Adult Repertoire Class at MYB

I spotted this announcement at the Maryland Youth Ballet this weekend:


This is pretty close to what I've been asking for: a chance for adults to be involved in more than just random technique classes. It's not intended to lead to performances, but it's just shy of that.

From my perspective, the only problem is that it's for Intermediate and up. I haven't taken even Advanced Beginner in several years. I spoke with Jeff, who will be leading the class, and he encouraged me to observe the first class or two. Now I have some thinking to do.

I took my car to a mechanic, and...

Ever take your car to a mechanic because it's making an annoying noise, only to find it won't make the noise when the mechanic is listening? I just had the dance equivalent happen.

But first I'm going to whine about aches and pains for a few paragraphs.

Instructor improvement

I didn't get to class at all last week. I was busy all weekend, but told myself I'd get to class Tuesday and Thursday evenings.

Tuesday evening we had such violent storms that the power went out, a rare occurrence in my neighborhood, and I chose to stay indoors. Later I found out that the storm was so localized that the studio 20 miles away didn't even get rain. I was still planning on attending Thursday when I received an email saying that studio would be closed. Bummer. This weekend I again had other commitments.

So I was determined to go this Tuesday evening, and I did. Unusually congested traffic ate up all my warm-up time, and I didn't get into the classroom until half way through the instructions for the first exercise. Our regular instructor was out and another was substituting.

I've taken classes from this substitute instructor before, and had not been impressed. Not that her class was horrible, but it wasn't something I'd look forward to. Since I don't think I could explain what I didn't like about her previous classes I don't know how to explain how this one was different, but it was much better. She had the exercises planned and written out. They were a bit of a mental challenge, but not impossibly difficult and they seemed to be designed with a purpose. I also liked the way she gave feedback on the problems she observed. Overall I was quite impressed with her improvement as an instructor, and I complimented her after class.

As for myself, having been out of the studio for far a couple of weeks I found myself fighting cramps in my calf muscles and feet. In fact, I'm still quite sore two days later. I managed to get through most of the class, skipping the jumps and petit allegro, but rejoining for grand allegro. There were three other men in the class, and quite by accident three of us ended up doing grand allegro together. I wish I had the ability to watch in the mirror while doing the exercise because I'd really love to have been able to see it.