The NBA has an intensive seven-year program as preliminary training. As a result, the students are well prepared for the follow-up trajectory of the AD Classical Ballet and possibly later the BA Teacher of Classical Ballet.
After the two-year AD program, the students are fully equipped to enter the professional field. Instead of entering the professional field, students can opt for further education in the BA track. In this way they can deepen their education. This 3rd year focuses on practical and theoretical deepening.
Based on the years of prior education and the AD - and for the intake students from the professional field their years of dance experience, the students receive exemptions for the dance part of the BA and the training can be completed in one year.
With the possibility of entering from the professional field, the NBA contributes to the principles of flexible learning and lifelong learning. The students in the BA Teacher of Classical Ballet will therefore bring with them a solid experience as a performing artist. The student has knowledge of the field and has danced (often for a long time) with a company. The “embodied knowledge” that this student brings is therefore great and can also be an inspiration for other students.
The aim of the training for all students is to convert this “embodied knowledge” into an understanding of teaching. Questions that will be discussed include: How is the classical ballet technique best built up? How is this passed on? The ballet technique can also be questioned.
By teaching the NBA Syllabus and Methodology, the student gains insight into the structure and connection of the different movements. The syllabus is a living document, which is updated every year. Input and requirements from makers in the field, as well as the input from the teachers and students of the study programme, can lead to adjustments being made in the Syllabus.
Together with fellow students, the student first acquires knowledge in the Methodology lessons (in ballet the craft skills), but will soon start giving and observing lessons in practice. In this way the communicative ability and the pedagogical and didactic skills are trained.
Obviously, understanding music, collaborating with a musical accompanist and being able to make musical choices related to technique are important elements in the development of a classical ballet teacher. Music is therefore a separate module within the NBA program.
In addition, extensive attention is paid to Pedagogy and Didactics within a module that lasts two teaching blocks.
We explore what it means to be a ballet teacher in the present day; how societal changes affect the responsibility of classical ballet companies and schools and the way they educate young people.
In the last module, given in collaboration with the Health Team of Dutch National Ballet, the mental health of young students, new insights gained from the sports world and measurements within ballet, both nationally and internationally, are discussed in more detail.
The student concludes the training with an essay in response to the challenging question: “What kind of classical ballet teacher do I want to be?”