(Far too much TMI below. And bad Star Wars metaphors. You have been warned.)
Monday, February 29, 2016
Out of class for another week
Well, wasn't that fun! It's not every day you have the opportunity to answer the question "What is the level of your pain on a scale of 1 to 10?" with TWELVE, damn it!
(Far too much TMI below. And bad Star Wars metaphors. You have been warned.)
(Far too much TMI below. And bad Star Wars metaphors. You have been warned.)
Monday, February 15, 2016
Accumulating rust
After a couple weeks off, mostly due to snow but also work, I made it back to class. With my off-and-on attendance I opted for Sunday's Beginner 2 class. I got a late start and walked in the door a few minutes after scheduled class start. Of course class didn't actually start for several minutes more, but I really didn't have any time to warm up, and since it was only +12F (-11C) out, "not warmed up" was literal.
The cold seemed to have penetrated my head too, because I made a number of silly mistakes during barre. Mostly it was a matter of forgetting what came next or just skipping ahead. I got a couple of corrections for not keeping my knees straight, especially when extending to the rear. These were less a matter of not paying attention than feeling all sorts of stretch behind my knees when I attempted it.
Rust.
Yet all was not bad. At one point we were in coupé en demi-point and I found I could hold that fairly well without touching the barre. In center my balance wasn't spectacular but neither was it horrible. When we got to turns (a combination of waltz turns and pirouettes I ended up in the first group to go and did pretty well when turning turning to the right en dehors. To the left the first turn didn't really want to go but got better on subsequent turns. I even remembered to spot on occasion. En dedans, though, eeechh! Has it really been that long?
The more rewarding bit was in the petite allegro where we where challenged with a cross-timing combination of 3-3-2 (glissade, jeté, sauté; glissade, jeté, sauté; glissade, assemblé). I usually get stuck in such a combination at the end of a phrase but this time I was able to keep the movement going and stay with the music. It wasn't pretty, but it was an accomplishment.
Due to medical stuff the chances of me going to class tomorrow night are nil. I expect I'll be able to get to class this weekend, though. I'm looking forward to getting outside then, as we're supposed to go from the frigidly cold +12F this weekend and snow today to +60F (+15.5C) on Saturday!
The cold seemed to have penetrated my head too, because I made a number of silly mistakes during barre. Mostly it was a matter of forgetting what came next or just skipping ahead. I got a couple of corrections for not keeping my knees straight, especially when extending to the rear. These were less a matter of not paying attention than feeling all sorts of stretch behind my knees when I attempted it.
Rust.
Yet all was not bad. At one point we were in coupé en demi-point and I found I could hold that fairly well without touching the barre. In center my balance wasn't spectacular but neither was it horrible. When we got to turns (a combination of waltz turns and pirouettes I ended up in the first group to go and did pretty well when turning turning to the right en dehors. To the left the first turn didn't really want to go but got better on subsequent turns. I even remembered to spot on occasion. En dedans, though, eeechh! Has it really been that long?
The more rewarding bit was in the petite allegro where we where challenged with a cross-timing combination of 3-3-2 (glissade, jeté, sauté; glissade, jeté, sauté; glissade, assemblé). I usually get stuck in such a combination at the end of a phrase but this time I was able to keep the movement going and stay with the music. It wasn't pretty, but it was an accomplishment.
Due to medical stuff the chances of me going to class tomorrow night are nil. I expect I'll be able to get to class this weekend, though. I'm looking forward to getting outside then, as we're supposed to go from the frigidly cold +12F this weekend and snow today to +60F (+15.5C) on Saturday!
Friday, February 5, 2016
Big Changes at The Washington Ballet
Septime Webre, the Artistic Director of The Washington Ballet for the last 17 years, is stepping down effective June 30th, 2016.
The announcement did not name a replacement. Instead it indicates that a search for a new Artistic Director "is proceeding immediately."
It'll be interesting to see how this plays out.
The announcement did not name a replacement. Instead it indicates that a search for a new Artistic Director "is proceeding immediately."
It'll be interesting to see how this plays out.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)