Rediscovering the Love of Ballet: A Reflection for Dancers

(Reflections from the New Insights Training Workshop Titled: "Falling In Love with your Ballet Love Story Again")

When was the last time you danced just for you? Not for a casting panel, not for your teacher, not for the audience—just for the sheer joy of moving?

If you had to pause before answering, you’re not alone.

Ballet demands everything. It asks for precision, discipline, and a level of perfection that is both inspiring and, at times, exhausting. For many dancers, what starts as a love for movement can slowly become consumed by expectations—self-imposed or otherwise.

So, I want to ask you: Where do you feel that love now?

When Did Ballet Feel Free? Think back to the very beginning. Before you worried about technique, placement, or casting. Before you knew the weight of competition.

What was it that first made you fall in love with ballet?

• Was it the music? The way your body responded instinctively to the sound?

• Was it the feeling of being transported somewhere else when you moved?

• Was it the simple joy of expression—before you even knew the word “technique”?

Hold onto that memory for a moment. Because that version of you, the one who danced purely for joy, is still in there. The love for ballet hasn’t left. It just might be harder to access through the layers of expectation that have been built over time.

What Gets in the Way?

If ballet is something you love, why does it sometimes feel like an obligation?

There are so many reasons this happens, but some of the most common include:

• Perfectionism – The relentless pursuit of an impossible ideal can make progress feel like failure.

• Comparison Culture – Watching others, measuring yourself against them, and feeling like you’ll never be enough.

• Burnout – When something you love starts to feel like a burden instead of a passion.

• Fear of Slowing Down – The belief that if you take a moment to reflect, you’ll fall behind.

These experiences are not signs of weakness. They are realities of training at a high level. And they don’t mean you’ve lost your love for ballet—they mean you need space to reconnect with it.

What Would It Feel Like to Dance Without Pressure?

If no one was watching—if there were no auditions, no scores, no corrections—how would you move?

What would it be like to dance just for yourself again?

Let yourself sit with that thought. Notice what comes up. Is there excitement? Resistance? Fear?

Maybe it feels impossible because ballet is so intertwined with structure and discipline. But somewhere beneath the expectations, the love still exists. The challenge is finding a way back to it.

You Deserve to Love Ballet Again

No matter how far you’ve come, no matter how many corrections you’ve taken, how many hours you’ve trained, how many sacrifices you’ve made—you are still allowed to love ballet the way you did in the beginning.

You are still allowed to dance with joy.

So, I’ll ask again: When was the last time you danced just for you?

And more importantly—when will you allow yourself to do it again?