Ballet practice outside of lesson time

[NeedMoreTea]

My son is currently studying grade 3 ballet, he attends 2 classes a week. We're not pushy parents, but he doesn't appear to be progressing to the next exam level as quickly as some of his peers, and I'm wondering if this is because he doesn't practice at home outside of his lessons. So could any of you tell me how much ballet practice your children do outside of class time?
We have not been given any guidance by the ballet school he attends.

Does he want to do ballet? Often if children are not practicing it is largely because they are not enjoying something. How keen is he to continue?

Does it matter? Is he training at professional level of us he doing it for fun? If it's as a hobby then leave him to decide just how much he wants to do. Ballet training is good for posture, discipline, confidence and many other things. But if it isn't fun then he'll soon give up.
I danced when I was young and am mother of 2 dancing daughters. We all did it for fun, nothing else. I've seen the "dancing mothers" always comparing and pushing their kids. Please don't be like them. Allow him to enjoy it and progress at his own pace. If he's happy, that's all that matters.

When I was a kid/teen I used to practise for hours at a time, in my room or using the bannister as a barre(I had a CD and the syllabus for my grade)...but I wanted to.

My flute I'd mainly practise if DM reminded me or we had a concert coming up soon.

My daughter is in a grade 2 class and doesn’t practice outside classes . Saying that though she’s losing her passion for it so don’t think she will last much longer . She does practice her gymnastics so can tell she prefers that .

Well if course he would need to practice outside of lessons.
He maybe just doesn’t want to.

At grade 3 two lessons per week is plenty.

If he’s not practising, it’s because he doesn’t want to. He may just enjoy the classes but not be that into it. You can’t force it.

DD is doing grade 5 and does 2 lessons per week plus a stretch class. She only does it for fun with her friends really so no practising at home.

DD, 18, is grade 6 and she rarely practices outside of lessons. She does stretch work at home sometimes.

Is he only doing ballet? Or other dance subjects. A lot of dance schools (who do more than one subject) only have 1 ballet lesson per week at grade 3 and when they get around grade 5 that's when they introduce 2 lessons per week.

Sounds quite pushy to me! Why does it matter?

How old is he? Maybe it just hasn't occurred to him to practice at home?

Ask him if he wants to so he can progress more quickly, and if he does get him set up with a barre/ mirror etc.

*practise doh

Thankyou for all your replies.
We have never pushed him to do the ballet, he chose to do it after his sister started, then carried on after she decided to stop. He's tried other extra curricular clubs and ballet is the only thing he ever wanted to do. In fact we check every year to see if he wants to continue as the lessons are so expensive.
The reason why I asked about home practice is that he has commented in a disappointed way that some of his peers have progressed up to the next grade. He is an introvert but quietly competitive.

A lot of the kids at his dance school appear to be super keen, and I was paranoid that many of them might be doing extra practice at home. It's reassuring to hear that's probably not the case. DS wouldn't instigate home practice himself as the call of the games console is too strong.

Perhaps it might be helpful to remove the games consul. These things are highly addictive and as a parent you should be only allowing short periods of gaming. Sounds like he has unlimited access to the consul if he prefers to do that than practice.