It's been a while since I've posted, and it feels even LONGER since I've been away from ballet. Thursday night (September 6th) was my first class since my last post (August 16th, Week 11) - THREE whole weeks of a torturous non-ballet "break." It felt so much longer, and after class it truly felt like I hadn't stretched in months. I went to visit my friend Laura in Indiana the weekend of August 24th, and before then, my mom was in town visiting so I didn't go to class. On the way back home from our Indiana trip on the 27th (Monday), Jeff and I stopped for a bite to eat in Ohio where we got T-boned on the driver's (my) side by an out of control Toyota 4Runner while we were stopped at a light. My car had to be towed to a nearby Auto Shop and has been there since. I suffered a minor concussion and back injury and Jeff had a knee sprain. The doggies were safe (thank GOD). Anyhow, even though I was in pain and unable to work- let alone go to ballet class- I was really sad to have missed $10 walk-in week classes!
Thursday night's class at 7:30 PM was with Carol Ann Clark, my favorite instructor (so far). This was my first class of the Fall Session (studio was closed Labor Day), so there were almost all new people in class. Advanced Beginning was also held at the same time so Nobu, Andrea, and Joo (and a few others), the girls we're used to seeing in BBFNB, were probably in that class. Class was pretty full, I think around 15 students - usually we have about 8 or 9. A few of the girls in class were part of Labor Day's make-up class, which explains the large size. Kelly and I fell in around the top part of the middle in terms of technique, I think?
Anyhow, Thursday night's barre work seemed moderately difficult, though it might've just been the time away from the barre that made everything seem harder than it was in reality. Getting our heads back into the game after weeks of fogginess was tough. Kelly and I felt our feet and ankles were just a-floppin'-aboot during the frappe exercises! The splits exercise was a killer- I think my hamstrings were woken up from their long slumber, cause they were aching the entire next day! It's kinda nice to go to class where you aren't necessarily learning NEW terminology. Instead you're cleaning up messy technique, which I was definitely working on. Centrework was kind of confusing. We did this odd combination of things that weren't even hard, per se, it was just a bit confusing... another was a weird jumping exercise. When things are confusing I feel old and mental haha...
The cross floor exercise was a grand jete one, super easy. However, after doing about 8 or 9 of them in groups of 3, a girl starts to get worn out! So by the time the video (below) was taken, this was attempt #14 (solo attempt post-class #5ish). The clip we recorded right before this, I nearly collapsed at the end, haha...
If you ever wanted to know what a Clydesdale horse sounds like in ballet slippers, you'll find out shortly! And I really can't explain my floppy hands. I need to work on: #1 getting up higher in my splits, #2 not sounding like a thompin' clompin' rhino, #3 graceful hands, and #4 maybe a smile or two would make it better. I wanted to start my grand jetes with a chasse, but since we didn't do that in class Kelly said I wasn't allowed to for the video.
Clydesdales doing Grand Jetes:
...Can't wait to get back into the groove!
Next week is Monday 6:15 PM (Walsh) and Thursday 7:30 PM (Clark)
Pug Grand Jete
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