Different Types of Ballet: Training Methods and Stage Styles Compared

A seventh system matters to anyone training in the United States: ABT’s National Training Curriculum, written in 2008 for American Ballet Theatre by Franco De Vita and Raymond Lukens. It blends elements of the French, Italian and Russian schools, and only ABT Certified Teachers who passed the training exam may teach its levels (American Ballet Theatre).

The six are not the whole map. Several countries built national schools on these foundations. In Cuba, Alicia Alonso, who had trained at the School of American Ballet, founded her Havana company in 1948 and spent decades shaping a distinctly Cuban style of classical ballet (Indiana University Libraries). In Australia, Xenia Borovansky turned her Russian training into the Australian Academy of Dancing syllabus, first examined in 1967 and now run by the Australian Institute of Classical Dance (AICD).

French School: The Parent Method

The French method is the base of all ballet training: the Paris academy fixed the vocabulary, and today its living home is the Paris Opera Ballet School. Its hallmarks are technical precision, fluidity, elegant clean lines and fast footwork that makes dancers look as if they drift across the stage. Port de bras and épaulement are rounder than in Russian training but not as rounded as the Danish style. Rudolf Nureyev revitalized the school in the 1980s, so strongly that it is sometimes called the Nureyev school (Wikipedia: Ballet).

Bournonville: 19th-Century Paris, Preserved in Copenhagen

August Bournonville, born in Copenhagen in 1805, finished his training in Paris under Auguste Vestris, then spent his career as ballet master of the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, bringing the French romantic style home with him (Lex, Danish encyclopedia). What survives as the “Bournonville style” is essentially the 19th-century French technique that disappeared elsewhere. Arms stay low and simple, the upper body twists toward the working foot, and the eyes follow the moving leg. Turns keep the working leg low, a habit from the long skirts of his day: outside pirouettes start from a low développé into second, inside ones from a low développé into fourth. The guiding rule is that no effort should show, even in the biggest jumps, and the method sums up its contrast of fast feet and calm upper body in one line: the legs are the rhythm, the arms are the melody (Wikipedia: Bournonville method).

Cecchetti: The Anatomy-Minded Syllabus

Enrico Cecchetti, born in Rome in 1850, was a virtuoso dancer who taught at the Imperial Ballet School in St. Petersburg, coached Anna Pavlova privately, and became ballet master of Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes after its dancers refused to tour without his daily class. He left St. Petersburg in 1902 to direct the Imperial Ballet School in Warsaw, and in 1918 he and his wife opened a school in London (Wikipedia: Enrico Cecchetti). In 1922 Cyril Beaumont published the manual that fixed the method, and the Cecchetti Society was founded in London the same year (Cecchetti Council of America); in 1924 the society joined the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing, against Cecchetti’s own wishes (Wikipedia: Cecchetti method). The method is known for building understanding over imitation: every exercise has a purpose, and balance, elevation, ballon, poise and strength are trained as one system. Today the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing examines it in the UK, from recreational class exams to the professional Enrico Cecchetti Diploma (ISTD), and the Cecchetti Council of America runs examinations and seminars in the US.

Vaganova: The Russian System

Agrippina Vaganova (1879–1951) graduated from the Imperial Ballet School in St. Petersburg in 1897, danced with the Maryinsky, and taught at the Leningrad Choreographic School from 1921 until her death. Her book, published in 1934 and known in English as Basic Principles of Classical Ballet, is still a standard reference, and in 1957 the school was renamed the Vaganova Ballet Academy (Vaganova Ballet Academy). The method fuses French romantic style with Italian athleticism and Russian expressiveness. It involves the whole body in every movement, with equal attention to the upper body, legs and feet, and builds lower-back strength and arm plasticity. It specifies when each skill is taught and for how long, and it is the most widely used method in Russia (Wikipedia: Vaganova method). The school she trained and taught in was founded by Empress Anna’s decree in 1738, and its path from the Winter Palace to the Soviet classroom where her method took shape is told in the history of Russian ballet.

RAD: The English Exam Board

The Royal Academy of Dance began in 1920 as the Association of Teachers of Operatic Dancing of Great Britain, born from a meeting arranged by Philip Richardson, editor of the Dancing Times, with Adeline Genée as first president. It became the Royal Academy of Dancing after receiving its Royal Charter in 1936 (Royal Academy of Dance). Its founders represented different traditions (Genée the Danish, Karsavina the Russian Imperial, Espinosa the French, Bedells the English), and the syllabus merged them. The graded syllabus runs Pre-Primary, Primary and Grades 1–8, and each grade mixes classical ballet, free movement and character dance (Wikipedia: Royal Academy of Dance). The core principle is a slow progression: perfect the basic steps and the harder ones come more easily.

Balanchine: The American Style

George Balanchine (1904–1983), a graduate of the Imperial Ballet School in St. Petersburg, opened the School of American Ballet with Lincoln Kirstein on January 2, 1934, on Madison Avenue in New York (School of American Ballet). New York City Ballet followed on October 11, 1948 (New York City Ballet). His technique trains dancers to cover more space in less time: extreme speed, very deep pliés, pirouettes en dehors from a lunge in fourth, unconventional arm and hand shapes, and an arabesque with an open hip. Former New York City Ballet principals Merrill Ashley and Suki Schorer demonstrate the technique in The Balanchine Essays, a video series from the George Balanchine Foundation, and Schorer sums up his arabesque as “longer, stronger and bigger” (Wikipedia: Balanchine technique). Outside SAB, Miami City Ballet School describes its training as traditional classical methods combined with the Balanchine aesthetic (Miami City Ballet School). Balanchine’s company is also where Arthur Mitchell made his New York City Ballet debut, in Western Symphony on November 8, 1955 (Columbia University Libraries), and the Black dancers who carried classical ballet from there to Dance Theatre of Harlem and beyond are traced in the history of Black ballerinas.

The four styles arrived in a fixed order, from the 1832 Paris premiere of La Sylphide to Forsythe’s 1987 In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated, and the dates between them are laid out in the history of ballet timeline.

Romantic Ballet

The romantic era is usually dated from the 1832 Paris premiere of La Sylphide, with Marie Taglioni in the title role. Its ballets set mortal men against sylphs, wilis and ghosts, and newly practical gas lighting made those spirits look eerie on stage. Pointe work was still basic: Taglioni’s shoes were ordinary slippers with extra darning, not the boxed shoes dancers wear now (Wikipedia: Romantic ballet). Bournonville staged his own La Sylphide in Copenhagen in 1836, and his version still holds the stage there. Giselle is the other cornerstone, and Arthur Saint-Léon’s Coppélia (1870) is usually counted as the era’s last ballet. Taglioni heads a line of ballerinas that runs from Mademoiselle de La Fontaine’s 1681 Paris Opera debut to the principals dancing in 2026; who they were, and why lists of the “best” never agree, is set out in the guide to famous ballerinas.

Classical Ballet

Classical ballet is the style most people picture: Marius Petipa, ballet master in St. Petersburg, blended romantic storytelling with Russian athleticism and made the corps de ballet and the grand pas de deux the backbone of a full-length ballet (Wikipedia: Classical ballet). The Sleeping Beauty, his collaboration with Tchaikovsky, premiered at the Mariinsky Theatre on January 15, 1890 (Wikipedia: The Sleeping Beauty). The tutu tells you the era: the romantic bell has become a short, stiff platter that shows the legs and every bit of footwork. Swan Lake is the classical style’s test case: a failed 1877 Moscow premiere, then the 1895 St. Petersburg revival in which Petipa staged the palace acts and Ivanov the lakeside acts, as told in the history of Swan Lake. Petipa’s grand pas de deux structure also tells a classical audience when to clap, after each solo variation and at the end of the coda; that rule and the rest of the theater’s conduct, from latecomers waiting for a pause to cameras staying off, are in ballet audience etiquette.

Neoclassical Ballet

Neoclassical ballet keeps classical technique and pointe work but strips away narrative, scenery and heavy costume. Its landmark is Balanchine’s Apollo, which premiered with Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes in Paris on June 12, 1928, set to Stravinsky. Balanchine kept revising it for decades, cutting sets, costumes and much of the story (New York City Ballet). His later plotless works, such as The Four Temperaments, made the music itself the subject (Wikipedia: Neoclassical ballet). Neoclassicism was not only American: in London, Frederick Ashton’s Symphonic Variations premiered at Covent Garden on April 24, 1946, an abstract ballet for six dancers set to César Franck’s score (Wikipedia: Symphonic Variations).

Contemporary Ballet

Contemporary ballet borrows floor work and turned-in legs from 20th-century modern dance and allows the upper body far more freedom, but it still depends on classical technique, often including pointe (Wikipedia: Contemporary ballet). Its best-known choreographers include William Forsythe, Jiří Kylián, Mark Morris and Alonzo King, whose company is LINES Ballet, and companies such as Nederlands Dans Theater specialize in it (same source). Twyla Tharp’s Push Comes to Shove, made for Mikhail Baryshnikov and American Ballet Theatre, premiered in New York on January 9, 1976, setting a Haydn symphony beside a ragtime number (Twyla Tharp Foundation). Forsythe’s In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated, created in 1987 for the Paris Opera Ballet and named for two cherries hung above the stage, is now in the repertory of companies around the world (Wikipedia: Impressing the Czar). Expect plotless works, and music from orchestral to electronic. Between neoclassical and contemporary sits what some histories call modern ballet, the more athletic, intense work of Glen Tetley, Robert Joffrey and Gerald Arpino; Joffrey’s Astarte (1967) set ballet to a rock score (Wikipedia: Ballet). If you are going to see one, what to wear in the audience is its own small etiquette question, covered in what to wear to the ballet. Contemporary ballet should not be confused with contemporary dance, the barefoot concert genre that grew out of modern dance; the two techniques are set side by side in contemporary vs modern dance. If you are choosing between a full-length classic and a mixed bill of new work, classical vs contemporary ballet sets the two side by side, from turnout and footwear to which one to watch or train first.

Every method teaches in French, so these words travel with you from one studio to the next. Positions and poses get a guide of their own, linked in the stage-by-stage plan below.

If a studio’s website doesn’t name a method, five questions settle it in one email:

1. 1
   “Which syllabus do your children’s grades follow?” Adult classes often borrow the same habits. RAD, Cecchetti and ABT all certify teachers, so a straight answer names an organization.
2. 2
   “Are your teachers RAD registered, Cecchetti Council members or ABT certified?” RAD and ABT both publish teacher directories, so the answer can be checked.
3. 3
   “Where did your faculty train?” Vaganova, Bournonville and French training usually travel with teachers from those academies rather than through a US exam board.
4. 4
   “Do adults take exams, or are classes open?” Exams give milestones; open classes give flexibility.
5. 5
   “What does a beginner class cover in the first month?” A clear answer (barre basics, the five positions, simple center work) signals a structured program, whatever its label.

In class you can also read the method from the details. A pirouette prepared from a lunge with a straight back leg is Balanchine. Arms kept low and soft while the feet move fast suggests Bournonville. A teacher who insists on épaulement in every exercise and a strong upper back is often Vaganova-trained. Free movement or character dance in a children’s syllabus is the RAD fingerprint.

Most adults choose a class, not a method, and that is the right order. Start from your goal:

Silver Swans was built for exactly this reader. The RAD launched the licensed format in 2016, with pilot teacher workshops in London and US cities including Atlanta, Tampa, Toledo, Long Beach and New York. Classes are aimed mainly at people 55 and over, and teachers learn to adapt ballet for bodies that may need to stay seated for part of class (Dance Informa). RAD USA lists Silver Swans teachers alongside its regular registered teachers (RAD USA).

Three rules hold no matter which row you land in:

• Teacher and level beat method in year one. A patient teacher running a true beginner class will teach you more than a famous method taught too fast.
• Switching later costs less than you fear. Every method shares the French vocabulary and the five positions; what changes is arm shapes, terminology and habits. The same step can carry a different name or arm position from one school to the next, so a new teacher’s corrections can sound like contradictions when they are really a different dialect.
• Don’t shop methods in the first months. Mixing systems early means two sets of corrections for the same step. Settle in, then explore.

Before class one, two practical pieces: what to wear, which is a solved problem covered in what to wear to ballet class (with the men’s uniform, dance belt included, in what male ballet dancers wear), and soft shoes, since leather versus canvas and full versus split sole are easier to pick with how to choose ballet slippers. Pointe is not a first-year question for adults. When it does come up, pointe shoes vs ballet slippers explains what changes, and the best feet for ballet covers why arch and toe shape matter for readiness.

Whatever the label, the first stretch of training follows the same arc. Methods differ in pace and emphasis, not in the order of fundamentals, and how long each stage takes depends on how often you go to class.

Learning the names of the shapes speeds up every row of that table, and ballet poses for beginners covers the positions and poses you will hear called from the first barre. If you want to know what the training does for your body, the evidence is summarized in benefits of ballet, and is dance a good workout compares ballet with other dance styles as exercise. For the broader adult-beginner path, from finding a class to getting through the first month, see learning to dance as an adult. If you have not started yet, ballet for beginners explains how an absolute-beginner class differs from a beginner class, what the first month covers, and a weekly practice plan.

Every one of those classes ends the same way, with the révérence, which the Wikipedia glossary of ballet defines as a bow, curtsy or grand gesture of respect to acknowledge the teacher and the pianist after class. That ritual and the other studio conventions, from barre spots to lateness rules, are explained in ballet class etiquette. Whatever the method, a class opens with the same kind of barre, pliés first and grands battements near the end, and beginner ballet barre exercises walks through each one with its count and the usual beginner faults. For practice between classes, choosing a ballet barre for home compares freestanding, wall-mounted and stopgap options with makers’ specs.

Ballet sits under many other styles, and the training transfers. Spotting, the head snap that keeps you from getting dizzy, is the same skill that makes turns clean in salsa; how to spin in salsa starts from exactly that drill. Posture, rise and controlled weight transfer carry straight into the waltz’s rise and fall, which how to waltz breaks down step by step. And if the methods-and-styles split appeals to you, ballroom has its own version: two parallel systems, International and American, laid out in ballroom dance types.

Pick one beginner class this week and ask the studio question number two from the list above. By the time you reach the third stage you will know which method you’re in, and whether you want a different one.