Semaine 4

Monday 6/25/12: 

I thought that the Adult Ballet class at Washington School of Ballet was advanced for a "beginning" class. Boy was I wrong... 

Tonight was my first class at BalletNova Center for Dance in Falls Church. The class was called Beginning Ballet (For Non-Beginners). I'd convinced my co-worker, Kelly (a physical therapist), to join me since she'd danced ballet for her young years. To my surprise, she was completely into it! She even stopped by Robcyn's to pick up some Capezio ballet slippers. :) 

Anyway so we showed up for class and after looking around us, I noticed about twenty girls in their 20s stretching in their ballet tights, leotards, and dance skirts, all outfitted and ready to dance. I tried not to think about how intense this group seemed compared to the group at WSB... It seemed intimidating! The class was nuts! It was super fast-paced compared to what I'm used to, the girls knew what they were doing ("Beginning Ballet" my pink tight-ed ass!) and they were great at it; graceful and extremely precise. The instructor wasted not even a minute before class started. No one asked questions, no one (except me) was confused with the combos. Complicated exercises I can't even remember the sequence let alone the names of some of the more advanced moves, and sweat dripping down my forehead and down my back was a quick realization that "wow and I thought I would take Ballet II by the Fall?!" Not so much. 

Centrework exercises were absolutely frightening. A handful of floor routines- again, that I can't even remember the moves for- put me at the slow end of class. In a group of about 30 dancers, Kelly and I tried to hide in the back. Then, the back row was forced to come to the front row - TERRIFYING. Not only was I probably one of the most inexperienced dancers in the class, but now I was practically leading it? I missed my WSB class desperately, where I felt closer to the top. The arm movements, the combinations, the foot placement, the WRONG foot placement, all of it felt all incredibly foreign.  However, it made more sense after the class was over, after running through the combos in my head. 

Kona, in Second Position

I called Jeff after class was over, telling him how embarrassed I felt and how I didn't know what class I should really be taking - Basic Beginning Ballet or keep going to Beginning Ballet for Non-Beginners. In the end, I think I'll stick with this class. It's true what Jeff said - Though I may feel confidence being one of the best in a Basic class, it may be so slow to feel like I am being challenged. It may feel like a waste of money. His analogy was Spanish Immersion - kids don't become proficient in Spanish by taking Spanish I, they get immersed in it and come out stronger. Besides, I already rearranged my schedule at work to accommodate BBFNB (my abbreviation for Beginning Ballet for Non-Beginners). 

Tuesday 6/26/12: 

I ditched my last Washington School of Ballet class tonight to go to the Basic Beginning Ballet class with Kelly at BalletNova. This way, I'll be much more certain that BBFNB is the class that fits me and my beginner-though-non-beginner skills level. Hopefully - HOPEFULLY - the class will be soooo remedial that I'll feel ok about being in the hard class. Class is at 7:45 pm-9 pm. Basic Beginning Ballet. 

As I'm writing this, I'm laying on my belly in the Frog Position (see the video in Semaine 3 "Improving Ballet Turnout" at the 1:22 mark) after noticing (for the hundredth time?) how horrible my Fifth Position is. 

**update** 

Yay! After going to Basic Beginning Ballet (for COMPLETE beginners), I feel good about starting BBFNB. The Basic Beginning Ballet class was really basic, and it was even a "moderately difficult" version of class for Walk-In Week. I felt proud to be able to say that I wasn't in the middle of the class, I was probably in the upper third of the class as far as skills are concerned. That being said, the upper third of the class comprised of 7 or so ballet students who have been taking ballet consistently for the past 1-2 years, who are even beginning POINTE this summer session. So BAM, TAKE THAT BASIC BEGINNING BALLET! =P 

Tonight's class resembled last night's BBFNB class, but at about half the pace and half the difficulty level, including the centrework exercises. They were slightly "dumbed down" to fit the pace of a Basics class. 

So anyway, after class I spoke with Madame Burnstein who led the BASICS class, and she said that Class #1 of Basics is much more basic than today's class, since the Walk-In Week is basically a snapshot of what's to come for that class, similarly to last night's tough class. It was a snapshot of the class as a whole, not necessarily the start pointe (heh) of where the class begins instruction. ADDITIONALLY, she said that Madame Wunder, who led BBFNB, is a notoriously fast-paced instructor (even considering the skills level of the class). 

After class was over, I also spoke with Andrea, one of the more advanced ballet dancers in tonight's class, about the general skills level of the classes. She mentioned that she, along with other more advanced students I've been in class with, have moved on to taking pointe (or close to it) and enroll in any and all classes they can (including Basics and BBFNB). This means that I'll be learning ballet alongside these advanced students, who are taking BBFNB with me just to keep their muscles/hamstrings warm and limber. Plus, she said that everyone is really really nice and really helpful and would NOT turn their noses up to the slower and less-skilled students (like myself). 

yay! 

My next class is July 5th, next Thursday, with Perez. So my Summer Session is as follows: 

Week 1: Thursday July 5th @ 6:15 PM (Perez)

Week 2: Amsterdam Dance Centre Thursday July 12th @ 5:45 PM

Week 3: Thursday July 19th @ 6:15 PM (Perez)

Week 4: Monday July 23rd @ 7:45 PM (Wunder)

Week 5: Monday July 30th @ 7:45 PM (Wunder) AND
             Thursday August 2nd @ 6:15 PM (Perez)

Week 6: Monday August 6th @ 7:45 PM (Wunder) AND 

             Thursday August 9th @ 6:15 PM (Perez)

Week 7: Monday August 13th @ 7:45 PM (Wunder) AND 

             Thursday August 16th @ 6:15 PM (Perez)

Week 8: Monday August 20th @ 7:45 PM (Wunder) 

Semaine 3

I got the pointe shoes from eBay... they were SO TINY! The Grishko size chart was way off, saying I was a size 3. I could barely shove my heel into the shoe and it felt like a Chinese Bound-Foot torture device! Ahhh! Returning them on Thursday, sadly. Today I did buy a wrap skirt from eBay, and I'm still waiting on a black one that's being shipped from China (eBay also).

Tonight I had class #3 at WSB. Maggie, our original instructor, was back from her NYC trip. Thank goodness! We did a lot of similar exercises as the first class this Summer, which was good to refine the moves that I know now. These are some videos of things we did tonight:

The video above shows grand battements en croix (front side back side), from fifth like we do in class. Ours just don't look as fluid haha... 

We didn't exactly passé up like this girl does, instead we started in fifth position, did a tendu with a dégagé with arms in second, then go into passé with arms closing, then dégagé arms out in second and tendu then closed. We did this en croix (to side, then back, then side and front). Most of these explanations aren't in detail, they're mainly for me to remember for when I want to work on this later in the weeks... sorry if they're hard to follow!

Dégagé: 

We did these jumping exercises in first, tendu to second, tendu to fifth (changement) and then again in fifth (changement), then we tendu to second, then first, and then finish in first.  

We did these other exercises I couldn't find videos for, where we began in port de bras (one arm up above the head, and the other arm out to the side) while standing in fifth position ecarte (the body is placed diagonally, to the 11 o'clock position). We would tendu (with the right foot) x 4 to the front, then change the arms opposite, then tendu x 4 to the side, change the angle of our head, and then tendu to the back x 4. Then we would do a tendu, then pas de bourre to end up ecarte in fifth with the left foot in front, facing the opposite side we started (1 o'clock position). Then we repeated that. 

To improve my fifth position turnout, she advised these stretches: 

Today, I caught up with Sake via text, and mentioned to her that I will probably end up enrolling in Beginning Ballet (for non-beginners) - an oxymoron- for the Fall, which is different than I mentioned in my first post where I mentioned that I would be taking Ballet II in the Fall. HOWEVER, I think it's probably better that I nail all the moves down in the Summer and Fall and then blow them out of the water when I progress to Ballet II next year. Who knows, maybe things will progress much faster for me than I am expecting, but I don't want to set myself up for failure, either!

Next week June 26th is my LAST class at Washington School of Ballet! BalletNova is also doing a Walk-In Week of preview classes, so I'm going to try to go to one on the 25th (Beginning Ballet for non-beginners), then the 26th is my WSB class, and then Saturday June 30th I can go to a Basic Ballet class (just to get some more ballet time, hopefully this is way too basic for me! I'd hate to go to a BASIC class and for me to be clueless!!)

Terms this Week: (I learned these moves before, I just asked what the terms were)

Changement

Enveloppe 

Developpe

Coupe 

Sous-sus

Here's a cute video I found describing most of the basics of ballet: 

Til next week!

Semaine 2

Last night, I bought a pair of brand new pointe shoes that I found on eBay... while it's completely premature and almost entirely silly that I got them, they were only $30 and in my size (well, per the Grishko size chart) so I couldn't resist! Jeff OK'd me in getting them, expecting I was asking for shoes that were over $200, so at $30, he couldn't say "NO" :) Anyway, they are Grishko 2007's (they got SUCH awesome reviews on Discountdance.com), in size 3XX (equivalent to a 6 medium width) with a super soft shank (reviews say I should get a medium, since the shank wears out really quickly even after a couple of weeks of classes). For my size, there weren't any other shanks to choose from. So anyway, the Grishko "2007" is here. So basically, for the next two years I'll just put my foot into the shoe and daydream until the day I'll actually be allowed to dance in them (if that day comes...). Ah, I need to be more optimistic! hahaha...

Grishko "2007"

Had class #2 tonight at WSB. There was a substitute instructor today, and she was a lot more difficult than Maggie (she's away this week), mostly because she was a lot more critical of every move I made - which was really good but I felt like I was a huge ungraceful oaf! I didn't realize how hard it is to keep your knees straight while in First Position and bend down to touch the floor WITHOUT your butt moving back; i.e. your legs and back form a 90 degree angle...

                   Butt and legs straight & perpendicular to the floor (Left) vs. Butt not perpendicular (Right)

I'm also really realizing that I need to stand much straighter, keep my butt in a lot more, and stretch my hips more. It's so hard to get into the real Fifth Position, that it looks ilke a Third Position that's brought in to the opposite toe vs. toe-heel bilaterally. (see below)

My Fifth looks more like this little girl's (Left), vs. with toes-to-heels on both feet (Right)

From my right ankle sprain in 2008 and again in 2011, I am really feeling its limitations when going into demi  and grand plies which reminds me that I need to work a lot harder on stretching out my right ankle before class, and probably every day. Last week, I got ahold of two TheraBands from the Physical Therapy department at my hospital and have been working on pointing my toes and building strength up. But, it seems like what I need to really work on is stretching out my hips to get that Fifth Position looking better! Well, now I know what this week's homework is! 

This week was stretching with the barre, tendu/battement en cirque, tendu/rond de jambe, and coup de pie! Not as many "new" terms this week, but I seriously need to start reviewing new terms with the instructor at the end of the class, so I don't forget their names!

Terms from this week: 

Frappe 

Coup de pie

Semaine (Week) 1

My story: I grew up figure skating from the age of 4 until 12, and finished my skating career with only a single flip, toe loop, camel spins, sit spins, etc. in my repertoire. During the summer between 5th and 6th grade, I attended Camp Ice Skate at Chelsea Piers in NYC with my cousin, Cat (who now dances en pointe and has for apparently, about 10 years!). At Chelsea Piers, I skated in the Level II-preliminary group, where we put on figure skating performances every two weeks, took ballet class, and attended small intensive skating classes every day for three hours. Between 2000-2002, I danced in a jazz/hip-hop troupe at Terry's School of Dance and Gymnastics with my high school best friend Lindsey. I then went on to dance for Dance2XS for two years while studying at Purdue University.

Terry's School of Dance

Showstopper's American Dance Competition 2002

(Lindsey and I are both in the ripped black tees)

I recall back when I was a sophomore in high school, my classmate Kristin, who'd danced ballet en pointe since she was 12 years old, gave me an old pair of her pointe shoes. They were an old worn-out and dirty pair of pointes but I didn't care. The excitement of owning pointe shoes - even if they were originally someone else's - was exciting enough at the time. I'd tie them up in my bedroom and attempt to stand in those painful-yet-beautiful pink satin shoes of torture while trying to balance on my carpet. Her foot was probably about 1.5 sizes larger than mine, so I stuffed some toilet paper or cotton balls into the toebox for cushioning. My "new" ill-fitted pointe shoes were the closest I got to my dream, but alas, it was not real.

Around that time, I fell in love with the movie Center Stage; it is still one of my all-time favorite movies. No matter how cheesy the script or how bad some of the acting was, I was captivated by the beauty and entire process of dancing en pointe.  I remember as Zoe Saldana's character, Eva, said at a company gala as she and the other ballet students tried to sell used performance pointe shoes of the famous Cooper Nielson and Kathleen Donahue to gala guests, "who'd want to buy a pair of someone's old stinky pointe shoes?" Watching the movie, I thought, Me! Me! Me! (that was back in high school)

These experiences would probably lead the normal girl towards ballet. Maybe I considered myself too old to start ballet, who knows now. All I know is that I've always wanted to be able to dance en pointe, and just never really went for it. Now seemed to be the best time if there ever was one!

Tonight is my first preview ballet class. I will be venturing out to the Washington School of Ballet to try an Adult Beginner's Ballet class, so that my friend Sake's coworker/friend/ballet instructor Maggie (both are retired ballerinas and both work for the WSB) can gauge my skill level.

I've read so many threads online about adults learning to dance en pointe after having zero-to-little ballet experience. Here's to hoping! My goal is within 2 years to advance to pointe. From reading threads about adults dancing pointe and after talking with my cousin about pointers, I've learned the following: make sure you join a studio whose instructors support adults progressing to pointe, and to stretch everyday for at least 30 minutes even when not taking class.

I want the bleeding toes, the bruised toenails... the aching bunions! =P  Sigh...

Update Post-Class #1: I loved it! The instructor, Maggie, was great! She's so graceful and so sweet. What I was impressed with was finding that the class was more advanced than a basic beginner's ballet class.  We weren't reviewing "This is First Position. This is Second Position." No no no, we were doing all sorts of barrework and centrework (away from the barre) exercises! 

Terms I learned tonight (please excuse my lack of accent marks): 

releve

tendu

passe (and also done on releve)

grand battement

tendu jete

rond de jambe

port de bras

adagio

demi/grande plie

dégagé 

preparation 

So after contacting BalletNova, a more local ballet studio recommended by Sake, I decided that once Summer Session begins (July 2nd), I'll attend Ballet I (for Non-Beginners). I also decided that until those classes begin, I'll continue attending classes at WSB for the next 3 weeks. Ballet I would continue through August 26th, and (hopefully) I'll be ready to begin Ballet II (advanced beginning ballet) in the Fall. Ballet II is the class you're required to take simultaneously with Beginning Pointe, but not after mastering Ballet II for a while. This would mean I'd probably have take Ballet II for another year or so, before I'd (again, hopefully) be "invited" by the instructor to begin pointe.. but either way I'm really excited! More details to follow. It's late and I've got my 2nd shift of the week tomorrow!