Semaine 18

Monday night's class was the most. fun. class. ever!! We had really fun and great barre exercises, a center pirouette exercise along with developpé-pas de bourre tournet exercises, and best of all, we had a ballet dance off at the end of class! It was like a dance off-relay-type thing. The whole class divided into four groups of 6-8 people (yes, class was huge tonight), and each group went to the each corner of the studio. At the start of the music, one person from each group would move in a huge circle doing souté arabesques around and around and around. When that person came back, we traded off with the next person in the group, sort of to see which group finished first. Lots of cheering and clapping, it was just a lot of fun! No video footage. Kelly wasn't at class, plus it's really inappropriate-slash-frowned upon to whip out the iPhone in the middle of class -- which is why all of my videos are post-class. The other centrework exercise we did was

I've been wearing my pointe shoes around the house to break them in, and I'm getting a lot more comfortable standing en pointe and tournet.

They're starting to look a little worn, so they are extra beautiful now :) I'll have to admit, most of the worn-look on my pointes has come from the photo shoot and walking outside in them, hehe... they are pretty nonetheless...

Thursday Night's class was pretty standard, there were only 5 people in attendance so it was a pretty intimate group of adults. I guess Constance Walsh takes the cake for the popularity contest in terms of ballet instruction for adults, since her class was PACKED with people this week.

Anyway, tonight we had some pretty mild run-of-the-mill barre work, but a couple tricky barre exercises that included a developpé/reverse developpé, then degagé exercise that was a bit confusing, pretty fast but easy to catch on after the first round, and a fun temps lié-tendu-flexed foot exercise.

Centerwork consisted of 1/2 pirouette exercises and developpé/passé exercises that really made my thighs burn with long holds! The corner exercise was a super easy routine two-step then grand jeté jumps. It was pretty strange with only 5 of us, because there were very few distractions and quick turnaround for the next person in line! All around, a pretty good week for ballet. I kind of wish that last night's class was a little bit more of a challenge than it was though...

On a sad note, I think I'm catching a cold :(

New Terminology from Week 17 that I forgot:
Temps lié - where there is a transfer of weight from one leg to the next with a plié

Pointe and Shoot

I had a fun little photoshoot for my blog the other day with our wedding photographer (and friend) Sara Liu. She does fantastic work and these photos just captured such adorable doggie moments :) We were trying to incorporate the whole "From nursing clogs to pointe shoes" theme so that I could have a new fun banner for the page.

Thanks Sara!!!
(Visit Sara's photography page LeeLiu Photography to view her beautiful photos and even request her services!)

Adorable Mei-Linh (L) and Kona (R), my little pug supermodels :) 

You can find a barre just about anywhere!

I ADORE this one so much, but I wish Mei-Mei was in the picture too. She was left out of this one :( 

Sara said, "this picture has so much going on!" 

haha... pointe shoes, stethoscope, pug, me in the background in scrubs... <3 <3 <3 it!

awwwww... 

Pugs, nursing, and pointe. What's not to love?! 

Poor Mei looks like she's got seasonal allergies and is about to sneeze

I think this is the one I might end up using for the blog banner. What do you think? 

...or this one, but my pointe is just so bad, so I hesitate posting this one on the banner. 

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 15 (Part Deux)

OK, so Jeff and I made it back from Ohio at 4:40 PM, so I had time to relax with the doggies and then get to ballet class! Vihao came, yay!

So, Thursday night's was @ 7:30 PM usually with Clark, but we had a substitute. It was the most awkward class I've ever been to ever. Ever. While I'm sure the instructor is nice outside the classroom, she didn't come off very friendly. She didn't really smile. Also, her exercises were "meh" alright, not difficult. She had the exercises listed on a piece of paper and there was just an extremely awkward length of time where she spent reading the paper then figuring out how it worked with the music. I dunno, it was just really awkward.  I hate to say it, but it didn't quite feel like it was worth the $16 on my 10-class punch card. While we did do a fun barre exercise where we basically walked down the bar starting in Fifth, tendu front, then lunged (I'm 99% sure there's an official ballet term for this but I couldn't tell ya), then up to passé with the back leg, close front, then again x 4. Then we took the inside (barre side) leg tendu back, then turned the other way and did 4 of the same exercise again. I didn't feel like we did very CHALLENGING barre work, overall. Centrework was better but still not without awkward silence. We had jetes across the floor from the corner, but it was also awkward because she seemed very indecisive of what she wanted us to do... I missed Clark. Looking forward to Monday's class with Walsh (or hey, I'd take Shu-Chen if she were around, she was awesome!)!!

I forced Vihao to take a picture with me since I haven't given my blog readers anything of substance to watch/look at like photos or videos (sorry, corner exercises haven't been very exciting, so I haven't wanted to record), hahaha. Vihao didn't want to record our jetes but that's ok, I was kinda just ready to go home after the class. Anyway, to the right, a fun picture pretending we're pas de deux partners. But in the hallway... oops.

So I met Vihao two years ago through my husband Jeff, since they work together at Microstrategy, Inc. in Tyson's Corner. We've spent some time in Amsterdam on a trip for Microstrategy, at lunches, weddings, and other events, but we never really got to talking about ballet.

Jeff just recently formed an informal P90X workout group at Microstrategy in their gym and Vihao joined Jeff probably about a month ago. So, I found out that Vihao has been taking ballet for 2-3 years at the Kintz-Mejia in Vienna, VA. He got into ballet classes after being hired for a lot of ballet photography sessions at the studio, and has since then been hired out for two-hour sessions with ABT (American Ballet Theater), for Dance Spirit magazine, and personal shoots. He continues classes twice a week at Kintz-Mejia. Now hopefully I've found another ballet buddy :) I think I scared him away from BalletNova though, because the class was so awkward a big adjustment from the comforts of his studio. I hope he comes and tries a Monday class with Walsh, because I love her classes and the live pianist really makes it a lot more exciting.

If you want to see some absolutely gorgeous photos of ballet dancers, check out his Facebook page or his personal website, Vihao Pham Photography.

Some of my favorite photos from Vihao's collections:

I love photos of pointe shoes and the colors here are so vibrant

Dance in the City photoshoot in NYC

I love this picture, dancers in real life settings

just plain pretty!

Beautiful work!

New Terminology from 9/27:

soutenu

tour de reins

PS: Have you noticed the new blog banner? Jeff was working on making on an improvement without my knowing and I love it :) I have such a supportive husband! Thanks, Jeffrey!

Semaine 15

This week's schedule is probably only going to be the Monday class, since Jeff and I have to go back to Ohio on Thursday to collect our repaired car from the 8/27 accident. If he and I make it back into town before it's too late, I'm going to try to make it to class. Jeff's coworker Vihao, who has been taking ballet at a studio closeby, wants to join me in class to see how my studio is, so hopefully we make it back into town so he and I can go together! In his words, we will try to do a "student exchange" program, where I'll take a class at his studio (Kintz-Meijia Ballet Academy), too. It's always good to try out different studios I guess, to see if one fits your needs better, and it also would help to see where my technique is at in comparison. His classes are Beginners on Tuesdays and Intermediate on Wednesdays. Right now my schedule won't fit in with his, since I work on those days, but I think every now and then I should have a day free to drop in!

Anyhow, this Monday's class was great. It was led by Shu-Chen, the Gin Dance Company founder and artistic director. She was fantastic! She has beautiful beautiful feet, was funny, and had challenging exercises that were all doable but took some getting used to. Constance Walsh was out of town for some ballet conference thingy I think. But it was definitely a pleasure to take class from Shu-Chen and I hope she comes back some time soon!

Pictured: Shu-Chen

Today I did a goofy thing... and it stems back from when I did the LAST really silly dorky nerdy goofy thing. I bought pointe shoes. I know. I said it. I did it. I went to the dance store nearby and got fitted for pointe shoes, telling the manager/fitter that my "instructor gave me the go ahead for the Spring" <-- not true. I guess I COULD say that Saki is my "other instructor," and she would've told me to just get fitted so I can see what brand works for me so that when the time COMES, I would know... so I went based off of that. Plus, what's another 5 months after when I told the lady I'd start pointe? =P So anyway, I tried on Bloch, Chacott, Grishko, and Russian Pointe. The best fitting pair were a pair of Bloch Serenades, 3.5C. This wasn't terribly off of the Grishko 2007's that I got off of eBay back in my early blog entry, since I ordered a size 3 back then I think, based off a size 6 street shoe.. However, the lady went by my ballet slipper size (6.5) so a 3.5 was the best fit. I guess ballet dancers have real narrow feet sometimes, because I'm considered a C width and I have pretty narrow/regular feet in my opinion.

Click here to see the Serenades on Discountdance.com, here's a pic though:

OMG aren't they pretty? These (both photos) are the exact ones I got, a 3.5 C =) Preeeeettty pointe shoes. I got 'em on eBay for $35 with Free Shipping, woot! 

Rolling up to pointe in the Blochs (and all the pointe shoes I tried) was actually really easy and was a LOT MORE COMFORTABLE than I expected! It was easy to go to susu (closed fifth position en pointe or demi pointe) without holding onto the barre. I didn't passe in them in the store but it was so fun to wear them and roll up to pointe and not feel like I was torturing my feet! Fun Fun Fun! Can't wait to get 'em so I can take some pictures and practice some controlled moves in them...muahahaha... I know this is somewhat disrespecting the art of ballet, but I'm way too impatient to wait until next Fall. At $35, I don't mind getting re-fitted in a year and getting different shoes. 

...So now I'll need to get some elastic, ribbons, and lambswool toe pads. =P

Bloch makes an Elastorib ribbon (Right) that has elastic positioned where the ribbon would wrap around the achilles' tendon, which reduces the occurrence of tendonitis, a common problem with ribbons tied too-tightly around the ankle. On the left are pictured lambswool toe pillows.

My goodness, I am just hanging my head out of shame for myself. Hahah... 

New Term this Week: 

pas de cheval: 

"step of the horse," where the dancer does a coupe then a small developpe and tendu back into the starting position. 

Semaine 14 - "Don't Crush your Tutu"

I think I'll try to come up with a funny lesson/quote that was said in class, for each week. This week's was "Don't crush your tutu!" said by Walsh, in describing how we use our arms and not dropping our arms too low, and not swooping up and overdramatically with our tambe.

"Don't crush your tutu!" There are way too many adorable pug tutu pictures on the internet... 

I have a hard time choosing which one =) 

Mei-Mei is definitely going to be a ballerina for Halloween this year!

Monday Night @ 6:15 PM - Walsh

Monday night's class was with the wonderful Walsh! Again it was a pleasant experience, I sweated my tutu off haha... nothing exciting to show in a video, so Kelly and I didn't record a clip. Hopefully Thursday's class will have something exciting... if anything maybe I'll have her take a pic of me in the splits? This week for corner exercises all we did was a tambe-pas de burre combo and then a soute arabesque one. Not that thrilling, it's nothing we haven't done already.

Video clip of assemble, from last week's centrework exercise

I called Art Stone Dance Supply (the one I got my leotard from back in June) if they carried demi pointe shoes. Unfortunately they don't (sighh...) I may just get a pair off of discountdance.com then. What I think I may do is go to the store, ask again (pretending that I hadn't already), and when they say no, I'll ask if I can get fitted into Sansha's (link click here) anyway so that I know what size I am since they don't carry them and that I'll come back for my pointes in the future. =D Maybe they won't hate me too much. That's my goal for Thursday, my next day off. They're only $25.20 and are the better of the two that can be purchased on discountdance.com, since this one has a wider, more square box/pointe.

Comparison: 

Left: European ($29.95), Right: American ($25.20). Note the one on the right has a more square box, and the one on the left is a smaller box that is tapered at the toe. I like the one on the right way more. 

Thursday Night @ 7:30 PM - Clark

Class was fine, nothing new or exciting to be learned, except for when Clark uses me as the example before a floor routine, I completely screw it up and look like I'm out of my league in that class hah. We did pirouette exercises again and when I get used to the way she does a certain exercise, I assume it's the same routine the next time. Even if I listen to her, I'm not paying attention to her change up the exercise. So of course, when she said "plie, quarter turn," knowing it was a pirouette exercise, I still did the "preparacion" which was plie - passe - plie, quarter turn. NOPE! Wasn't paying attention. Additionally, with my old woman mind and muscle memory, when she told me to reverse and go the other way, I still did the preparacion. Dangit! {hand slaps forehead}

I really didn't feel like videotaping any of the corner exercises they weren't exciting. All it was, was a chasse grand jete - step - grand jete, and the other was a soute arabesque exercise we've done in the past. 

That's all for this week. Hopefully the week of September 23rd is more exciting! Depending on if Jeff and I have to fly to Ohio to get the car, I may or may not be able to attend class on Thursday. :( sad. 

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

Fall Ballet Schedule

Oh gosh, so I was just working on my Fall ballet schedule - a total of 43 classes! Look at this sucker:

Walk-In Week: $10/class
Mon Aug 27th @ 6:15 PM (Walsh)
Thurs Aug 30th @ 7:30 PM (Clark - she's awesome!! my fave)

Fall Session:

(All Mondays are enrolled with Walsh)

September:
Thurs Sept 6th @ 7:30 PM make-up for Labor Day (Clark)
Mon Sept 10th Enrolled @ 6:15
Thurs Sept 13th @ 7:30 PM (Clark)
Mon Sept 17th Enrolled @ 6:15
Thurs Sept 20th @ 7:30 PM (Clark)
Mon Sept 24th Enrolled @ 6:15
Thurs Sept 27th @ 7:30 PM (Clark)
Fri Sept 28th @ 6:30 PM (Burnstein)

October:
Mon Oct 1st Enrolled @ 6:15 PM
Thurs Oct 4th @ 7:30 PM (Clark)
Mon Oct 8th Enrolled @ 6:15 PM
Thurs Oct 11th @ 7:30 PM (Clark)
Mon Oct 15th Enrolled @ 6:15 PM
Thurs Oct 18th @ 7:30 PM (Clark)
Mon Oct 22nd Enrolled @ 6:15 PM
Thurs Oct 25th @ 7:30 PM
Mon Oct 29th Enrolled @ 6:15 PM

November:
Thurs Nov 1st @ 7:30 PM (Clark)
Mon Nov 5th Enrolled @ 6:15 PM
Thurs Nov 8th @ 7:30 PM (Clark)
Mon Nov 12th Enrolled @ 6:15 PM
Thurs Nov 15th 7:30 PM (Clark)
Mon Nov 19th Enrolled @ 6:15 PM
CLOSED FOR THANKSGIVING
Mon Nov 26th Enrolled @ 6:15 PM
Thurs Nov 29th @ 7:30 PM (Clark)

December:
Mon Dec 3rd Enrolled @ 6:15 PM
Thurs Dec 6th @ 7:30 PM (Clark)
Mon Dec 10th Enrolled @ 6:15 PM
Thurs Dec 13th @ 7:30 PM (Clark)
Mon Dec 17th Enrolled @ 6:15 PM
Thurs Dec 20th @ 7:30 PM (Clark)
BALLET STUDIO CLOSED CHRISTMAS 24TH-26TH
Thurs Dec 27th @ 10 AM and 7:30 PM (one Christmas make-up and one extra class; Perez/Clark)

January: 
BALLET STUDIO CLOSED DEC 31-JAN 1ST
Thurs Jan 3rd @ 10 AM and 7:30 PM (one New Year's make-up and one extra class; Perez/Clark)
Mon Jan 7th Enrolled @ 6:15 PM
Thurs Jan 10th @ 7:30 PM (Clark)
Mon Jan 14th Enrolled @ 6:15 PM
Thurs Jan 17th @ 7:30 PM (Clark)
Mon Jan 21st Enrolled @ 6:15 PM
Thurs Jan 24th @ 7:30 PM (Clark)
Mon Jan 28th Enrolled @ 6:15 PM
Thurs Jan 31st @ 7:30 PM (Clark)

For the most part, two classes per week. I can't wait until Fall Session is over so that I can consider taking Advanced Beginning Ballet in the Winter/Spring Session! 

Description of Ballet II (Advanced Beg Ballet): 
"Must have at least 2 years of Ballet experience. This is a good level for non-beginning dancers unsure of their level, those returning after some time away from the ballet studio, and those confident at the Beginning Ballet level. Dancers should have a full understanding of ballet terminology. Students can expect a full barre followed by center with pirouette combinations, petit and grand allegro with 1-to-1 and 2-to-1 foot jumps."

I recall that Nobu only has been dancing ballet for a year, but is taking a couple more classes per week. She'd only been taking Ballet for Non-Beginners (BBFNB) for 2 sessions before starting Advanced Beginning, so maybe Spring/Winter will be it! Maybe I'll have to wait til next Summer session to feel more confident to start it but I must ...