Another milestone

Pardon me for being excited, but I've reached another milestone: I've worn a hole in the toe of my slipper!

Ok, it's a tiny hole in one of the pleats. I only noticed it because the white lining is showing through the black outer. But it's clearly from wear and not a cut or tear. I wore a similar hole in my slipper waybackwhen, but that took four years. And, yes, I was excited about that too.

I tried wearing an Under Armour "heatgear" shirt tonight, as suggested by Jeff in his comment on a previous posting. It's less absorbent than a cotton T-shirt, but it "breathes" better which makes it more comfortable. It's also longer and much stretchier, so I don't feel the need to yank my shirt down after every movement. Thanks for the great suggestion, Jeff!

Tonight we did the usual pliés, tendus, and rond-de-jambes, with lots of focus on position and form. We did a sequence of fifth position - coupé devant - passé devant - passé derriere - coupé derriere - fifth, and then reverse, which built on the work we did last week. Then the instructor introduced us to attitude. The phrase "copping an attitude" has new meaning now. Those suckers hurt! But I've come to believe that, in ballet, if it doesn't hurt you're doing it wrong. Or not trying hard enough.

I didn't get much feedback from the instructor tonight. She did correct my arm position in a plié while I had my foot on the barre, so I'm hoping that's a sign that I'm headed in the right direction.

Dancing for Balanchine

I received my autographed, first-edition copy of Merrill Ashley's Dancing for Balanchine in the mail. For a used, 28 year-old book, it's in great shape. Only paid $20 for it too, which is good because I bought it to read and not admire on a shelf. I think Amazon's customer classification software is horribly confused by me. At least Netflix has stopped recommending Lesbian themed movies. :-) But I digress.

I haven't had a chance to read much of the book yet, but it appears to be an odd mix of autobiography and technical reference of Balanchine style. Perhaps, for her, the two are inseparable, so the combination makes sense. After all, she is Balanchine's creation, and according to the book he often taught dancers how to perform certain steps by telling them, "Watch Merrill." However, this mix means I can't read it like I would a regular biography. Nor can I treat it like a pure reference like Gretchen Ward Warren's Classical Ballet Technique. I'll have to digest it in pieces. No doubt I'll have more to say about the book in this blog as I get deeper into it.

Another reason for taking the book in pieces is the same reason I essentially skipped Chapter 2 of GWW. There's only so much I can handle of a world-class ballerina at the peak of her abilities demonstrating in text and photos how wrong it is for the working foot to turn from its perfectly parallel position as it moves outward from fifth in a tendu. She may have a perfect 180 degrees of turnout, but I have half that. Yes, there is a lesson I can learn -- that I should maintain whatever turnout I do have as the working foot moves forward -- but sometimes it's hard to see that for the frustration my perfectionist streak feels. Ah, well... little steps.

Scheduling confusion

For most of the last year I've been taking class twice a week, Tuesdays and Thursdays. When the old place dropped their Tuesday class, I was able to take class Tuesdays at the new place. It's been a nice routine.

No more.

Next week is the last Tuesday night at the new place, then they close down until after Labor Day (first Monday in September for non-US folk). The fall schedule hasn't been posted yet, but the rumor is that the beginner class will resume on Wednesday evening, as it was before the summer. The intermediate class will still be Tuesday evenings, but I'm not ready for that yet.

What about the old place? They're continuing the Thursday evening class, but the other class will be mid-day Friday. Even if I could make that (and I can't on a regular basis with my current work assignment), I still end up with class on consecutive days and a long gap between.

I'll probably end up taking class Wed and Thu, because I want to continue at both studios. Maybe I'll go back to the yoga class I used to take Monday evenings to try and even out the week. If I feel insufficiently abused I could take a "stretch" class Saturday mornings.

Someone suggested another studio that has classes Monday evenings, but it'd be quite a drive in heavy rush-hour traffic on a two-lane road. I'm guessing it'd be 45-60 minutes, and maybe longer. I might give it a try to experience the Vaganova style they teach (both my current schools are ABT flavor) though I'm not sure I'm advanced enough to really notice the difference.

Regardless, I'm thinking it's time to make a permanent space for the barre I bought some months back. I think I know enough now to be able to practice without developing any really bad habits.

Small achievements

Last night I decided to push myself a bit harder. I tried to focus more during the barre routine, tried to keep my heels down longer going down in grande plié and down earlier on the way back up, stretched a bit farther than I might have otherwise. I figured I might as well, as I was still fricking sore from Tuesday night. And it seems to have worked well.

One of the things we've been doing recently at the end of the stretches is a one-footed relevé with the other foot on the barre, held for an eternity. One of my problems has been that with the barre down where I've had it, it's below my hip in relevé and my leg slides off. When it came time to plunk my leg up last night I adjusted the barre about 1.5" higher. That made the stretches more of a challenge, but also kept my leg from sliding off. With less to struggle with I was able to stay balanced in relevé, hands in 5th, for the entire time. On both sides, even! And I could have stayed longer. I even managed to find just a little bit more extension so I could get my foot down more or less gracefully (ok, less) without having to use my hands or twist sideways.

Now maybe I've just sent the experienced dancers rolling in laughter. As long as it's a sympathetic laugh I'm right there with you. But, damn it, after nearly falling on my face Tuesday I needed a few wins.

A new exercise

I can only imagine the frustration an instructor must feel when teaching a class of rank beginners. She asks for passé and gets some sort of yoga pose. What to do? The answer is to channel it in a productive direction.

"Everyone sit on the floor. Extend your legs in front of you. Sit up straight, bend your knees, turn your legs out and put the soles of your feet together. Now straighten one leg. Using your hands, lift the heel of the other foot so your toes are touching your shin just below the knee. This is passé. Lower the heel so it rests on your shin; this is what you're doing. Now lift your heel away from the floor again. Feel the different muscles it uses? See if you can do it without using your hands."

All this time I'm thinking, "That's easy for you to say! You probably have been dancing ballet since you got out of diapers, have 180 degrees of turnout, and are seriously flexible. I'm none of the above." But I can feel a little bit more rotation than before, and it is a different set of muscles. Muscles that are so unused to being activated that they spasm in sympathy with the knot in my calf that's been threatening to cramp.

All in all, a learning experience.

Later, after we put the portable barres away, we did more balance work. Standing with our hands on our hips, we did a mix of tendus and dégagés. I don't know why, but putting my hands on my hips makes me feel totally off-balance. Then we moved on to pliés, both demi and grande, and relevés in first. She announced that she was quite pleased with how we were doing that, so we would make it harder by doing it in fifth. If this had been a traffic stop, the next step would have been a breathalyzer test.

She did allow as how everyone had trouble with this, which is why you never saw it on stage. Somehow that didn't quite make me feel all better, though.

I guess I could practice...  Naah.