Sunday, January 15, 2017

On a roll

Does twice in two weeks count as a streak?

I made it to class today. Even got there early enough to get my "regular spot" at the barre. The ladies at the front desk clearly recognize me, but I've been coming too irregularly for them to remember my name. How quickly fame fades!

I think I did reasonably well. A few twinges in my forefoot when pointing really hard, but otherwise no cramps or other nastiness. I'm not expecting more than a little stiffness in my legs tomorrow, unlike last week where I could barely get up and down steps until Wednesday. We still seem to be in the early part of some nominal semester, and I'm going to try to not miss any classes for a while. Some things my brain remembers how to do my feet seem to have forgotten, but nothing that won't come back with a little practice.

My balance seems to be pretty good and my turns continue to improve. One of the key things I'm learning to focus on is staying upright -- the more "vertical" I am the better my turns are. This also seems to be true when merely balancing in arabesque and attitude, and especially so during a slow promenade turn.

The instructor has begun to offer me more corrections, and even tease me a bit in class. This is a good thing, by the way. Maybe she's forgiven me for my transgressions.

I made the comment to someone (not someone from this studio) that I was going to sit and decompress after class for a bit. She replied that ballet classes were decompression for her. Frankly I was a bit nonplussed by this. Ballet doesn't come naturally for me, and requires a lot of concentration. It's also completely different physically from anything else I do on a regular basis, so it's quite a workout for me too. I would have expected someone who has taken ballet in the past to understand better.

5 comments:

  1. "I would have expected someone who has taken ballet in the past to understand better."

    Ohhh, you feel misunderstood? LOL! She obviously doesn't feel the need to work at it as intensely as you do.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Jill!

      Yeah, that's kinda how I felt about it.

      I see people making the same mistakes class after class, year after year, apparently not caring about it. Sometimes the instructors try to correct them, but I suspect they eventually give up. I'm annoyed at myself at having back-slid enough that I'm having to re-learn things in Beginner II and wouldn't think about taking an Advanced Beginner class.

      I sort-of set a goal to get back into the Advanced Beginner classes by mid-summer. The idea of participating in the Adult Weekend Workshop this summer keeps floating through my head, but I'm trying hard to quash that idea.

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  2. Just as a follow-up... I was a bit sore at the very tops of my upper calf muscles this morning, but otherwise felt pretty good. Nothing like the nastiness from last week.

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  3. Hi Reece, I do wish you were able to get back in the routine of 3X a week. Then I'm sure you would feel much better and not as stressed.

    Best wishes,

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  4. I'd go at least three times per week if I lived closer to the studio! The 90-minute roundtrip drive between my home and the studio keeps me at mostly twice a week, when I am lucky.

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