Teaching Breath as Artistry in Ballet: Age-Appropriate Cues for Different Developmental Stages

If you've ever wondered why your breath cues work perfectly for some students and completely backfire with others, you're not alone. The issue isn't your teaching—it's developmental readiness. Teaching breath as artistry requires integrating breath with movement, and just like with developing technique, it requires different approaches for different ages.

Teaching Breath as Artistry: Why Development Matters

• Six-year-olds have smaller lungs than sixteen-year-olds. While this may seem like the most obvious thing you've read on the internet this week, it actually does matter. The cues and rhythm that work for your teens probably feel very comfortable for you and that's because your teenaged students (and their lungs) are probably about the same size as you. If you were to ask your early elementary school-aged dancers to match that breath length or rhythm they would truly struggle. Instead of movement becoming easier as it coordinates with breath, everything would get harder. A lot harder.

• Young dancers' brains aren't ready to develop the somatic awareness that teenaged dancers need. This has nothing to do with intelligence---all brains need time to grow and become ready for the abstract thinking required to develop intermediate- and advanced-level somatic awareness. You may have a first grader reading The Girl Who Drank The Moon, but that doesn't mean that they are ready to work through all 5 stages of somatic awareness the way an older dancer would be.

Teaching Breath as Artistry in Practice

(Want to see how systematic thinking transforms fundamental movements? My free guide Beyond the Knees: Breathing Life into Ballet's Fundamental Movement' shows my approach to teaching plié with the same developmental awareness. Get the free guide →)

I could go on (and do, in the breath and somatic awareness chapters in my book) but let's look at practical solutions you can use today:

Early Elementary (4-7 years):

Instead of: "Be aware of how you time your breath and exhale slowly during your plié."

Try this: "Let's pretend we're smelling flowers when we go down (inhale) and blowing out birthday candles when we come up (exhale)."

Instead of: "Coordinate your breathing with the movement."

Try this: "Make the sound 'ahhhh' when you bend your knees---like you're getting into a warm bathtub."

*You may have noticed that these two examples coordinate the breath with the plié in opposite ways. When your students are older (middle and high school), this will be a wonderful remembered experience to revisit and explore more deeply. But for now, just let the kids have the experience and don't explain any of the whys.

Elementary (8-11 years):

Instead of: "Use your breath to help connect your movement to your music."

Try this: "Breathe in for 2 counts as your tendu moves away from your midline, breathe out for 2 counts as you bring your leg back to your midline---the breath, movement, and music all work together."

Instead of: "Feel your ribcage expanding."

Try this: "Put your hands on your ribs and feel them get wider like an accordion opening."

Middle School (12-14 years):

Instead of: "Maintain your posture but allow your diaphragm to move."

Try this: "Imagine your breath is filling up a balloon in your belly, then slowly letting the air out as you move. The balloon is getting wider and returning to its baseline but not getting longer/shorter. Your torso does the same."

Instead of: "Use breath to create flow in your movement."

Try this: "Think of your breath as the wave that carries your rond de jambe---let it start the movement and exhale each time you pass through first position."

High School+ (15+ years):

Instead of: Telling students how long their breath phrases should be

Try this: "Notice which movements feel most natural to initiate with an inhale. After we do this once I'm going to give you a minute to think through your breathing pattern so that you can work to align your breath with your movement in a way that feels best to you."

Instead of: "Connect to your core through breath."

Try this: "Feel how your exhale naturally engages your deep abdominal muscles---do you prefer to exhale on your grand battement to engage that support, or does that feel stressful for you?"

When we match our breath cues to students' developmental stages, we're not just making class easier—we're building the foundation for authentic artistry. Students who develop healthy, natural breath patterns early will have the tools they need for expressive, connected dancing as they mature. Remember, the teenager who can choose their own breath pattern for grand battement didn't start there overnight. They began as the little one giggling while "blowing out birthday candles" during plié. There is growth in every stage!

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Ready to apply systematic thinking to your fundamental movements? Get my free guide "Beyond the Knees" - it includes the breath integration techniques that work at every level. Get the free guide →

Looking for comprehensive guidance on artistry and technique? Check out "Artistry Inside Ballet Technique, Volume 1" on Amazon →