Why Planning Ahead Makes Teaching Ballet Easier
It's Sunday afternoon.
You've finally finished everything else on your list, and then you remember:
"I have to plan my ballet classes for this week."
One class becomes two. Two becomes four. You're choosing music, creating combinations, looking back at what you taught last week, figuring out what your students need next—and suddenly the afternoon you thought you had to yourself has disappeared.
Sound familiar?
Planning ahead doesn't mean you need to have every ballet class mapped out for the entire year. It simply means giving yourself a roadmap so you're not starting from a blank page every week.
And when you have a plan, you can spend less time figuring out what you're going to teach and more time thinking about how you're going to teach it.
Here are a few simple ways planning ahead can make your ballet teaching easier.
Know Where You're Going Before You Decide What You're Teaching
Before you start choosing combinations for next week's class, take a step back and look at the bigger picture.
Ask yourself:
What have my students learned recently?
What skills are they ready to work on next?
What needs more repetition?
What do I want them to accomplish over the next few weeks?
When you know where you're going, individual lessons become much easier to plan.
You don't have to reinvent your class every week. Instead, you can build on what your dancers already know and gradually introduce new challenges.
That's how thoughtful progression works—and it's one of the reasons planning ahead is so valuable.
Stop Starting Every Week from Scratch
If you're sitting down every Sunday with a blank piece of paper, you're doing more work than you need to.
Instead, start with something.
It might be:
A lesson you taught previously
A combination your students already know
Your notes from the previous class
A planning template
A ready-made ballet lesson plan
Then make it your own.
Maybe you change an exercise. Maybe you use different music. Maybe you make a combination more challenging because your students are ready for the next step.
The goal isn't to eliminate your creativity as a teacher. It's to stop wasting your creativity on work that has already been done.
A ready-made lesson plan can give you a strong starting point so your planning time is spent making thoughtful adjustments—not staring at a blank page wondering where to begin.
Plan Your Music Before You Need It
If you've ever spent 30 minutes looking for the "perfect" piece of music for a two-minute combination, 😀 you know how quickly music selection can eat into your planning time.
When possible, choose your music before you're sitting down to finalize your lesson.
Keep a list of music that works well for different parts of class:
Barre
Center
Adagio
Allegro
Across the floor
Cool down or reverence
And don't be afraid to keep a few favorites in rotation.
Your students don't need completely different music every week any more than they need completely different exercises every week.
And occasionally, of course, you can surprise them with something completely different. A familiar Kidz Bop song can turn a routine exercise into a room full of smiling dancers while they're still doing the ballet correctly. (And yes, I have absolutely told students they can sing along as long as they keep doing the combination!)
Small moments of fun can make a big difference.
Leave Room for What Actually Happens in Class
Planning ahead does not mean following your lesson plan rigidly.
Your students will always tell you something your plan couldn't.
Maybe they struggled with a combination you expected them to master.
Maybe an exercise went beautifully and you decide to repeat it.
Maybe you realize they need another week of preparation before introducing the next skill.
That's not failed planning.
That's good teaching.
Your lesson plan is a roadmap—not a contract.
Having a plan allows you to make those decisions intentionally instead of scrambling to figure out what to do next.
Give Yourself a Plan B
Every ballet teacher knows that things don't always go according to plan.
The music doesn't work.
A combination is harder than expected.
You suddenly have ten extra minutes.
Your students aren't quite ready for the exercise you planned.
Having a few backup exercises or combinations ready can save you from having to invent something on the spot.
This is another advantage of having more material than you actually need for one class. A complete lesson plan can give you options, allowing you to adjust the class based on what your students need that day.
And sometimes that extra material becomes next week's lesson.
Put Your Plans Somewhere You Can Actually Find Them
This sounds simple, but it makes a huge difference.
When your lesson ideas are scattered across notebooks, scraps of paper, emails, phone notes, and your memory, planning becomes harder than it needs to be.
You want one place where you can quickly see:
What did I teach?
What worked?
What needs more work?
What am I teaching next?
What do I need to remember?
It doesn't have to be complicated. The best planning system is the one you'll actually use.
That's why I created the Class Planning Workbook to give ballet teachers a simple place to organize their classes, keep track of what they've taught, and plan what comes next.
Imagine Your Sunday Planning Session
Now imagine sitting down on Sunday afternoon and already knowing:
What your students worked on last week
What they need to work on next
Which lesson you're teaching
What music you're using
What needs to be adjusted
What you want to accomplish in the coming weeks
You're not creating your entire week from scratch.
You're preparing to teach it.
And that difference can save hours.
Planning Ahead Doesn't Mean Planning Everything
You don't need to be six weeks ahead.
You don't need a color-coded spreadsheet covering your entire dance year.
And you certainly don't need to know exactly what every class will look like months from now.
Planning ahead simply means giving yourself enough of a framework that you're not starting over every Sunday.
Your students need consistency, repetition, and thoughtful progression.
And you need a planning process that gives you the time and energy to actually enjoy teaching them.
Ready to Spend Less Time Planning?
If you enjoy creating your own lessons but want an easier way to organize your classes, the Class Planning Workbook can help you keep your plans, notes, and upcoming lessons in one place.
Explore the Class Planning Workbook
If you'd rather skip the blank page altogether, BalletLessonPlans offers complete, ready-to-teach ballet lessons that you can use as written or adapt to fit your students.
Save Time. Teach with Confidence.
