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!