Ballet FAQs

Very much so! Professional ballet dancers are like elite athletes – in constant training for the rigours of performance. Our dancers prepare for their careers from childhood, and work six days a week to polish technique, develop their artistry and hone their bodies to peak fitness. They have a short mid-year break and a longer break over the summer.

Pas de deux literally means “step of two.”

It refers to choreography performed by two dancers. In classical ballet, a grand pas de deux often includes an entrance, duet, individual variations, and a finale, while contemporary choreographers may use the form much more freely.

Ballet and music are inseparable.

With recorded music, every performance follows exactly the same track. With live musicians, dancers and musicians can respond to one another in real time—the tempo can breathe, a phrase can stretch, and each performance becomes slightly different.

Live music also allows audiences to experience the score as part of the performance rather than simply as accompaniment.

A choreographer creates the movement of a ballet, but the process can involve much more than assembling steps.

Choreographers work with dancers to explore movement, structure, musicality, character, space, and intention. In a new creation, material often develops collaboratively inside the studio before becoming the finished work seen onstage.

There is no single process.

A choreographer might arrive with movement already prepared, begin with a musical score, develop material through improvisation with the dancers, or build an entirely new vocabulary during rehearsal.

At Pointeworks, residencies give choreographers, dancers, composers, and musicians dedicated time to experiment and create together.

A rehearsal director helps maintain the choreography once it has been created.

They coach dancers, preserve details of musicality and intention, rehearse different casts, work with choreographers and stagers, and help ensure that a ballet remains artistically consistent as it moves from the studio to the stage.

Professional companies frequently prepare more than one dancer for the same role.

Multiple casts allow dancers to rotate through demanding performances, provide coverage for injuries or illness, and often reveal different interpretations of the same choreography.

That's one reason seeing the same ballet twice can feel surprisingly different.

You might hear dancers say “chookas!” “merde!” or “toi toi toi” before a performance.

It's a theatrical expression meaning something like “good luck”!

Absolutely.

You don't need to know ballet vocabulary or understand choreography technically to enjoy a performance.

Watch the dancers. Listen to the music. Notice the relationships, patterns, energy, atmosphere, and moments that stay with you.

There isn't always one “correct” interpretation.