I'm 25 years old, is it too late to start a career in ballet?

Question

It has always been a dream of mines to do ballet, but because my family comes from low income I was never able to go for that dream. By 18 years old I took the chance to do acting/modeling and took a break for 4-5 years because life wasn't going good. I am at a better place in my life now and want to start ballet. I have done my research and asked this question but never got a straightforward answer. I do understand that practice comes with age and ballet is better taught when your at a very young age. I do not want to do ballet as a recreational thing and get professional jobs only in the category for theater ballet. So tell me if I start will it be a waste of time or I should give it a shot?

Answer 1

Unfortunately you are too old for a ballet career but taking ballet classes is not a waste of anyone's time. Even dancers that start at a young age, born with all the right gifts and who get the right training have no guarantee of a ballet career. They try for it anyway because they have a fire in their belly to dance. They don't ever ask if it would be a waste of their time as to even stand a slight chance they must be willing to sacrifice a lot. There are so few jobs in the ballet.

You are at the age when professional ballet careers start to wind down as many retire by their late 20s. You have also aged out of professional level ballet training. Recreational ballet training won't get anyone a ballet career.

Most people have no clue what it takes for a ballet career. There is a reason training has to start young too. Past puberty it is harder for the body to adapt to the requirements of ballet training to reach a professional level. First you must be born in the 2% of the population that has the right body, facility and musicality required for a ballet career. That is way more than just being thin and the right height in terms of body. It is bone and muscle structure and no amount of training no matter how young or how hard you train can change those things. You have to be born like that. Then you need to train in a professional ballet school that will screen you for being in that 2% or they won't train you. Those schools are almost exclusively affiliate feeder schools to professional ballet companies. They also screen for age and generally won't take an untrained female dancer over age 10 even if they have been born with all the requirements. On very rare occasions there have been the extraordinarily gifted female student that can convince a professional school to train them at the ripe old age of 12/13. That is very very rare and they would never consider training any untrained female of 15 with all the right gifts let alone someone who is 25. Men can and do start later, but they have different requirements in the ballet and don't dance en pointe. They too cannot start much later than 14/15 and by 25 it is too late for them too. It takes 10 years to "make a leg" in ballet. That is 10 years of taking 20-30 hours of ballet classes a week year round in a professional not recreational ballet school. That would get you to age 35 if you could get the proper training (which you can't) and many professional companies ask their dancers to retire by 30 in many cases if they haven't done so already. They need to make room for the new up and coming dancers. There is the occasional ballet star that can go on to as late as 40 if not injured and if they have a big enough name.



Recreational ballet is for anyone of any age and many schools do train adults. Even professional ballet schools offer adult training but that is not part of their preprofessional program. Who says you have to get paid to enjoy ballet? Dance careers dont pay well and are over in a flash. Then professional ballet dancers need to find a second career for the remainder which is the bulk of their lives. Dance for the Joy of Dance and dance can always be a part of your life.

As a career choice for someone your age starting out this is just not a realistic or even a possible goal in any way shape or form.

Answer 2

You're starting far too late to be a professional. By your age, most professional dancers are getting ready to retire, or at least in the middle-end of their career. I doubt you'd even be able to find a school that would train you this late.

Answer 3

Never too late. There's a woman in my dance class aged 40 and she has two children. She may be studying with people who are 13-16, but she is working towards the diploma and will get it in three years. Later on, she can work in a dance school, however everything takes ALOT of practice and dedication

Answer 4

This is a joke question right? You really can't be serious can you? You said you did research and the thought that this could remotely be possible means this has to be a joke right? Good one!

Answer 5

You will be wasting your time - unless you are an incredible prodigy (very doubtful). Ballet takes years of practice and education.

Answer 6

perhaps