Semaine 17

Sunday ~  From 11:30 AM-1 PM, I put on my big girl leotard and braved Advanced Beginning Ballet taught by Walsh. Yeah. Seriously. Thank goodness Kelly came with me, because I would've been in tears after this class if I was on my own, because I was stru-guh-ling! As you may recall, I felt this way after walk-in week with Beginning Ballet for Non-Beginners at BalletNova back in June, so I'm optimistic this will get easier after a few classes. Barre work was fun and challenging, but we did ridiculous center and corner work. In 1.5 hours, boy can you smush in a bunch of ballet!

After all of my confusion, I just HAD to record a girl I met in class named Rebecca, who was sweet enough to walk through the {corner} exercises with me after class was over. I'll include the videos only because it'll help me in the future, but ... a warning, these were done in the hallway since yoga was starting in the studio we were in, so she sometimes ran out of space.

1) Glissade-jete-hop... glissade (opposite)-jete-hop.... plie to the front, assemble, repeat.

2) Balance-balance-tombe-pas de bourre-glissade-saut de chat-glissade-saut de chat. (saut de chat was a new term for me, so I was all sorts of lost)

3) tombe-pas de bourre-pirouette (leg back) x 3, soutenu, plie front, pique turn.

Overall, the exercises themselves weren't hard, it was just the first time we'd been exposed to them, and we went really fast... If I recorded Rebecca with all of the centerwork ONTOP of these corner exercises, I'd end up with like, 10 videos from one class. Kelly and I will keep at it and hopefully keep improving!

PS. There was a mean girl in Advanced who Kelly {kindly} asked to scoot down a tad to provide more space for her (this girl was hogging two barres to herself), and this girl sassy-like said "um... NO." --- Did she say "sorry, I can't" or "No. I'm really sorry, I need...." Nope. This girl took up TWO BARRES for herself. Who does that? This was disappointing.

image courtesy of Vihao Pham Photography

Monday ~ 6:15 PM BBFNB class was good and fun! The Sunday Advanced class really helped warm me up for Monday's class, since the exercises in BBFNB were reminiscent of Sunday's class. I spoke with Walsh in between barre and centrework and thanked her for her patience with me in Sunday's Advanced class, to which she responded, "No, you were great!" :) She encouraged me to keep coming to Advanced, telling me that I'll get so much from the class from the repetition in the advanced level.

So, Kelly and I decided (we think) to enroll in the Advanced Beginning Ballet class in the Spring and take BBFNB as our supplement class (or maybe a second Advanced class). If you've been following my blog, you'll remember that I wasn't even planning on the Advanced class until the Summer session!

Good week for ballet!

New Terminology: 
Saut de chat

Semaine 16

I have sadly realized that I can't come up with a quote for each week because I'm not thinking about my blog during my class-- I need to work on that.

Monday night was the usual 6:15 PM Walsh class, and as usual, it was fantastic! We did a LOT of work in that 1 hour and 15 minutes! We practiced combinations with plié-pas de cheval (that horse kicking type of move that begins with a coupe) closing to Fifth en croix - front side back side then without a plié, and also while on relevé all en croix, and battément, dégagé, and frappé combos as usual. Other fun exercises were our pirouette exercises, complete with tendus and correct arms but only 1/4 turns at a time. Corner work was a balance-tombé-pas de bourré-chassé-souté arabesque exercise that we did about 6 times. Kelly wasn't at class today so I couldn't record the corner exercise, not that it's a new one, but I think it's starting to look better. Pirouettes are starting to get better, too. I can do a full pirouette while spotting and not topple over! Yaaaay...

Walsh, at least, came up to me and pushed in my butt/pushed my pelvis front and ribs in... I'm not used to doing that. Butt in? I'm used to my butt hanging out everywhere, so keeping it squished-in requires a conscious effort. =P

My ribbons, elastic, and pointe pillows came in the mail two days ago and I'm excited :) I'm not going to be wreckless with these pointe shoes when they come in (relax!). I'll slowly learn how to break in a shoe and get used to the feel of the pointe shoe itself by practicing tendus, rolling through a demi pointe, watching my turnout in them (since it's bound to be worse) and standing in susu (closed Fifth en pointe) while staring into a mirror practicing to keep my big old butt tucked in! The ONLY thing I'll probably do EN POINTE is stand susu and stand with one leg in attitude/coupé/passé getting used to balancing (while holding onto a ledge). I'm NOT going to try and pirouette my way to unconsciousness on the floor. Demi pointe shoes are $30/pair anyway, so I may as well get used to a real shank. Besides, I'm almost just as excited to practice sewing ribbons and elastic onto my beauty-full gorgeous shoes.

weeeee!!!!!

Tuesday night I went to Kintz-Mejia Ballet School's Adult Beginner ballet class with Vihao. The studio is actually in the same shopping plaza as my (old) LA Boxing gym. It was led by Linda Kintz (pic below). She runs a tight ship, like a ballet bootcamp! It was no-nonsense, no jibber jabber, smiling, laughing, or joking. It wasn't hard per se, just pure isolated exercises with corrections in technique throughout. It was really nice to actually be in such a strict atmosphere. It's not the confusing exercise you get lost in (like at BalletNova), instead, you just focus on your arms, chest, butt, going through your demi pointe and plié when landing jumps, and turnout.

I felt comfortable with class after the first 15 or so minutes not feeling exceedingly behind in technique, and the hour flew by. This sure as hell didn't feel like a Beginning ballet class! I sweated gallons and gallons which was great! My towel was soaked and it felt like I'd jumped into a pool, by the end of class.

The best part of it? After class, Linda introduced herself to me, asked my name and said, "You could get really good!" Wow, so reassuring and SUCH a confidence booster! :) She said she knew I'd done some dance before but wondered what it was and where I was currently taking ballet. It was good to know I didn't look like a complete goof!

I think that after this positive experience, I'm definitely open to returning for class on open days where BalletNova doesn't offer class for me.  Plus, I sweat a lot more at Kintz-Mejia. But, at $25 per drop-in... {{sigh}} my bank account will say *ouch*

Left: Linda Kintz, and Right: Mark Mejia and Linda Kintz

Owners of Kintz-Mejia Ballet School

Semaine 12 (Start of Fall Session)

Hellooooo!!!!!

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

Semaine 11 (Part One)

This post is going to be short and sweet - have to wake up at 5:30 AM for work in the morning! 

Tonight's class was Irina's Monday 7:45 pm class, but substituted by Leisel, the awesome sub from last week's Monday night class. I really like her and she has such a beautiful pointe.

I got to class about 40 minutes early (I had to pick up my car from the service center, which is close by and closed at 7 PM) so I had a long time to stretch beforehand. The Company dancers were warming up next to me, and wow - I have a long ways to go! You could just tell they're so good just by watching them stretch!! They were all thin, lean, long, and when they pointed their toes and stretched out their legs, you could just imagine how great their technique is.

I took a photo of my floor pointe so I could compare it in the next few months and see how much I have progressed. Here's my "semi-start pointe" in the first photo and then the second pic is of me stretching out my feet before class in the second photo. It's not very impressive... but it'll be a benchmark.
                                

One of the company dancers was able to comPLETELY bend her foot

So you see where the pink arrow is pointing to? This Company dancer could literally TOUCH that part of the foot directly to the ground where it was practically bent in half! **way farther than this foot**

I found this contraption online at footstretch.com that looks tempting..

 

At €133 (€98 for the foot stretcher + €35 for air mail) it's kinda pricey ($163.98) 

Anyway, tonight we did the really good pirouette practice for centrework, a glissade-jete-tombe-pas de chat combo, and then a repeat of the corner exercise routine from last week (I know I need to work on getting my arms better and looking less flimsy floppy and more crisp...?!)

I think Kelly and I are progressing pretty well - well, where we're keeping up with class where we are right in the middle skill-wise? Next class is Thursday 6:15 pm!!

Semaine 10

Monday Night Class: 

I'm sitting in my bed in the dark with my glasses on, hair wet, and with my laptop open. I am having a Carrie Bradshaw moment here, and it's funny how that's never crossed my mind before. I guess it's because I'm usually sitting on the couch when writing my blog entry.

Anyhow, this week is a Monday/Thursday combo, and tonight I just finished up my first of two classes. So this will REALLY be a two-part blog entry! Irina isn't in town this week or next week (sad) but the substitute instructor is still a good temporary replacement. She was the same instructor from week 1 for Perez, when she was in Argentina (or was it Chile?). Ontop of that, Kelly (my "bunhead buddy" I'll call her) wasn't able to come. I wasn't too nervous about going to class alone this week, which to me, is a sign that I'm feeling a little more confident with my technique and skills to keep up with the rest of class!

Irina Wunder (aka, best teacher ever)

Anyway, tonight's class was pretty easy. Barre work was for the entire first hour (which is more than usual) and centrework for the last 20ish minutes. Barrework was lots of dégagé, battement, coupe envelope (pronounced "on-ve-lope-ay") and  pirouette prep exercises, then barre stretches. Thinking back, it's hard to remember what took the whole hour! Centrework was really simple from my pointe (hehe) of view, which I guess means it was REALLY easy for everyone else! We did quarter, three-quarter, then full pirouette exercises and a soute arabesque combo with these running-leap things... oops, forgot to ask at the end of class what they were called. I guess I'll be asking my coworkers this week!

Oh something interesting - I met a girl in class named Joo. She's 22 years old and has been taking ballet with BalletNova for 1 year now, and before then, was only taking jazz (and at a different studio). She's taking BBFNB like me, and then also taking Advanced Beginning Ballet. She said Advanced Beginning is a pretty hard class, and she's one of the girls who totally keeps up with my class. I asked if she was going to take pointe soon, since she's in Advanced Beginning (the class you are required to take in conjunction with Intro to Pointe) and she said "OH NO!" and she said MAYBE in a year. She said that other girls ask the instructor (Constance) to see if they can begin pointe. So anyway, there's hope right? If she only started taking ballet 1 year ago and with the class I'm taking now, in a year I should be able to ask the instructor if I can progress to pointe. It'd probably help if by the Spring semester I can make it into Advanced Beginning. Hopefully my technique after the next semester (Sept 3-Feb 3) is up to par to advance. Supposedly you're required to take 2 classes per week with pointe (aka, Beginning Ballet for Non-Beginners, Advanced Beginning Ballet + Intro to Pointe). That's big bucks!

Last week I enrolled in Mondays at 6:15 PM with Walsh (BBFNB) and that itself was $329 for 5 months. If I enrolled in a SECOND class ontop of that (hypothetically if this was the POINTE semester), PLUS enrolled in Intro to Pointe, it would be an additional $329 (there's a small discount if you're enrolling in more than 1 class, but I'm not sure what that discount is), plus $100 for the pointe class. So that's $760! Yikes. =/ I guess I should try to work some overtime shifts at work and save up! At least I have time on my side... haha...

I'm getting ahead of myself... let's keep on practicing my turnout for Fifth Position and my simple single pirouette. As if that wasn't already hard enough!

Thursday Night Class: 

Carmen "I get down to business" Perez

Tonight's class was pretty good, a little confusing. Carmen goes through her combinations quickly but the tricky part is that she makes one tweak in the middle of the combo and I forget which direction to resume the normal part of the combo! So she'll do an exercise en croix with four frappes to the front, four to the side, four to the back, then back to the side with single single double-double, then four to the front, four to the side single single double double, then four to the back. Then repeated while on relevé. The combo itself isn't complicated, I think it's just that my short term memory lacks and I just lose my place in the combo forgetting which way to start again.

Centrework was easy, we did some pas de chat-pas de bourré-changement exercises, pirouette exercises, and then cornerwork (across the floor) was this exercise that I so poorly will demonstrate:

I messed it all up at the end with the pas de chat, nervous because the advanced intermediate dancers are trickling into the room and here I am doing a simple routine haha... anyway, the end would've just had a pas de chat executed with the correct foot leading! I need to work on not looking so much like I'm in karate class and be more graceful =/ oops. 

Semaine 9

Not as much to update this week, the class with Irina Wunder on Monday night (BBFNB) was similar in the centrework and cross floor exercises; pretty easy to follow! It was still pretty challenging don't get me wrong, there were unpredictable combos with frappes, battements (pronounced "baht-mahn") with interesting port de bras craziness ("go down, and then come up and then back around and toward the barre and away, and back to fifth" for instance). But the centrework was easy to digest, even after running to the bathroom to pee real fast (which takes a lot more time than you'd think, considering a sweaty mess of a leotard, tights, shorts, and tank top) during a 2 minute stretch break between barre and centre. Monday night's "intimidating" cross-floor exercise wasn't as scary as anticipated - it was the same combo that we did last week (not the pas de chat video, but the one with the balance - pronounced "ball-ahn-say," pirouette thingamajig). What a relief!

(my half-used 10-class card for BalletNova; why there are 5 classes for $90 and 10 for $180 is beyond me. Can't we strike a better deal for dancers with a higher level of financial commitment??

Thursday night is another night's class of BBFNB but this time led by the scary and non-smiling instructor Perez... dun dun dun! After being around Irina's cheery smiling adorably graceful Russian (?) instruction, I really am dreading feeling like a big dummy in Perez's class. I hope that I've learned something since my last class with her, so that I get some sort of positive feedback. I'd take Irina's tougher class any day compared with Perez's daunting glare of disappointment!

**update** Did not end up going to Thursday night's class unfortunately. I got my days mixed up (my Alzheimer's is probably going to start coming in right about now, early at age 28...) and thought tonight's class was ALSO beginning at 7:45 PM only to realize after Kelly texted me, that it was at 6:15. Fail. I would've been at least 15 minutes late and in the world of ballet, being late is a BIG NO-NO. However, today, my friend Megan and I watched Monday night's episode of Bunheads, so in a way, I got some ballet in, right? She did mention battements! :(

Next week is Monday night 7:45 PM AND THURSDAY 6:15 PM! Oh well, at least I still have my punches left on my card!



disclaimer: some of my ballet terminology may be a little off... our instructors for adults don't really harp on the names of moves, which is sort of a downside... I usually try to hold off and ask the instructor after class. However, if I miss my chance, I'll run it by a couple coworkers who know, like fellow nurse Cynthia and/or nurse practitioner Tammy who's incredible memories are still fresh with ballet terms as if they'd just taken off their pointe shoes! Please feel free to comment and correct me!

Semaine 8

Monday was one of two classes for this week's entry, taught by the tough instructor Irina Wunder (she's the one from the walk-in week class). I actually really enjoyed her class (even though the centrework and cross floor exercises were a little challenging). She's so sweet, smiles a lot, and is so beautifully graceful. Between Wunder and Perez, I think Wunder is really growing on me. The class was packed! There were about 20 people in this class, with one male dancer who's probably in his 30s who is really good. Andrea and another student Nobu were in this class. They were the ones in their 20s who just started ballet a year ago and are beginning pointe.

Here are some centrework exercises we learned that were particularly challenging to me, that I recorded of Nobu (in white top and black legwarmers) and Andrea. It'd probably be way too distracting to watch me in the video, since I would be doing a terrible job at doing them correctly!

Video 1: This exercise was a combo with chasses (I think?), balances, and pirouettes.

Video 2: This next video is a pas de chat and jete combo. "pas de chat, pas de chat, jete jete, pas de chat, changement" and repeat.

Tuesday's Basic Beginning Ballet class was - like before - easy. It almost exactly mimicked the first time I went to Basic Beginning during Walk-in week, complete with the identical cross floor exercise. It was a nice sweaty workout which was great, and I'm glad I had a second chance to stretch, strengthen, and refresh/reinforce some ballet terminology!

Another successfully sweaty week of ballet!

Semaine 7

So this week was tough after not having gone to class for a while.

This past Thursday was after I'd come back from Amsterdam at 2:30 AM (our flight from NYC to DC was cancelled so Jeff and I drove a rental car for four hours to get home) and class at 6:15 PM, with Perez. Barre work was tougher than usual, since 1) she went through the combos pretty quickly; and hopefully more importantly 2) I'd been away from the "ballet mindset" for a bit. After barrework, the centrework was terrifying! We did some easy combos like  degage en croix, but then we did exercises that start in fifth position, then continued with three glissades (going to the side while appearing like you're gliding, from fifth position, en changement) and then three Pas de Chat(s) (the "step of the cat," where the dancer jumps sideways) then end with a pas de burre then back the other direction:

(above) Glissade and (below) Pas de Chat

We also did these cross floor exercises with arabesques and pirouettes that I was horrible at! In my head it was like, "one, two, three - arabesque, down, arabesque, down. Releve, down (set-up for pirouette) and then pirouette!" again and again and back and forth. Oh it was just a hot mess! 

Well, so from 00:07 until 00:13 was almost like our exercise (it's hard to find on youtube and I can't record during class), except we did it in slippers, and a single pirouette (not triple). We also had some arabesques in there (as you can see from my 'inner' dialogue above). 

Things I need to work on BESIDES stretching my darn ankle, is remembering that for cross floor exercises, to not stop right when I get near the wall, but I have to stand in place and continue until the end of the exercise. I just stopped immediately when I got to the wall (I think it's a confidence thing. I just wanted it to be over!). I was sweating my butt off all class and my legs and back were sore the entire day after!

Man, it was tiring! 

Next week's classes are Monday (BBFNB) and Tuesday (Basic Beginning Ballet - for extra practice)! 

Semaine 5

Tonight was the official first class of Summer Session at BalletNova. The class was supposed to be led by Perez, but she was away in Chile, so a substitute instructor held tonight's class. It was surprisingly slower-paced compared with Wunder's super-charged class during walk-in week, which I REALLY appreciated as a confidence builder! We started off the class with exercises facing the barre with releves and heel presses in first, fifth and fifth with the other foot in front. Then we did some exercises beginning with tendu dégagé en croix (with passé when switching from front to side, or back to side) on both sides. Next were battement exercises ending in susu (closed Fifth position) and rising in port de bras First, and then Fifth, and then we ended with barre stretches. Next came - DUN DUN DUN... centrework.

Centrework consisted of tondu efface (with port de bras), chasse tendu dégagé to tendu passé (I think) and close behind, pas de bourre, and then repeat on the other side.

Next we did cross floor work with arabesques - and I was in the FIRST cross floor group (yay!)!

pretty arabesque en pointe (since everything looks prettier en pointe)

1) arabesques beginning with develope, then pique, coupe x 4;  (video below)

   

2) sauté arabesques (without the little jump after the arabesque); and 3) sauté passé arabesques (with the little jump after the arabesque)

We looked a little like this, haha:

I went to the public library today and picked up these two ballet DVD's to brush up on terminology while I'm away in Amsterdam next week. The first one is "Ballet 101:  A Beginner's Class", and the other is "Ballet Class for Beginners" with David Howard. BUT, the Ballet 101 DVD isn't working! Oh well, at least I'll have one to watch on my trip! 

There are two more DVD's I'm waiting for the library to transfer over to my branch: "Ballet 201: Beyond the Basics" and "Ballet Class: Intermediate and Advanced" with David Howard. Funny how it worked out that the first DVD's I got ahold of were the intro/beginning ones, and the ones that have yet to arrive are the intermediate/advanced ones! 

Jeff and I will be going for MicroStrategy's World Conference and he'll be busy working until Thursday the 12th. We're extending our stay in Amsterdam to sightsee, experience, and soak up some Amsterdam culture, so we'll be there until July 18th. While I'm there, I plan on going to the Amsterdam Dance Centre and taking a basic ballet class. It's a walk-in fee of 15 euros (about $18 USD) which is pretty reasonable (BalletNova's walk-in fee is $20 for non-enrolled dancers, and $18 for me until I enroll in the Fall, where it'll cost $16 per extra class). Here's the schedule for the Amsterdam Dance Centre (I'll be taking "Klassiek Basic" with Kiki Lorier)

 

I keep going on discountdance.com and lusting after these warm-ups: 

They're Harmonie's cactus/frost (far left) stirrup leg warmers to help keep my bum right ankle stretched, and Body Wrappers' Rip Stop Shorts that keep your hip/groin muscles warm during class, so that (hopefully) my turnout will be better. I still feel so far away from getting an acceptable-looking Fifth Position and even a good deep demi plie :( 

Til next week!

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