Seeking reassurance

After feeling a bit out of my depth yesterday I felt I could use some reassurance, so I took Julie's Beginner 2 today. Julie is an excellent instructor, a retired professional principal dancer. She teaches what I consider a true Beginner 2 class: there are no grand pliés, no single-leg relevés, and the combinations are short and simple. The focus is on clean execution rather than fancy steps. But she can spot a bent supporting knee under sweatpants from across the room, and her corrections are gold.

Jumping into the deep end

In the last calendar week (Sunday to today, Saturday), I've taken five ballet classes. This is something of a record for me. I don't know that this will be a regular thing, but expanding my repertoire to include MYB's "Advanced Beginner" classes and being able to take classes during the day means I can find a class any day.

Lost and Found, made of Unobtanium

When I got to class this evening, I could only find one of my So Danca slippers. Fortunately I still carry my Capezio Hanami slippers, so I had something to wear. Of course, the Fates made sure that every exercise included at least one turn, including barre. I still like the way the Hanamis look and feel, but they also still twist on my feet during turns. When I got back to my car after class I found the other So Danca slipper on the back seat of my car where my dance bag had been; at least I didn't lose it.

I'm confused (again)

I've been taking the Beginner 2¾ class two or three times a week for a few months. Barre always ends with 16 single-leg relevés on each leg. Centre is packed with activity. After class I'm tired, but otherwise have no ill effects.

For the last couple of weeks I've taken the Sunday Beginner 2 class instead of the Saturday Beginner 2¾ class because of scheduling conflicts. This class is much less strenuous than the Saturday class. No relevés at the barre. No grande pliés. Simple, short centre exercises. Yet each Monday morning I've woken up with sore, stiff calf muscles that make walking difficult. Why?

Floor Barre and more turns

Some years ago I participated in my schools "Adult Weekend Workshop", which is kind of like a 3-day fantasy camp for adult ballet students. One of the classes we took was Floor Barre^® (yeah, it's a registered trademark). This class is a bit like taking barre while lying on the floor, with the intention of training a dancer's sense of proper positions without the stress and strain of fighting gravity. I've always wanted to take this class more regularly to see if it was really helpful, but it's been difficult to find a class I could attend due to schedule conflicts.

Re-Turning

Returning to ballet classes after a year off has had a lot of ups and downs. And I don't mean relevés, though there have been lots of those too.

My pirouettes en dehors have gotten much better. I feel more upright. I can turn more slowly with more control and less energy. And they're more consistent across my energy levels.

On the other hand, my pirouettes en dedans have gotten worse. I'm off-balance and often fall out of the turn before completing the rotation. WTF? I used to be able to do these.

I've also been trying to work on my glissade and petit jeté. These are other things I seem to have forgotten how to do. I've even talked to my instructors about this. Part of the problem is that this comes late in the class sequence, by which I'm often feeling too tired to concentrate. These are improving slowly.

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Today I took the easier of the two so-called "Beginner II" classes I take, due to a scheduling conflict with yesterday's class. Despite these being "drop-in" classes, instructors often build from one class to the next. When we got to grande allegro, I thought I was in trouble because the regulars in this class had been working on it for several weeks. Then I realized that this was the easier of the two classes, and the combination was actually relatively easy.

I got called out twice for corrections today. In my book this is a good thing. The whole reason for taking classes with experienced instructors is to get the benefit of their feedback. This instructor knows calling me by name isn't going to upset me. If she wants to use me as an example for other students that's just fine by me; I'm getting the feedback I need.

How many shoes are in your dance bag?

My dance bag is a collector of stuff I think that I might need, should some unforeseen circumstance arise that never does. Every few months I'll go though it and strip it down to the essentials, but somehow it always fills up again.

This evening, an unforeseen circumstance actually arose.

An unexpected surprise

I was fully prepared to wake up this morning and find a repeat of last week's stiffness and muscle spasms, especially since I don't seem to be able to take the easy path (staying on flat instead of demi-pointe) even when offered.

I can walk again!

The week in bullets, with no exaggerations:

• Tuesday, finally going back to class was thrilling!
  
• Tuesday night I slept only fitfully because of muscle spasms in my legs.
• Wednesday morning I could barely walk from my bedroom to my home office. Stairs worked only if I stepped up with my left leg. 
• Thursday I couldn't raise my right leg high enough to get into the car, and had to use my hands to lift it in.
• Friday I could sort-of waddle up the stairs using both legs, but had to hike my right hip to do it 
• Saturday (today) I could finally walk without pain.

Anyone taking bets on my post-class condition next week?

 

I remember this... and I wish I didn't!

I've sometimes said that ballet is like a narcotic: as long as you keep doing it you're fine, but if you stop then go back it'll hurt you.

I'm kinda prone to leg cramps, which is a side-effect of an asthma medication I take. Last night, as I was falling asleep, I started getting cramps in my calf muscles. Not terribly surprising, given what I do to them in class, but very unwelcome. Through trial and error I've found that keeping my legs cool helps prevent them, so I spent the night sleeping with the A/C cranked and a comforter over the upper half of my body. It's not terribly comfortable, but it's better than screaming in pain.

This morning I felt reasonably rested, but I could barely walk. It's now after 6pm and walking is still difficult; stairs would be impossible without using the handrail for support.

The really sad thing is I knew this would happen.

Back in class!

 It took a bit longer than I expected, but tonight I attended my first in-person ballet class in 16 months. That's the longest I've been out of class since I started taking classes again ten years ago. Even heart surgery only kept me out of class for 10 weeks.

A journey of a thousand miles

If all goes well, next week I get my second shot of a COVID-19 vaccine. Thus the beginning of May will mark the greatest effectiveness. To celebrate I want to do one of the things I've missed most: take a real, in-person, ballet class.

 It will have been roughly 15 months since I last stood in a ballet studio, and 10 months since I took a virtual class. As much as I'm looking forward to it, I know that I've gotten really out of shape. Rather than jumping back into even a virtual class I thought I'd start with one of the prerecorded classes my regular studio posted online. I cleared away the debris from around my home barre, set up my laptop to play the video, and tried to remember how this works.

The Plague: Anniversary Edition

Yes, it's been over a year since COVID-19 — otherwise known in my mind as The Plague — changed life as we knew it. I count from mid-day Friday the 13th, 2020, as that's when my coworkers and I were sent home for what we expected to be "a few weeks".

Does 53 weeks count as "a few"?