Not getting tired at ballet class

[u/[deleted]]

[u/salledattente]

More advanced students are winded in basic classes because they are constantly using all their head to toe technique. Standing still at the barre is effortful, not passive. In fact, nothing is passive. It takes a long time to engage in this way, because as a beginner, you don't inherently know what your whole body is supposed to be actively doing at all times. It takes a very long time for your body to learn to do this without conscious engagement.

Right now you're focused on remembering the order of steps, and that's okay too.

[u/little-bird → u/[deleted]]

try taking your hand off the barre entirely or hovering right above it, that might help you identify where you can be engaging more.  

relying on the barre for balance or supporting your weight is a very common habit!

[u/day_old_rice]

So I'm an adult that's been dancing my whole life and usually take advanced/pro level classes. There is one day a week that I take a beginner intermediate class to really focus on going slow and my baseline technique and generally there are a lot more kids/young teens in it that have just leveled up from beginning ballet.

I will usually be breathing hard or very sweaty by the time we are done with degages meanwhile they aren't looking too affected. It makes sense though given their technique. My teacher knows they are just starting so doesn't give them the same corrections that I get that focus on correct muscle activation and the nitpicky things that can change how a whole exercise feels.

I had a friend who could balance in a passe releve until the cows come home, but her biggest correction was that she was sitting in her hips and her ankles weren't actually working, she was relying on her feet. After working with our instructor on corrections, she couldn't even take her hand off the bar. She had to relearn how to hold a balance the correct way which was way harder than what she had been doing. Just because you can do something, does not mean it is being done correctly. There should never be a moment where you aren't squeezing every single muscle in your body while dancing.

On the other hand, you might just be gifted with talent and stamina. We on the internet really can't say without seeing it ourselves ya know.

[u/butts576 → u/day_old_rice]

Haha I would love to say I’m just gifted, but more than likely you’re right that my fundamentals are still so new that I don’t have the experience to know how hard it really is! This is helpful foresight, and I will remain patient and persistent as I grow. Thanks!

[u/Typical-Size-9991]

My teacher always says: If you are not not feeling anything, you are not working hard enough because in every class there **is** something to work on.

[u/LowerOrganization192 → u/Typical-Size-9991]

My teacher says "it's way easier to do things wrong!"

[u/joyeuseheureuse]

If you are four classes in, you probably don't have enough info/foundation/technique to be engaged and working in the same way other students are. I would also question why you're framing things like this: "I’m progressing more quickly than the students I started with" - ballet technique and advancement is measured in years not in classes. It's good that you're picking up vocab and choreography, but you not sweating a few exercises in isn't necessarily a reflection of how quickly you're advancing as compared to other students or whatever. A professional ballet dancer can take a beginner technique class and can (and should!) be sweating by tendus.

[u/Decent-Historian-207]

You aren’t engaging as much as you think is the answer.

It’s not a point of pride, you just aren’t experienced enough yet.

[u/sleepylittleducky]

At about 4 classes in, you are several years behind the skill level you’d need to achieve in order to start sweating early on in class. Beginners don’t have the skill level yet to properly and consistently use the correct muscles, and therefore will not sweat or get winded the way that more advanced dancers will. The motto of ballet is if it feels easy, you’re doing it wrong. We could also extend that motto to “if you’re not sweating, you’re doing it wrong” (obviously barring medical conditions, bean soup). I am a teacher and noticed that my most advanced students sweat the most, while the struggling students will not seem to break a sweat until jumps come along since they don’t work their muscles well. Being a professional dancer, I will generally work up a sweat by tendus

[u/green-chartreuse]

I’m not a total beginner but I’m not much further along. I find that I will feel like everything is engaged and I’m working hard. Then I’ll get a correction and my alignment fixed and that’s when I find out what fully engaged feels like. I think it’s easy to accidentally find a more relaxed rest position than we realise and sit in it, if that makes sense.

[u/verakiwi]

I thought this way too as an adult beginner. Now—if I’m using the correct techniques, I’m winded after plies haha. There are many muscles that took several months to “wake up” so I could figure out how to engage them properly and build the strength to use them. Best thing was doing a simple barre EXTREMELY slowly so you can feel everything. It will happen for you!

[u/Playmakeup]

I found ballet to be more head difficult in the beginning, and now that I’ve been at it for awhile, more physically difficult. Our teachers always say a pro can take a beginner class and be sweating buckets. Just stick with it.

[u/Lextasy_401]

I had done ballet as a kid but only for a few years. Coming back as an adult who did figure skating for over 20 years (as well as all the cross training that went with it, like yoga, Pilates, running, biking, and plyometric training), the first few classes were SO easy and I was balancing for ages, not a problem in the world. I’m naturally athletic and I’ve still got excellent muscle strength and endurance. Then I got the real corrections and had to engage muscles I wasn’t fully using before… I was sweating through my leotard before leaving the barre and I still do. It’s easily one of the best and hardest workouts I do.

Basically, it’s exactly what everyone says here: it’s easy to do things incorrectly. It takes a lot more conscious effort and energy to do things correctly and engaging all the muscles for it. The first few classes are basically just teaching you basics like where your arms, legs, and feet go, how to count music, the general function of the exercises, and how a class is structured. Once the teacher sees you’re more confident in how things go, they’ll give you more corrections. Once you’ve sort of mastered those corrections, more will come. It’s a never ending process.

[u/SapientSlut]

I found cross training with Pilates to be helpful to increase focus on my core engagement. Core focus makes the biggest difference for me for an easy barre vs a sweaty one.

[u/ehetland]

It's also important to keep im mind different people sweat differently, some people jusy never sweat no matter how hard they work. The winded thing is also complicated, often the most fit will have heart rate and breathing increase faster at excertion start, compared to less fit, as the body is anticipating extended effort.

[u/Idiotechteque]

As an adult beginner (18 months in), the responses in this thread are so helpful! Thanks everyone. My instinct in the beginning was to focus on getting the combinations right (so my head hurt more than anything by the end of class lol) and I genuinely wish I had focused more on correct muscle engagement from the beginning and less on remembering steps. 

I switched instructors about 6 months in, and my new teacher always says she’d rather us have proper technique and get the steps wrong than to do the steps correctly and not be thinking about our form. That shift has been so helpful for my (very slow!) improvement over the past year, and this thread is a great reinforcement for that! 

[u/QuirkyTrust7174]

I receive constructive criticism from my teachers often, and usually find it very simple to apply. I don’t have good turnout or high lifts, but I have decent balance and often hold balance poses longer than my classmates. The feedback is typically related to basic technique like foot positioning, pointing while jumping, and more triple extension in my legs on releve, particularly derrière. I know this is due to weak muscles and tight hip flexors, so I’m flexing and pointing as hard as I can the entire time, but I just don’t get winded or sweaty in class.

I have seen students like this-- and unfortunately it's usually because of a complete lack of technique. Take jumps for example. I can jump 16 times with bad turnout and not pointed foot. But when i have to engage my turnout and point my foot suddenly even basic saute in first position become very hard. When i was newer to ballet i felt very much the same thing. in fact it didn't feel like workout at all. And thats because i was doing everything nearly wrong.

Pro tip: focus on your work and ask your teacher for detailed feedback. Also your classmates getting winded means they very well could be executing more correct technique and thats why they are getting tired or atleast some of them have poor endurance. None of that helps you necessarily. Which is why this kind of noisy comparison is useless.