Blog Archives
Danseur Ignoble: Huge Wednesday Class!
There were a jillion of us today, and Brienne made us all really focus on our turnout, which is always good, because of course all dancers always and everywhere — or at least all ballet dancers always and everywhere — can never stop working on turnout.
My barre was decent most of the way through, though my developpés were, well, low (~90 degrees ._.) and slow. Need to start working those at home again. Our grand battement combination was borderline sadistic and made me keenly aware of how much fitness I need to build still. On the other hand, at one point, we did an attitude derriere balance that was just like, “Ohai! Look, Mom, no hands!”
But the secret is that attitude derriere is a pretty easy balance if your back is strong and flexible. Everything is nicely cantilevered. So, boom, beautiful attitude balance with arms in fifth, like it ain’t no thang. Aaaaaaaand … freeze.
I should really be doing Brian’s class on Monday as well, to keep things consistent, but I can’t until I get a job, which I won’t be able to do til I get back from Florida. I don’t want to drop Margie’s Friday class because I feel like it really helps with my musicality and stuff. So, for the time being, I suppose I’ll have to do something else on Monday to work on ballet fitness.
At center, I didn’t bungle the adagio too badly (ha) and managed to do the medium allegro decently. Our traveling combination with turns was actually the highlight of the class for me, though (surprisingly: usually I’m all about the jumps).
As for petit allegro … oy, vey. I need to work on speed. Height and ballon I’ve got by nature, but at the expense of speed. I do fine (I have learned to moderate my vertical jumps by doing them lower) until we start throwing in glissades, at which point I get behind if the music is really quick. My glissades tend to be huge and floaty. That’s awesome if there’s time in the music, but dancers need quick glissades, too. The quick glissade is a skill I have to practice frequently, and one I lose if I don’t.
So this week I’ll be doing petit allegro, lightly and quickly, at home. I would do well to practice it when my legs are already tired, since doing light, quick petite allegro while tired is pretty much a given in ballet. I’m also going to work on grand assemblé with a beat, because beats are awesome and look cool. I suppose I should also work on a small, quick assemble.
To an extent, I’m fighting cycling muscles again. I did too much gear-mashing the past two weeks or so, which overdevelops the quads (and other muscles the we use in ballet to launch big, powerful jumps). This does two things: first, it just makes one’s legs freaking heavy, which means one is then consigned to a heavier lifting workout throughout class.
Second, if the opposing muscles are insufficiently developed, it’s harder for them do their job in développé and so forth — basically, any movement that requires them to overcome the huge “launch muscles” that provide for explosive jumps (both in the ballet studio and on the bike).
Thus, one finds one’s self attempting to construction-crane into extension with the quads instead of pushing from beneath, which makes one’s turnout fall apart and prevents one reaching maximum extension. Also leads to clenching, gripping, and the making of terrible faces. So just don’t do it, because your face could freeze like that (and so could your butt, which might be even worse: you would have to dance like that FOREVER).
Do not make this face. Don't do it. It's not worth the risk!
Body mechanics, y’all.
I need to ride more slowly in lighter gears and do exercises at home that balance out the launch groups.
Which I practiced on today’s ride home.
Mostly.
Anyway, I started this post at lunch, and here it is, nearly bedtime. Not that I’ve been writing all day; I just keep coming back and thinking, “Meh, this doesn’t seem done,” and then failing to come up with anything else. I’m sure at one point I had some other things I meant to write about, but I don’t remember them.
So, there you have it.
People with big legs: any suggestions for taming the quick petite allegro? (Besides, “Practice, practice, practice,” which is probably, to be fair, a huge part of it.)
Danseur Ignoble: Milestones
Today, I did Margie’s class. We began with the usual easy plies, combined tendus and degagees to save time, and then she changed it up and gave us a challenging fondu-et-rond de jambe combination and did our grand battement en releve. The fondu-et-rond de jambe combination also involved circular port des bras, which is finally starting to look like ballet instead of like some kind of terrible spasm.
During our floor stretch I still couldn’t get the right-side split all the way down. My right hamstring has been tight since I’ve been riding the bike a lot, and I think I just figured out why — as a long-time equestrian, I tend always to mount and dismount on the left, and as a result I also tend always to put the left foot down at stop signs, lights, and so forth — which means that the right leg does more than its fair share of the pushing-off-from-a-dead-stop work.
The left split, on the other hand, went right down, no sweat: boom, here I am on the floor. So, of course, Margie wandered over and gave me additional stretches (and reminded me to square my hips) — flat back forward; cambre back. I want to say I’ve probably done cambre back in a split before, but certainly not since I was, like, 13 or 14.
I also was able to pretty much pancake during center splits. That’s another thing I probably haven’t done since middle school (or, at the latest, high school, during my Modern Dance phase).
We also did turns from fifth at the barre, and a few of mine came out rather nicely.
Going across the floor, we did a really-rather-wicked balance exercise — two different versions, really.
Version A was what one might describe as a pique-passe-fondu walk (and here’s the hard part) without putting the working foot down and with control on the supporting leg. No hopping. No schlumpnig. Just one smooth motion: pique; working leg comes through passe towards tendu as the supporting leg melts into fondu. Repeat on opposite leg; no step in between. Easy enough on the flat foot; much harder on releve (we used coupe rather than passe en releve).
Version B, on the other hand, started with pique first arabesque, then came through attitude to passe to extend forward and provide the working leg for the next side (en releve the whole time, no steps between, no hopping, no schlumping). I was able to do this really well maybe twice, when (surprise, surprise) I stopped thinking so hard about my supporting leg.
Apparently, there’s no crying in baseball, but there’s no thinking in ballet.
Needless to say, I shall be practicing this at home! This is the first thing that’s caused me to say, “Wow, that’s hard” in the ballet studio. Not to say things are never challenging — but this is the first time something has been sufficiently challenging to warrant mentioning.
After class, Denis took me to a nearby thrift store, where I actually found three really, really nice shirts in my size. Huzzah! It is not particularly easy to find a size small or 14 – 14.5 mens’ dress shirt at a thrift store in this part of the country, let alone three really sharp ones in excellent condition.
I took a chance on one that I wasn’t sure about — a casual button-up with a large plaid pattern in mulberry, several browns, and a couple of other shades. I tried it on in the changing room, and was really surprised to find that I really like how it looks.
The others are both proper dress shirts, one in a crisp black poplin and the other in a French-blue stripe with French cuffs. I’ll see about finding some inexpensive cufflinks that suit it (my current pairs are red and purple, neither of which would be a great match for most occasions, though the red ones could work for Independence Day or Bastille Day :D). Come to think of it, silver (or stainless steel) would go nicely either either the blue shirt or the black one.
Hmmmmmmm.
Okay. That’s enough for now. I have to go sort out some web stuff, do some homeowork for the MOOC I’m taking, and otherwise attempt to be a responsible adult. Ha!
I’m working on it.
Danseur Ignoble: Intermediate Class Again
Made it through Brienne’s class by the skin of my teeth. The first (read: slow!) part of barre was good — graceful, fluid, combinations hanging together. The middle was mediocre — I haven’t done quick footwork in weeks, really (bonus: Margie’s class will seem easy on Friday! :D).
The last part — the slow, grueling, “I’m only doing this to you because I love you all so much” part, with all the fondues and développés was … Well, it could have been worse.
Heck, it has been worse. But it still made abundantly clear how much core strength I’ve lost and so forth. Time to get back on that . I got a specific correction about keeping my abs engaged o.O I was as swaybacked as a retired army mule (as Denis pointed out, back to sitting on the exercise ball!).
Going across the floor, I was fine to the right and … not so fine to the left. For whatever reason, I kept losing the combo going left. I did, however, toss out some nice turns (though no doubles today), as if I knew what I was doing 😉
I also discovered that when Brienne says, “Good!” to me, I panic and fall apart! Gotta work on that, too. I have been dancing too long to fall apart on a sauté arabesque, sauté passe, sauté arabesque, sauté passe, tombé, pas de bourrée, glissade, assemblée zig-zag combo.
All told, not a terrible showing for my first full intermediate class (correction:… since February). I expect to do better next week, and not be such a clenching, gripping, sweat-dropping idiot during fondue adagio.
That’s it for now.
Danseur Ignoble: Instant Mens’ Class Quickie
Feeling a little calmer today, so class notes, huzzah!
We turned into men’s class today.
T., N., and I made up the roster, so Margie gave us extra time (she extended the class to 1 hour 15 mins, same duration as the beginner, intermediate, and advanced classes) to concentrate on turns and jumps.
Margie noticed that I was doing my grand battement without a hand on the barre and suggested that T. and N. try it (didn’t see how they did, because I promptly got all distracted and had to concetrate). During petit allegro, he also gave me my own combination variant with beats (changement, changement, echappe, royale): first time I’ve done beats (except for some lame-tastic cabrioles) since I blew up my tendon, so that was cool. (PS: great explanation of the basic Bag O’ Small Jumps here.)
T. is coming along. He really opened up and asked lots of good questions today — one of the nice perks of being an extra-small class. He’s definitely a cerebral dancer; he thinks about how to do things. It’s interesting to watch him learn. It will be very interesting to see where he is in a year. Right now, his turnout is quite good for a brand-new dancer, but his feet haven’t quite got the memo yet about staying pointed. That will come. He also has natural musical sense, which is good.
N. is just back from a tough period with some health stuff, so it was good to see him back in action.
I’m coming along, too: every week I seem to make strides in terms of musicality and expression. Sometimes I even don’t make faces when doing jumps with beats 😉
For whatever reason, my pirouettes en dedans from 5th were very nice to the right, but weird to the left. My arms just could not even. They were like, “Oh, we do these exactly like to the right,” and I was like, “No, the opposite,” and they were like, “You mean like this?” :::form up for a turn to the right:::
-.-
Arms. Seriously. We have been over this.
But they weren’t squidly. Just backwards. They were just as backwards going across the floor doing grand jetés.
I rode all the way home on the Karakoram. You guys, riding a mountain bike with a rock-hard racing saddle with no pressure relief cutout in a dance belt SUCKS after about 20 minutes. Don’t get me wrong, I really quite love the Karakoram … but I’ll be really happy when the Tricross comes home from the shop (reminds me; I need to check our messages).
Today’s ride started out at a moderate speed and slowed down from there. By the time I made it home, I’d pulled down an average of about 10 MPH. There were some long stops, though, because it’s Oaks Day, which means traffic is insane — it took me about 30 minutes to slow-roll through a section near Churchill Downs that normal takes 5 – 10. Most of that time was spent inching my way towards intersections. I don’t mind, though, since that was happening because drivers were letting pedestrians have the right of way.
I really can’t complain. I got to dance and ride the bike in the sun on this, the first day of May. I also ate a ridiculous lunch at Burger King, just because I could (in case you’re wondering, their spicy chicken sandwich is not as good, or as spicy, as Wendy’s). Later I will make chili, or pasta, or something, and ice cream cones, and perhaps we’ll go for a walk.
I’ll be handing in my final, final paper tonight. My really last Undergrad Thing. Then I will officially be Done with my time as an undergrad, and ready to move on to even bigger, even better things (once we sort out our Giant Tangled Mess to a reasonable degree).
Belated Essentials Class Notes; Weight Bias Online Open Course on Canvas
I don’t think I posted notes the last time I went to class, back before Spring Break and the Week of the Plague (we were both sick last week; fortunately, I was spared the fate of a follow-on bronchitis, unlike Denis). It was lovely, though I was not entirely at my best. There was a new guy, who we’ll call T. It was his third class, and he was doing quite well, so I hope he’ll stick around, and that I’ll see him in class on Friday morning this week.
Last night, we had another new dancer in Margie’s class. Margie asked me to lead her barre, and I subsequently realized I need to remember to keep a hand on the barre when leading a totally new student. In Margie’s class, I often work hands-free, in order to refine balance and stuff. It never occurred to me that a really new dancer might not realize that it’s okay to keep a hand on the barre, but that’s exactly what happened.
My balance was a little off, since I have some lingering fluid-in-the-ears stuff going on, but other than that I did well. Because I hadn’t been in class the prior week, I was also able to see myself with fresh eyes; I realized that my body has changed profoundly in the year I’ve been back in the studio.
My thigh muscles are leaner than I ever expected them to become, which is surprising (my calves are still huge, but no longer “out of spec” with regard to the classical-ballet mold). I’ve regained the flexibility I lost while alternating between sitting at a desk and training for bike races. My arms have learned how to be expressive and graceful.
For me, Margie’s class is now all about refinement and musicality. It’s actually invaluable in that regard.
Once school is out, I plan to keep Margie’s class in the Friday morning slot in my class rotation. Monday and Wednesday mornings, I’ll be doing Intermediate class, and Saturday morning I’ll be doing Beginner class (I’m not quite confident enough to try flailing my way through the Saturday-morning Advanced class yet!).
I will probably skip Wednesday evening class this week because I’m working on my final paper for my Buddhism class — as I said to Denis, I’ve reached “the boring part,” during which I’m basically just putting in all the references I didn’t enter as I wrote the paper because I was writing it on my tablet and tabbing back and forth was a PITA. That falls right into the range of work that is the most challenging for someone with my particular flavor of ADHD, so I’m giving myself time and room to work on it.
Of course, since I know I need to do it and I know it’s boring and I know it’s hard, my brain is also busily suggesting a million other things that I also need, with various levels of urgency, to do. Like, “Hey! It’ll only take a few minutes to complete the updates you need to do for the PorchLight Express Project! Plus, you need to work on that mini-article for Jack Rabbit Speaks! And you still need to take a picture of the trainer you’re offering up for the raffle for CabalAid! If you do those, you’ll feel productive, and that will help you with your paper!”
Well played, ADHD. I see what you’re trying to do, here. (But maybe I’ll do a couple of those things anyway, because I am someone who feeds on the feeling of accomplishment that comes from finishing things.)
In other news, I’m taking a free, 5-week online course offered by Dalhouse University on Canvas Network called “Behind the Scenes: Addressing weight bias and stigma in obesity.”
It looks really cool, and I’m very heartened by the fact that one of the readings for this, our first class week, is a paper from one of my favorite researchers. Dr. Rebecca M. Puhl is a prolific researcher in the field whose work kept popping up as I reviewed the literature upon which I would found my Senior Seminar project; I think I wound up citing four or five papers on which she was either a lead or one of two lead investigators.
Anyway, if you’re interested in the course, it’s not too late to sign up (and you can create a Canvas account for free)! I wish I’d thought to post a link earlier. It really looks like it’s going to be a great class.
Here’s a link, if you’re interested in checking out the course:
https://www.canvas.net/browse/canvasnet/dalhousieu/courses/weight-bias-stigma-in-obesity
Those of you working in the health-care professions may even be able to gain Continuing Education or Professional Development units. A certificate of Completion costs $50 Canadian and provides 15 PD units.
If you don’t have time to take the class but would like to follow along with the participants, we’ll be using hashtag #weighbiasaware on Twitter.
Speaking of Professional Development and Continuing Education, I have some long-term plan updates that I’ll be posting in a bit. Nothing particularly drastic, but I’m feeling pretty optimistic about my road forward now thanks to a chat with Dr. Morgan yesterday morning.
That’s it for now. Keep the leather side down, and don’t forget to ride your bike!
Danseur Ignoble: Intermediate Class, Now With More Fiber
I finally bit the bullet and returned to intermediate class today.
But first I failed to eat breakfast, so I bought some protein bars (mainly because they were fairly low in sugar). I had plenty of time before class, so I wolfed one down.
Then I noticed a message on the side of the box: “Increase fiber intake gradually to avoid gastric distress.”
Huh.
I did not proceed to check out the fiber content (update: I did check it after I got home — 20% of your daily diet intake per Bar! No wonder. I mean, that’s great, but maybe better after class, here).
I didn’t want to know. Sometimes — particularly on the way into I(ntermediate) C(lass), Brienne’s IC especially — ignorance is bliss, or at least survival.
Barre went well. As a body, Brienne’s students adore her because she works us like a bunch of cart-horses while providing great guidance and corrections. We suffer under her tutelage and emerge better dancers.
Oh, and her barre is often a full hour long. Spin class got nothin’ on Brienne’s barre.
It turns out that I haven’t lost my ability to learn long combinations and execute them, though I am somewhat out of shape physically.
I suffered like a bike racer through the final fondu adagio (we did, like, three separate slow fondu combos; mine got ugly towards the end) and then somewhat half-assed the frappés, even though that combination was fun (frappe x4, grand battement x2, all the way around and then avant with the inside leg).
At center, it turned out (no pun intended!) that all the work I’ve been doing on balances has greatly improved my turns. They’re now solid in combinations, as long as I don’t psych myself out.
We did a little warm-up thing with tendus and pirouettes from fifth, then some really nice adagio that I freaking well did right (including a double from fourth, Bwahaha!) on the first try…
And then, like a voice from beyond, my stomach spoke.
It spoke inaudibly, but its message was clear: Danseur Ignoble, you are just about done for the day. It was quite firm about that.
I made it through the second side of the adagio combination, but by the end of the first-side repeat my guts were in knots and I was starting to think I might vomit. My leg was also quietly suggesting that it was close to done –and I still needed to haul groceries home on the bike. For that matter, even my brain wasn’t so hot by then: it was busy trying to keep my guts in line, and I soon forgot the combination I’d just done so successfully a moment before.
My leg, my guts, my brain, and I limped through the rest of the adagio. We skipped the allegro: the guts weren’t having it, and the leg felt sufficiently fatigued to suggest a good stopping point anyway.
Needless to say, I followed up my class with an unexpected pit stop. Oy vey.
At any rate, all’s well that ends well. I’m feeling much better now.
And I have learned a valuable lesson: when choosing a pre-class breakfast bar, fiber content is probably as important as sugar and protein content.
Today’s corrections:
1. An effective one for keeping the supporting leg really turned out while in a relevé balance (can’t remember how she said it, but it worked and I’ve got it in my body now).
2. A deeply useful one for hitting the accents and a good line in frappé. Somehow, I haven’t been thinking of where the “picture” is in frappé,perhaps because I keep thinking of it as a passing step, which is a silly thing to think anyway in ballet. In ballet, there’s always a “picture.”
3. An excellent one for being musical and expressive in adagio without squinching up too much in the “small” moments. This one you really had to see. Maybe I’ll make a video?
Even though graduating is, like, terrifying in its own way (I used to kvetch about never finishing anything; now I’m kvetching about how scary finishing is!), I can’t wait to be done with this semester so I can get back to doing Brienne’s class on a regular basis. Also Brian’s Monday class.
Between the two of them and Margie’s and/or Claire’s Saturday classes, I think I’ll be in very good shape when it comes time to do the audition component for various DMT programs. I’m gaining a confidence in my body that I really never expected to achieve (learning to loooooove yourself, it is the greaaaaaatest loooooove o-of all, amirite?).
So that’s it for today. Stay on the ball, dancers!
Danseur Ignoble: Mining the Elements (Friday Essentials Notes)
I am still making the most of my long purgatory in Essentials, (not so-) patiently working the basics while rebuilding the strength in my calf.
We had a new guy today — it was his second class, but I missed Monday evening, so we hadn’t met before. He’s an enthusiastic student and looks like he’ll stick around, which is great.
As I was heading down to the bus stop, we chatted about classes, and how Margie’s class is well worth taking no matter how long you’ve danced (though our new guy was really totally new).
I was reminded yet again how a basic class is never a waste of time. Even the most advanced dancer can stand to check in with the essential elements of his or her technique from time to time.
Just as importantly, perfection is an ever-receding goal. In ballet, you will never learn absolutely all of the technique perfectly. Thus, it’s very heartening to revisit your strengths.
Today I really focused on bringing musicality into my port de bras and épaulement. I also worked on one-foot relève balances, particularly on developing a better proprioceptive sense about my back. My right calf is still weakish; by the time it’s strong enough for serious work, I hope to have my back well and truly sorted. I am practicing balances like crazy at home, too.
I should stipulate: I can balance quite well as long as I’m moving (so my turns are better than my static balances would imply), and I can definitely balance for a few seconds at a time.
I can also generally balance longer when I step into demi-pointe. It’s rising to élevé or relève that seems to add the difficulty. Too often (just as when I was learning to track stand on the bike), I do fine until I notice that I’m balancing.
So it’s a question of finding my center and staying there as I balance. And, like, not doing whatever, “Oh, hey, look at that!” micromovement it is that knocks me over when I succeed!
Our Ballet Anniversary is coming up. I feel like I’ve had a couple setbacks, but overall I’ve gained a lot of ground as a dancer, especially in terms of musicality and expression (which were not my strengths as a kid: I got by on natural grace, but didn’t really make the effort to develop it).
I think that’s really good progress: what I admired in T when I first ventured into Beginner class was his grace, his musicality. I said I’d be pretty happy if, after a year, I was where he was then. I feel like I’ve attained that goal; like I’ve transformed from overwrought squid into, you know, something like an actual dancer.
The 17th, our actual Ballet Anniversary, is a Tuesday, so we won’t be in class on that exact day — but I hope to be back to working jumps, maybe, which will make a nice end to my first year back in the studio.
A year ago, I wasn’t sure where I was going. Now I have a goal and a long-term plan to reach it, and ballet is part of that plan.
Pretty cool stuff. I’m actually looking forward to the future.
That’s good progress, too.
Danseur Ignoble: Saturday Essentials Class With New, Improved Arms!
I love ballet for any number of reasons, not least the magical thing that happens when all the wiring you’ve been installing suddenly fires to life and, holy cow, you get it (thanks, neuroplasticity!).
Today was one of those days: in Essentials, everything was easy, and my arms were fluid and graceful and coordinated.
Margie asked me to demonstrate the sauté (arabesque) – chassee combo going across the floor, and I was able to do it on both legs. I kept it low and easy, though, and I’m sure Denis would appreciate that.
We had a new student who said she hasn’t danced in about 20 years, but she must have had excellent training. Her arms were lovely and she followed all the barre and center combinations like a champ. I hope she’ll come back!
No specific corrections today (except a note about making sure to get back to sauté-ing instead of Sissone-ing when my leg is done healing; I am still favoring that leg a bit, so often I do little Sissones instead of proper sautés) and a reminder (rather than a correction) to get my heels down between jumps.
Ballet Squid Chronicles: Taking It Easy
Ballet is basically the ultimate sport/art for masochists (short, I guess, of the Sun Dance). Dancers push themselves hard; we push ourselves ’til it hurts, and then, generally speaking, we push a little more, because we figure that’s A) how you grow and B) how you prove yourself.
As such, we dancers can be a bit silly about recovering from injuries. First, there’s the “No Fun” factor (What do you mean, no jumps?! But I love jumping!); second, there’s the eternal fear of (GASP!) falling behind. :::shudder:::
Needless to say, after re-injuring my now nearly three-week-old calf injury last Saturday, I’m taking one for the team. Sucking it up and cooling it down.
Today, I did class, but I skipped the jumps, the one-foot releves and balances (on the right), and even the little springing sous-sous/echappe exercise that I normally enjoy so much (because it lets me show off, basically).
I’m also working slowly and carefully through just about everything, paying constant attention to whether or not that calf hurts. It’s not my natural approach to dealing with injury (which is, more or less, to pretend the injury hasn’t happened and continue apace), but, well … I think there might be something to it.
Taking it easy in class is giving my calf time to heal — but it’s also allowing me to focus on really sharpening up my basic technique, and I think that’s an invaluable opportunity. I’m working on really feeling turnout in all the right muscles (without clenching; I am like the King of Clenching, people, you don’t even know!), really feeling where my weight needs to be, and so forth. Pretty cool stuff.
The weird part of working through this particular injury is that it has made me very conscious of just how hard the muscles and tendons in my calves are working even when balancing at releve on both feet. My sous-sous is just not as stable right now as it usually is: my right leg isn’t all the way there.
Also, it was really weird doing barre stretch with no releve on the right foot. You develop routines; habits (dancers are rather infamous for being creatures of habit anyway). I had to think about how to get from a la seconde to en face. The answer? One very un-balletic shimmy. Like, work that booty, baby. But it got me there, so it flies.
I spent the time that everyone else was doing little jumps working my plies.
I do not use my plie sufficiently in jumps anyway: I have way overdeveloped the muscles that let you spring off of your toes, so I under-utilize the rest of my leg when jumping, and that’s how I injured myself in the first place (Ballet peeps! When your teacher yells HEELS ON THE FLOOR!!! as you saute across the room, that’s why!).
As my calf comes back online, I plan to spend a few weeks really concentrating on getting my heels on the ground and using the bejeezus out of my plie, even if that means smaller jumps for now. Eventually, it should let me manage even higher, more powerful jumps — which is pretty neat, since I’m already pretty good at high, powerful jumps: but first, I need to retrain my muscle memory and neural wiring so using the plie fully is part of the jumping process.
Going across the floor I worked on ballet walk and then little chasses on the right leg; on the left, I was able to do the saute arabesque-chassee combination. Switching back and forth every couple of strides made for one heck of an effective coordination exercise; I was able to get my legs to do it, but my arms got hella confused. I also got off one little cabriole — but just one.
I feel like this means I should probably play with doing different combinations on each leg on a regular basis, to familiarize myself with the process of rapidly flipping back and forth between two different choreographic elements. Though, now that I think of it in those terms, it feels like it should actually be easier to do than it was.
Anyway, that’s it for now. Time to go collect a movie and some stuff to throw together for dinner!
Ballet Squid Chronicles: Saturday Class Notes A La Monday
On Friday night, I went out with the of my bike peeps on what the bike world calls an s24o (edit: that’s short for “sub-24 hour overnight”).
We loaded up or bikes with camping stuff, met up at Great Food Brewing Company at Dundee Loop, then rode across town (back towards my house!) and out to Jefferson Memorial Forest. There, we made camp and enjoyed beer, camaraderie, and various rehydrated foods (I had a spicy shrimp Bowl Noodle!).
Eventually, we tottered off to our several temporary beds, wherein we shivered for various amounts of time and got more or less sleep. I actually warmed up fairly fast and slept pretty well, thanks in part to my Klymit Static inflatable pad, which is super-comfy and harder to roll off of than most. I didn’t sleep long enough, though.
On Saturday morning, we all made hot drinks (mostly coffee; I did tea), packed up, and rolled back out. I peeled off early to get home in time for ballet class.
Denis and I had an opera in the plans, so we just did Essentials. Since we’ve just started a new ballet year, class was very basic — which meant it was a great opportunity to really focus on technique.
We were also in Studio 4, which has a wood floor (more slippery than Marley!) and one very tall portable barre (my most favoritest barre ever).
Barre was simple, which was good, because I was bushwhacked from riding bikes and not sleeping very much. There was definitely a point at which I got the “You can point better than that” tap on my toe and discovered that, in fact, I kind of couldn’t. The flesh was willing…ish, but the mind was cooked. My brain just couldn’t even (I should note that I was pointing those toes … just, you know, not quite as much as usual) .
I did find that, even though I was tired, my core was much steadier during grand battement than it was before I started doing the Plank Challenge. My extensions during grand battement were also higher, even though I only had a full split on the left on Saturday.
I guess my core strength is improving!
Going across the floor, we just worked on chassé avant. Margie provided us with a helpful mental image: when your feet meet mid-chassé, you should basically be in a mid-air sous-sous (like you would during soubresaut).
For some reason, I’d never really thought of that before, but it does two cool things!
First, it makes your chassé prettier.
Second, it adds to your momentum, so you travel farther on each chassé. (Sadly, Studio 4 is tiny, so traveling farther wasn’t necessarily a great idea!)
We also worked on very basic port des bras, so I focused on making mine prettier (that is, neither squidly nor hieroglyphic).
So that’s it for now. Moar class on Wednesday!
danseur ignoble 