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The most important part of learning ballet is having comfortable shoes. If your shoes are the least bit uncomfortable or poorly fitting, then you will have trouble dancing and learning moves. Even if they seem comfortable, they might have some aspect that makes it more likely to sustain injury to your feet. If you have feet that are usually hard to fit in shoes (if they are especially wide or tall, for example) then you may have trouble searching for the right ballet shoes. But no matter what, you should be diligent until you find the perfect ones.

You should look at the particular shapes that your feet make. The outline of your toes can range from an almost perfect square to very rounded. Your shoes should fit the shape of your toes very well. Some people have a 2nd toe that is longer than their 1st toe. This needs to be accommodated, otherwise you will be uncomfortable in your shoes. There are different things that can be used to modify shoes for particular toes. These include separators, and fitting kits. You can take a regular shoe, and modify it to fit your feet.

You also need to look at the shape of your foot and see if it has any peculiar properties that you need to keep in mind. Particularly, your arches may cause problems if you don’t accommodate them. If the middle section of your foot is very highly arched, extra material sometimes needs to be added to the shoe to allow for support. This comes into play especially when you are doing pointework on your toes, since a lot of strain is placed on the arch of your foot.

So, make sure that you spend plenty of time finding the perfect shoes for your feet. They should feel like an extension of your body, and not as if they’re just some hunks of material stuck on the end. So when you go to the shoe store, don’t be afraid to try on as many shoes as you need in order to find the best ones. You may have the store employee bustling back and forth carrying boxes of shoes, but that’s alright. When you’ve been ballet dancing for years and your feet are in perfect condition, you will be glad that you went to the trouble.

The best way to learn ballet is to take a class. You could attend private tutoring lessons, watch instructional videos, or read books all day long, but the truth of the matter is that nothing can help more than attending a class in the person. Being around fellow ballet learners helps in the encouragement department, and of course it is beneficial to have a teacher there to critique moves for improvement. So if you want to learn ballet, or you want your child to get involved with ballet, you should look into classes. There are several places you can find ballet classes.

The top tier of ballet learning is the big schools. These are the prestigious institutions for the most precocious ballet dancers. In the USA, the School of American Ballet is considered the most prestigious. Students are admitted to these schools based on their performance in an audition. The students can be as young as 6 years old, even younger in some cases. While these schools are definitely the best way to learn all aspects of ballet, they are simply not a viable option for many people. Not only are they rather costly, but they are also very selective about picking students. Usually students are already extremely talented, so if you are looking to learn the basics then you will need to look elsewhere.

The next option is to find local lessons that are set up for beginners and people with no experience dancing in the past. You can look at many different locations. Your local recreation center probably offers classes designed for different ages. If you don’t have any luck there, try a community college. Sometimes churches host ballet lessons by independent teachers. Ask around locally to find out what your options are, and try to get some feedback about where the best lessons are.

If you cannot find any other options, then a private tutor is an acceptable choice. The companionship of classmates is always a positive when learning, but you may have to make do – or get tutored with a friend. But no matter what you do, you should remain extremely disciplined, and stick with your goal of learning ballet. Ballet is great for the mind and body, and you can only benefit from learning it.