Semaine 13

{sorry for posting so late, with Jeff's 30th bday this weekend, I got distracted}

~Monday Night~

I'm writing this on Monday night after my class with Constance Walsh - O.M.G. I. LOVE. HER. Kelly was right, she is the best teacher EVER! I know I said this after class with Clark, and while I do love Clark, I am so grateful and happy to have TWO instructors as my regulars whom I adore! Since I enrolled on Mondays at 6:15 PM, I'll have Walsh every week (weeeeeeeee!!!) and then on Thursdays as a walk-in, as long as I am free for class on Thursday nights, I'll have Clark! I'm so excited! BalletNova's motto is "Where you dance matters," and I'm seriously a believer! I think that Walsh's instruction and guidance will really help me. She smiles, she laughs and jokes around, but also comes up with challenging combinations and pays attention to every student helping them individually. When we were doing a reverse passé, she came up and fixed my heel so that my turnout was better (I had no idea I was doing it THAT wrong!), and fixed my hands in port de bras a la seconde (second position arms). No videos for this class, we didn't do challenging corner work. The more challenging parts were a developpe exercise that was just too complicated for my early-alzheimer's brain to handle haha... but it wasn't beyond comprehension... I was just too slow-minded that I would flub it every other attempt haha...

The best thing about Monday night class - A LIVE PIANIST! I seriously felt like I was in a class straight out of Center Stage:

Fast Forward to 2:55 and that was how our class felt with the live music! Sooo fun :) 

~Thursday Night~ 

So, Kelly didn't join me on Thursday night's class with Clark, which I thought was OK. Well, turns out I was wrong. Yknow when you have one of those days where physically you're present, but mentally you're spaced out completely? Almost every time Clark gave a combination to us, I would just NOT GET IT. It wasn't that the combos were HARD, my mind just wasn't there! It was so frustrating!! Since I'm not classically trained aside from what I've learned since this past June, I need the instructor to be specific about what the combination IS. The problem with Thursday was that she would step-through the first 1/4 of the combination and then change something up within it but wouldn't demonstrate it. Instead, she just used the terminology and that just messed me up because I don't KNOW ALL of the terminology. This was my first really truly frustrating classes at BalletNova. Sigh. 

After class I met up with Saki, my friend I met through Jeff, who helped mentor and guide me along this whole ballet journey (She's the one who teaches at Washington School of Ballet... She also hooked Jeff and me up with free tickets to The Nutcracker last Christmas!). We met up at the Capital City Brewery down in Shirlington and caught up. After talking about her new engagement, we eventually talked about my ballet classes. I told her about what I'm learning, how my bad class was that night, and then about what my plans were for the next year. She gawked at the price of classes at BalletNova ($329 for 18-ish classes, plus supplementing with $16/class for a second class each week). So, she suggested that after this Fall Session is complete, that I consider taking classes at other studios she has taught or has friends who take class. One of them is the Metropolitan Fine Arts Center and the other is The Ballet Studio (Saki used to work here and knows the owner really well). Both have recitals that include adult ballet classes! (exciting!) MFAC is $330 for a 30 class card ($11/class; no registration only class card attendance) and The Ballet Studio is $18/class for an 8-class card (more expensive than BalletNova). The only upside of The Ballet Studio is that Saki's friend teaches the Advanced Adult Ballet + Pointe class, which as an enrolled student is $325. This is for Fall, which is only Sept 10-Dec 15 vs. Sept 3-Feb 3 at BalletNova (Advanced Beg Ballet + Pointe would be $439, for comparison purposes). So it seems like once on pointe, BalletNova is cheaper. BUT, Saki said that her friend who teaches the Advanced Adult + Pointe class has only 4 students right now, and could give me a lot of focused attention to help me get on pointe faster. Lots to think about. For right now, I'm sticking with BalletNova. May as well, since my work schedule is all figured out with my Monday enrollment, and it's just too complicated to factor in starting at a new studio. Knowing me, I'd probably wind up at the wrong studio on the wrong day and miss out overall haha. 

Saki did mention demi-pointe shoes. I've never heard of them, but she said they are good for training those who have weak arches, to get on pointe. Since I don't have weak arches, she said I may not need them, but based on my quick google research, they help prep for pointe and get the dancer used to the feel of pointe shoes. Also, she suggested seeing Maggie from Washington School of Ballet when looking into pointe shoes, since she used to work in ballet retail. :) OMG now I am like... intensely wanting a pair just to mess around with hahaha... Found them online at Discount Dance and they are $25 a pair... omg I can feel my excitement grow =P Definitely stopping by the dance supply store nearby to get sized tomorrow, weeeee!!!!! OF COURSE, I wouldn't dare bringing these into class, lest I be judged or scoffed at! I'll dance in private in these. Yay.

Demi-Pointe Shoes

OK so throwback to early entries... 

New Terminology This Week: 

Echappe 

Assemble