By Anagha Madhan for En Avant Winter 2024
Throughout the exciting journey of ballet, whether you’re just staring out, or a certified veteran, something to realise throughout it is that ballet is so much more than just a dance form. Ballet is a vibrant, evergreen community for children to learn, grow, and discover themselves in ways that extend far beyond the studio.
From your very first plié to the final curtain call, ballet will provide you with a distinctive space for exploration and self-expression. Each ballet class offers an opportunity to yes, master the ballet technique, but also, to cultivate skills applicable to all facets of life such as discipline, focus, and creativity. Through movement, children learn to navigate emotions, overcome challenges, and develop a sense of self, which is arguably the most important journey to begin.
The impact of ballet is profound and has many applications. It goes far beyond physical training and artistry – it has an active role in training a child’s mind and emotions. Students learn to connect and understand their bodies at a much earlier stage, and embrace the beauty of movement. Ballet builds resilience and confidence in a nurturing environment, empowering dancers to express themselves, explore their imaginations, and begin a lifelong journey of connection between the physical, mental, and emotional.
This is a journey to embrace together; a moment to recognise that the lessons learned in ballet will resonate throughout your child’s life, fostering personal growth and a deep appreciation for the arts. Let’s explore how ballet shapes young minds!
From Shy to Confident: Building Self-Esteem
The ballet journey nurtures self-esteem in children: imagine your child stepping onto the stage for the first time, feeling the spotlight illuminate their efforts and skills, the atmosphere bringing their mime and expressions to life. This moment of triumph, partnered with the mastery of a choreography, significantly enhances the confidence of a child, as each achievement becomes a building block for their self-esteem.
Learning choreography is actually the final goal; it all starts with learning each step, then chaining them together, and finally mastering it so that it’s akin to second nature – with practice such that you can do it backwards, at half-speed, at double speed, without music, and any other condition fathomable! This encourages children to set and achieve specific goals, which fosters a sense of achievement. This invokes the brain’s reward system – a network of pathways responsible for pleasure, motivation, and reinforcement learning. Research shows that when children learn new skills – like chaining together a sequence of steps, or perfecting a hop – their brains release dopamine, a neurotransmitter linked to pleasure and reward. This biochemical response forges and strengthens the neural pathway, reinforcing positive feelings associated with achievement and motivates further effort, allowing for a cycle of confidence building.
Learning any new skill comes with a learning curve, and one thing that is better to realise earlier than later, is that all learning curves have a dip. There will be a point where it seems like putting in the effort isn’t breaking even with results. Learning to push through this and reach for a level of mastery will undoubtedly aid in learning how to learn, a skill that is of utmost importance. A child who successfully masters a new step receives praise, yes, but most importantly proves to themselves that they can do it. Self-fulfilment provides the strongest, most reliable sense of self-assurance, and teaches that effort leads to improvement, which in turn leads to success.
The power of applause and encouragement externally, and reaching personal goals internally, cannot be understated in the context of self-esteem development. Studies in psychology highlight that positive reinforcement – such as applause from peers or praise from instructors – plays a crucial role in shaping children’s self-perception. Of course, parents play a vital role in this journey: their encouragement and participation in their child’s progress enhances self-esteem significantly. Simple gestures, like clapping after a recital or celebrating improvements at home, instil pride and encourage children to embrace new challenges.
Focus Like a Dancer: Concentration & Discipline
Ballet is often seen as a symbol of grace and beauty, but underneath that is utmost focus and discipline to get there. Ballet is a superpower for developing concentration and discipline in children. What is most beautiful is that it is completely self motivated. We train rigorously and focus hard because we want to be better. This cultivates skills that extend far beyond the dance studio, and significantly promotes overall cognitive development
Learning ballet causes a child to engage in an intricate process that requires sustained attention to detail. Research in cognitive psychology indicates that engaging in activities that require sustained attention enhances the essential executive function skills – concentration, impulse control, and the ability to organise and prioritise tasks. Mastering any choreography causes children to think in small manageable parts – a jump is a bend, a stretch pushing off the ground, and a bend again. This skill fosters a mindset of patience and discipline.
Additionally, studies have shown that a practice of structured routines (like those in ballet) can improve working memory and cognitive flexibility. As children commit sequences, steps, and corrections to memory, they strengthen their ability to focus on multiple aspects of a task, and garner a self awareness to fix their mistakes with good sportsmanship.
Miming and The Mind
Ballet is especially unique because it is not just a dance, but a medium of storytelling. It is a unique vehicle for emotional expression, and enables children to articulate feelings that may be a struggle to express verbally. Moving to music has been proven to be a natural outlet for emotions, and it undoubtedly helps children navigate complex, or “big” feelings and experiences on their own. Research has proven that engaging in expressive activities such as dance heightens emotional intelligence, which is just as (if not more) important as IQ, by fostering awareness and an understanding of one’s own feelings.
Something extraordinary is the way ballet creates a deep connection between mind, body, and soul. When children move they engage both physically and emotionally, which allows them to explore both ranges in a safe environment. Such a holistic approach promotes self-awareness of both the physical and mental self, which is an essential component of emotional intelligence
Going vs. Growing Through Challenge
Ballet presents challenges that require determination and perseverance. Research in psychology shows that facing and overcoming challenges fosters the ability to bounce back from setbacks – resilience. When children encounter difficulties in ballet, they learn to develop a growth mindset – the belief that abilities can be improved through effort and practice. Studies have proven that children who engage in activities that are challenging are more likely to develop problem solving skills and healthy coping strategies, which invariantly better prepares them for other areas of life.
Celebrating Every Body
Ballet comes with the enormous potential to promote a positive body image among children. Ballet, once known for its rigid ideals has undergone a significant transformation, evolving over the years, and now welcomes all body types and focuses on movement, creativity, and self-expression, not specific ideals. Research in body image and self-esteem reveals that engaging in physical activities with greater focus on the development of skill, rather than appearance, fosters a healthier body image. Ballet encourages children to appreciate what their bodies can achieve – strength, flexibility, and coordination – rather than fixating on how they look. Ballet starts off by teaching that every body is different, and needs different things to stay healthy. By shifting focus from appearance to capability, unique bodies are celebrated.
Ready, Set, Perform!
Children learn to deal with excitement and occasional anxiety as well, as they learn to perform for an audience. Understandably, performing can provoke nervousness and learning how to deal with anxiety helps in all facets of life. Research in performance psychology shows that nerves before performances are common, even for seasoned professionals. Understanding these feelings are normal, and that they, and their capabilities, are bigger than the feelings, can help children manage their performance jitters. This allows children to focus on the experience, rather than fearing mistakes.
This is a very important trait taught by ballet. Learning that doing it while afraid is leaps better than not doing it at all, is an important lesson applicable to all areas of life. Similarly, understanding and accepting your flaws is the first step toward improving them is also an important lesson. Ballet teaches you the invaluable power of throwing yourself into something and knowing you will come out of it, maybe a little bruised, but definitely a better version of yourself, which is an invaluable weapon in your arsenal as you go to face everyday life.
Ballet may just start off as a hobby, but it seeps into and fills cracks unknown to us as we develop into functioning individuals. Ballet becomes a crucial friend as we go through school, friendships, and all the joys, confusion, and tears of growing up. The reason it’s a crucial friend is quite simple: ballet invokes something within us, and becomes something truly unique to us, which is such an important constant to have in a life full of uncertainties.
By supporting your child on their journey in ballet, parents can help them grow into confident, resilient individuals with a strong sense of self, ready to embrace the world both inside and outside the dance studio.
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