Starting with online ballet lessons can be challenging.

At the Russian School of Ballet – as tricky as it has been to adapt to small and sometimes awkward home spaces – our students have made significant progress in these past 6 weeks. Here are some things to think about to make your training at home more successful:

1. Remember to make sure that the computer camera can view your head and your feet.
2. Keep your mic on mute. Let the teacher unmute you when needed. Mute mode on
students’ side helps improve the live video stream.
3. As there is no travel time to class – use this time for warming up exercises before your
lesson. Create healthy habits around your daily routine, fitting in extra stretching first thing
in the morning or after baths.
4. Everyone misses having ‘a real barre’, but chairs or kitchen counters also work. Using a
chair helps you to strengthen your supporting leg and improve balance because you can
only use it for basic support, not ‘life support’ 🙂
5. The Floor Barre is becoming very popular as it enables excellent focus on hip placement
and strength. Join our Saturday 8.00 am class to learn all about Knyazev Floor Barre.
It not only keeps you in shape but you become a stronger dancer!
6. If your floors are too hard, try wearing takkies while doing high-impact dancing and
jumping to support your knees.
7. Many dancers are finding cross-training useful for additional fitness so take a yoga class
or extra stretching class online if you can.
8. Remember, if you do other free online classes, approach new exercises with care so as
not to injure yourself. If something feels too difficult, try it slowly or just modify the exercise
to suit you.
9. Watch ballet movies and online performances of famous ballets for your education and
motivation.
10. Very important to keep eating and sleeping well. Also important is to stay positive and
affirm even your smallest progress. Stay away from being judgemental of yourself. We are
all experiencing life very differently right now, and it is not always easy.
11. Remember to dance and train because you LOVE IT – that’s the only reason to work hard
and keep at it!