Audrey Hepburn desperately wanted to be a ballerina. From Diablo Ballet‘s Facebook page.

So why should you be taking ballet classes? You’re probably not going to become an actual ballerina (although Dave from Dave Tries Ballet started ballet at the age of 23 and is now doing pretty well and performs–check out his blog!). But, there are still several reasons to start taking ballet classes as a beginner. Truth is, people do ballet for all sorts of reasons (and your never too old!), and I’m looking forward to interviewing a bunch of fellow adult ballerinas to find out why they do it, and hopefully draw inspiration from them, and add them to this list. But, for now, here’s some of my own:

1. Ballet is great exercise. You probably already knew that, but ballet is a lot tougher than it looks. I was sore for days after my first class.

2. Ballet is fun. Running on the treadmill is boring. Other forms of exercise are boring. Dance gets you moving, doing different movements, dancing, not standing in one place or lifting weights or doing crunches or lunges. (Yuck!)

3. You can pretend you’re a kid again. If you’re like me, you took ballet as a kid (I find that most people who show up to an intro ballet class did), and you wanted to get back to it.

4. Ballet means new clothes. Don’t worry. Everything like tights, leotards, legwarmers isn’t necessary when you’re just starting. But, buying new clothes is fun once you get in to ballet.

5. Ballet means new friends. You’ll meet new friends in class as well in the online community. Those I’ve met through my personal blog have been amazingly supportive.

6.. Doing ballet means you are a ballerina. While you may never get to perform on a stage (although I’d love to set up a showcase of adult ballerina work if I could find enough ballerinas in my area!), you still are taking ballet classes and doing really hard work. Don’t forget that.

7. Ballet makes you more graceful. (By Legal Ballerina)

8. Life is too short to say “What If?” “I started ballet (and continue with it), because I know that life is too short to squander on “what ifs”. As the saying goes, you usually regret the decisions you didn’t make as opposed to the ones you did. I want to seize the day and try to live my life to the fullest while I still have my health, strength, time and courage to do so! Let me tell you, I am so very happy that I took a chance on myself and started ballet. It has changed my life.” (Legal Ballerina)

So why do you want to do ballet? I really want to make this a never-finished list, so leave a comment and I’ll add your reason to the post! Or, post in the forum your reasons why you do ballet!

UPDATE: The old forum was too complicated, so I started a new one using a wordpress blog. Just shoot me an e-mail (your wordpress e-maill to connect accounts) and I’ll be sure I add you as a new author so you can post your own threads!