Category Archives: class notes
Rep Class Again
Rep/Rehearsal went well tonight. Our piece is coming together. I continue like it. It’s not difficult, but it’s pretty (and I get to show off my floaty jumps and my extensions, so that’s nice too).
We’re adding a second weekly rehearsal session for the next few weeks so we’ll have time to nail down the rest of the dance. It’s something like 4.5 minutes long; we have the first 2 minutes set.
BG counts the music per phrase, which results in some completely wack counts (there’s a phrase that counts out to 7 beats because of some rubato and a caesura; it’s one of those moments in which Vivaldi goes, “HA! You thought this movement was over, BUT IT’S NOT!!! PSYCH!!!”).
Took class beforehand also. It went really, really well. My brain, my arms, and my legs were all working at the same time (will wonders never cease?). Turns were good; petit allegro was fine … even when BG was like “No Big Arms Because This Is Petite Allegro.” Which was basically a correction for me.
We were a big class in a tiny studio, so there were lots of zig-zaggy combinations. I’m down with that. I think they’re good for getting us to STOP FREAKING THINKING SO MUCH (which was basically the theme of tonight’s class). You can’t freak out about OMG LEFT SIDE INCOMING if you’re constantly zig-zagging back and forth between left and right.
Also, BG made everyone do contretemps, and I actually lurve contretemps, so it makes me happy that now everyone knows how to do them. Or, well, everyone who was in class tonight. Not, like, the whole planet.
The weird part is that my left side has suddenly decided to be better at turns and at jumps that have turns in them. No idea why. It just is what it is.
Oh! And today, in killer class, the billion and fifteen chaînés I have done in BW’s class paid off. We used them in a combination, and it just was like, “Oh, chaînés, no problem.”
So it was like, “Pas de problème,” and not “Pas de problème.”
…Which is officially the most linguistically arcane and nerdiest pun in the history of my puns.
So apparently I no longer hate chaînés. I am, in fact, forced to admit that I kinda liked the way they felt today.
o_O’
In other news, I am now under obligation to make a video. I was marking a piece of choreography while transporting my giant water jug, my towel, and my notebook across the room, and T decided that I need to shoot some video with the giant water jug.
So I’ll probably sort that this weekend, because the idea sounds hilarious, and so totally typical of me. I am forever doing turns with a towel in my hand or jumps with a water bottle because I start thinking about the choreography and forget that I’m carrying things.
And, of course, should said video actually arise, I shall post it here (and on My Tiny Pathetic Insta Feed).
Killer Class: Okay, There’s Your Head, But Where’s Your Arm At?
Yesterday, I was wrestling with my head in modern class.
Today, it’s back the ongoing struggle to figure out where the hell my arms are in ballet.
At barre, Killer B. reset my free arm in second again. It was wandering around a little behind my shoulder. Such is the weirdness associated with hypermobility.
I made a point of remembering how it felt where she put it, rather than trying to feel for a stretch I’m never going to feel because my body is like, “Pfft, please, this isn’t even a stretch.”
Turns were back in order today, though my spot is still kind of WTF.
Likewise, in terms of just plain strength, things are definitely improving. The turnout is back to sorting itself by the end of tendus, and I found myself adding relevé even when Killer B didn’t suggest it: the second set of grand battement, for example.
We did a beautiful adagio at center twice. I had the sense to ask a question about the arms, but then spent too much mental energy thinking about that moment and made myself a little tense on the first run. The second was better.
We talked about the weird thing we do in ballet where we make a rule and establish it soundly, then break the bejeezus out of it: so all through barre, we focused on imagining a wall that would keep our arms aligned, only to use that wall and then break right through it in adagio.
A a nice waltz/turns combination from the back and an equally nice terre-a-terre followed. Double turns are back on tap, suddenly. Triples are intermittent but kinda there; I had one in each class this weekend and one today. The thing I’m working on is pressing up into my turns rather than jumping into them, a correction I’ve now received from two different teachers in the same week 😛
(File under, “You might need to fix something if…”)
To be fair, jumping into my turns is something I know that I do, which is why I’m so very, very, very much better at adagio turns than up-tempo turns. I like to just kind of ooze into adagio turns: squeeze on up to demi-pointe and float. Sometimes I jump into them anyway, though, when I’m worried I’m forgetting the choreography.
Regardless, it was a good day for musicality. A lot of the music was from Swan Lake, and we got to feeeeel our way through the combinations up until petit allegro rolled in (then it was back to OH G-D HANG ON FOR DEAR LIFE).
I’m still fighting the most annoying cold ever, so petit allegro was meh. Little warm-up jumps were fine except for the fact that I had the combination slightly wrong, so I kept having to sort myself out.
On the other hand, I felt less like dying after petit allegro than I did in BW’s class on Thursday … probably because I wasn’t the only dancer in class and could get away with hiding in the back and half-assing it. Shame on me, I guess, but on the other hand I have dance team followed by another class and rehearsal, so completely cooking my legs before lunch seems like a bad idea.
Where’s Your Head At?
So, it turns out that—believe it or not—modern is not ballet (or, if we’re going to put that in programming terms: modern != ballet). Or, well, it’s not ballet most of the time. So, basically, modern is not ballet, except when intermittently it is ballet.
Jeez.
Anyway.
Today in modern class, we were doing those swirly arm things that result from making circles from high contraction to side curve through high release through the other side curve.
If you don’t modern, this probably makes exactly no sense to you. If you do modern, though, there’s a good chance that you know what I’m talking about. Basically, you don’t really move your arms; you move your sternum and upper back, and that moves your arms.
Anyway! They were sort of the Topic of the Day, and early on they appeared in a nifty tendu/rond-de-jambe/travely combination.
I was having trouble with it. Not with the legs, not with the arms, not with the body or shoulders, but with the head.
No matter what I did, it wanted to point the wrong way. That made the whole thing just feel … eeeee.
Then S, my classmate, figured it out: my body was busily trying to ballet when it was supposed to modern. Or, well, my head was.
Later, my body also rebelled against the entire concept of this sort of side-curve/under-curve chassé thing we were doing. It kept turning into an arabesque. Needless to say, this made for an awkward transition to the next step, which actually was an arabesque (albeit a modern one).
In both cases, once I understood what was happening, I really had to concentrate to correct it, which was challenging—but correcting the glitch in question made the whole movement easier.
I think this explains some of the difficulties I consistently encounter in modern dance. I failed to account for the power of the ballet wiring; the wiring that says when your arm is doing this, your head does this.
Since all of the ballet stuff is pretty much automatic, I don’t even notice that I’m doing it … which is fine, when I’m supposed to be doing ballet.
Ballet—especially classical ballet—has pretty specific rules about how the head and the body go together. These rules result in the establishment of motor patterns: this is how technique becomes more automatic over time.
Modern uses those patterns, too, but it also uses other patterns. Some modern motor patterns are essentially the opposite of patterns that are essentially hard-wired into anyone who has accumulated years of ballet training.
The funny part is that I still tend to think of my head as having no idea what to do with itself in ballet, but that’s not exactly true. For the most part, my head does what it’s supposed to these days, with a few glaring exceptions. When it’s doing what it’s supposed to do, I just don’t notice it. I only notice it when it’s doing something wrong and weird, because usually that either screws up my lines or throws off my balance.
Since the body tends to follow the head, if your head is pointing the wrong way in a given combination, there’s a fairly reasonable likelihood that you’re going to do the combination backwards in some way or another. I feel that I’m rather amazingly good at getting things backwards in modern class, and this gives me a bit of insight into why.
Anyway, so that was today’s Insight of the Day: if things are going wrong, check and see what’s going on with your head.
In case you need something to help you remember, here:
Callbacks ‘n’ Sech
Today was a long day: class at 10:30 (with a smidgen of rehearsal afterwards); teaching at 1 PM; suspended meditation at 2; callback at 3:30 (ended a little past 6:30).
Class was … erm. Like, barre was great? And the rest of it was … yeaaah. Erm. I had issues. On the other hand, I did manage one not-very-good triple, and except for the points at which I actually screwed up, things looked okay.
All three members of my Ballet Girl Posse were in class, and two of them stayed after, so we ran through our choreography … and I actually learned all their names. YAY! So at least I’ve accomplished something today. BG was still around, so he ran us through our bit a couple of times, and we decided that we like fourth arabesque better for my bit of the first partnering piece (a series of supported fouettés).
I begged off the last ten minutes of the modern dance portion of the apprentice-teaching class because my legs were a bit angry at me and I was going to need them for the audition. I used the time to foam-roll the crap out of them.
During meditation, I fell asleep. Given that I am the world’s worst napper (seriously, I can normally only nap when I’ve been awake for at least 48 hours straight), that’s saying something. Evidently, I was pretty tired.
The callback turned out to be the highlight of the day. It was more like a dance-and-theater workshop than an audition—we did some partnering stuff, then learned a dance and performed it in groups, then played theater games and ran some sides. Honestly, it was a hell of a lot of fun with a great group of people (both judges and fellow auditionees), and if every audition was that much fun, I’d audition for everything.
It turns out that I know the guy who’s directing the production. I met him at a party (which happened to be at his house) and felt instantly very, very comfortable with him, which speaks very highly of him. Also: proof that my world is incredibly tiny, heh.
We’ll hear back in a week or so about roles and such. Fortunately, I have too much going on to have much time to chew my nails about it, though I don’t have class with BW on Thursday this week.
Regardless, BW gave me homework—jumping rope to improve my cardio as well as the usual Turns Homework and … erm. I’m supposed to be doing something else, too, I think? Fehhhhcccckkkk. I can’t remember. It’s in my notes somewhere.
Anyway. I will miss BW’s class this week, but I suspect my body will welcome the extra rest. The fitness is returning, but my body hates me so much right now.
Arking Bog?
Today’s Notes from AOV BOLLET
- Watch T/O form seas
- Frappé sean: AIM FOR A TARGET & STRIKE!!!
- GB à cafe: (& TURBS) keep waling ride tull
- Turns: STOP LOOLING FOR SPIT
Yup. Makes perfect sense to me…
(The saddest part: this is more legible than usual. #FML)
Selections from Advanced Class
During terre-a-terre:
Me: I keep adding an extra tombé-pas-de-bourée.
BG: Don’t do that—we don’t get paid by the step!
Notes:
- Think about over-crossing the working leg in Arabesque
- At the barre, don’t let the working foot get lazy (also in Arabesque)
- Corrolary: if you have beautiful feet, use what G-d have ya
- Get your back up and keep it up, but don’t leave it behind when you failli
- Double turns: stop looking for your spot!*
So, in short, all the same things I mostly had sorted before the break.
*Except this. I only recently realized that I’m practicing “proactive spotting” rather then letting the spot happen naturally.
Also, petit allegro was a disaster today, but that was because my brain refused to absorb the combination.
Modern Moosday, Indeed
This morning, I was a space cadet, but I wasn’t alone.
There were five of us in LF’s class (I’ve been calling her LT for some reason … oops?), including a New Guy I Know From Somewhere, P. We were all pretty much in agreement that this was a Monday of a Tuesday—in other words, a “Moosday.”
Since it’s basically Monday for me this week anyway, that makes sense.
Anyway, I acquitted myself better than I expected given that my brain was on its way to the outer reaches of the solar system.
Basically, modern is starting to feel less weird again. Of course, given that 4 of the 5 members of the class were definitely Ballet Peeps (I think P’s background is more musical theater, so jazz?), LF kept having to remind us not to be so polite 😀
I’ve been working on applying the idea of letting my head be heavy and thinking about my head and pelvis as two bowling balls connected by, I dunno, a run of flexible conduit.
Modern dance, meet modern art?
This is somewhat facilitated by a note that J…M…something? G? gave us this weekend in Sunday class, which he got from our AD. In ballet, we tend to focus really hard on engaging the living daylights out of our core, but it can be helpful to think of engaging at a point just above the navel, so the ribs stay knitted but the lower trunk and sternum are free to move.
I said, “Oh, kind of like a single-button vest(1)?”
- AKA “gilet” or “waistcoat,” depending in which part of the English-speaking world you’re located or whether you’re conversing with cyclists (we tend to say “gilet”). I prefer “waistcoat” or “gilet,” but “vest” is easier to say when you’re out of breath because grand allegro.
Not really a menacer at all, IMO, but kind of a cool gilet/vest/waistcoat. (Source)(2,3)
- Hello to my days
- TAKE AWAY WHAT NEED YOUR FASHION – BRAND NEW OF ZINIF
I’m not sure it’s a perfect visualization, but it works for me. Anyway, thinking about engagement this way helps me avoid over-engaging the core and winding up stiff as all hell. For me, this helps the pelvis place itself without getting into hyper-grippy blocked-turnouts land.
In other news, I’m pleased to report that I’ve regained the muscles that keep my ribs knitted together, which is extremely helpful for ballet, and the turnouts continue to make their way back from the Other Side.
Also, my black Blochs and my balance board arrived today (glad the Blochs opted out of a neighborhood tour this time). I’ve decided that those are my slighly-early birthday presents to myself, which makes me wish I’d sprung for the shiny balance board from Theraband. But for $10, this one will do the job for now 🙂
Maybe later I’ll get the more-expensive version and cart this one over to Suspend so I can use it there, assuming they don’t mind if it lives at their place.
Anyway, tonight I’m taking Trap 2 because rep/rehearsal begins tomorrow night. Mr. BeastMode played our music for me this morning—it’s Vivaldi! (The G minor concerto, which I’ve played on the violin, which probably means my world has officially come full circle now or something.)
Tomorrow, I’m doing Killer Class, and then I might throw in an extra Technique Class since I’m going to be at Rep class anyway—though my jury’s still out on that.
Apparently, nine or ten of us have volunteered as tribute for the spring show, regarding which: w00t! I think I’m the only boy, though, because scheduling.
Anyway, going to go try on the black Blochs and see how they roll.
Quick Update: My black Blochs are size 8 in the C width, since they didn’t have B. So far, so good. Width-wise, I think C is a touch wider than I need, but length-wise, I think 8 is right. Either way, they’re very light and comfortable and, like my other Blochs, secure in the turns. Going to test-run them in class tomorrow.
Also, if you spring for a pair of Bloch’s Pro Elastics, know that the heel will look weird when you’re just sitting there, trying them on—weird as in, “Why is there an extra little floop going on back there?”
Don’t worry about it. I’m not sure if it’s a functional thing or just a style thing, but it doesn’t get in the way when you’re dancing, and IMO it makes your feet look even nicer when you point them.
FWIW, these shoes are very much “Where have you been all my life?” shoes for me. Your mileage, of course, may vary, but if you’re on the fence, I would recommend giving them a try.
Also: Tried the new Sansha dance belt. As Dr. Dancebelt forewarned of Sansha’s models in general, it’s very high-waisted, but it actually works really well for me because of that.
My verdict thus far: Great option for those of us who are short-coupled and high-waisted with effing gigantic glutei medii (in short: me). Probably not a great choice for lower-waisted folks.
If you try one, be warned: you will put it on and it will be like, “Hm, I need to pull this up higher. Erm—even higher? And … huh, wow, still higher—okay. Now this just looks ridiculous.”
Just remember that, with rare exceptions (read: performing in only a dance belt, because contemporary ballet), we don’t buy dance belts for their looks. Yeah, this thing looks silly, but I’m still wearing it six hours later because it’s sufficiently comfortable that I literally forgot about it.
Still Playing With Blochs*
*Yeah, sorry. I’ll try harder next time. So tiiiired.
I’m grooving on my Blochs. I like how they just kinda get out of the way so you can do your thang. I think I’mma buy a second pair in black.
I have discovered that they fit really well with the new tights I ordered from Sansha (edit: I’ll drop the model number here later; these aren’t the only men’s tights Sansha makes). The tights in question are cotton-and-lycra, and thus a bit thicker than my others, both of which are synthetic.
My inner jury is still out about the tights themselves—though not because of any shortcoming of the tights themselves. Rather, I’m a sweaty little bastard, and cotton absorbs sweat instead of wicking it. My knees and shins were surprisingly damp after class this morning. Weird.
On the other hand, they dry more quickly than I expected, and they’re comfortable. The fit is really nice (I ordered a size 5 in Sansha’s unique Dark Magic sizing system), and I like the fact that the straps are sewn in (I lost one of the straps that go with my other black tights :/). I do, however, wish they were sewn in crosswise in back, as they can slip off. In practice, though, that only seems to happen when I’m loafing around between classes.
Oh, they also look nice. Classic matte finish, nice lines, etc. I was all Serious Ballet Boy Is Serious this morning (or, well, my clothes were).
The tights in question are not, by the way, convertible (unless you get jiggy with some scissors, presumably).
Even with the combination of secure shoes and comfy tights, however, I was not a great turner today. This was likely a function of mild sleep deprivation.
We had a new teacher, who I’ll call J2 for now, since I’m too lazy to look up his full name. It was a great class; really nice combinations, and we got to do grand allegro, which doesn’t always happen. I couldn’t keep my head on straight during the petit allegro, though I did the steps well enough. I just kept forgetting that there were two changements at the end of the first phase. I did however, manage to do royales when they were called for instead of automatically doing entrechats.
Still, not my best day.
I made up for it by practicing one-foot relevé balances on the flat side of a Bosu ball. It was kind of a pain, as that really isn’t the intended purpose of the flat side in question, but nonetheless remarkably successful. I think I’m going to purchase a proper wobble board for that.
So that was Sunday. Tomorrow is mostly a rest day, except for rehearsal.
Bloch It Out
The Blochs acquitted themselves admirably. I am forced to admit that they feel more secure than my Sanshas. Never had to think about them at all during class.
I wasn’t 100% on form today, but it’s coming. Yesterday I felt stiff (probably a follow-on from my unexpected dismount on Sunday) and tired and scheduling conflicts forced me to take a day off. I’m glad that they did, because I feel much better now.
Turnouts are still getting their strength back, though. That will take a bit, I expect.
Adagio, as a result, was meh today—but petit allegro came along surprisingly well. I may yet stop sucking at it.
Grand allegro, meanwhile, was not my best effort. Specifically, my arms took a little trip back to Squidsville. On the other hand, three or four of us broke out our Pas de Chats Italiens, including R, who paired up with me.
Oh, and I managed to actually not leave out the Bidonville Bournonville jeté. Mr. BeastMode got video of us; I’m looking forward to cringing at how awful my Bournonville is 😛
Oh, and New Boy F returned. I was happy to see that he came back.
Next week begins rep class and rehearsal for Spring Collection. Evidently, costumes might happen! OMG OMG OMG I’m looking forward to discovering what Mr. B has in mind, as he’s setting a band new dance on us!
Ballet Homework!
BW continues to be amazing, as always.
Tonight became Turns Class. This resulted in Turns Homework, as follows:
- Passé Pulses*: plié & spring into your highest passé whilst shooting arrows of intention from your supporting leg right through the center of the earth and out the other side. Then use the turnouts and the other muscles of the upper leg to pulse the passé just a little higher and back several times without changing anything else.
- All The Singles: prepare fifth (to get your turnouts in the game), tendu à la 2nd, rond into a Goldilocks fourth (not too big, not too small), and then: turn, land fourth, plié eight times. Then do the other side. You can do these at the end of class; it takes about a minute.
- I Am An Aeroplane**: place your arms à la 2nd and set your feet in a small 2nd (parallel is fine). Keeping everything engaged through the core, rotate back and forth until you want to die.
*I think this one might be specific to fairly advanced students with a sound passé. You really want to do it at your maximum turnout or you’re going to wind up working the wrong muscles, which isn’t going to help anyone.
**I feel like this one needs video. This is not the aerobics version in which you twist at the waist. It is exactly the opposite of of that. Your whole body moves together. The whole point is that everything remains engaged.
I have, of course, taken the liberty of giving these creative names and memorable descriptions. All three are suitable for use in the kitchen, which is, as all dancers know, where we do our Turns Homework.
The goal, of course, is to prevent handbasketry.
Still pretty much my favorite graphic. I think I’m going to get this printed on a t-shirt.
danseur ignoble 