Handy

Well, it's somewhat by accident that I get to shoot ballet. My girlfriend tap dances and her teacher is the main choreographer for the local Nutcracker ballet and I kind of worked into the opportunity.

I shot about 500 pictures at the dress rehearsal for the most recent Nutcracker. It was tons of fun. I got to go wherever I wanted, and just tried to stay out of the way. No flash. Maybe you could volunteer for some ballet organization where you live to do some of this. BTW, if you do get the chance, I had generally good luck shooting two stops underexposed at ISO 1600 wih my 5D.