The truth about ballet etiquette

Dude, I witnessed some super bad behavior the other day.
Here’s what happened:
Big big studio. Not my regular ballet class. One of those places where you get to class and there are like fifteen barres already set up and arranged throughout the room.
This particular day was a holiday, so instead of tons of people warming up and laying all over the floor stretching out, there were only ten of us spread out over the usual fifteen barres, and a couple here and there had paired up on the same barre for chatting purposes, leaving the rest of us with our own nice open barres plus several complete empties.
So: Lots Of Avaliable Barre-Space. Tons. Spaces close to the mirror, spaces far away from the mirror. Spaces in profile to the mirror, spaces en face. Spaces close to the teacher, spaces far away. Near the speakers, away from the speakers. Near the door, away from the door. Whatever your preference for barre spot, it was open.
So class is about to start, the teacher is over by the ipod dock, starting up some kinda ambient warm-up music, and this woman walks in and goes to the stack of extra barres piled up against the wall, disentangles one, and drags it to the center of the room.
The teacher calls out, “Oh honey, the barre can’t go there, there won’t be enough room for the people over there.”
And the barre-pulling lady stiffens up and frowns and shouts, “You! Should speak to me with more respect!”
And then storms out!
And all of us are like, “uh, whut?” and the teacher is like, “Was that my bad?” and we are all like, “No way man, that was nuts, there are all these empty barres, why’s she trying to pull out another one, plus you’re the teacher, she should be respectful to you is what, right?”
So two people clear away the offending barre while the teacher, looking a little shaken, goes out to the front desk to let them know what happened and comes back ready to get on with teaching, and we all start class.
And it got me thinking about ballet class etiquette.
Beginners worry about ballet ettiquette. I worried. I still sometimes worry five years in.
As a beginner you have the vague sense that ballet is full of old traditions, it came from the courts of France, it’s hierarchical, it’s full of manners, there are a lot of unspoken rules. Not knowing all the rules can be kinda paralyzing and fill you with fear like how can you avoid crossing a line if all of these rules are antique and mysterious and unwritten.
You can read up on ballet etiquette, and that is good, there’s a lot of good info here for one.
But at the heart of it, this is what ballet etiquette comes down to:
Try and don’t be an asshole
Just like in real life.
For example:
Don’t yell at your teacher.
I mean duh.
Just like how you wouldn’t yell at your teacher in any class.
And about where to stand:
Beginners worry about where to stand, but really, just find an empty space at the barre and get in it. It’s that simple. If you are worried, ask if the spot is taken.
Maybe they’ll say, “well, usually so and so stands there…” but most likely they’ll say, “god no, we’re not like that here, we’re all just here to have a nice time and learn, you stand wherever you like.”
After all, we are talking adult recreational ballet, we’re not joining a company, this is not the Bolshoi, there maybe a class heirarchy of sorts but it does not involve pay-scale, so everyone can just chill.
And on the flipside, try not to be super rigid about you own special barre spot. If someone is in my (“my”) spot, I try to remember that although I am super-awesome, I am not an actual primadonna.
And if I really want my special spot, I should just get my lazy butt to class earlier next time is what.
Just as in life, in ballet class: don’t be an asshole.
The craziest thing about this whole barre-dragging, shouting-at-the-teacher event, was that the shouty lady came back in during pliés and did class, using that same barre which was now pushed against the wall into the pile of extra barres. Like nothing. Nuts.