Ballet Games That Teach: Breath Supporting Artistry for Young Dancers (2 Simple Exercises)

I'll never forget the moment I realized I was overthinking breath with my youngest students. There I was, armed with all my anatomical knowledge and artistic expertise, watching someone else's class of 5-year-olds move with perfect breath-movement coordination that most professionals would envy. They hadn't read my book. They hadn't studied breath patterns. They were just... dancing. Teaching breath as an element of artistry with young ballet dancers works best through games rather than technical instruction.

It was humbling. And illuminating.

When teachers ask me about integrating artistry into technique classes, I always start with breath. It's fundamental to everything we do in dance – no breath, no movement. While I often work with complex breathing patterns for older students, teaching breath to our youngest dancers requires a completely different approach.

Young children naturally sync their breath with movement. It's beautiful, intuitive, and honestly, a bit magical. As teachers, we face a delicate balance: how do we nurture this natural coordination without over-teaching and potentially disrupting it? How do we help these young dancers integrate breath so deeply that it becomes an unshakeable foundation for their future training?

Through years of teaching (and plenty of trial and error), I've found that playfulness is key. One of my favorite approaches? Vocalization. Yes, I know – it's not exactly traditional ballet. But most of the 5-year-old classes aren't exactly traditional because we know now that they learn better in a more age-appropriate way.

Here are two of my favorite exercises that consistently bring smiles (and proper breath support):

1. The Power Shout: For grand battements, we use power words like "ha!" or "yeah!" at the kick's peak. It's amazing to watch students' faces light up when they feel the power in their kick while shouting. That forceful exhale naturally engages their core – no anatomy lesson needed. (5-year-olds aren't ready for complex anatomical information anyway. They learn by doing.)

2. The Magic Whisper: For bourrées, we practice continuous "shhhhhhhh" sounds. I tell them it's like they're sharing a special secret with the audience. The extended exhale keeps their shoulders relaxed, and the continuous sound helps them understand the flowing quality of the movement. (Fun fact: I still use this with my beginning pointe students – some teaching tools are timeless.)

These exercises feel more like games than technical instruction, and that's exactly the point. We're not teaching breath – we're playing with it, exploring it, making it part of their natural dance vocabulary before they even realize they're learning.

I've learned that sometimes the best teaching happens when we step back and let children's natural instincts lead the way. Our role isn't to impose adult concepts of artistry, but to nurture the artistry that's already there, waiting to bloom.

And maybe that's the real secret: the best artistic foundation isn't built through complex instruction, but through joyful exploration. While I explore more advanced breath work in my book Artistry Inside Ballet Technique, these early foundations of natural, joyful breathing are what make that advanced work possible. After all, isn't joy why we all fell in love with ballet in the first place?

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