Ballerinas and dancers train for many years to master their craft. But how many ballet classes or lessons should your child be taking to become a professional dancer or ballerina?
Although just a guide, the following tables give you some specific numbers, hours and class types that you can use to help you work out what is best for your child!
Keep reading till the end to find out what training some of the professionals did!
How Many Ballet Classes Per Week for a Professional Career?
If you want to become a professional ballet dancer then the following table will give you a good guide on what you should be aiming for.
The following is a guide developed by investigating how many lessons most dance schools offer today, what experts in the field suggest and from experience.
It is not a prescription for success and every professional ballet dancers journey will look different.
| AGE | CLASS TYPE | Classes per Week | LESSON DURATION | OTHER CLASSES | TOTAL WEEKLY HRS |
| 3 – 8 | Ballet | 0-2 | 0.5-1hr | 0.5-2hrs | |
| 9 | Ballet | 2 | 1 hr | Character and modern dance. | 2-4hrs |
| 10 | Ballet | 3 | 1-1.5hrs | Character and modern dance. | 3-7hrs |
| 11 | Ballet | 4 | 1.5hrs | Character and modern dance. | 6-10hrs |
| 12 | Ballet | 4 | 1.5hrs | variation, repertoire, character dance, pas de deux, modern and pilatesor floor barre. | 7.5-15hrs |
| Pointe | 1-2 | 0.5hrs | |||
| 13-14 | Ballet | 4 | 1.5hrs | As Above | 12-20hrs |
| Pointe | 3-4 | 0.5hrs | |||
| 15-17 | Ballet & Pointe | 6 | 2hrs | As Above | 20hrs+ |
| 18+ | Ballet & Pointe | 6 | 2hrs | As Above | 25+ |
How Many Ballet Classes for Three to Eight-Year-Olds?
Children who are three to eight years old could be doing up to two ballet classes a week.
It is a bit contentious, but it is fine for them to do none because, with the right training, a child can learn ballet at a later age.
Others will state that the earlier a dancer begins their training the better.
Read our article about lessons for five-year-olds to help you decide what is best.
How Many Ballet Classes for Nine-Year-Olds?
9-year-olds might be taking at least two ballet technique lessons per week, averaging an hour each.
Your child might also want to explore modern dance classes or character dance if they haven’t done so already to complement their ballet training.
How Many Ballet Classes for Ten-Year-Olds?
10-Year-Olds might be averaging three ballet lessons per week averaging 1 -1.5hrs each.
Additional lessons in modern or character dance can be taken or your school might provide classes in pilates, repertoire or variations at this age as well.
How Many Ballet Classes for Eleven-Year-Olds?
11-Year-Olds can be taking around four ballet lessons a week averaging about 1.5hrs each.
Your child at this age should definitely be exploring lessons that complement their ballet training if they are serious about dancing professionally to help gradually increase their training hours which jump significantly up as they mature.
At this age, if your dancer is female they will be getting prepared for pointe work, which means it is important that they take enough lessons to strengthen the muscles needed for this work in the future.
How Many Ballet Classes for Twelve-Year-Olds?
12-Year-Olds could be attending four ballet lessons a week averaging about 1.5hrs each.
One or two, 30-45min Pointe work classes are generally introduced around this age. This may be part of their current lessons or taken as extra classes.
Your child might also start taking lessons in any of the following variations, repertoire, character dance, pas de deux, modern and pilates or floor barre to complement their training.
How Many Ballet Classes for Thirteen and Fourteen-Year-Olds?
During the ages of 13-14, ballet classes should increase from four to five or six a week. Pointe work should also gradually increase to three or four lessons a week.
Your child should also be learning variations, repertoire, character dance, pas de deux, modern and pilates or floor barre to complement their training.
How Many Ballet Classes for Fifteen to Seventeen-Year-Olds?
15-17 year old students should be aiming to be taking around six ballet classes a week of two or more hour duration that includes at least 30mins of pointe work.
At this age, if your child wants to pursue a professional career in dance they would be increasing their training load to more than 20 hours a week. This is in order to develop the stamina, strength, and discipline needed to dance long 8 – 10 hour days as a professional dancer.
How Many Ballet Classes for Eighteen-Year-Olds?
Training for adults should try to mimic that as much as possible of a professional dancer so that when and if they do acquire a professional contract they can meet up with the demands of the training and performing schedules.
This could mean attending a full-time dance school until they receive a contract into a professional company.
How Many Dance Classes Per Week for a Professional Career?
Is your child not into ballet and looking at becoming a professional in another style of dance?
If your child is wanting to pursue a career in dance such as in any of the jobs in our Ultimate Dance Career Pathway List they will still need a strong foundation in classical ballet, but they will need an arsenal of other skills in the dance styles of jazz, musical theatre, hip hop, contemporary and acrobatics to name a few.
The following is a rough guide developed by investigating how many lessons most dance schools offer today, what experts in the field suggest and from experience. It is not a prescription for success and every professional dancer’s journey will look different.
| AGE | CLASS TYPE | AMOUNT | LESSON DURATION | TOTAL WEEKLY HRS OF ALL LESSONS |
| 3 to 8 | Ballet | 0-2 | 0.5-1hr | 0.5-2hrs |
| Jazz or Other | 0-1 | 0.5-1hr | ||
| 9 | Ballet Technique | 1-2 | 1 hr | 3-4hrs |
| Jazz and/or Acro | 1-2 | 1 hr | ||
| Other | 0-2 | 1 hr | ||
| 10 to 11 | Ballet Technique | 2-3 | 1hr | 4-7hrs |
| Jazz and/or Acro | 2 | 1hr | ||
| Other | 1-2 | 1hr | ||
| 12 | Ballet | 3 | 1hr | 6-9hrs |
| Jazz and/or Acro | 3 | 1hr | ||
| Other | 3 | 1hr | ||
| 13-14 | Ballet | 3-4 | 1.5hrs | 12-15hrs |
| Jazz and/or Acro | 3 | 1.5hr | ||
| Other | 3 | 1hr | ||
| 15-17 | Ballet | 4-5 | 1.5hrs | 14-20hrs |
| Jazz and/or Acro | 4 | 1-1.5hrs | ||
| Other | 4 | 1-1.5hrs | ||
| 18+ | Ballet | 5-6 | 1.5hrs | 25+ |
| Jazz and/or Acro | 5+ | 1-1.5hrs | ||
| Other | 5+ | 1-1.5hrs |
Other classes include but are not limited to hip hop, musical theatre/Broadway, character dance, pointe lessons, pilates, contemporary/lyrical/modern, funk/commercial, song & dance, and more.
Other classes might also include competition, dance team, private lessons, or rehearsals.
How Many Dance Classes for Three to Eight-Year-Olds?
3 to 8-Year-Olds need Zero to two lessons per week.
It is a bit contentious saying none, but with the right training a child can learn to dance at a later age.
Others will state that the earlier a dancer begins their training the better.
Read our article about lessons for five-year-olds to help you decide what is best.
How Many Dance Classes for Nine-Year-Olds?
9-Year-Olds should be taking One or two ballet technique lessons per week, averaging an hour each.
One to two jazz lessons might also be taken or one of those classes might be an acrodance class which will teach your child dance tricks that will add to their skill set and dance tool kit.
How Many Dance Classes for Ten to Eleven-Year-Olds?
10 to 11-Year-Olds can take Two to three ballet lessons per week averaging an hour each.
Two jazz lessons should also be taken or one of those classes might be an acrodance class.
A class or two in another discipline might be started at this age as well such as tap dance or hip hop.
A ten to eleven-year-old might be taking classes three times a week for a total of four to seven hours at this age.
How Many Dance Classes for Twelve-Year-Olds?
To hone in on their technical skills 12-Year-Olds who would like to be professional dancers one day might take three ballet lessons a week averaging about an hour each.
Your child might begin to learn to dance en pointe around this age and so some of that ballet time may be taken up with pointe lessons or these may be extra lessons on top.
However, if they do not wish to pursue a career in classical ballet, they can also choose to not go en pointe.
Three jazz lessons could also be taken or one of those classes might be an acrodance class.
Or three classes in other styles such as tap dance, contemporary, hip hop or musical theatre would add to your child’s skill set, or they may be taking extra lessons as part of a dance team or competition troupe.
How Many Dance Classes for Thirteen and Fourteen-Year-Olds?
At this 13-14 year of age your child might be attending the same amount of lessons as recommended for 12 year olds however those lessons might start to become longer for example being an hour and a half for a ballet or a jazz lesson.
How Many Ballet Classes for Fifteen to Seventeen-Year-Olds?
15-17 year olds dancer who are wanting to pursue a professional career should be aiming to be taking around four or five ballet classes a week and that may or may not include pointe work, repertoire, variations or any other ballet discipline.
At this age, if your child wants to pursue a professional career in dance they would be increasing their training load to twenty hours or more a week in as many different styles as possible.
This is in order to develop the stamina, strength, and discipline needed to dance long 8 – 10 hour days as a professional dancer.
How Many Ballet Classes for Eighteen-Year-Olds?
18+Year-Olds Training regime should try to mimic that as much as possible of a professional dancer.
Ballet or pilates should be done daily at a minimum on top of any auditions or professional jobs your dancer is able to secure.
If more training is needed, a pre-professional or further education course might be worth looking into or even taking dance at college. We have links to all the college courses in our article Dance Colleges Across All 50 States: The Ultimate List with Links
What Style of Dance Should I study if I want to Become a Professional Dancer?
Complimentary classes alongside ballet and jazz should be taken by any dancer wanting a professional career.
For the best opportunity, as dancers get older and are able to take on more hours of training, lessons in as many different styles of dance are always beneficial.
How many is too many dance lessons a week?
Your child may already be doing more classes than we have recommended especially if they are at a competition-orientated school, where technique classes are required on top of competition or company lessons.
If your child enjoys the classes and are thriving then do what you, your child, and their dance teacher feels is best.
Just beware that doing too much too soon can lead to burnout and injury which can cut short the most promising of careers.
Quality of training and the discipline of the dancer will always win out over quantity and poor effort during lessons taken.
About Fulltime Dance Schools and College
A Pre-Professional or Full-Time Dance Training Course is Always Your Best Option if Your Child Is Serious About a Ballet or Dance Career.
Various pre-professional ballet courses such as those we write about in our article How much does it cost to become a professional ballerina or dancer? accept students for their first year of training at different ages but the average is from around the age of 12 or from around 7th grade or the first year of high school for many countries.
A pre-professional ballet course can be fairly intense for a 12-year-old student as they are training in ballet either full or part-time five to six days a week for around 20 hours.
Those hours generally consist of a variety of ballet technique classes as listed in the hours recommended above which generally increase bringing to around 25 or more hours of training a week by the age of 15-17.
Pre-Professional courses in dance are also available to students wanting to pursue a professional career in areas other than ballet.
Many privately run schools that meet accreditation standards with their governing body are able to take students from as young as 14 provided the student continues their formal schooling through for example distance or online education, but many pre-professional institutions that provide training for professional dancers generally have an intake of students who have just graduated from high school and are looking for further education in dance.
Universities and colleges also provide pre-professional training with the added benefit of the student receiving a degree at the end of their training.
If a pre-professional class is unavailable or your child was not accepted through audition, it is important to remember that quality and commitment will always win over quantity.
If your dancer is doing a lot of hours but is not trying or is too tired, or the teacher is not giving your child the best training then quantity is not going to help your dancer make it as a ballerina.
How Many Lessons Did The Professionals Do?
RELATED QUESTIONS
How often should you practice dance?
To become the best dancer you can be, spending twenty minutes to an hour at home on top of the recommended hours, as stated above in the article, can benefit any dancer.
At home dancers generally, practice steps they haven’t yet mastered in class or try to increase their flexibility or strength by practicing specific exercises for this.
Our article ‘14 things you can do to help your child be a better dancer today‘ can help guide you on what you can do at home.