Learning Ballet "in Layers"
When it comes to ballet, you never stop learning. Even professional dancers take class daily, partly to stay in condition, but partly to continue their learning process. In ballet, there's always something to fine-tune.
Just doing the simplest ballet movements, involves a multitude of demands on your attention, concentration and coordination. This is part of what makes ballet such a great exercise for both your body and your brain. For example, the diagram below shows all the things this dancer is thinking about, just while performing a simple demi-plie.
So, what should you do? First, take it easy; give yourself credit for trying and just enjoy the process of learning. Next, think of ballet as something that you learn "in layers." Pick one or two aspects of the combination you are working on -- like what your legs and feet are doing -- and focus on them. After a while, those aspects will become second nature and you won't have to concentrate as much on them; then you can direct your attention to other aspects of your movement -- like what your arms and head are doing.
Remember what it was like when you were a child learning to write? First, you had to learn how to hold your fat No. 2 pencil. Then it took all your concentration just to shape the letters on the page. Later, you concentrated on making the letters consistently sized and spaced. And after you accomplished that, you directed your attention to writing faster. Before long, writing became second nature and your hand just wrote what your brain was thinking. Like magic!
Take the same approach in your ballet class. Start by focusing on just getting the basic movements down. It's doesn't matter if things are a little sloppy; you're learning. Later, as you get better at the basics, focus on fine-tuning other aspects of your movements. You'll be surprised how much of the ballet technique becomes automatic. Soon it will be something that you just feel and don't have to think about. Like magic!