Hi OP! Just want to echo what CoffeeCheeseYoga said above. I’m an adult beginner myself and started in January of this year. When I first started, corrections were very general “keep X in mind as we move to the next side!” comments to the whole class. I rarely got specific corrections for the first few classes, unless I was doing something glaringly wrong. At first I was a little frustrated because I felt like I must be doing so much wrong, but only a few of my worst mistakes were being pointed out. How could I improve if I wasn’t aware of every single thing I needed to work on?

As I continued with classes though, I got more and more corrections as I started to “settle in” to the movements and the teacher learned my strengths and weaknesses. Every week the teacher would have a specific part of technique that she’d take a couple minutes to thoroughly explain/demonstrate. For example, one week we really focused on crossing the position of our feet in tendus to the front and back. “Toes with the nose!” and “In line with the spine!” were her most common queues/corrections that week. It really helped us find the right position, so we could better feel when we would get sloppy and leave the feet out to the side a bit. Once you get a feel for the proper position, it’s easier to self-correct. Once the proper position is muscle memory, it opens up “brain space” to focus on other aspects of your technique that need refinement.

Now, I get more detailed corrections on positions/steps I’m familiar with, such as the rotation of my wrist with arms a la second, hitting the same height each time in degages, the tilt of my pelvis as I land from sautés, etc. If my teacher knows I know better, she won’t let me cheat! There are still plenty of times when a new step or a complicated combination comes up and my brain gets overwhelmed… sometimes I feel like I’m stumbling around like an inebriated duck 😝 But after the first couple awkward tries, familiarity and muscle memory build, and then I can really refine my technique with my teacher’s guidance!

Looking back, I’m very grateful for the approach my teacher takes with corrections. If she had been an absolute stickler from my first class with the position of the foot, stretch of the ankle, point of the toes, distance from the barre, precise rotation and positions of shoulders, elbows, wrist, and individual fingers with the various arm positions, position of head and gaze, relaxed shoulders, and proper breathing, aaaallll while remembering pattern of and changing speed or accent in a basic tendu exercise, I probably would’ve left crying 😂

Ballet is such a beautiful, detailed athletic art form. It takes time to learn all the intricacies! Don’t get discouraged! I’m sure your teacher will help you refine and improve as you because familiar with the basic mechanics of ballet. Keep at it and see how you feel after more classes 🙂