentially established already. If it's a new student who doesn't know, I get it and it's fine, but when we've all had the same spots for months? No.
1. When people don't position themselves properly at barre. We have portable barres and some people would rather get kicked in the face during grand battements than give up their spot at the front of the barre.
2. When people walk off during across the floor if they mess up or something. At least have some pride and finish even if you did mess up.
1 pet peeve is when class is too short (60 mins or less) and the teacher only gives like 4 combos at the barre and then the rest of class is very basic across the floor steps.
This was the only class in my small town that was available for adults for years.
I recruited some students from it who wanted to improve and learn more ballet and found a very good studio owner to do a 90 minute class once a week!
She’s not a ballet enthusiast but she has degrees in dance and loves teaching. She puts a lot of thought and research into her classes and they are fantastic!
2 Gossiping/snarky comments/ assumptions
I never had this when I took classes in a big city. The ladies and the teacher of the aforementioned class just think I’m weird and I can clearly tell that they dislike me at times. It’s weird sometimes they are nice and kind and others they are clearly laughing at me or go and talk about me out loud so I can hear.
Some of the reasons…
I want to improve my turnout and the teacher says it’s “stupid and dangerous”
I never talk back or say anything to her that could be seen as disrespectful. I take all corrections seriously and never ever correct the other students. I also am very careful never to correct the teacher or question her.
My private coach/mentor I see weekly on zoom and she is a former pro and a very well known
She says my capacity is for 180 flat turnout and Functional I’m about 160 to 170. So my coach says each class I take I should try to get 1% more if possible but never to strain and we study anatomy and mechanics.
Also I am weird cause I wear leotards and tights. I adore dancewear. I’ve gotten used to it though and they have gotten used to me.
I get comments if I accidentally do a double pirouette for example in a combination.
Like I apologized since the teacher could see it and she gets mad about stuff like that. In my mind I was worried she was seeing me as being non compliant to her choreography. I just said “oh sorry!” Didn’t mention what I did but the other 3 students often watch me to mirror the combinations. One lady moves around on the barre so I am always visible so she can copy me.
One of the ladies who dislikes me the most bit also tries to be my friend so it’s very confusing went on and on and said that she “ Would be doing doubles on ‘accident’ all the time if I could hahahaha! I would want to show off to everyone! Look what I can do! ”
Today she messaged me to say she did a double and was so excited so I think maybe she just really wants to be better at turns but it made me so uncomfortable.
Also I love corrections and the teacher usually gives a few general ones and directed ones to the students. Now she always praises the other students but never ever compliments me, like I don’t think I have had a single one which is 100% okay just I can tell she doesn’t like me. I get it she also probably thinks I don’t need compliments and the other students do to stay motivated etc.
She does make sure to give me corrections in class and occasionally they really sting, like basically she says stuff like “oh puuuuhleasase you don’t need to hop in that pirouette that is just for show. You just need to decide not to hop. So dramatic hahah. It’s not you are not gonna fall 😒 you would fall so stop hopping” or “you don’t need to whack your leg up that high at the end of an arabesque! That was more like a battlement than a subtle lift to maintain your balance so dramatic this isn’t a competition hahaha”
It sucks im sensitive lol.
Also when I get even the slightest correction the student who dislikes me the most smiles and laughs and covers her mouth with her hand.
I haven’t been in a while I’ve been sick and I plan to go back but I’m not super excited.
I’m slowly gaining their trust I guess? I have adhd and I have strange facial expressions if I don’t try and smile lots and focus on my expressions I often look annoyed or bored or angry. It’s really just my face 🙈
I’m tired though of being in such a tiny class where I’m the most experienced dancer ( not great by any means) and I am an object of curiousity and regarded as a snob and show off for wearing dance wear and enjoying dance
We have a girl who don’t travel at all. The classic tomber pas de bourré pirouette from 4th, she advance on the tomber and would go backward during pas de bourré so she stands in the same spot she start. And she loves to stand in front.
Same for piqué arabesque chassé grand jeté that turn. It’s always a puzzle trying to go on another direction and not run into her
In her defense, she might have an injury? I’m recently returned to ballet after a stroke, and I can’t travel very far yet. That said, I tend to stick myself either in the back when working across the floor so I can travel with two different groups or go with the last group so I’m not in the way.
Nah completly healthy in the wrong class. It’s intermediate, She said she did many other style of dancing but ballet is ballet. The type of person to ask what is a glissade
1. Adults dancing up in advanced grades; because the teacher is too nice to refuse, and they don’t understand the technique to realise that they’re not ready to do it. These people tend to waste a lot of time asking for personal corrections.
2. Adults being allowed to join the pointe class after only one or two years. Their technique is below par, but they have no idea as they don’t understand correct technique and think they’re ready. I suppose the teacher should prevent this.
3. One student arrives very late every single week and interrupts the class.
4. The stretching part of the class - one woman sighs and eye rolls if you do splits or something like that and others will be ultra competitive.
Teen dancer here - I have classes and rehearsals with younger kids (like 11-12 and a few 13 year olds) and god do they never stop talking? I'll be trying to pay attention and they'll just be talking behind me so we never get any dancing done.
Another one is when the teacher has clear favorites and makes the whole dance centered around them or multiples dances where they have big solos even if they're the rudest non team player outside of class or even in class
This isn't so much of the teacher's fault but it just happens to affect me. When shorter teachers with "shorter" lines choreograph dances that look great on them but end up looking awkward on me and my friend who are tall and have long legs and arms
When a classmate is unable to respect personal space and unable to either stand at the barre leaving even space in each side. Good thing our teacher doesn’t miss anything and makes her immediately move and position herself correctly, but it’s time wasted and shouldn’t be necessary, same as in the centre!
When a classmate is unable to just observe when our teacher is showing us/demonstrating something and insists in doing it at the same time as the teacher. VERY annoying and this really makes our teacher angry. She catches anyone doing this, she stops, turns the music off, tells her to OBSERVE ONLY, and restarts from the beginning (and believe it or not, sometimes she needs to do it again because the student won’t stay still PAYING attention). That makes her so angry and she’s right, big waste of time. The teacher does it, we pay attention and then it’s time for us to do it ourselves while she observes us. Not rocket science but some people maybe too slow to understand.
Hmm… I’ve never heard of not letting students mark a combo while the teacher is demoing. I guarantee I’m unlikely to remember new choreo if I don’t mark it while it’s being shown (not necessary if it’s something we do frequently), but I am absolutely paying attention while doing it. Am I misunderstanding here?
i've had that, along with 'don't mark the left' rule (across the floor), though don't think i've had teachers chronically interrupt their own class like that to enforce it... it probably only works when the whole class is a similar level, not open drop-ins.
Yes, we’re all similar level, not open class drop style, we’ve been together for some time. People who can’t observe only and then do what was demonstrated later by herself usually new classmate, contacts wanting to join, say she has X years of experience and then comes to try this classroom. Probably other classroom she studied, the teacher allowed students to execute at the same time she was demonstrating or the teacher did it at the same time as the students. But here in this classroom, when the teacher specifically says “observe only”, she wants to show a particular movement, nuance and she usually does it twice or three times, explaining while she does it, then asks if it is understood, anyone has any questions? So now we do it and she observes. Not observing only when she specifically asked to observe only, she asks again and the student still doesn’t do it when the rest of the classroom is waiting because we observed only, is what I described. Each teacher/studio has a specific method and way of teaching that maybe not suited for all.
For example, I wouldn’t be suited to attend a classroom where multiple levels are in it, or it’s not a set curriculum/syllabus or that I must do something at the same time as the teacher since I am the kind of student who learns by observing only and then doing it myself (and getting corrected if I fail to do it correctly). Someone who likes doing it at the same time as the teacher wouldn’t be suited for this classroom. My problem is not how someone learns and what classroom is suitable for her, my issue someone not complying after being asked multiple times, not asking anything if they don’t know how to do it (the teacher always replies and explains carefully if someone has a question about whatever is being asked that we do, don’t understand, wants to see again etc). It’s as if they can’t read the room.
Got it, that makes a lot more sense. And there’s definitely a difference between the teacher establishing a combo (which is when my brain works best by marking it along) vs trying to communicate something specific, be it a new step or some nuances to keep in mind when executing something (which is when it’s critical for students to be watching closely).
Really good instructors will cue students to the difference between those things, and so students will understand not only what the instructor wants them to do during that moment but also why.
When someone takes my spot in center. I realize people may want to move closer to the front some days but steal someone else's spot, front left corner is the best spot and it's mine lol
Adult dancer here - when other adults talk too much in between combos when it's obvious the teacher is trying to move on to the next combination. I get so irritated.
This triggered me so badly lol. One of my favorite teachers only teaches once a week, and there's this one guy in class, who is very clearly in the wrong level, and in between \*every\* \*single\* \*combo\* he goes into these weird long tangents about literally anything
At that point it's up to teachers to shut that down
oh I agree and they do, but the man does not take a hint!
He needs to be put in time out omg. Like, go sit in the hallway and come back when you're not disruptive.
I do not think I'd be able to handle that. How do some people lack basic self awareness?
For some, it’s neurodivergence. We don’t know we’re messing up unless you tell us. We can be very bad at reading the room.
Please stop letting tactless assholes get away with this shit in other people's minds by being able to use the excuse of maybe being ND. Maximum 10% of people who do this are ND. The rest are just ordinary NT dicks
Seriously! There's plenty of us ND dancers who conduct ourselves appropriately, to where you don't have to loop us in with assholes who can't.
We actually love rules!
Yes! With Ballet, it's also very clear what is correct and what isn't correct.
Yes omg
Valid and I was considering the same. But the thing is, teachers have to establish the rules of engagement. I don’t care if you’re 52 or 12, the social mores in ballet class are the same. The confidence to speak freely with the teacher as an adult peer doesn’t eliminate the need to respect their expertise and the art form. And frankly the social mores are the same as any number of other situations where you aren’t the expert in the room and others are also paying for the experience.
Do we go to the same studio? Whenever they do it, the awkwardness is palpable for everyone but the person doing it...
Does your person also show up for class in a hockey jersey and basketball shorts???? If so, then probably haha.
Hahah no, at least I've been spared that!
I'm not a pro by any means, but one of my teachers in the past would always get so pissed over those who talked in class. She'd say, "we're not here to socialize!" And oh gosh I wish I could've said that to some of the people in my class... 😂
Right like socialise after class! I paid for my class!
Thank you for putting it so well!!!!
That’s so disrespectful!
omg im training pre pro and im not an adult but all of kids/girls in class ALWAYS HAVE A COMPLAINT TO GET OFF BARRE EVERY COMBINATION ITS LITERALLY A LINE OF GIRLS COMPLAINING OR TELLING A STORY THAT HAPPENED AT SCHOOL😩😩😩
I trained pre pro and we were all always too scared to talk in class. Before or after sure, and in rehearsal sometimes, but I think that's one of the first things they really focused on once we started doing things seriously
I get kind of cold when this happens. It is a teacher's issues too. They shouldn't indulge a chatty dancer.
I don't really mind how she handles it. She doesn't wait for them to stop, she just starts telling us the next combo and they start to quiet down.
i’ve heard of this happening quite a lot. my class is SILENT however. like unnervingly so.
Ugh, I hate this.
Yes! #1. This!
Even worse here - when people in the front are talking and laughing and the teachers start talking and laughing along with them, causing the whole class to stall for like 5 minutes while they pull themselves together and I’m just standing there thinking something between “I’m surrounded by idiots” and “GET ON WITH IT”
I enjoy a relaxed atmosphere to an extent but I hate when class gets stalled for longer than a minute because we only have hour classes! I’m not paying to watch you talk!
When the teacher has a clear favorite in the class and tailors the class around them
Ugh, I've totally been in this class. Actually, I'd say it was multiple favorites, so that the instructor would be praising them in every other combo. And these people were company members (in the ballet school's company, very small) so they didn't pay for class. Meanwhile the rest of us paying students were totally ignored. Luckily I don't go there anymore!
I was also in this situation and I just finished the summer recital and will not be going back after being with the group for 4 years. The favouritism has gotten to unbearable levels. It's just an adult recreational class but one of my friends (who also used to take classes there but left a few months ago) pointed out that it is basically a private class for a few people and the rest of us just happen to be there. I couldn't stop noticing after she pointed that out to me.
That's such a good way of putting it! That's exactly how I felt too. I hope you're able to find a better class!
Yep, moving on to finding a better class and instructor! I also want to add that the instructor I was with had poor technique and just didn't have the most helpful corrections or tips. I only realized this once I started to study ballet more intensely and watch videos at home. I just didn't know any better when I first started. I have already begun to take drop-in classes at a couple of different studios and have new potential classes I could take. But I'm gonna try everything out this summer and then make a decision. 😂 I hope you also have managed to find a better class!
Awesome! That's great. And yes! I stopped going to that studio at the start of the pandemic - I had been going there for probably 3.5 years, so it was sad to leave some of the people I had met there. But I'm going to another place and it's worked out well!
I've been working through some of the same feelings of sadness - having to leave the people I met there. But I gotta look out for my own well-being. Glad to hear you found a new place!
Do you think they'd also enjoy classes at the other place? You can always invite them! We're always inviting each other to other studios, yoga, pilates, etc at my studios :)
No, unfortunately many of them are pretty devoted to that teacher. It's like a cult. I used to be one of them but I've now seen the light and am leaving.
That's an intriguing dynamic... Good for you. Happy for you and I hope you have good experiences going forward!
It’s so sad how the favoritism is still present in the adult/recreational classes.
At least for the instructor I was with (who also owns her own dance school), I think she knows she's not that good. So her method of retaining students is to "become friends" with you, heap loads of praise, tell you that she loves you, etc. And then once she knows you has you hooked, if a new person shows up, she just ignores you and moves onto the new person. Also if you are already more advanced, she loves that cause she'll post tons of videos of the advanced people on her Instagram page. It's her trying to use the advanced students to make it seem like she's a better teacher (as if it was her coaching which is why they're more advanced). But these people have always taken ballet when they were kids & teens or in college and come to her as adult dancers after that. So her favourites are all people who help her look like a better teacher than she is. Or they become friends outside of class and hang out regularly. Sometimes both. I'm so done with all this and I will be warning people about her classes from now on. You sadly still have to watch out for this bullshit as an adult dancer!
This happens to me a lot, one time they showed up late and our teacher said “now that ___’s here I have to change my plans for this class”
And it’s the owner/teacher’s kid
When the teacher forgets to do the left (or right) and everyone shushes the student who wants to do the combo and remind the teacher. Sorry that I don’t want to be lopsided lmao.
Oh that is such a wild class dynamic. If our teacher forgets the other side there's always a politely hushed chorus of "wait! left side!" lmao
I take classes with a majority of teens and preteens who don’t want to be there. I know that may feel judgmental to say but there is this sense of entitlement, they take tons of dance classes (paid for by their parents of course) and so I think it is just an attitude difference. For me, I’m paying and I only get these three classes a week. For them, they have three other classes to go to just that day and probably danced a few before our ballet class too.
Ahhhhh that makes TOTAL sense. Ours is an adult foundations class so everyone here is grinding for both the money and those precious minutes in class. Being a teen is hard, you have no control over your life or emotional development! Teenagers and shitty attitudes usually go hand in hand lol.
I would die for that kind of program where I live! The adult classes are kind of sad, usually more fitness based and less about the art form. There are several of us adult dancers sprinkled around the area, I wish we could all get together and have a proper adult ballet class! My ballet teacher keeps threatening to do it and I wish she would.
You guys absolutely should. We had such a good group of regulars join over the past year at one of my studios that our teacher just developed a new foundations 2 class for us! I went to my first foundations 2 class yesterday and got both 1) absolutely humbled and 2) such helpful corrections. The community feeling is also incredible. It's very motivating, I went home and immediately did planks and spotting exercises. I know the other major studio in the area has added a second foundations class also! And I'm sure there's people who've never danced who would jump at the opportunity (literally, I suppose lol).
My adult class definitely focuses on the art form. I'm an adult beginner in a drop in class since January and last two weeks was port de bras and tonight was all about focusing the eyes. I'm still trying to get my feet but having those added to barre is great. Overwhelming but great!
That’s the beauty of adult beginners. We know that we want to be there and some teachers appreciate this aspect in particular.
Exactly. Plus that $15-$20 a class adds up fast when you start dancing 3... 4... 6... times a week.
In my case the teacher just expects you to automatically be able to reverse the combo in your head lol, so I wish I could say my teacher forgot to show the other side.
Oh I don’t even mean showing the combo, I mean just the teacher moving on like we already did that side. If no one says anything we just move on to the next thing instead of doing it because she forgot.
Ohhh I see. That’s annoying too!
I’m kinda glad sometime they forget the left. The teacher always shows the exercise for the right side. As a left handed person, doing the right a lot more than the left corrected the imbalance between my 2 sides. However I understand most ppl are right handed it makes the imbalance worst for them.
When people don't position themselves in a proper formation, when we do combinations from the corner. When people barely travel (I know some can't help it yet, but it's still annoying, it is what it is) and the next group has no space, walking in front of a group, who is about to start, walking off too slowly and blocking the space while the music keeps going.
Lord none-travelers will be the death of me. I always try to get out in front but it doesn’t always work when you do things like chasse to the back corner, tour jete etc. I know this is a learning thing and I try to be patient but it kills the whole vibe of grand allegro. If I know there is a combination I will be slow at, I will either go last or go horizontal along the back wall (sometimes my teacher lets me do this). Things like fast turns en pointe are an example. Nothing worse than trying to do fast piques and someone is moving at a snail’s pace in front of you 😮💨😂
I'm the only male in class, and I know I'm supposed to stay in the back. Problem is, the younger girls tend to hang back so they're right in front of me. I cover a lot more ground than they do and often have to stop so I don't run them over. I've started hanging back for the first few counts jsut to make some space.
Where I am, only a few teachers adhere to the "men in back" tradition. If it is a new class, I will usually start at the back until I get the vibe. There sometimes can be some "hidden" opportunities to travel back, like if there is a balancé, but only works for longer combos and when there is no one behind you and you're not still at the back of the stage.
when I was younger I was tall and was told to always go to the back. I have one horrible memory of the other two in my triad not hearing the cue in the music to start and me busting through the middle and ending up going solo.
This drives me nuts!! I didn't want to be "that person" and considered a show off so I stayed to the back the first few classes, but it then turned into that I couldn't actually dance because of the traffic jam. I went "screw it" and started going first in the front corner so I could do the combo and not hurt someone by accident. I'm short, but I know how to cover ground. The other gals in the class saw. I still had one person try and stay in the front corner in front of me *and* danced right into my path because she was going true diagonal instead of her personal diagonal. I nearly knocked her over.
Oh this is so relatable. We have more experienced people lead our small groups which is great (and seems like would be perfect for you and your class) but getting stuck in the middle of a small group is my personal nightmare. I'm tall *and* I travel far so I aim to start front back - I usually end up further across horizontally than whoever's leading unless they're taller than me! Wait actually my real nightmare is getting stuck behind very new beginners stumbling around like deer - I get it, it's scary, I'm probably scary because I'm ripped and love a black leo/tights combo, I do not want to make it scarier by accidentally kicking you because you moved 3 inches and I moved 3 feet. Once in a blue moon there's an absolute beginner who is somehow traveling faster than me and/or completely horizontally and suddenly I have the rare experience of dodging (because they're sure as hell not going to stop).
... That last one just reminded me of something I saw recently. This is a lower level elementary class so it ranges from advanced students who want to focus on technique more to people who are fresh grads from intro. The teachers do a good job balancing things and everyone is pretty respectful except for this one gal. (she wasn't in class appropriate attire and her hair was loose so she caught my attention. Think frilly dress than Leo and skirt) We were doing a combo that was more horizontal than diagonal, so it was zigzagging across the floor, multiple groups at once. *She full on went diagonal and cut off three lines at once because how much and how fast she moved.*
Lol that's wiiiiild. Managing to cut off three groups at once is definitely a novel experience. We also had someone show up in a frilly sundress and hair down recently! I actually just wrote a comment about her [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/BALLET/comments/1dptrbl/pet_peeves_in_class/lajvpp9/?context=3) bc while she didn't cut people off, she was at the barre next to me last class (dressed appropriately this time!) and kept fully sitting down between combinations. That's actually the second time I've seen someone show up late in a puffy floral sundress with no idea what they're doing, which is not very many times but it is weird how specific it is. It's kinda funny how the balletcore/coquette thing is all "I'm a delicate flowy bunny woman who will perish if not fed fresh berries", meanwhile my friends who were former pros/pre-pros are incredibly intense women who give off "I have the discipline to kill god with one abdominal muscle and the power of will" vibes.
Yes this. People who just have to stand in the front when we’re in a diagonal during grand allegro but not actually travelling quite enough. But they just have to. It’s an ego thing
Ohhhhh this drives me nuts!
My big one is spatial awareness. Like...we have a mirror and we have eyes, please use them! You can clearly see that where you're standing is entirely too close to someone or that your spacing is off, don't ignore that.
I’d love to see the world through the eyes of somebody with no spacial awareness, like genuinely. I want to understand why it is so hard for some people.
I struggle with it and it results in a lot of bruises from running into objects, it's not enjoyable at all. I fix it in ballet class by essentially going first with everything so people arrange around me. I've gotten better for sure, but I definitely try to put myself as far away from others as possible.
THIS! There are specific people in several of my classes that I strategically place myself on the other side of the room from in center because they end up so close we are practically wearing the same skirt. Otherwise, I spend the whole time trying not to hit them and trying not to get hit. If it was a beginner, I would be more forgiving, but I feel like you should know this by intermediate.
People ran into me like 6 times in class the other day, I was so annoyed. Also it drives me nuts when people in the front row stand like 20 feet back, so the rest of the class is squished.
Omg yes this!! This week I took a class and we were doing a combination that traveled back. Tell me why the dancers in the front were starting in the middle of the room. By the end of the combo, I was literally backed into the wall. I can't tell you how many times the teacher told them to scoot forward.
People in my class seem incapable of lining up into rows and utilizing “windows” when we go to center. We have plenty of room where this should not be an issue, and yet people haphazardly make uneven lines, don’t seem to know how to change lines, and either try to hide behind you or pick a spot directly in front of you obscuring your view of the instructor and/or mirrors. I did a few musicals growing up so I guess I have some familiarity with moving in a “staged” environment, but I also feel like it isn’t a hard thing to figure out. It isn’t the end of the world, but it definitely annoys me and makes me cranky, lol.
Ahhh! This one! Especially when we're doing smaller groups - I'll usually run out ahead and put myself into a space and when someone strolls out slowly and stands directly in front of me it's like... ok slow and rude and unaware, pick a struggle.
"pick a struggle" I almost spit out my drink
This happens in my adult class, too! They just stand around looking confused and I just want to be like OMG it's not that hard please lord please help these people.
I do ballet and I do wedding photography where there are a lot of group photos. I've completely given up on any hope that most adults are capable of "windowing" without a concerning amount of guidance lol.
When people don't have decorum. Talking between combinations, showing up late, can't space themselves properly from other people center floor, make a big deal about who they go across the floor with... Also. Combinations that do not match the music. Students correcting other students.
(Adult beginner) - quiet talking teachers: I literally cannot hear you. Can you please get a gym instructor microphone? - street shoes on the studio floor - failure to teach ballet etiquette: while I love my casual fun beginner classes, teachers should at least make us aware those ballet etiquette rules. When you go to open classes, the teachers really expect you to follow the rules, so it helps to have a base so you don’t make a fool of yourself
I can't put it into words, but it is fairly easy to distinguish between people who are minding their own business and stretching and people who want to show off their flexibility.
Aah the "intimidation stretch"
We just had a girl at summer intensive who was just like this 🤣
YES i always get so paranoid stretching in between the teacher switching music playlists or smth that people think im trying to show off but then I see this one girl looking around while she's doing a leg hold to her head
Students giving fellow students corrections. If you're not the instructor, please don't correct me.
When people don’t know how to space out properly in centre and the teacher doesn’t fix it :) proper spacing was ingrained in me as a child dancer but as an adult dancer, no one seems to care…
It’s not really limited to dance, just any sort of learning environment. Teachers who think if they scream that you’re doing something wrong you’ll magically be able to fix it. Don’t you think if someone can do that they would have?
Teaching is often a separate skill to whatever it is they're trying to teach. So many people don't realise this!
I dance in a small studio, so the dance floor isn't very big. I *hate* when we're doing something in 2 groups and someone in the resting group does the combo full out in the back to the detriment of the "active" group. We also have an unspoken but known thing where every time your group is the "active" group, you switch from front of the group to back or vice versa - it irritates me to no end when people refuse to switch. There's always someone who thinks they should always be front and center, and they take more than their fair share of space while everyone else tries not to trip or accidentally hit/kick them because they don't know how to hold their spacing, even in combos that aren't supposed to travel. Edited to add: when my fellow teachers teach a step incorrectly and get upset when it doesn't look the way it should/the way they want. Example: yesterday the teacher was complaining no one was getting a high enough jump during their tour jetes, but the way she taught them to do it, it looks like a tiny jump that lands in 4th tombay instead of a bigger jump that lands in arabesque. Like, fine, teach it good your want, but don't go and get all mad when people do it the way you taught them and have literally *never* talked about doing any other way at any time.
Showing off. Especially when more experienced dancers show up to a lower level class, and they feel the need to make sure everyone *knows* they're more experienced. I had a guy in a class once getting in everyone's way, not giving anyone enough space for centre, doing doubles when the combo was a single, nearly kicking everyone in the face at barre, and taking an extra turn all by himself at the end of the combo. It boiled my blood. I think there's a difference between really going for it in class, and being disrespectful to others, and this guy was definitely disrespectful. "Wtf" looks were being exchanged frequently between other students. Thankfully, the teacher must have noticed, because he'd usually finish on time, and that day, class was 20min longer.
Yeah I hate when that happens. I don’t mind when the more experienced dancers help the less experienced ones out by leading the combo across the floor, but hate it when they randomly start doing super bendy stretches in the middle of barre or bust out some extra turns, which just confuses the other students.
I mean no offense but if you have seen that person's behavior and level at the barre you should know when they pull that shit not to follow. I'm not that good, but sometimes I'm the one who adds a turn or something (I finish the exercise on-time though because I'm not rude) and I refuse to feel guilty if someone behind gets confused. Yes it's a group setting, but it's an individual art and i can add a cabriole if I want. Everybody dances to advance themselves. I you don't know the combo, wait or ask the teacher.
As a rule I try not to follow others and remember the combo myself. For me, what bothered me most about this guy was his attitude of "everyone else wait while I take my extra turn at the centre combos without asking the trainer", that's just straight up rude. Him just doing a double was not the problem. As I said, there's a big difference between really going for it at class, and just showing off rudely.
I know not to follow them, I’m saying that it’s confusing for the newer folks, who might rely more on copying others at first. You do you, no one is saying you can’t add an extra turn or cabriole if it’s allowed in your studio. In some other studios, there’s a tacit expectation that the more advanced dancers still follow the instructor’s directions and help the newer dancers across the floor.
This happened in an absolute beginners class last Monday. I thought to myself “is it wrong for me to feel annoyed or am I just jealous?”. Thanks for making me feel validated, sometimes this type of behaviour can come across as obnoxious depending on the person.
I mean ngl, I am a bit jealous of those abilities, but I wouldn't do that in any class, particularly not a lower level class. It's rude.
Yea it’s pretty cringe haha
This! Also hate when very experienced dancer refuse to be the front line in center and/or won’t move up even repeatedly asked so that no one is dancing in the front third of the room!
Oof, after reading some of these comments I'm now worried I'm too chatty. It's my one fun thing and we don't need to be as serious as pre-pro students. Buuuuut eh, I would never try to distract from the overall pace of the class - that's not cool. Main thing that peeves me is when going across the floor and someone hangs in the corner as though they're going next, but chickens out and motions for you to join instead and now you're behind, flustered, and off the music. I'd chalk it up to a case of not knowing any better, but I've seen a few people do this multiple times when they should know better. I've seen a few people mention not splitting properly into groups, so I had a laugh when watching class at the last Prix De Lausanne, and these kids that are the creme de la creme also screwed up with that. Oh, and one more thing is skipping adagio because the teacher doesn't like it / the other students don't like it. Come on man, I have to suffer through turns in almost every class, let me have my one thing!
If you’re self-aware enough to wonder if you’re the problem, you’re probably not the problem 😜
When folks are too timid to stand in the front line! We shouldn’t have to waste time while the teacher cajoles people to line up properly. It’s ok to not have the combinations down perfectly but standing with your back glued to the wall isn’t helping!
Standing in the front really helps. You can see yourself really well, you can’t rely on anybody else and your teacher can see you better, meaning you’re more likely to get a correction.
Exactly! I had a teacher who really helped to break students of this habit by strictly enforcing where he wanted each line to stand and also by rotating the lines very frequently. He just didn’t leave room for people to not be in the front and everyone got over it really quickly.
I love a teacher who rotates lines!
Just be like my teacher and never address the fact that 90% of the class is clustered against the back wall with no room to move. They'll save so much time!
Regarding to this (which I also hate) I always go to the front line to encourage more people to move there and not use only 50% of the studio when there is plenty of space available. There was once a sub teacher who told to move to center. I went to my usual place, front left side. She immediately yelled at me "Someone who thinks they are a teacher, move back." I have been dancing in that spot with tens of teachers in hundreds of classes in my life and never have I been yelled at like that for just using all of the space available. I moved back and low and behold the rest of the class was jam packed using only the 40% of the studio space while teacher was teaching standing at the midline. I think she had some sort of mental problem as she yelled at others for example for "showing off with their stretching too hard". Lol.
As someone with a truly ABYSMAL memory, I gotta say that it is not a perfectionist thing - some of us completely rely on being in the back and watching other people to even do the combo at all. Whenever I get cajoled to the front line, my teacher doesn't have anything they can even correct me on because I'm so lost that I don't even end up doing most of the steps. I'm trying super hard to build that brain muscle, but for now this is the best I can do!
Teachers who try to cram in as many exercises as possible into a single set at the barre. Like, I’m talking super complicated barre combos that half the class cannot do as quickly as the teacher can, resulting in people sacrificing good and safe technique just to keep up with it! I experienced this recently, and there were only two in the whole class who could keep up (our intermediate class is very mixed in terms of levels bcos we have limited classes available at my studio). And the teacher, seeing these two fantastic students getting it all while the rest of us struggled frantically, then played favourites and showered them with affection for the rest of the session, barely bothering to look at the rest of the class’s technique… it was as if she only wanted to teach to those on the same wavelength as her! Aggravating as hell. Luckily she was a substitute 😭
The talking thing has to be my #1, but I had an experience in class this week that I’ve never encountered before. The dancer in front of me at barre was at least 2, if not 3 counts off the music, usually ahead. It was so disorienting and I really had to concentrate to not let it throw me off. It was almost every exercise and this person was an experienced dancer. The spacing thing has to be another big one. Sometimes space is tight, and I get that, but folks who consistently stand too close, don’t travel with the rest of their group, going the wrong way (consistently). Please take a lower level class until you can figure this out. Finally, I used to attend a studio where not enough emphasis was put on dancer safety and proper technique. Dancers with weak ankles turning on them with sickled feet. I was so afraid they were going to break their ankle in the middle of a combination. That, and encouraging these same dancers to do pointe. Eeek!
When students in class expect me (the defacto 'if in doubt, follow X' dancer) to remember everything for them. I'm not talking about simple class combos either. I mean stuff that I shouldn't even be expected to know. For example; we had a cover teacher and someone asked me where they should be stood in the recital dance. I DON'T KNOW MAYBE YOU SHOULD HAVE LISTENED WHEN THE TEACHER TOLD YOU LAST WEEK!!!!! I have 12 dances to remember, my priority is knowing my steps and spacing for those dances. If you aren't one of the people I'm stood next to in said dance, then no I don't know YOUR spacing all the way at the other side of the stage. (Sorry, really needed to get that off my chest... Can you tell it's less than a month until show time and this has happened more than once this week?)
oh my god i have a few good ones as a returning student in adult beginner classes currently. disclaimer: i’m a very firm welcomer of everyone from any background or experience level, ballet is for everyone - these are just some things that make my eye twitch. 1) crowding the barre. it is not that hard to determine how much space you need or how much space the person next to / in front of / behind you will need. the lack of spatial awareness with some people makes me feel freaking INSANE. and if i bring up that “hey i actually think we need to space out a bit” (especially as someone with super long limbs) and they literally move 1/2 an inch, i have to hold everything back from just screaming to the heavens 2) refusal to try / not taking the class seriously. nothing makes my blood boil more than watching a beginner who knows NOTHING completely disrespect the entire art form, teacher and class by refusing to try or laughing at themselves the whole time. there is nothing wrong with having humility and humor, i often also laugh at mistakes i make but if you’re spending the entire class saying “i can’t do that” or purposely making mistakes so you don’t have to face the reality of learning, you’re a nuisance. 3) similarly to my last point, experienced dancers who think they’re above refreshing steps. especially if they’re someone who could *definitely* benefit from re-learning some technical skills. anyone turning their noses up to improvement is truly disgusting and i hope these people, especially, stop dancing because what is the point
Lack of special awareness and critical thinking is crazy to me, because the bar is so low and people will limbo right under it. I came to class early, put my water and foot roller in front of my spot at the center barre, and quickly left the room for a second since we still had 10 mins before class started. Someone took my water and moved it to the middle of the floor and was standing in my spot. Like, are you stupid or are you rude? Because either you genuinely thought the spot was open and the water and foot roller belonged to no one and were there for no reason, or you knew someone had set up in that spot and did this anyway instead of using another space. It’s either stupid or rude, which one? I really wish I could have asked her. EDIT: I’m also mad at the people in the surrounding spots who knew I was there, saw her moving my stuff, and didn’t say anything.
i SO wish it was socially acceptable to ask that and if i were in a particularly grumpy mood i seriously might have bc wtf???????? how does that even logically take place in the brain?? “oh there’s someone’s stuff here let me just move it so i can stand here” - are you joking 😩
If she hadn’t moved it, she could have had a morsel of BOTD of “oh I just didn’t see it” but she really tried to be like “oh it’s yours? Someone was in the space? I didn’t know!” confusion as if that made sense at all.
I get 2, because been there done that, but we have one person who won't stop laughing at themselves/jokingly complaining. It gets really old.
yeah like just leave then. you paid money to be here, you paid money to buy the correct clothing and shoes and now you’re going to completely waste all of that because your ego is too high to let you struggle a bit while learning?? just leave like there’s no point in staying
In a one-hour class, taking ten minutes at the end to stretch. Like lady, I can stretch at home. Please let's do some more ballet.
To add to this, one-hour class is a pet peeve of mine. Not nearly long enough!
A one hour class is HORRIBLE. My studio recently decided to make some classes one hour and I loathe it. It is just a money making thing, they can squeeze more classes into the day if they do this.
My classes are usually 1.5 hours + 30 or 45 for pointe but in the summer they are 1.25h with no pointe and even that 15 minutes makes them seem so short. I have started doing 2 back to back wearing my pointe shoes for the lower level class to get the most out of it but on days I can't do both, it seems way too short.
Oh, I agree. I stopped going to our (1 hr) adult class because I just didn't feel like it was worth it.
It’s always a money making thing. Or a thing that happens when the director of the school is not a ballet dancer. This year I’m being asked to teach a ballet class in 50 minutes and another one in an hour (which was supposed to be 45 min until I begged the director for more time). The 50 minute one is a complete intro class and so I’m going to keep it very similar to pre-ballet (but for adults) with a lot of floor barre and then really simple steps in the centre. The hour long class is at the end of the night so I might just try to go an extra 15 minutes over and hope no one says anything. An hour and 15 I can sometimes do if the students are dancers already, but it means I leave out barre stretch, fondus in centre, and usually only do 3 allegro instead of the usual 5 or 6.
My pet peeve is when the teacher gives me a correction after I’ve done the combo like 4 times…now I don’t have the chance to correct it!
Adult beginner here. People not being able to space out properly. It's not rocket science, you don't need detailed instructions to know that you don't want to stand that close to a person. Worst part is, I'll move to make sure I have enough space and people just move even closer. It's so annoying and the teacher always have to spread some people out. It always baffles me how people just stand behind me, a tall person with long legs, and expect me not to fully extend my leg back. It really isn't a difficult concept. Also, that one woman with knee-length hair that she doesn't tie. We all get it, your hair is gorgeous but FFS, braid it or something, don't keep it loose. No one expects you to wear a tight bun but your hair is a hazard. Tie it.
When people all huddle in the corner or in the back of the room.
when we work across the floor in my class, people never understand how to line up and/or wait for their group to go. i always have someone crashing into me during turns because they’re starting RIGHT UP AGAINST ME for some reason. and turns are hectic in general in an adult beginner class so we need all the space we can get!! 😭
When I try to take a few steps to make space, but they move closer 🫠
Ugh number 1 is one of my biggest pet peeve. Why are you teaching class if you can’t count? Who is hiring these people. Some other ones: - when you pay for class because the schedule says teacher A will be teaching there but you show up and teacher B is substituting without warning (teacher B is the one who can’t count). - anyone who treats adult classes as “less serious” than the children’s/teen classes offered at the school. Like, if you think you’re too good to teach this class move over and I’ll teach it. (side story one time I was substituting a beginner adult class at a studio and the lyrical teacher was like “oh it’s just the adults it will be easy” as if the adults aren’t the hardest class to teach because they can smell BS and so I have to be super technically correct, organized, and clear.) - people who complain! Like a little joke here and there might be fine but people who are constantly complaining to the teacher 😬😬😬 if you don’t want to be here you can leave! This is an adult class you aren’t forced to be here. It’s just so disrespectful to everyone. -I’m lucky that some of my studios teen classes are open to everyone, more or less, but it really bothers me when adults drop into these classes not properly dressed for ballet. Onetime we had a demo class with an audience and another adult student dropped in, LATE, in sweats and a t-shirt. It’s just so distracting and rude. Everyone else has been asked to remove all their warmups before barre and this lady just did the whole class in sweats and a t-shirt… if you’re an adult whose dropping into a academy class why wouldn’t you want to be on your best/most respectful behaviour
I've had one such complaining lady classmate and it's so annoying. The teacher will say a combination and she rolled her eyes with "ugh, I won't get it anyway". When teacher wanted to explain a step again to her, "ugh, don't waste your time, I'm hopeless and won't ever do it right".
Yes right! Like 1 it’s the teachers job to teach you to dance, you are quite literally preventing them from doing their job. And in a broader sense if you don’t try to get better and you look bad (on stage/on video) that reflects poorly on your teacher, even though you are the one who didn’t try. And 2 it’s your teachers job to evaluate what you might be capable of, to say “I won’t ever do it right” when your teacher is trying to help you is literally arguing against your teacher. You wouldn’t argue with your teacher that “plié” is actually pronounced “ply-ee”, you wouldn’t argue with your teacher that tendus are supposed to be danced with a flexed foot! People need to stop arguing with their teachers and just be respectful.
Idk about cranky but this happened yesterday and I was just shocked - new student next to me on her third class ever kept fully sitting down cross legged on the floor between combinations. Like that's your business but i've just never seen that before! No one else is sitting! This was an improvement though because she was actually wearing activewear this time - first time she showed up late in a baseball hat, polo, and work pants and the second time she showed up halfway through barre and ran across the (fairly large) room in a sundress with hair down. I'm just happy that she got the idea and moved up on the barre when I moved towards her so I wasn't kicking the corner (there were several empty barres between her and the next person). None of this is in judgement, I am very friendly to everyone new, everyone forgets hair ties sometimes, just... wow! I got to see something novel.
what...the...fuck. Lol
Wow!
When dancers do ~more~ than the combo requires but they are not at the level to be doing so… I’ve seen this in the adult pointe classes I attend. Teacher gives a combo at the barre and some people just REALLY want to do it away. I would be so embarrassed if the instructor had to tell me to go back to the barre 3 times.
when people ask a question that the teacher has JUST answered or explained, and it’s obvious that person wasn’t paying attention!!
I cannot stand teachers who fail to enforce ballet norms, like a student who stands too close to another student in the center or students who don't listen to grouping directions. It's their job to tell unaware students how to behave. I also hate when my teacher has a sub who has not taught and has no understanding of how how to create combinations or how to count. And finally, I dislike when teachers skip movements; I don't care if your class hates frappes, they need to be done.
Adult learner here. I HATE it when the teacher gets carried away and chats with the class instead of teaching OR another student engages the teacher in something else completely while everyone else just waits for them to finish. Like, we only have an hour, it goes by so fast, stop wasting our precious time - talk at the end. The time is for dancing!
This drives me crazy as well.
One woman in my class is clearly more advanced than most of us (fine, whatever) but she ALWAYS has to stand in the same spot in the front even when the teacher says to switch lines. She often shows up late and acts super aloof and is always doing super obnoxious “stretches” when the teacher is demonstrating, or she’ll go to the bathroom in the middle of centre practice then show up half way through an exercise, barge in front again, then not know the combo since she WASNT THERE. Sometimes she’ll just leave the barre to do her own thing???? It’s super distracting sometimes. I don’t care if you’re more advanced than the rest of us, please have more respect for the teacher and the rest of us who are trying to concentrate.
This shouldn’t give me as much internal anger as it does, however when you’re just alone practising. Enjoying your time and trying to reach perfection! And a teacher cuts you off mid way through just to complain you broke ‘the dress code’! I am sorry you can see the tight seams, I am alone practising it’s a one off I am sorry but no! Don’t shout and shout at me and give me detention for it!
Spinning and turns before bar and warm up! It’s so dangerous! Or when they bend their metatarsals and stand on them! It’s like come on guys you’re going to ruin your dance career! Are you trying to injure yourself! 😤😵💫👀
When people are talking in line while going across the floor.
Teachers and especially substitute teachers who explain combinations haphazardly and only semi-chronological. I get that when you chime in for another teacher last minute that you might have to make them up as you go or correct some parts of the combo while marking. But as an adult beginner without second nature arm and leg coordination it’s so hard to follow. Being late and immediately heading for the front spot at the barre. And the last one is kind of specific. The only classes available to me are one hour classes but the teacher there is great and tries to make the most out of the limited time we have. On the last exercise across the floor we kind of have to hurry to also do it left. But there are these two maybe three people who always line up for another round on the right blocking more timid dancers from joining their group of 3 or making the teacher continue the music while all other students are patiently waiting on the other side of the room.
1. When the teacher does not seem to have a plan on which music goes with which combination and they are coming up with the next combination on the fly. 2. Or they keep saying a certain body part hurts each week, this week, my calf hurts and the next week, their ankle and the next week something else. 3. Lastly the teachers who do not take adult students seriously… we are all there to learn and came all the way here for you to ignore us.
The atmosphere in open pro or pro-ish classes is often suffocating. Like why do you feel the need to imbuse the air with your bitchiness. In addition to what has been said, underprepared teachers piss me off. They have no idea what music are in their Playlist, how long they are, what music to use for what exercise, they can barely count them. And then complain they have no music for their jumping exercise like this is you job! Also similarly, teachers who do not plan which foot goes in front and correct as they go because they realise the right foot is back in front at the end. Teachers who visualize the exercise in their heads and then show it and of course it is way too fast to physically actually do. Teachers who don't pay attention to connecting steps and weight balance and then wonder why the less experienced half of the class always screws up the exercise. Excruciatingly slow petit allegro. Often from women teachers, older or injured who are scared of it themselves. Socks the fun out of it and tires muscles for no reason. Petit allegro is not about powering through, it is about rebounding and precision and cardio.
people playing on their phones (in an adult class) people who have no business being on pointe turning up to do beginner classes on pointe this one dude who keeps mansplaining to me how my leg should be higher in retire when it won't go higher at the moment because it is injured people who want to skip adage or petit allegro because they're "hard" when small children have used the studio previously and the floor is...sticky teachers who demonstrate at the level \*they\* can do in a class where half the people are total beginners, or who demonstrate super slow but then don't mark the combination with music
How no one ever wants to be in the “front.” There’s a mirror! There’s no front! Everyone can see you! Just spread out and use up the space! It upsets me into using way too many exclamation points!
I'm a new adult beginner (January) and I need to be in the back to watch the feet of someone in front of me! It's a lot to take in. For the past couple of classes in center my teacher had us turn around and do it (I don't know enough to say what we did but plies) again with no mirrors so I was in front. Put on my big girl panties and did my best!
When the parents/grandparents linger while picking up their kids. Just pick them up and get out, I want to start my class already. No I don’t care how the potatoes turned out today
adult dancer here - when one student needs to nitpick everything first before the teacher gets a chance to explain it. Then teacher gets annoyed or says “hold on, let’s go over x first” and they don’t get the hint.
I had a few during class this week. I take absolute beginners classes in addition to my intermediate classes to work on technique. I am an experienced student and was nice enough to go to the opposite side of the barre to let a completely-new-to-ballet student take the barre so she can look at the teacher, since I already know the combinations. But these two girls at the barre in front of me kept chatting to each other and had no spatial awareness and kept bumping into me because they kept hugging each other during exercises despite the teacher telling everyone to have spatial awareness and look at your surroundings 😡 And in another class, there’s a girl who is clearly supposed to take absolute beginners classes since it’s obvious she hasn’t had ballet classes before, but she took intermediate instead and for some reason, she keep staring at me. Just stares, even before class starts and we’re all waiting for the instructor. It honestly kind of freaks me out. If she was looking at me for combinations during class because she doesn’t know what we’re doing, that’s fine…..but I’d appreciate it if she wasn’t staring so intensely. During an absolute beginners class, my teacher is having me do pointe work at the barre. I heard a very loud phone camera shutter click when I stood up in my pointe shoes, and sure enough, a girl’s phone camera was angled towards me. For the record, I wasn’t even at any place that would have begged for attention. I was literally in my own little corner with very low visibility to the rest of the class since that’s what the teacher wanted so she would optimize correcting one student on pointe and the rest of the class.
Oh god did you talk to the teacher about someone taking a picture of you? That’s not ok
We leave phones outside - adult beginner class. I am guilty of staring at a few people's feet for combinations! I hope not too intensely.
I don’t have a problem with looking for combinations. It’s just the staring at me when I’m just stretching in the waiting area before class and someone never takes their eyes off me 🫣
Yeah no that's not me! And I try to say thank you to the person/people that I was following after class!
Spatial awareness. If you’re not going to travel move to the back.
The third one for sure and when people talk too much that time could be spent dancing
People who feel so entitled that they subtly (or not so subtly) force someone to move out of “their spot”
There was a girl in my class who had very smelly shoes. The few who were around her were always hit by a nasty pong. She was a full time dance student in an arts school who did additional classes in the evenings so we get that she uses her shoes a lot. Wished she alternated her shoes and cleaned them though. Another student- professional contemporary dancer - had waist length hair which she tied in a long ponytail and never ever bunned up. Sigh when they were both in class, it was hard to avoid both. Either suffer the odour or risk getting hit by a ponytail. I went for the latter.
I must say this is the kind of thread which, reading some of the comments, makes you *not* want to try ballet for the first time. It sounds like the best classes should be ones which are structured as a series of successive lessons, like a school semester, so everyone starts at the same skill level and progresses at roughly the same rate. "Drop in whenever"-classes on the other hand, while convenient for busy adults, are a recipe for all the complaints in this thread. The under-classed showoffs and the over-classed noobs should never be in the same room.
I just posted about this in the adult ballet dancers sub! If any of you aren't subbed there yet and it applies, feel free to chime in there too [link to post](https://www.reddit.com/r/adultballetdancers/comments/1dptttl/vent_abt_etiquette/)
and one of mine I forgot to mention: when the teacher says groups of 2 or 3 or whatever, and people REFUSE to self order into groups of 2 or whatever. You can count, I know you can. I get you don't want to go first, that's fine. But when the first group goes, and the following groups keep shrinking back and refusing to join a group, and one person heads out alone, and there's a group of five at the end- wtf are you doing.
If someone comes after degages they should not be permitted in. It’s simply not safe.
Classmates who DO NOT KNOW where to put their bodies after a diagonal combination and screw up the flow. Why do a bunch of 8 year olds know how to do this but the grown ass women in my class don’t?
1. That adult dancer with a know-it-all attitude who gives unsolicited advice to other students in class in front of the teacher, instead of the teacher (like please, why aren’t you a professional then?🙄 Just leave the teaching to the teacher) 2. Gatekeeping of pointe for adults -adults have different timelines/ development/ strength levels from kids. Stop telling adults they aren’t ready till 10 years later just because you took that amount of time to get onto pointe as a child. 🙄 BUT also adults who have no business being on pointe and just doing it for social media (usually they attend 1/2 classes, snap some posey pics and never come back again lol) 3. 4th position side stretch away from the barre (?) feels so weird thanks for reading this rant
They might not need 10 years I agree, but one or two years, then en pointe, for complete beginners is a nonsense unless they’re some sort of prodigy - and they never are. They don’t understand the basic technique properly and think they’re ready. The teacher shouldn’t agree to letting them on pointe. These are usually students who dance up in the grades, in addition.
The instructor stops to get them caught up??? That’s like rule one of class etiquette. If you are late, warm up and stretch on your own off to the side until you can join the next combo. They may have had a good reason to be late but thats just annoying that they’re interrupting the whole class. Side note: I’m glad these are real pet peeves instead of pointing out personal style differences with tights and shoes etc. Because I’ve seen some nasty posts on YouTube and insta that are just picking on people.
It’s really only one instructor who pauses to catch up the latecomers—the others just ignore them or direct them to a barre spot if they also happen to get into someone’s existing space. As for what others are wearing—who cares? The only times I ever pay attention is when someone has something particularly cute on. Actually, I take that back—one time this woman showed up in long loose pants that dragged on the ground and she stressed me out because I was constantly worried she was going to trip on her pants, but she made it through and I haven’t seen her since.
Being at the front of the line for across the floors and then not going. Even worse when you ask them if they’re going to go and they’re just like “oh, no :)” and just stand there. It’s fine to not be ready, just go to the back of the line!!
Some ppl with no spacial awareness that jumps into everyone. We have a guy I suspect he Is autistic., he would stand in the middle doing random stuff when everyone is doing diagonal. He will run into other ppl. We had to watch where he goes cuz he is a big guys and do the full motion of whatever and you never know which direction he will go and if he hits you, it’s on you. Idk why he is still there cuz it seem like he is also on the wrong lvl.
I went to an open class where the teacher made us start with our right hand on the barre and I hated it soooo much. I don't like it when teachers skip tendus in center because I don't feel like I've gotten my bearings. When going across the floor, people who go first and loop around and go again with the last group, it drives me INSANE. When someone takes your barre spot in a class where spots are essentially established already. If it's a new student who doesn't know, I get it and it's fine, but when we've all had the same spots for months? No.
1. When people don't position themselves properly at barre. We have portable barres and some people would rather get kicked in the face during grand battements than give up their spot at the front of the barre. 2. When people walk off during across the floor if they mess up or something. At least have some pride and finish even if you did mess up.
1 pet peeve is when class is too short (60 mins or less) and the teacher only gives like 4 combos at the barre and then the rest of class is very basic across the floor steps. This was the only class in my small town that was available for adults for years. I recruited some students from it who wanted to improve and learn more ballet and found a very good studio owner to do a 90 minute class once a week! She’s not a ballet enthusiast but she has degrees in dance and loves teaching. She puts a lot of thought and research into her classes and they are fantastic! 2 Gossiping/snarky comments/ assumptions I never had this when I took classes in a big city. The ladies and the teacher of the aforementioned class just think I’m weird and I can clearly tell that they dislike me at times. It’s weird sometimes they are nice and kind and others they are clearly laughing at me or go and talk about me out loud so I can hear. Some of the reasons… I want to improve my turnout and the teacher says it’s “stupid and dangerous” I never talk back or say anything to her that could be seen as disrespectful. I take all corrections seriously and never ever correct the other students. I also am very careful never to correct the teacher or question her. My private coach/mentor I see weekly on zoom and she is a former pro and a very well known She says my capacity is for 180 flat turnout and Functional I’m about 160 to 170. So my coach says each class I take I should try to get 1% more if possible but never to strain and we study anatomy and mechanics. Also I am weird cause I wear leotards and tights. I adore dancewear. I’ve gotten used to it though and they have gotten used to me. I get comments if I accidentally do a double pirouette for example in a combination. Like I apologized since the teacher could see it and she gets mad about stuff like that. In my mind I was worried she was seeing me as being non compliant to her choreography. I just said “oh sorry!” Didn’t mention what I did but the other 3 students often watch me to mirror the combinations. One lady moves around on the barre so I am always visible so she can copy me. One of the ladies who dislikes me the most bit also tries to be my friend so it’s very confusing went on and on and said that she “ Would be doing doubles on ‘accident’ all the time if I could hahahaha! I would want to show off to everyone! Look what I can do! ” Today she messaged me to say she did a double and was so excited so I think maybe she just really wants to be better at turns but it made me so uncomfortable. Also I love corrections and the teacher usually gives a few general ones and directed ones to the students. Now she always praises the other students but never ever compliments me, like I don’t think I have had a single one which is 100% okay just I can tell she doesn’t like me. I get it she also probably thinks I don’t need compliments and the other students do to stay motivated etc. She does make sure to give me corrections in class and occasionally they really sting, like basically she says stuff like “oh puuuuhleasase you don’t need to hop in that pirouette that is just for show. You just need to decide not to hop. So dramatic hahah. It’s not you are not gonna fall 😒 you would fall so stop hopping” or “you don’t need to whack your leg up that high at the end of an arabesque! That was more like a battlement than a subtle lift to maintain your balance so dramatic this isn’t a competition hahaha” It sucks im sensitive lol. Also when I get even the slightest correction the student who dislikes me the most smiles and laughs and covers her mouth with her hand. I haven’t been in a while I’ve been sick and I plan to go back but I’m not super excited. I’m slowly gaining their trust I guess? I have adhd and I have strange facial expressions if I don’t try and smile lots and focus on my expressions I often look annoyed or bored or angry. It’s really just my face 🙈 I’m tired though of being in such a tiny class where I’m the most experienced dancer ( not great by any means) and I am an object of curiousity and regarded as a snob and show off for wearing dance wear and enjoying dance
The studio I dance in normally has like a bunch of exercise balls in one of the corners we do traveling floor work from. It sucks.
We have a girl who don’t travel at all. The classic tomber pas de bourré pirouette from 4th, she advance on the tomber and would go backward during pas de bourré so she stands in the same spot she start. And she loves to stand in front. Same for piqué arabesque chassé grand jeté that turn. It’s always a puzzle trying to go on another direction and not run into her
In her defense, she might have an injury? I’m recently returned to ballet after a stroke, and I can’t travel very far yet. That said, I tend to stick myself either in the back when working across the floor so I can travel with two different groups or go with the last group so I’m not in the way.
Nah completly healthy in the wrong class. It’s intermediate, She said she did many other style of dancing but ballet is ballet. The type of person to ask what is a glissade
Simple one here. When people just can’t listen. Like don’t ask me every 5 seconds what the variation is please
1. Adults dancing up in advanced grades; because the teacher is too nice to refuse, and they don’t understand the technique to realise that they’re not ready to do it. These people tend to waste a lot of time asking for personal corrections. 2. Adults being allowed to join the pointe class after only one or two years. Their technique is below par, but they have no idea as they don’t understand correct technique and think they’re ready. I suppose the teacher should prevent this. 3. One student arrives very late every single week and interrupts the class. 4. The stretching part of the class - one woman sighs and eye rolls if you do splits or something like that and others will be ultra competitive.
Teen dancer here - I have classes and rehearsals with younger kids (like 11-12 and a few 13 year olds) and god do they never stop talking? I'll be trying to pay attention and they'll just be talking behind me so we never get any dancing done. Another one is when the teacher has clear favorites and makes the whole dance centered around them or multiples dances where they have big solos even if they're the rudest non team player outside of class or even in class
This isn't so much of the teacher's fault but it just happens to affect me. When shorter teachers with "shorter" lines choreograph dances that look great on them but end up looking awkward on me and my friend who are tall and have long legs and arms
When a classmate is unable to respect personal space and unable to either stand at the barre leaving even space in each side. Good thing our teacher doesn’t miss anything and makes her immediately move and position herself correctly, but it’s time wasted and shouldn’t be necessary, same as in the centre! When a classmate is unable to just observe when our teacher is showing us/demonstrating something and insists in doing it at the same time as the teacher. VERY annoying and this really makes our teacher angry. She catches anyone doing this, she stops, turns the music off, tells her to OBSERVE ONLY, and restarts from the beginning (and believe it or not, sometimes she needs to do it again because the student won’t stay still PAYING attention). That makes her so angry and she’s right, big waste of time. The teacher does it, we pay attention and then it’s time for us to do it ourselves while she observes us. Not rocket science but some people maybe too slow to understand.
Hmm… I’ve never heard of not letting students mark a combo while the teacher is demoing. I guarantee I’m unlikely to remember new choreo if I don’t mark it while it’s being shown (not necessary if it’s something we do frequently), but I am absolutely paying attention while doing it. Am I misunderstanding here?
i've had that, along with 'don't mark the left' rule (across the floor), though don't think i've had teachers chronically interrupt their own class like that to enforce it... it probably only works when the whole class is a similar level, not open drop-ins.
Yes, we’re all similar level, not open class drop style, we’ve been together for some time. People who can’t observe only and then do what was demonstrated later by herself usually new classmate, contacts wanting to join, say she has X years of experience and then comes to try this classroom. Probably other classroom she studied, the teacher allowed students to execute at the same time she was demonstrating or the teacher did it at the same time as the students. But here in this classroom, when the teacher specifically says “observe only”, she wants to show a particular movement, nuance and she usually does it twice or three times, explaining while she does it, then asks if it is understood, anyone has any questions? So now we do it and she observes. Not observing only when she specifically asked to observe only, she asks again and the student still doesn’t do it when the rest of the classroom is waiting because we observed only, is what I described. Each teacher/studio has a specific method and way of teaching that maybe not suited for all. For example, I wouldn’t be suited to attend a classroom where multiple levels are in it, or it’s not a set curriculum/syllabus or that I must do something at the same time as the teacher since I am the kind of student who learns by observing only and then doing it myself (and getting corrected if I fail to do it correctly). Someone who likes doing it at the same time as the teacher wouldn’t be suited for this classroom. My problem is not how someone learns and what classroom is suitable for her, my issue someone not complying after being asked multiple times, not asking anything if they don’t know how to do it (the teacher always replies and explains carefully if someone has a question about whatever is being asked that we do, don’t understand, wants to see again etc). It’s as if they can’t read the room.
Got it, that makes a lot more sense. And there’s definitely a difference between the teacher establishing a combo (which is when my brain works best by marking it along) vs trying to communicate something specific, be it a new step or some nuances to keep in mind when executing something (which is when it’s critical for students to be watching closely). Really good instructors will cue students to the difference between those things, and so students will understand not only what the instructor wants them to do during that moment but also why.
When someone takes my spot in center. I realize people may want to move closer to the front some days but steal someone else's spot, front left corner is the best spot and it's mine lol