Well, THAT hurt!

Monday's class was going well. I felt good. I'd managed to learn and execute the petit allegro combination reasonably well. My pirouettes were working well enough that I'd attempted a double in centre. We were doing the same grand allegro combination as on Saturday, and I was really having fun with it.

Then, as I landed some simple step in the grand allegro, I felt a sudden pain in my right heel. I half-assed the rest of the combination, skipping the saut du chat at the end completely. I found I could stand with weight on my foot without significant pain, but flexing my ankle resulted in stabs of burning pain in the heel. I skipped the rest of class -- all 3 minutes of it -- and did what I could as aftercare.

The Nutcracker claims another dancer

The Nutcracker may have claimed another dancer: one of the professionals suffered a sprained ankle during rehearsal this weekend. 

Maybe pointe shoes should come with a warning label?

A whisper in an ear

I wrote a post back in May about my experience in A Midsummer Night's Dream. Somehow I neglected to explain the accompanying photo of a bouquet of flowers.

These were a gift from Judy, a long-time friend who, coincidentally, is the producer of WETA Arts. She'd been reading some of my intentionally vague Facebook postings about Midsummer, had tracked down when and where the performances were, and had not only taken time out of her crazy-busy schedule to drive 70 miles each way to attend, but also brought that bouquet. I was deeply touched.

After Midsummer I called her to thank her for coming to our performance. One of the things we talked about was how frustrating I'd found it to take seemingly endless classes but not have performance opportunities. This led to a more wide-ranging discussion of what motivates adult ballet students.

Beginning Partnering class

For some years I've advocated for more options for adult ballet dancers. I think many adult dancers reach the point where endless classes with no options to explore further becomes frustrating. I've tried to encourage the school where I regularly take classes to offer options such as beginner pointe and partnering have been met with disinterest. My suggestions to a neighboring school associated with a large professional ballet company seemed to be having some effect, and after a hiatus because of the pandemic they've started offering adult pointe classes and even adult recitals.

The small professional ballet company I dance with (as supporting cast, not pro) offers a series of "Master Classes" each season. This fall there were two: a regular ballet class with one of the pros teaching and a live accompanist, and a beginning partnering class. I opted-out of the regular ballet class, as I have class with this instructor and accompanist every Wednesday, but I was very interested in the beginning partnering class.