Two kinds of ballet student

I've come to believe there are two basic types of ballet students. The first type is the sort who wants to understand the steps and motions in detail, and takes classes to learn to execute them perfectly. Of course, we all know that perfection is impossible, but that's the goal we strive for.

Students of the second type are in love with the idea of ballet. This is kind of like a little girl who dresses up in a tutu and slippers and dances around with her arms in the air and thinks that's ballet, only older. The accoutrements play a critical role in creating the proper image.

I doubt many people fall strictly in one category or the other. Everyone is some mix of the two. I'm primarily of the first type, drawn to the futile attempt to achieve perfection, but I'll admit to an element of the second.

Today I ran into a student who I believe is almost entire the second type. That's rare in the classes I take.

It's not terribly uncommon for a couple of students in my classes to wear pointe shoes. These are often former academy students who are now taking adult classes, and thus in their late teens or twenties, but there are also some older students too. I always take note of these dancers, as they're often good to watch when I'm trying to understand a sequence of steps.

Today, as we arranged ourselves for barre, I noticed an older woman wearing pointe shoes I hadn't seen before. What really caught my attention was that she seemed to be having trouble following the routine barre exercises. Sometimes this is the sign of a very advanced dancer who is intentionally doing their own warm-up routine rather than following the instructor, but that didn't seem to be the case. Instead, this student was noticeably struggling. This seemed to me to be a bad combination.

There were some other cues that concerned me. I've been getting corrections to keep my shoulders down and back (entirely needed for me), and I noticed her shoulders were hiked up almost to her ears. The barre work included some pas de bourrées, and she seemed unsure of these and unsteady doing them. Still, she seemed stable enough en pointe that she didn't appear to be in immediate danger.

After barre, as we assembled for centre work, I noticed that she'd swapped the pointe shoes for soft slippers. This reduced my level of apprehension a bit (my injury potential radar is a hold-over from being an EMT/Firefighter), but I was still curious how she'd do in centre. The answer was, not well at all. She had real difficulty balancing on one leg in any position. She attempted the "pick-up" style pas de bourrée rather than the simpler style favored by most students of this level, but she lurched badly in the process. She was definitely not confident doing any of the exercises, and was clearly following others to see what she was supposed to be doing.

After class, I chatted with the instructor. She, of course, had also been concerned about this student during barre, and was very relieved when she saw the student switch soft slippers between barre and centre. Otherwise she likely would have felt the need to tell the student to do so. Apparently she knows this student a little bit, having seen her in some classes at this school in years past, but the student had switched to taking classes elsewhere. A school where they teach adult pointe, I believe.

My take is that this student is strongly of the second type: she's dressed for the role right down to the shoes, but isn't really interested in doing the detail work of developing the skills.

Most of my concern for this student's own well-being, as it's well known that mistakes in pointe work can easily result in injuries. Secondly, I'm concerned for the other students dancing near her. A class of 30 students only works if everyone moves in the same direction at the same time -- "at least move with the herd", as this instructor admonished everyone during class -- otherwise bodies collide. We have enough of a problem with the dancers who somehow manage to do an entire grand allegro exercise without moving more than five feet from their starting spot, without having people moving the wrong direction.

Thirdly... yes, I'm being judgy. If you can't do the basic steps, take a lower level class until you can. There's no shame in that; that's why they're offered! But if you're going to take a class at the level of this class you shouldn't be at risk of falling over when doing something basic like a sous-sus or pas de bourrée in centre.

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On a more personal note... I've been dealing with a lot of tightness in the heels of my feet, possibly plantar fasciitis.

"Tension or stress in the plantar fascia increases when you place weight on the foot, such as with standing. The tension also increases when you push off on the ball of the foot and toes. Both of these motions occur during normal walking or running." 

Somehow I suspect dancing ballet might also qualify, given how much time I spend on demi-pointe.

I've been trying to deal with this by moderating my class schedule. I usually have a day off between classes, and I take time to carefully stretch my calf muscles before class.

Today, at the end of the grand allegro exercise, I felt a twinge in my left heel when I landed an assemblé. I finished the exercise, then noticed that it still hurt as I walked back to the starting position. Hoping that this was transient, I skipped the last few minutes of class. However, it remains stiff and a bit painful several hours later.

I'm not scheduled for class tomorrow, and I may skip Monday if it doesn't return to my "normal" before then.