Returning to Relevé

"Plié is the first thing you learn and the last thing you master." -Suzanne Farrell This has always been one of my favorite dance quotes, because its so true. Throughout my dance training, teachers have always emphasized how important a good plié is. When I was teaching, I really made an effort to pass that advice on to my own students, though I don't think I really realized how far reaching it is. I'm currently struggling with an uneven plié and its making my life difficult. The flexibility of my right ankle (that'd be the Ankle of Doom ) still needs work. I can't get the same deep plié I can get on the other side. Landing jumps doesn't have the same squishy feel, and in pointe class recently, I struggled doing a simple tendu fondu to sous-sus en pointe (which requires a bit of a spring)--it was such a mess! I felt like I just could NOT push off the floor enough. Not to mention my complete inability to get off the floor for petit allegro. It's b...

As many of you my know, World Ballet Day was last week, and like any proper ballet nerd I watched parts of the stream throughout the day. At some point during the broadcast, one of the hosts mentioned something about the Australian Ballet and relevés. This sounded vaguely familiar, and Googling brought up this video with Dr. Nancy Kadel briefly talking about it , and I recalled discussing it with my own dance PT. The theory is that doing 24 relevés (one foot at a time in parallel with control) helps build the calf and lower leg muscles thereby preventing injury and things like posterior impingement (oh hey!). During the Australian Ballet's broadcast during World Ballet Day this year, they also talked about it a bit, and showed the company class actually doing the relevés before leaving the barre (they have since removed the video, grr). Doing rises/relevés is actually part of my PT regimen, but to be honest I've been a little more lax about it lately because of the flare...

Does anyone else LOVE corrections? Well, it turns out that I really do. I've been getting increasingly frustrated over the last couple of months because the current teacher of the advanced class, while complimentary of my dancing, does not give me corrections (and Lord knows I'm not perfect). She'll sometimes give other adults corrections, but mostly she leaves us alone and concentrates her efforts on the teens/kids. Which makes a certain level of sense. I mean...she can't train any of us adults towards a goal like YAGP, or for auditioning to be in a professional ballet company. But that doesn't mean we don't want to be better dancers. In addition, she's been obsessed with choreographing a piece for the summer show so we haven't been doing much center work. We've also been sharing the class with kids, because attendance has been sparse. Barre and anything we do in center is fairly simple. Personally, I like having something to focus on, somethi...

Sometimes I see a fellow adult dancer go crazy town and DO SO MUCH (i.e. take classes at multiple studios, in multiple dance styles, every day of the week), and I start wonder to myself if I'm doing enough/dancing enough. Then I remember how easy it has been for my body to freak out and develop issues ( ahem ) when I overdo it. My body is not the same as their bodies--mine gets grumpy pants if I don't rest. (As an aside, will I ever outgrow this comparison crap? UGH.) But it makes me wonder. Fellow adult dancers, how much dancing is enough dancing for you? I realize that your answer will likely depend on why you dance in the first place; maybe even your "dance goals." As an adult dancer who wants to continue to perform (while I can), I find that I want to dance as many hours as possible so that my technique continues to improve and I stay strong, but not overdo it. Dance is also my happy place, the refuge where all my real-world adult troubles disappear. I...

Sorry for the radio silence, y'all!  I've been pretty busy and haven't had a proper chance to sit down and blog, which of course means that I have a backlog of things to say (this is a little long). (Also, apologies for my liberal use of gifs.) Teaching Update Because of the whims of fate, I have suddenly found myself teaching three days a week! The teacher of the tiny pre-ballerinas got injured, so the AD took over and had me assist her teaching the class. After only 1-2 classes AD decided I was fine on my own and let me take over--eep! On top of teaching them three days a week (there are 3 different classes--so many precious tiny ballerinas!), I have also had to come up with new dances for each class to do for the spring recital. I have no experience choreographing whatsoever, so that has been a bit of a learning curve. Luckily, this is the 3-5 year olds, so the steps are very simple, and they're cute no matter what they do. Class/Rehearsals As for us "b...

We just finished a two week Spring Break, and I actually (gasp) took a break. I decided that if I wanted to be able to do pointe for our spring show, I should probably let my foot rest. The latest news on that front is that it seemed to be some peroneal tendonitis, which is an overuse injury (everyone is shocked, right? haha). Besides the increased pointe in class, I have been walking more than usual, and because I walk turned out and supinate (all of which is bad), I think I aggravated that entire area. Le sigh. In completely non-foot related news, I am still struggling with finding something both comfortable and flattering to wear for classes. I mean...I don't mind wearing leotards and tights, but the leg holes of many of my leos squeeze things a little too much for my liking, which makes me feel like they don't fit and, therefore, aren't flattering. It's a little frustrating. I also continue to hate normal tights and how the elastic forever makes me look like a sau...

As I had predicted, the steroids the doc gave me for the foot didn't help much. I saw him again and he felt around more, finally finding the sensitive spot just behind my outer ankle bone (the lateral malleolus for those of you who are medically inclined.) Seems like it may be my peroneal tendon/muscle, which is an overuse injury (of course). It can also be caused by tight calves (which the doc noted I had while he was flexing my foot around), so I have lots of stretching and massaging in my future. Also, super sexy KT taping! I did the math, and I was definitely dancing more in the winter, but I am doing more pointe which does a nice number on the calves, so I think that's my problem. I'm going to have to be religious about massaging and stretching my calves at night. Things that are worrying me, though? Our spring showcase. As of discussions right now, I may be in as many as NINE numbers (two tap, three ballet/ballet-esque, and four jazz!) AHHHHHH.

My stupid ankle/foot is bothering me again. It feels very similar to the problem I was having over the summer, so I saw the foot doc again. This time he thinks it might actually be my sural nerve, but I don't really feel like that's it because I don't get any weird tingling or numbness. It's more of an ache/pinching feeling? Sigh. However, because it seems like my calves are forever tight (I had problems with shin splints early on), I asked if tightness in my calf could cause problems in my ankle and he said yes--tight calf muscles can restrict ankle mobility(!) so that's also a big possibility (yay relevé!)  Time to break out all my self massage tools and see if that helps. And maybe one of these fancy calf stretching deals: (They had me use one during my PT recovery for my knee injury a few years ago and it was the best thing ever). In any event, whatever this is seems to be pointe related. I've come to this conclusion because during the ...

My first teaching experience went pretty well, though I could tell near the end (before we played a ballet version of charades) that the girls were getting a little bored. They were very well behaved (likely because they're not sure what to make of us yet, heh), but I still want them to have fun, so we'll have to see what we can come up with to make things a little more exciting. I also somehow ended up teaching the beginning/intermediate adult class when the teacher had to cancel last minute. I only had three students (all of whom I've taken class with), so it was relaxed and quite fun. They were good sports, and I have a suspicion that I might like teaching adults over munchkins. I said something about it to the AD later, and she kind of smiled and nodded and said, "Everyone is different." It's obviously very early in my teaching experience though, so time will tell.

The AD of the dance school I attend has been hinting that she thinks I should try to teach. I was hesitant, because I've never taught anyone anything before, and ballet can be kind of complicated. I've found myself with much more free time than usual, and when she asked again, I decided why not? So another student teacher and I have been assigned a class together (ages 7-10ish). I'm both super excited and nervous. We went over with the AD all the things we'll work on, things we'll introduce later, things to watch out for. It's a lot, but I'm looking forward to making up combinations and digging up fun music. There are way more results on iTunes than I expected... I'm also finding myself wondering what kind of resources there are for a beginning dance teacher? Are there manuals/books for this kind of thing? Will I be able to break down steps in a way that is easy for a 7 year old to understand? Will I be able to make the class both fun and disc...

As previously reported, I am a right/clockwise turner , so you can imagine my surprise the other day in pointe class when I managed a lovely pirouette to the left, but barely turned at all to the right. I don't...what? I don't even know. My problem on the right is that I just don't seem to GO anywhere--it's like I lose all my momentum. I suspect that I'm springing up onto pointe too much on the right side, but I'll have to ask my teacher about it. SO WEIRD.

Sometimes I get frustrated with myself, and generally its because I'm doing that horrible thing I think a lot of dancers do, where I compare myself to others and always come up short. I think many of us are perfectionists, and so we get ourselves into trouble when this kind of thought process starts (me especially, as I have a history of low self esteem and eating problems, boo). (Under a break because this is LONG.)

I was cleaning out my dance bag the other day, and started thinking about how personal a dance bag can be. Some people have small tote bags and only carry the necessities (e.g. tights, leotard, shoes), while others (like me) pack every possible thing they could ever need. In my defense, the dance studio I attend has an actual "dance bag requirements" list for the advanced students, which does actually include me (unlike the dress code). Subsequently, I have a giant dance bag filled with a ton of stuff: The whole shebang.

I'm trying yet another new pair of pointe shoes, this pair recommended to me by a shoe mistress from a professional ballet company. They're a Freed Wing Block, size 5.0 XX. Wing Blocks have hardcore shanks, and one of my issues with the RPs (according to the shoe mistress) was that they weren't conforming to my arch properly, and were restricting my technique. She recommended that if I wanted to try the Freeds, I should 3/4 the shank, and suggested I practice on some old pairs to work out exactly where it should hit my foot. Cutting shanks is not an easy-peasy chore, let me tell you. I experimented on several different pairs (two different old pairs of Blochs, and the RPs) and it was sort of fascinating how different the shanks were in each pair. The Bloch Heritage shank, cut and beveled Alas, those shanks did not prepare me for the Wing Block shank. While I was able to cut ALL of the aforementioned pairs with a Stanley utility knife, that knife (and my fancy Bok...

During a meeting between the advanced class and the AD recently, someone suggested that we add a stretching class after one of our technique classes. All of us loved that idea--it would give us a chance to work on our flexibility while we were nice and warm, and relax a bit as well. Well, apparently we got the wrong idea, because this class actually happened, only it was called "Strengthening, Conditioning, & Stretching," and involved lots of unpleasant things like jumping jacks, planks, push-ups, crunches, and lunges (oh, and a little stretching). I am not here for this. Now, on one hand, I like the idea of conditioning and working on my core so that I can balance and turn better and so forth, but I've already been feeling a little bit like I'm overdoing it (and my body is telling me I am correct ). I can't help but think that doing 100 jumping jacks is not going to improve matters. In addition, I dance (or take dance-like classes like Zumba) because I ...

I've always been of the opinion that dancers are strong, and therefore (as a dancer) I probably have more strength than the average person. Apparently I am not nearly as strong as I supposed. In fact, I would venture to say that I am pathetically weak. This is a slightly distressing development. As I mentioned in a previous post, I've started taking some aerial silks classes. I expected it to be difficult, because I knew going in that I have no arm/upper body strength. I didn't expect to discover that I have absolutely no core strength, and lack some degree of leg strength (specifically the inner thighs...which was unexpected to say the least since I try to be conscious of using my turnout muscles in ballet class). I have a perfectionist sort of personality, so its frustrating for me when I'm not automatically good at something. Silks is something I am not automatically good at. Everyone else is class is able to climb, wrap their feet in without hands, and hang up...

My apologies for the radio silence for the past few weeks! I haven't had too much to report because we've been in the "calm before the storm," period of the fall session, gearing up towards preparing for our Christmas show. We just had auditions, and rehearsals will be starting soon.  Here comes the crazy! (In case you're curious, I didn't [have to] audition; they just throw me in the corps, which basically dances the entire show. It's exhausting but fun!) I started up back on pointe again last week (I've been easing up to it so I don't irritate my foot), and did about half a class (both because of caution and comfort). I'm going to have to build up my pain tolerance again, it seems. My poor, neglected RPs. I have been up to some other shenanigans, though. One of my co-worker buddies has been taking aerial silks for several months now, and has been trying to convince me to try it out. A couple of weeks ago, I went with he...

I think most dancers favor one side or the other when turning, and a lot of us seem to favor turning to the right (clockwise), including myself. It doesn't matter what leg I'm actually turning on, but if I'm going clockwise, I can turn pretty darn well. I've even managed some consistent triple pirouettes and consecutive fouettés in that direction. I was having some major problems with the left (counter-clockwise). Doubles were sloppy at best, and there was no way I could manage a triple. We won't even talk about my fouettés on that side (ugh). I was getting frustrated, and the mental roadblock wasn't helping. So I started going through my mental list of what I was doing on the right that I wasn't doing on the left. First major difference? For some crazy reason, my foot moving up into passe was taking its sweet time. Adjustment #1: Hit passe more quickly. When I do right turns, I mentally visualize my opposite side coming around to help me turn (i.e....

As I've mentioned before, my current ballet studio has a set dress code for its students. Each level has a specific style/color of leotard that they're required to wear for class, and there is a no skirts, shorts, or pants rule (though they're okay for jazz).  There are only two exceptions: Adult students (18+) can wear whatever they want (and men/boys obviously have different rules). It's that time-o-the-month. I attend class with the intermediate/advanced teenagers (aka: Grade V, even though we don't follow a syllabus), and that class also has a set leotard (a black Capeizo BraTek).  However, because I'm over 18, I can (and do) wear crazy leotards, shorts, skirts, and leggings. My bin of (crazy) leotards. The girls are mostly in the 12-16 age range, so they're at that point where they're getting uncomfortable with their changing bodies and want to hide them. This results in semi-sneaky attempts to wear shorts in ballet. Each time the ward...

Classes started up again yesterday, and apparently I have no self control and am an overachiever. It started out mildly enough.  I attended the normal intermediate/advanced class, only doing limited relevé, and did not jump (much to my sadness--sitting out of grand allegro was a little painful).  This class is followed by pointe, but because none of us are on pointe at the moment (everyone has been on break), it ended up being another class (except with tons of relevé--which I did not do, save for some turns and balances).  Despite my (poor) attempts not to do too much, things were a little achy in the foot when we finished. So, when I got home I took some Advil, and iced it in a bucket of ice water.  Happily, I don't seem to have done any major damage--I did a small rise on both feet this morning and it didn't ache (whew). I really have to remember to ease back into things properly and SLOWLY.  Which means both taking just ONE class a day, and fewer class...