Teaching Ballet Artistry: Why Every Pedagogy Book Mentions It But None Define It

One of the first pieces of advice I asked for as a new ballet teacher was how to encourage artistry in my students. "You don't need to worry about that" was the answer I got. If you're like me, being told not to worry about the part of dance that drew you to teaching in the first place feels dismissive and frustrating.

I've been asking for that same advice about teaching ballet artistry from studio directors and mentors ever since. I've also searched pedagogy texts for guidance but all I could find felt like brush-offs instead of answers. "You'll know it when you see it," they'd say, or "Some dancers just have it naturally." The books all mention artistry as "critical" to ballet training and nothing more.

I'm guessing you're familiar with this dilemma.

The Resistance to Systematic Approaches

It's not just that no one is willing to talk about how to nurture artistry, when I decided to research this question in grad school I faced outright resistance. You've probably encountered this same resistance - colleagues or mentors who insist that artistry can't be taught, leaving you feeling like you're missing something obvious.

Several professors even suggested I leave the program entirely, claiming artistry education wasn't "real art." That stung, especially after working so hard to gain admission. But the questions still needed answers, so I stayed, sitting through classes taught by the exact people who told me to leave.

When No One Has Answers, Someone Has to Create Them

The most challenging part wasn't standing up to professors - it was actually defining what everyone insisted was undefinable. Maybe you've felt this way too - surrounded by people who agree artistry is essential but can't explain what it actually is or how to develop it. It makes you feel like you're going crazy!

However, I was forewarned that no one gets through grad school without sacrificing part of their sanity and the question I'd been asking for years seemed like a good thing to sacrifice my sanity for. While I never found a concrete definition of "artistry," 9 individual elements of artistry emerged as teachable components. I had the theory, and I was excited to try applying the elements in my own classes.

What This Means for Teaching Ballet Artistry

If you've been searching for practical artistry guidance, you're not alone. The frustration of being told artistry is "important" while receiving zero concrete instruction affects teachers at every level of experience.

You've probably tried various approaches - encouraging students to "be more expressive," hoping they'll absorb artistry through osmosis, or feeling guilty that your technically strong dancers work so hard and yet lack that special something you can't quite define.

The truth is, you weren't missing some obvious teaching skill. The guidance simply didn't exist. When every mentor gives vague answers and every pedagogy text skips the practical application, individual teachers shouldn't have to figure this out alone. Artistry Inside Ballet Technique, Volume 1 exists because teachers like you have been asking these questions for decades. Whether you use these specific elements or they inspire you to develop your own approach, the goal is the same: giving you concrete tools for nurturing the artistic development your students deserve.

Your instinct that artistry can and should be taught was right all along. Now you have a starting point for making it happen in your own classroom.

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Ready to explore the elements of artistry? Get "Artistry Inside Ballet Technique, Volume 1" on Amazon.