If the trend was already visible ten years ago, there it is confirmed: more and more adults are taking the plunge and taking up classical dance while having largely exceeded the canonical age traditionally planned for this . And, on top of that, they no longer need to justify their choice to be taken seriously: they are dancers just like the others! No need to be former dancers or dance teachers, anyone has the right to start dancing whenever they want.

Often, it is a way to stitch up with the dance lessons taken during childhood or adolescence , but it is not uncommon for women and men to start studying classical dance as adults and without ever having put your hand on a barbell … So is it possible to learn this seemingly elitist discipline without the need for a time machine? The answer is definitely yes!

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The need to dance

Dance is an ancestral bodily activity , born long before any kind of sport. Used as a religious or recreational practice, it has always allowed us to use our body as an instrument of communication, evocation or representation .

Dancing is an art in the literal sense: it allows us to express our deepest emotions, feelings and feelings through our body . The instrument is very portable and intimate, no need for a painting and brushes, musical or writing instruments: our body , which has belonged to us since our birth, will “speak” for us.

Despite the changes through which humanity has passed over thousands of years, dancing remains a rooted need in human beings : it suffices to observe how children from an early age spontaneously dance as soon as they hear music that inspires them!

Unfortunately, modern Western society has limited many opportunities to dance by limiting them to recreational dancing on the one hand (dancing in a nightclub) or to dancing as a more or less codified physical discipline (dancing schools). Most traditional dances are little studied today since their meaning has been lost along with the traditions that accompanied them. Alone among the classical dances, Western classical dance (the one called “classical dance” for short) still resists today as a discipline not only represented on stage, but practiced by millions of amateurs all over the world. .

But why choose classical dance?

Dance, therefore, in any form, helps us recreate the deep soul-body connection. One could wonder what is the meaning of moving towards classical dance rather than towards less formal and codified forms of dance language (contemporary dance, world dances, urban dances).

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Many answers are possible:

- First, classical dance is a great technical basis for educating the body and strengthening it . The control of the movement passes by a codification : one learns a certain number of positions and codified movements and one repeats them until one masters them. This is done by understanding the bodily mechanisms, how they work . At the neurological level, the brain trains itself to manage the movements of the body in an increasingly refined way . The memory of the gesture, when we repeat the movements in sequence, is stimulated and developed. Moreover, the movements we learn are graceful and harmonious: they evoke the beauty of an imaginary or past world, they make us dream, in short!

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- The technique of classical dance opens the doors to other forms of dance , much like the study of classical music in relation to other styles of music. It is not mandatory to go through classical dance to practice other dances, of course, but in general it helps a lot in this sense. Note that the study of classical dance is compulsory in all major contemporary dance schools and companies, as well as for certain sports disciplines such as figure skating, gymnastics, etc.

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- Classical dance is ultimately also quite simply a great way to keep yourself in good shape , and that without getting bored and without alienating yourself from your body : you can make significant physical efforts without almost feeling them, thanks to endorphins and the different hormones released by the danced movement. Yes, classical dance also makes you lose weight, it develops the muscles of the legs, feet, spine, arms and abs . It impeccably corrects postural defects and improves our posture like nothing else in the world. In the end, classical dance can transform the image of ourselves by letting out the princess or the prince that we have been hiding deep down since our childhood!

And how to go about it?

The priority, if you decide to approach classical dance as an adult, is to go about it calmly : the results may not come immediately, but patience and regular practice will inevitably give results . To do this, you have to find courses adapted to the requirements of adult beginners and even try several before deciding. A good course must take care of students who start with zero knowledge and each with a different body . If the course is well managed, you feel comfortable there, the progress is slow but you can see the results arrive flawlessly! You should know that there are many dance teachers who like to teach amateur adults, and this for several reasons: adults learn faster, their enthusiasm is more conscious and their commitment is often more constant than with children, and above all, no problems. of discipline!