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TRAINING FOR A CAREER To become a professional ballet dancer, children should start taking classes when they are eight to ten years old. At that age, a child's body is supple and pliable yet the growing bones are no longer in danger of being damaged. Not every body is suited to the rigors of classical ballet technique and its many aesthetic demands. A good professional teacher will guide a child and his or her parents in the proper direction. Dancing for recreation is great for fun, exercise and discipline, but dancing with professional career goals in mind takes many years of daily classes and demands a lot from children and adolescents, who must combine regular schooling with hours of dance classes. Everyday dance students must stand at the ballet barre dressed in leotards, tights and ballet slippers and do their plies (knee bends) to warm up the legs, tendus (leg stretches) and petit battements (foot beats) to loosen the feet, porte de bras (to co-ordinate the arms) and jumps. All of these exercises are part of the foundations of ballet technique and must be worked on daily to keep the body limber and the technique precise. At the age of 18, most dancers are ready to perform professionally. After auditions with dance companies, those fortunate enough become professional dancers. It is with a dance company that dancers put their years of training to use, being taught roles in numerous ballets by teachers, ballet masters and choreographers. Once dancers join companies they must continue to develop their technique with daily class. But technique is not all that it takes to become a great dancer. The entire framework of the dancer's body is an intricate instrument and it must be capable of moving and creating the visual effects required by the choreographer. Beyond technique, the qualities that make up a good dancer are either instinctive or developed with training and hard work. These qualities include beauty, personality, musicality, mechanical ability and character. The more qualities dancers possess the greater their career opportunities may be. |
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LEOTARDS
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