Hi again, It’s me your (hopefully) favourite 19 year old beginner! I wish I could say that I am posting on here straight from getting home from my second lesson... but I’m not. I had my class last night after a 5 hour shift working on checkouts and I was just tooo tired and then I had university all day today and this was the first chance I got to tell you all how it went!
Ok so I guess the first thing I should tell you all about is that because of work my class had to be cut back from an hour to three quarters of an hour because I finished work when I was supposed to start my class but my lovely teacher let me cut back my class time a little instead of cancelling my class all together.
So after turning up a little late and rushing to get into my tights and shorts (I don’t yet have a leo I should be getting one during the week) and already being warmed up but not stretched because of time we headed over to the barre and did some preparation for turnout exercises, plies, positions of the feet, tendus, preparation for pirouettes and preparation for arabesques (I also think we did coups and releves) we moved onto centre... this is where I find my coordination goes out the window.
I was all good and fine when we did position of the arms and head bus as soon as I started to move across the floor oh boy! My brain and feet refused to work together! Classical walks were ok and I was pretty good at tendus in the centre and prances but as soon as we got to the polka I was lost! Ha ha ha I am still not to sure how to do it!
But all in all I had a really good class. I remembered most things from last time and I was not shaking as much when going up on demi on rises and I got to lean some new things and my teacher printed off some barre sequences for me to do over the next week that she thinks I am ok enough to be practicing without her with me. I was going to ask her if some time in the future when I have gained enough strength and technique if she would consider putting me en Pointe but I ran out of time... do you think I should ask her next week?
And now to ask your help... any one got any tips for me to lean out my legs? I find I have a little trouble getting them together or moving a little because of the thickness of my legs. Also any good tips for stretching out my calf muscles they seem to be tight and hard to stretch. It would be nice if you have some tips to strengthen them too.
Until next week!
Bonnie_Rose!
Hi! I followed you from dance.net. As a ballet teacher, I am always excited to see beginners of all ages. I'm sure you know that progressing to pointe work in ballet is the result of years of hard work and dedication. While it is important to ask your teacher, make sure you do so intelligently. Rather than saying, I really want to do pointe. When do you think I'll be ready?! Explain to your teacher that you'd be interested in pursing pointe work in a few years, once you've mastered technique and gained the necessary strength and flexibility.
ReplyDeleteKnowing that you are interested in pointe work will help your teacher begin your preparations. Also, knowing that you are more mature and willing to work towards this goal will help her feel secure about helping you.
As far as bulk is concerned, you will notice your body becoming more lean as you continue your ballet study. Make sure you stretch after class to help your muscles become leaner. Your teacher should be able to provide you with some great stretches.