Starting ballet or any new practice as an adult

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  • aokoye
    aokoye Posts: 3,495 Member
    concordancia wrote: »
    I started dancing (swing, blues, ballroom) in my late 30s.

    I have just started a consistent yoga practice with a teacher for the first time in my late 40s.

    It just takes consistent practice. That is the part adults really find difficult, whereas kids will practice something new in the middle of the grocery store or park, adults tend to be a bit more hesitant about that.

    This really bears repeating. From what I've observed of other novice rowers and what I've seen in other arenas, adults are really not a fan of being bad at things, especially in front of other people. They're also just not used to it and aren't really given a lot of platforms for it so they're essentially out of practice. The problem (or one of many problems) is that you can't get good at something before being bad for a while and if you stop because you're frustrated that you're bad at it, you're not going to get any better.

    One of the reasons why I decided to keep rowing in the late fall through the winter, unlike all of the other novice men in my club. I knew it would suck either way, but it would suck more to relearn everything in the spring than row through the rain and cold at dark o'clock in the morning.
  • Mouse_Potato
    Mouse_Potato Posts: 1,512 Member
    aokoye wrote: »
    concordancia wrote: »
    I started dancing (swing, blues, ballroom) in my late 30s.

    I have just started a consistent yoga practice with a teacher for the first time in my late 40s.

    It just takes consistent practice. That is the part adults really find difficult, whereas kids will practice something new in the middle of the grocery store or park, adults tend to be a bit more hesitant about that.

    This really bears repeating. From what I've observed of other novice rowers and what I've seen in other arenas, adults are really not a fan of being bad at things, especially in front of other people. They're also just not used to it and aren't really given a lot of platforms for it so they're essentially out of practice. The problem (or one of many problems) is that you can't get good at something before being bad for a while and if you stop because you're frustrated that you're bad at it, you're not going to get any better.

    One of the reasons why I decided to keep rowing in the late fall through the winter, unlike all of the other novice men in my club. I knew it would suck either way, but it would suck more to relearn everything in the spring than row through the rain and cold at dark o'clock in the morning.

    This is interesting to me as my personal experience (and I do stress this is just that) has been quite the opposite. As a child, it seemed either I was "a natural" at something or there was no point in continuing. It was not until I was an adult that I realized "practice makes progress" even if I initially show no talent for something. I also discovered I no longer care if I look bad or silly doing something as long as I am enjoying myself!
  • aokoye
    aokoye Posts: 3,495 Member
    Mouse_Potato wrote: »
    aokoye wrote: »
    concordancia wrote: »
    I started dancing (swing, blues, ballroom) in my late 30s.

    I have just started a consistent yoga practice with a teacher for the first time in my late 40s.

    It just takes consistent practice. That is the part adults really find difficult, whereas kids will practice something new in the middle of the grocery store or park, adults tend to be a bit more hesitant about that.

    This really bears repeating. From what I've observed of other novice rowers and what I've seen in other arenas, adults are really not a fan of being bad at things, especially in front of other people. They're also just not used to it and aren't really given a lot of platforms for it so they're essentially out of practice. The problem (or one of many problems) is that you can't get good at something before being bad for a while and if you stop because you're frustrated that you're bad at it, you're not going to get any better.

    One of the reasons why I decided to keep rowing in the late fall through the winter, unlike all of the other novice men in my club. I knew it would suck either way, but it would suck more to relearn everything in the spring than row through the rain and cold at dark o'clock in the morning.

    This is interesting to me as my personal experience (and I do stress this is just that) has been quite the opposite. As a child, it seemed either I was "a natural" at something or there was no point in continuing. It was not until I was an adult that I realized "practice makes progress" even if I initially show no talent for something. I also discovered I no longer care if I look bad or silly doing something as long as I am enjoying myself!
    Yeah I know more than a few people who fit the "I'm not good at this so I'm going to quit before I stop being a beginner" mold. You also see this all. the. time. in terms of second language acquisition among adult learners, especially if they live in an area where the language isn't commonly spoken (thus there isn't the need to speak it). That's awesome that you don't fit into that though! I am self conscious enough to care about looking bad, but I typically don't let that stop me. With rowing, part of it was also a case of needing to do it long enough to know whether or not I actually liked it - so basically not letting my anxiety totally steer the boat as it were. If I didn't like it and I was anxious then I'd have quit, but turns out I like this whole rowing thing so it's a matter of dealing with the anxiety (which isn't always or even typically about not being good).
  • gesundundmunter
    gesundundmunter Posts: 227 Member
    TiisTitanium wrote: »
    I started adult ballet classes two years ago at 45. It has been a lot of fun and very physically demanding as ballet is hard due to the technical and precise nature of the moves. My ballet classes have a diverse age range of particpants going from people in their twenties up to people in their seventies so it it is definitely not just for younger people. Obviously none of us going to be professional ballet dancers but that just adds to the fun element.

    My progress is not as fast as some of the younger people but that is probably because my passion at the moment is hand balancing and gymnastic rings so the ballet stuff is just accessory work.

    I find I am better at speaking up and analyzing technique to improve performance than when I started ballet.

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