Ballet dancer

A ballet dancer is someone who practices classical ballet. People of any gender can be dancers. Becoming a professional in a company requires years of intense training and proper technique. The demanding nature of ballet puts dancers at high risk for injury.

Training and technique

Training and technique are rigorous and take many years. It aims to build extreme flexibility, strength, and motor control. Professional training usually starts between ages seven and ten. Early lessons focus on correct placement and turnout, which are essential for ballet’s movement and look.

Pedagogical methods

These skills allow a wide range of motion and the signature sideways leg movements. Training follows specific systems, or schools. The main ones are the Vaganova (Russian), Cecchetti (Italian), Royal Academy of Dance (British), and Balanchine (American) methods. Each has its own style and tempo.

Structure of a ballet class

A standard ballet class has two main parts. At the barre, dancers use a wooden rail for support while doing exercises like pliés and grand battement to warm up and build balance. In the center, dancers work without support. This includes adagio (slow, controlled moves), allegro (jumps and quick footwork), and tours (turns).

Specialized techniques

Female dancers eventually learn pointe work, dancing on their toes in reinforced pointe shoes. This usually starts around age 12, after foot bones have developed and ankle strength is sufficient. Male dancers focus on virtuosity, with high-elevation jumps, complex multiple turns, and pas de deux partnering skills to lift and support female dancers. Injuries are common because ballet constantly strains the body and feet.

Dancers aim to make hard choreography look easy. The upper body is prone to injury from back and hip contortions. Back bends can pinch the spine, leading to spasms or pinched nerves. Holding legs out and turned in the air damages the hips, causing strains, stress fractures, and bone density loss.

Many injuries come from unnatural positions, like first position, where heels touch and toes point outward, rotating the legs. Done incorrectly, this can cause knee problems; done correctly, using the hips, it increases flexibility and reduces knee pressure. Meniscal tears and dislocations can happen if knees slide forward while turned out. Feet are prone to fractures.

Landing jumps incorrectly—not through the foot with bent knees—and dancing on pointe can lead to broken bones or weak ankles. Tendonitis is common in female dancers due to pointe work. Incorrect landings can also cause shin splints, where muscle separates from bone. Class time corrects habits that cause injury.

Proper training lowers injury risk. Dancers may also cross-train with stretching, Pilates, yoga, non-impact cardio, or swimming to increase strength, variety, and stamina. Modern ballet companies worldwide focus on injury prevention, often with in-house health suites and expert guidance. Many companies and boarding schools employ physiotherapists.

The Australian Ballet created a calf-raise exercise to prevent injuries, now used globally and often featured during World Ballet Day livestreams. Professional ballet terminology has historically been gendered, reflecting 17th- to 19th-century European social hierarchies. As ballet moved from Italian court spectacle to a French art form under Louis XIV, titles defined both technical skill and social standing. In the 17th and 18th centuries, ballet was male-dominated.

The top rank was danseur noble, for men with a princely physique who played serious, aristocratic roles. Female dancers did not achieve equal titles until the late 17th century, with Mademoiselle De Lafontaine’s debut in 1681. By the 18th century, Italian schools used ballerina (feminine) and ballerino (masculine), though French danseur and danseuse remained standard in academies. The 19th-century Romantic era shifted focus to female dancers.