It’s All About the Music

I’ve been feeling a little “blah” about ballet recently. It’s the weirdest thing, since it’s my one hobby that I’m super passionate about. Is it boredom? Is it because I am preoccupied with my thesis and graduate school final review (I graduate next Friday, y’all– yay!)? Is it because I’ve not been able to make class every single week, so my body/technique isn’t getting stronger? Maybe it’s because my knees are starting to give me problems. Whatever the reason– I’ve been feeling quite “meh” and not able to get my head into the game.

Today in class we had a different instructor– and he did something interesting. At the beginning of class, we spent 20 minutes doing some stretching and floor barre that felt really nice. What really struck me about it though was the music. For once it wasn’t boring ballet piano music (because my goodness am I tired of THAT!). It was a variety of orchestral, asian-influenced music along with some slower songs that were extremely slow, emotional, but powerful. There was something about it that really gave me that bit of… whatever I needed. Even though we returned to ballet piano music afterward, I still felt more energized than normal.

How about you? Does the music used in class affect you strongly? What is your favorite type of music to hear in ballet class?

Easy Brisé… Beautiful?

The brisé. Why is this seemingly simple step SO difficult?! The moment the instructor announces, “And next, brisés,” everyone groans inwardly. I can hear it. Even the super professional level girls are like “gripegripegripety-gripe.”

That looks so easy, right? RIGHT? I don’t get it. Assemblés took forever to master (and I use that term loosely). Now my brain is like, “Um, you said an assemblé, right? Right? That’s what you SAID, right– cuz I can’t do this other thing. It’s DIFFERENT and backward and WHAT IS THIS I DON’T EVEN…” when I do brisés .

In the meantime, since my post on extension, I’ve totally been stretching everyday, and I’m starting to make some flexibility progress. I’m pretty flexible as it is, but I wanted to work on it some more. I’ve also been doing my extension exercises and they’ve been… going. That progress is going to be quite slow, I can already tell.

Who Put Cement in My Breakfast?!

A delightful pastel piece by “Barbymae” on Wet Canvas.

So last week I couldn’t go to class because of scheduling issues with Neighborina. We went this morning, and let me tell you– it was one of my worst classes in a long time. I was just straight up TIRED. My body was not responding the way I wanted it to. All of my strength was gone, my legs were heavier than usual, and even though the combinations were moderately challenging, my body just glared at me and said, “Whatever. I’m not doing this! Not even the easy stuff!” I couldn’t keep track of the combinations, and all of my usual strength and pep was completely absent. I just sweated and winced and struggled. I doubt anyone in that room would have believed that I’ve been dancing for a long as I have. What the hay?!

I figure it’s partly to do with missing a week of class. I think it’s also because overall my lifestyle has changed since I’ve moved here to Burbank. I’m not walking everywhere all the time, and I have access to all sorts of junk food that I didn’t used to. I’ve started feeling icky (um, and gaining weight too). I’ve been consumed with finishing my graduate thesis, and not doing things the way I usually do them. Graduate school– ruining lives since the dawn of time!

I can’t do too much about it until my thesis is over (May 7th! D-Day approaches!!), but in the meantime I’ve decided that this is no good and I need to put the brakes on my habits. I’ve also got a new 1.6 mile walking track picked out, and I’m gonna start doing it every day because walking was my main source of fitness in San Francisco. I gotta get my strength back! Encouraging comments always appreciated!

On Extension

This girl ain’t me. I can hardly hit 90 degrees on a good day.

There are days where my body just hates me in class. It’s amazing how I can visualize myself moving a particular way– even FEEL it, to a point. But then when I try to go do it, it’s as if someone cut some of the communications lines between my brain and my body. Today was one of those days. In particular, my extension was bothering me. Normally I don’t worry about it as much, but when you’re in a class with girls who are consistently hitting over 90 degrees of extension, it gets to you.

It doesn’t help when the instructor points at you and says, “At least 90 degrees, please.” I winced and smiled apologetically, and then my leg twitched in an attempt to go higher. I was à la seconde, and my leg just wasn’t getting above 50 degrees. “Higher!” she requests, and my leg barks back “Oh no, really, I couldn’t. No I mean really. I couldn’t.” I apologized for my leg’s bad manners, of course.

I know that extension is a tricky beast. It uses your quads and your turnout muscles– pushing your leg into the air by rotating it from underneath is not really an easy thing to understand, much less actually do. The instructor came over and held my leg, poking at my hip and tell me to relax my hip joint and push from underneath. I did it, she smiles, and then lets go of my leg, expecting it to magically stay in place. Aaaaaaaand of course my leg just slowly sinks right back down to where it was, giving her the side-eye like no one’s business. (Why does my leg have eyes? And for that matter, why is it talking? Just roll with me here.) I should get leg warmers with this face printed on them: ಠ_ಠ

It’s like I was born with cement blocks tied to my feet. LIFTliftliftliftliftandnowsinkingsinkingsinking… fail. Maybe it’s time to make a concerted effort to improve my extension instead of just hiding in the back of the room and quietly reprimanding my 300 lbs appendages for not doing what I ask them to. Hm!

O Studio, Where Art Thou?

Hooray! I finally have a new leotard

So after a bit of an adventure, I think I’ve found a new studio here in Los Angeles. There are tons and tons of studios here because LA is full of actors/dancers/ singers/hordesoftalentedpeople, but I have some requirements and limitations! I know, I know, I’m picky. Whatever, I’ve been dancing for a long time now, I’m allowed to be! My major limitations are that 1) I don’t have a car and 2) I am low on funds (story of a graduate student’s life) and so I need to find affordable (read: approx $15) classes that are close by.

The first studio that I tried is sorta close to me, but there weren’t any bus lines going directly there. That means I’d have to bum a ride from someone each time or walk about 40 minutes, and either option would get old quickly. The studio itself was AWESOME– super luxurious dressing rooms, great dance floors, the price was right, and they had a friendly staff. The lockers were free to use, and they had showers, hair dryers, moisturizer, the WORKS. The ballet instructor wasn’t someone that I jived with, though. She was a delicate, delightful dancer. However, she seemed more interested in showing off her “I still got it!” skills than actually teaching her students. If we didn’t understand something, she didn’t really break it down or explain the technique behind it. Also the label of “Beginner” class was completely incorrect. She had long, complicated combinations that no truly beginner level dancer could handle. I asked her about it after class, and she told me that all of her classes are pretty much the same level. Hu-what? How does that even work? She was the only instructor available too, so I decided that perhaps I’d try out some other places.

The next place I wanted to try was really exciting because it was within walking distance from my house. It was a Russian style school (and I’ve mostly studied ABT style), but I didn’t want to let that deter me since I already had limited choices. I walked in to get more information, and was immediately put off. The front desk girl was friendly enough, and the sign said they had “adult” classes, but it wasn’t the normal adult type of school I was used to. Drop-in classes were $20 a pop (WHOA), and in order to bring the price down to a slightly more manageable $17, I had to enroll in a weird payment program that included a once-a-week schedule that didn’t allow for makeups if you missed a class. Well that just stinks. Not to mention there was a color-coded leotard dress code (!), and you had to take a placement class to be put into the proper level (!!!!). That translates to: I’d end up in a class with 12 year olds. NO THANK YOU.

Finally, I lucked out. Turns out my new downstairs neighbor used to be a dancer, and was looking into going back to classes. She mentioned a studio that I’d spotted, but was over in North Hollywood, so it was beyond my reach. The price was right, and they have ballet classes at our level every morning. So Neighborina and I went to check it out, and lo and behold– EXACTLY what I was looking for!! I’ve gone about three times now and had two different teachers. The studio floors are a bit icky in some places and the classes are typically crowded, but the vibe is laid back and the instructors are focused on teaching. I also investigated, and there is a bus line that runs directly from my house to the studio, so that’s a nice perk too. I forsee it becoming a problem when I get a job– their ballet classes are only in the morning, and a work schedule would conflict with that. For now, however, it seems to be working just fine!

I was truly spoiled rotten up in San Francisco. I hope to be able to explore more studios in the area once I get a job and therefore a car.

Diablo Web Ballet– “Flight of the Dodo”

I’m excited to announce that two* of my suggestions ended up being chosen for the Diablo Web Ballet I mentioned a few weeks back. How exciting! I’m actually flying up to San Francisco this Friday specifically to see the performance! The title of the piece is named the Flight of the Dodo and came together from quite a few interesting suggestions:

@MangoJMango: The story of the Dodo Bird, birds who can’t fly and became extinct.
@BlondieBallet: Feel of piece: Deliberately ironic.
Susan Weber: Include at least one moment that you hope the audience will find hideously ugly… another evoking awesome beauty… investigate their similarities and differences.
Leslie Udland: Setting: Insane asylum.
Cheyenne Rosenfeld: Initiate movement from shoulder blades.
@JoieArt: Other ideas: The color turquoise.
A hand-written suggestion by 10-year old Mia Fuerte:
“I would love for the dance to be in the safari. The boys will be animals and the girls will be explorers.”

I’m especially fond of the little girl’s written request. I really am enjoying the way that the choreographer, Robert Dekkers, brought the seemingly random suggestions from social media together to form a cohesive idea. Now that takes some skill! Check out the first few days of rehearsal on Youtube:

If you’d like to see the official Diablo Ballet page on the ballet, please click here. Also, my wonderful dance instructor from San Francisco, Carla Escoda of Ballet to the People, wrote a great article on it for the Huffington Post– check it out! I’m very excited to see the performance on Friday!! Thank you, Diablo Ballet, for putting together such a fun event!

*Both Twitter accounts @Blondieballet and @JoieArt are mine– one is my main personal account and one is just for ballet. I would’ve sent all my suggestions through my ballet Twitter, but had a TweetDeck failure that sent it from both.

Ballet-iversary Again!

This isn’t me, but it might as well be. I do this on a regular basis.

Rats, I missed it again! December 1st was my 7th year Ballet-iversary! Wow, does time ever fly. Now if only *I* could fly… my grand jetés would be a heckuva lot easier.

So Happy Ballet-versary to me! Time to eat lots of cake in celebration! Err… I mean dance. DANCE in celebration.

Accidental Double Pirouette

An accidental double pirouette kinda sounds like some sort of strange injury when taken out of context. Anyway, I did one of those in class yesterday. I was doing this great series of turns, and then all of a sudden– WHOOSH! Twice around! It was a majorly exciting moment. Of course my instructor wasn’t watching. That’s always how it goes– no one ever sees the awesomest moves!

Another fun thing that happened in class yesterday was being allowed up on pointe without a barre for the very first time. It was scary because in my head I was like “ZOMG WHAT IF I FAAAALL?!” But then I didn’t, and it was magical. All I did was take steps across the floor, but it was a LOT of work. When I first started taking pointe back in May, I had no idea how much strength was actually required. It’s an absolutely insane amount of work.

Obviously I’m still around, too! I had a superbly busy summer full of traveling and work, but I still danced when I was able. I even dragged my little brother to his first ballet class– and he ENJOYED it. I win this time around, Blondie’s Brother!

So Graceful

I used to be the most clumsy clod on the planet. I have hypermobility syndrome, which tends to bork your kinesthetic awareness (translation: I tend to have no clue where my arms/legs are, and thus they constantly get smashed into things and trip over themselves). I used to tragically (or epically, depending on your viewpoint) faceplant all the time. Heck, once I banged my shin into my bedframe and managed to somehow fracture my shin without noticing… until it occurred to me that I had a bruise for over a year with a raised lump underneath. Whoops.

So, am I about to tell you how ballet has transformed me into a graceful princess? HAH! *snort* No, instead I’ll give you an example of how becoming a ballerina has marginally improved my ability to avoid being injured.

Today I was walking back to the dog groomer to pick up my super adorbs corgi, when suddenly, an uneven portion of pavement at the juncture of a curb LEAPT out and attacked me! My foot tipped, my ankle gave, and the curb was sailing toward my face! It was certain doom! Then, miraculously, my ankle righted itself, my core tightened, and my knees pliéd like a smooth, well-oiled machine! My arms flew out to a shoddy, half-arsed first position, and my palms just barely kissed the concrete. I then stretched out of what looked exceptionally like a grand plié, standing straight and tall. The two shocked men chatting at the newsstand actually clapped.

And THAT, ladies and gentlemen, is why I do ballet.

…

… ok, one of the many reasons.

The Mazurka and Pointe Shoes

>>Very slightly broken in Capezio Glisses I was fitted for in 2008.

In class yesterday, we did a Mazurka. It’s quite possibly one of my favorite ballet movements, now! The music was great too– it was quite easy to imagine myself performing on a giant stage with lights, a peasant costume, and everything! That sort of moment is one I live for in ballet class.

I also may have converted another friend into a ballet buddy. I brought her to the beginning ballet class last night because she was curious and interested. For not having done ballet since she was five, she was pretty good at it. She seemed like she had fun too; that’s always the most important part! I hope she joins me again soon. Ballet is always 2x as fun when you have a buddy that keeps you on your toes (pun intended).

A few posts ago I mentioned that I finally got graduated to pointe, and I’ve officially been able to work it into my ballet schedule twice a week, now! It’s just a short bit at the end of my Tuesday and Friday classes, but it’s very gratifying. For the first time since I was fitted for pointe shoes, I’ve been able to use them enough to know what sort of changes to make to them. I’ve learned that I need to loosen the drawstrings and reposition the elastics to work better on my feet. I’m also currently using gel pouches as my padding, but they may not be the perfect thing for me. I still get a lot of pressure on my big toe, so I might need slightly thicker padding there. I feel like beginning pointe is a long string of trial and error until you find whatever works the best for you.