The Continuing Saga of Jamie's Ballet Lessons

[JamieG]

Hi Jamie - that was a great compliment. I got a similar one in dance class a few years ago. "Nice legs under the tights - too bad you can't get off the floor." - thus my amateur status.

That's funny. My teacher also gets on me about my inability to jump high.

Hey Jaime

Just wondering if there's and adults doing points work at your school? I know it'd just be the ladies, and there has to be a certain mastery to pull off the pointe work, but I remember a long time ago when in college I took dance classes I had a goal to get to the pointe of where I could audit a points class.

Well - needless to say it didn't happen. But just wondering. There have been schools where the guys can take pointe if they're good enough. Usually the smaller noble guys.

These are specifically classes for adults, so there's no special pointe class. I remember one session, one of ladies came with her pointe shoes and basically did everything we did, but just switched it to pointe as appropriate. I have heard of guys sometimes taking pointe, usually as a strengthening exercise or just to get a better sense of what their partners have to do.

[Sally24]

....... including the side splits. Initially, I stuck my legs out as far as they go with no strain, and my teacher walked over and said "You can do better than that," and started pushing my legs further (but still not to 180 degrees)...........She told me to take a breath and relax as I exhale, while she pushed me down another two inches. We did it again, and my legs slid out to a complete 180 and my nose and chest were flat on the floor. I heard gasps and "Wow!"

Was this a side split or a russian split? Either way I am very impressed! Just looked at some warm-up videos on Youtube and those splits just scream female to me. Wish I had the time and determination to do what you do, as I love dance. You go!!!

[JamieG]

I've had a few more classes since I last gave an update. I've been working a lot on my posture and the teacher is pushing us to do releve on demi-point (that means stand on the toes of one foot and bend the other leg to place its foot at your knee). I have a lot of trouble both with strength in the standing foot and with balance. I can tell my feet are getting stronger, but I've got a long way to go with balance. My other continuous struggle is dancing across the floor. I have difficulty with the transitions between steps at speed. When we take it slow and the teacher walks us through it, I get it. But when she turns the music on and we have to dance, it becomes a muddled mess. :-(

BTW, of the two guys who came to the first class, only one is still there. I'm guessing the other chickened out.

Sally asked:

Was this a side split or a russian split? Either way I am very impressed! Just looked at some warm-up videos on Youtube and those splits just scream female to me. Wish I had the time and determination to do what you do, as I love dance. You go!!!

It was a side split. I'm not familiar with the term Russian split, so I don't know how they are different.

[JamieG]

The last few classes have been very fast paced. By the end I am panting and drenched in sweat. Often the combinations include running across the floor punctuated by many leaps, and as soon as we get to the opposite side of the room, we line up and go the other way. I got really picked on during our last combination, which in laymen's terms involves a waltz followed by a sideways shuffle and a jump in place, then shuffle back and jump again, etc. For the balletomane's among you, the sequence was balance, balance, pas de bouree, echappe, pas de bouree, echappe, pas de bouree, echappe, pas de bouree, echappe. After a while, the echappe jumps get very tiring. At one point she stops the entire class and picks on me. She asks me to stand next to the wall and do a tendu (stretching out one leg in turned out position). She tells the class, "See that beautiful tendu?" and gets some oohs and aahs. She then asks me to echappe. I jump and she immediately goes "Bleechh! You need to use your tendu in your echappe." In echappe, you're supposed to jump straight up from a position where your legs are closed with one in front of the other (called fifth position), stretching your legs down as you do so, and then before you land your legs split apart so your feet will apart and facing opposite directions. Apparently I was not stretching enough at the top of my jump and she had me do it a few times until I got it right. At one point I joked, "Why do I have the feeling that everyone is watching me?" It's really difficult getting singled out like this, but the way I see it, getting personal attention is the best way to learn.

[CamillaCD]

I am with you there Jamie, doing ballet is not like a walk in the park! It is my way of keeping myself in shape.

[JamieG]

This week I finished my last class of the session, making it three years now that I've been formally learning ballet. I have definitely come a long way, but I also realize how much I have to learn.

Due to a missed class, I took the Jazz class immediately after ballet again, and that nearly killed me. We had an intense ballet workout, and then basically 90 minutes of fast-paced moving in Jazz. We learned a fun dance to a recent instrumental song (I don't know its name, but you would recognize it if you heard it). I started to wear down halfway through and made even more mistakes in a combo I was already doing poorly.

Well now it's a two month wait until classes start up again. I'm going to have force myself to practice on my own, perhaps with some videos.

[JamieG]

Our new ballet session started up a few weeks ago. The first week, the class was on the smaller side, only about 20, but there were two "other" guys there. We focused a lot on technique. I got a number of compliments from the teacher, especially on my plies and stretches. I got dinged a bit for not keeping my back straight (I tend to slouch in guy mode, and I'm hoping ballet will help with my posture). We did a lot of jumps at the end of class which was tiring.

I knew I was going to miss a week this month due to business travel, so I arranged to take my makeup early, and joined the jazz class afterwards. As always, this was fun but tiring. The movement in Jazz is much faster. In the class the teacher noted that I was doing much better with my back, which is a good sign. Although I'm not much of a Katy Perry fan, we learned a combination to one of her songs that was pretty fun. I actually did a pretty good job at it, until the second time through the song I started to get winded and goofed up more. I need to work on my aerobic conditioning (maybe I need some colorful leotards and leg warmers).

Earlier this week I went back for another ballet class. When choosing my dancewear before class, I realized I hadn't washed my usual alternatives, so I had to go outside my comfort zone. I used the black footless unitard I bought for my Catwoman costume, added white socks, and threw a white tee on top. We had a bit of excitement with a police presence outside the studio. Apparently there were some unauthorized persons on premises. Of course, there I was in my unitard surround by cops. Most uncomfortable, even if I was wearing track pants on top for travel to the studio. The paranoid girl in me was expecting them to say into their radio, "Ahh, I have a 10-94, girly man in unitard here. Please advise?" However, everything was cleared up, and we were able to get into the studio. The class was a bit larger than the previous week, although we lost one of the guys. We continued with a combination of barre work, floor work, and intense stretches. The teacher felt I was doing amazing with the stretches and commented on how far I have come in 3 years. I'm also making progress with my floor work. It's starting to come natural to me, although the fact that we are often repeating things I first learned in earlier classes is helping a lot.

[Sally24]

Great to see your updates Jamie! I just checked out a Zumba class(ya have to start somewhere!). I'm hoping to both lose weight and get more limber and flowing movement to my hips.

[Cam]

I spent 20 years as a ballet dancer with my career ending with a severe injury. Enjoy your classes and watch the changes in your body. You will love the long lean muscles you will develope.

[JamieG]

My ballet has been progressing well over the last month. In my most recent class, the teacher gave me lots of compliments, and when she gave me a correction, I was almost immediately able to fix it to her satisfaction. I seem to be picking things up more quickly; maybe I'm finally developing the mind of a dancer?

I was positioned on the barre next to a very limber young woman, and although we are cordial, I was picking up a vibe of competition from her. When we were doing our grand battements (high kicks) her leg got to a 135+ degree angle (pointing her foot up towards the ceiling, but a bit away from the body). It was quite impressive, and I found myself pushing my kicks higher (I maybe got 100 degrees, just above horizontal with the floor). When we were stretching, I pushed myself as far as I could go, which is better than most of the women in the class. However, after the stretch, she we into a front split. Showoff! Maybe I manufacture the "competition" completely in my mind, but it was a good motivator for pushing myself to do better.

Our center work included 16 changements followed by a polka and work on chaines turns again. I still struggle with spotting on turns, but I felt I made a little progress. Maybe by the end of the semester I'll be decent.

Now to respond to a few posts, I missed...

Great to see your updates Jamie! I just checked out a Zumba class(ya have to start somewhere!). I'm hoping to both lose weight and get more limber and flowing movement to my hips.

Thank, Sally. I look forward to hearing about your Zumba class. I'll bet it will be great. Ballet has been excellent for my flexibility and feminine movement.

I spent 20 years as a ballet dancer with my career ending with a severe injury. Enjoy your classes and watch the changes in your body. You will love the long lean muscles you will develope.

Sorry to hear of your injury Cam. I have been enjoying the changes, and hope to do ballet for the rest of my life.

[Sarah V]

Ms. Jamie: I have so much enjoyed reading this "saga" as it continues so well for you.

I too have experienced similar situations in my own adult recreational ballet classes that I ave taken for many, many years now. This has happened not only at my current studio, but where ever I have taken class where i have lived. I don't know if I would characterize your expeience as having "competition" or not, but I can tell you that you will find in some adult "recreational" ballet classes, women in your class who took ballet very serioulsy as children>>adolesents>>teens, and even perhaps into their college years before they stopped.

I am seeing many of these women coming back to class now that their kids are grown and they have time for it again. These woman are amazing to watch, esp. when they participate in a beginner/intermediate adult recreational class. They can/wil/do blow the other students away with their skill, and sadly, sometimes the instructors will spend much more time workign with and helping them with their corrections. To be frank, God & age has been very good to these ladies bodies and they have been blessed with great flexibility even as they have gotten older.

Sometimes, these women are so dedicated to ballet, it is their sport, their "thing", and they are lucky to have the time and situation to be able to develop their very advanced skills, but are in the adult class, b/c it is the only one that is available for them to participate in or it works with their schedule. One lady I remember came to an adult intermediate class I was in and did the entire class enpointe. Trust me, she made it well know to the class that she was taking 3-4 other classes a week (at another studio), and again, even though she was in her upper 40's she was blessed with a very slim body.

So, I guess what I am trying to say here, is don't let these ladies anoy you or take away from the fun and good times you are having in ballet class with them. For me they are an amusing distraction.