Day In The Life Of A Ballerina Rehearsing For Nutcracker

Hi my name is Maddison, I am a dancer at the Royal Ballet and I am going to talk you through a typical day in the life of a professional ballerina during this Christmas season, which is typically our busiest time of the year. It consists of back to back Nutcracker performances and rehearsals!

I usually start my day at around 7am, I wake up and the first thing I do is make my breakfast and a much needed coffee! A go to for any dancer at this time!

My commute to work is by tube which usually takes me 20 minutes into Covent Garden which is perfect distance for myself on busy days.

My warm up for class usually takes around an hour, I like to do some mat pilates and stretch so I feel super warm before my daily ballet class.

Our ballet classes each day are 1 hour 15 minutes and usually always start at 10:30am! We will then start our rehearsals from 12pm onwards!

So all our rehearsals tend to differ each day, for example;

I had a 1 hour rehearsal of snowflakes which is a beautiful corp de ballet piece in the Nutcracker, I then go straight into another 1 hour rehearsal of Waltz of the flowers. Which this year is very exciting as I’ll be making my debut as lead flowers!

Then I would have a 15 minute break which I usually grab another coffee and a protein bar to give me some energy before my next rehearsal!

After my break we could have another flowers rehearsal or Arabian, this differs each day. 

Our schedules are usually set like this and some days are easier than others! Inbetween rehearsals I usually book strength and conditioning sessions to keep up with my strength throughout this busy season to prevent myself getting injured. I also get a massage once a week as it’s so important for dancers to look after there bodies, especially at busy times like these!

We usually finish around 5-6:30pm, but on our busiest days in the lead up to Nutcracker its normally 6:30pm finishes!

I always love going home after a long day and making myself a big dinner to recover my body and help reset for the next day!

So this is a little day in the life of a professional ballerina during Nutcracker season… hope everyone gets the chance to come watch our magical and beautiful Nutcracker this year ❤️

Check out some more behind the scenes dance industry insights: Advice and Tips for Male Dancers

Get prepared for class and steal Madison's style; ballet shoes, dance leotard, ballet tights. 

12/12/23 

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