Ballet for Every Body: How Adult Ballet Centre rocked This Girl Can
Many little girls dream of becoming a ballerina one day. Adult Ballet Centre knows that this doesn’t fade as we grow up, and that older women can still fulfil this dream.
While society has developed the idea that ballerinas need to have the ‘perfect dancer’s body’, Adult Ballet Centre encourages ‘ballet for every body’, with women from 18–78 attending their classes at all levels, to learn the beauty of moving their bodies through traditional ballet.
This Girl Can dance
“When the This Girl Can Vic campaign began we saw the opportunity to support and encourage other women that it’s okay to just come along to a class, irrespective of size, fitness level or age barriers,” said Jennifer, Manager of Community Dance Engagement, at the Adult Ballet Centre.
“The campaign inspired us to create a community of like-minded participants, playing on the message that it’s okay to come back to dance, or learn the art of classical ballet at all levels from Introduction to Advanced.”
She added, “In an ever-increasing world of perfect images and social media, it’s so important to create spaces in our communities that are about acceptance and support. These spaces help us really celebrate who we are – not what someone or something is telling us we should be. Adult Ballet Centre does just that!”
Inspiring women to take up ballet
Adult Ballet Centre took advantage of the This Girl Can – Victoria resources to target women through social media (Instagram and Facebook), and to promote the campaign’s messages on their website. With slogans like ‘No Leotards Required’, ‘Inclusive, Inspiring, Artistic’, ‘Ballet for Every Body’ and ‘No Age Limits’, they managed to attract women of all ages to their classes.
This messaging very clearly rejects the notion that you need to have an ‘ideal dancer’s body’ to participate in ballet. Jennifer said, “Just coming into class can feel very exposing as our bodies are the tools we’re working with, and women have to make peace with that just in order to walk through the doors.”
This Girl Can – Victoria inspired Adult Ballet Centre’s online messaging: “Letting women know that whatever they choose to keep working at, THEY CAN!”
The result of this ‘en pointe’ messaging
Adult Ballet Centre member Natalie said, “The ‘no leotards required’ policy attracted me, and I felt comfortable being in a class where all the dancers ranged in ability and dance history.”
“I’m a pretty confident person, but I’m also human, and I have self-esteem issues from time to time. But the staff make every single person feel special – I feel like part of the family every time I enter the studio.”
Another centre member, Bo-Tahlia added, “I’ve always wanted to dance ballet, but felt that my physique was just not designed for it. When I first discovered the Adult Ballet Centre’s website and saw their slogan of ‘no leotards required’ I got pretty excited. I felt like they were calling out the very issue I had concerns with, and actively saying, ‘We don’t care! We will accept you exactly how you feel comfortable’.”
Ballet is a great way to get moving, have fun and feel great about yourself. Adult Ballet Centre has done an amazing job at getting more women into dancing by:
- Using encouraging and inspiring messaging
- Sharing This Girl Can – Victoria resources on their social media accounts and website
- Creating a supportive, genuinely non-judgmental community that’s focused on a passion for dance.
Want more inspiration on how to support your community of women to get active? See our other supporter case studies for tips, tricks and a whole lot of good feels.