Beginner Ballerina Profile: Remedial Ballerina

Pink Check out this week’s profile of one of my favorite fellow ballerina bloggers, Remedial Ballerina !

When did you start doing ballet as an adult?

I started taking class in August of 2012.  

Did you ever take lessons as a kid?

Many!  I started taking ballet at age 3, all the way through age 18.  I dabbled in tap and jazz, but ballet was always my favorite.  

Why did you decide to take ballet as an adult?

I was stuck in a rut for a long time.  I gave birth to my daughter, and everything changed in my life.  I put on some weight, my old slight dancer figure was no more, and it really bothered on me.  I tried running, biking, swimming, zumba and weight lifting.  I was interested in all of those things for awhile, but nothing ever stuck.  I needed a way to shape up, increase my strength and give me some release from the daily grind.

Oddly enough (and embarrassing to admit!) I started watching the show Dance Moms, which reminded me how much I loved to dance growing up.  I spent all of my childhood learning ballet, it was a natural transition.  At the age of 26, I decided to take the plunge and join an adult ballet class.  Since the semester started I’ve never missed a class.  I’m actually panicking now trying to locate a studio that offers summer adult classes!  

Where do you take classes?

I take classes at a lovely little studio in the Milwaukee area.  

What is your favorite part about ballet?

My favorite thing about ballet is that everyone is there for the same reason, to improve themselves in some way.  I always felt judged at the gym, never welcome.  Ballet is amazing because everyone is so engrossed in their own technique, nobody has time to watch you make stupid mistakes.  Even better, EVERYONE makes at least one stupid mistake each class, looks ridiculous doing a certain move, etc.  Ballet is non-judging and an amazing way to forget about everything else in your life.

What is your least favorite part?

My least favorite part about ballet is that I gave up dancing, and now I’m playing an intense game of catch-up.

Who/What is your ballet inspiration?

I dont have a favorite dancer, but I’m inspired by my own progress.  It’s been 8 months back at it, and my body has changed dramatically.  I have more to work on, and I see my own improvement week after week.  It’s unlike any other fitness program, sport, or hobby I’ve ever tried. 

What motivates you to keep dancing?

I’ve lost 22 lbs since I re-started ballet in August 2012.  I know that doesn’t sound like that much, but I’ve gone down 2 pant sizes, I’m significantly more toned and only getting healthier every day.  The quest to be healthy and strong is what drives me to pursue dance again. 

Do you take any other dance classes?

I do!  I’m taking lyrical and pointe in addition to technique class. 

What are your hobbies outside of ballet?

I’m motivated by and pretty good at most creative projects I try out.  My favorite hobby aside from ballet is art quilting and fabric collage.  I really enjoy making intricate fabric collages out of tiny pieces of fabric.  Aside from that, I love reading, writing, and playing various instruments

What advice would you like to give to those who want to start ballet or have just started?

DIVE IN!  Don’t worry about trying to lose weight before you join a ballet class.  You’ll melt it off during class.  Ballet is hard, but very physically and mentally gratifying.

One last thing– ALWAYS wear a leotard.  Even if you think you’re not in shape to wear a leotard, ballet involves lots of bending/spinning/jumping, and you’ll want the leotard to keep your midsection covered! 

Anything else you’d like to add?

Ballet has literally changed my life.  It sounds cheesy, but I think it will change yours too.  Try it out!

Black Swan

Beginner Ballerina Profile: Riette Hartzenberg

Today’s profile is of Riette Hartzenberg, who also takes classes at Susan Attfield’s ballet studio in South Africa.

When did you start doing ballet as an adult?

About 3 years ago.

Did you ever take lessons as a kid?

No.

Why did you decide to take ballet as an adult?

It was something I always wanted to do and finally got around to doing. I also read an article about the toning benefits of a good ballet session.

Riette Hartzenberg Where do you take classes?

At the Irene dance hub.

What is your favorite part about ballet?

Getting something right after lots and lots of practice. Furthermore it forces you to concentrate on nothing else for an hour. For an hour you are “forced” to spend some me-time with yourself. Plus it is really very toning. I made some good friends and we laugh a lot.

What is your least favorite part?

Pirouettes. I don’t handle turns very well.

What motivates you to keep dancing?

I really enjoy it.

What are your hobbies outside of ballet?

I go the gym a few times during the week, and enjoy doing arts and crafts.

What advice would you like to give to those who want to start ballet or have just started?

Go for it! Just enjoy it and give yourself time to grow into it. We all like to be perfect from the start, but you have to be between 5 and 15 to master it in a day.

Riette Hartzenberg 2nd from left

Riette Hartzenberg is 2nd from left

Find a school close to you and sign up today!

Beginner Ballet Profile: Lionel

This week’s profile is another of Susan Attfield‘s ballet studio students, Lionel–who first started to take ballet in October 2012 after seeing So You Think You Can Dance. 

LionelDid you ever take lessons as a kid?

No, never took any lessons as a kid, I grew up in a small town and my interest was mainly athletics.

Why did you decide to take ballet as an adult?

There are a few reasons, I have always loved watching ballet, I was always an active individual but since I left school it gradually got replaced by work, deadlines and the idea that one day my busy schedule will get better.  It was the infamous series So you think you can dance which made me look for adult ballet classes in my area.

Where do you take classes?

In Centurion, Gauteng, South Africa.

What is your favorite part about ballet?

When after 3 months you finally start doing something right…lol, just kidding for me it’s that one hour when all the troubles in the world disappear.

What is your least favorite part?

To be honest…. when the classes are over 🙁

Who/What is your ballet inspiration?

I’m not yet familiar with the great names in ballet, but at this stage watching anyone who can really dance, you don’t realise how hard these dancers have to train to dance at that level, when you see them you think to yourself o that’s good, but you don’t even begin to realise that there is a reason they train for years…

What motivates you to keep dancing?

To dance makes me happy, if I had discovered this at an earlier stage in my life things might have been different, but I like the feeling I have when I leave the class and that makes me want to come back.

Do you take any other dance classes?

No not at this stage.

What are your hobbies outside of ballet?

Gardening, Cleaning, Swimming.

What advice would you like to give to those who want to start ballet or have just started?

I have started the class about 4 months ago, and in every class I see new faces, if you like ballet just keep going, with every class it gets better just persevere.

Anything else you’d like to add?

I wish to thank the teachers and owner of the DANCE HUB group for dedicating their time to beginner adult dancers, even though I will not become a professional what your classes do for my soul is far more fulfilling than anything money can buy.  You guys are awesome.

Beginner Ballerina Profile: Carina Perry

Here’s another great profile of Carina Perry, who takes classes at the Dance Hub in South Africa. Susan, who owns the studio, wrote a guest post for ABP a few months ago here.

IMG_7162When did you start doing ballet as an adult?

January 2012

Did you ever take lessons as a kid?

Yes I had lessons for plus/minus 2 years when I was 9.

Why did you decide to take ballet as an adult?

I knew I had to do some exercise but don’t like the gym. So I was looking for adult tap dance classes and couldn’t find, And then I discover Dance Hub and that was a new exciting phase in my life.

Where do you take classes?

Not that far from home at a gym.

What is your favorite part about ballet?

Discipline in another fun way, lots of laughing and meeting new people. Good exercise and toning of the body. Last year I did a pilates class also and that helped a lot to becoming more fit.

What is your least favorite part?

When I miss a class due to guests, illness or work.

Who/What is your ballet inspiration?

I always loved ballet, don’t need inspiration, enjoy all of it.

What motivates you to keep dancing?

It changed my way of thinking, in the beginning I couldn’t concentrate on nothing, just thinking of work. Therefore its good for body and mind.

IMG_7172Do you take any other dance classes?

Currently I’m doing one absolute beginners class and two beginners classes during the week.

What are your hobbies outside of ballet?

Photography, gardening, crocheting and knitting

What advice would you like to give to those who want to start ballet or have just started?

Never give up, you don’t feel on top of the world the first couple of months. I struggled so much in the beginning, nothing make sense. And after 4 months I started feeling more comfortable. I’m 42 years old and did no exercises except from running and smoked 30 cigarettes a day, I stop smoking in my forth month of ballet and still going strong. I gain a lot of weight after stopped smoking but still I’m proud of myself.

Anything else you’d like to add?

An extra bonus is Susan, (owner of the dance school) allows me to take photos of the more advance dancers and there shows and that is so great. I’m privilege to combine two hobbies and grateful that my health is still good to do ballet. Susan is the actual soul of the ballet school, she is such an inspiration, she started with no experience and is a great adult ballet dancer today. She is good fun and put a lot of effort into the school. I’m privilege to be part of Dance Hub 2013.

 

One of the photos taken by Carina.

One of the photos taken by Carina.

(Re)Beginner Ballerina Profile: Terez Mertes of The Classical Girl

This week’s profile of Terez Mertes of The Classical Girl (she does ballet and plays the violin!), who returned to ballet at 35 after giving it up because she joined the Peace Corps.

When did you start doing ballet as an adult?

When I moved to the Santa Cruz area, fifteen years ago, when I was thirty-five.

Did you ever take lessons as a kid?

Yes, I started when I was ten, at a local studio. Once a week, I took ballet and tap in a dimly lit, basement facility with linoleum floors. Quite the humble affair, but it was walking distance from our house and when you are the seventh of eight kids, the only one taking ballet, you do what’s convenient. I didn’t move up to a “real” ballet classes, with aspiring pre-professional students, until I was sixteen and could drive myself there. I remained enamored of ballet through high school and college, and was fortunate enough to perform with a local dance company through my college years.

Why did you decide to take ballet as an adult?

I’d joined the Peace Corps upon college graduation, which quickly put an end to any further ballet aspirations. In my late twenties, I  thought I’d “outgrown” ballet and the need for it, but something deep in my soul was clearly still craving it. I’d told myself no, that ballet was for younger bodies, and I joined a gym instead. But the urge, the pain of missing ballet, wouldn’t go away, so finally I returned. I had to stop once again a few years later, however, when I had a baby. In truth, I’ve started, stopped, started, stopped. Life does that to you sometimes. But I always come back.

Where do you take classes?

At the International Academy of Dance, in Santa Cruz.

What is your favorite part about ballet?

I love classical music, so that’s a big perk right there. I love the intellectual challenge of ballet, the music and movement choreographed in a way you’ll never find in an aerobics or kickboxing class. I’m forced to keep my attention focused in ballet, be present in my body, not lost in thought and just sort of going through the motions.

In class itself, I think I most enjoy the grand allegro section. It feels like the dessert portion of a meal. It’s where I don’t have to struggle with balance, with extensions, where I can just fling myself out there and really dance, regardless of how old I am or what kind of shape my body is in. It feels like the old days of performing, and I just love that. I’m also really enjoying petit allegro work, which is not something I would have said when I was younger, so maybe there are advantages to dancing as an adult. I’m stronger at it than I used to be, perhaps more driven for the chance to “perform” it, if only for myself and the mirror.

What is your least favorite part?

The fact that I can’t do things at the same skill level I used to is the least favorite part of my adult ballet experience.Ballet2 copy I have to stick to single and the occasional double pirouette. I have much lower extensions, wobbly balance, a thicker waist—these are all limitations I’ve come to accept, but they’re still not much fun.

In class, what I enjoy least is the balance work required in the adagio section. I hesitate to say all of the adagio section, because that used to be my favorite part, such a wonderful opportunity to stretch, emote, really pour everything into slow, beautiful art. Part of me can still enjoy that, the elegant upper body expressiveness, while the other part struggles and wobbles and mentally mutters curses.

Who/What is your ballet inspiration?

Every time I watch professional ballet being performed, whether in a live performance or YouTube or on TV, it re-ignites a fire in me to be doing the same thing. It gets me up and moving. It drives me to try harder, maintain what little of the art, the craft, that I can.

In terms of specific performers I admire, I’d say San Francisco Ballet principals Yuan-Yuan Tan and Sarah Van Patten, for their strength, their lyricism and the originality they bring to their dancing. On YouTube, I have just been stunned with admiration by Alina Cojocaru, principal with the Royal Ballet. (Her Aurora in Sleeping Beauty – wow!) And NYCB dancer Sarah Mearns, as well as ABT’s Misty Copeland, both embody to me everything that is healthy and positive about ballet and dancers today. Great role models, both of them, for the rising generation of ballet dancers.

What motivates you to keep dancing?

Call it thwarted ambition or the desire to excel, but as mentioned above, there’s this fire in me, this feeling that I’m only half-alive unless I’m reaching for the sky, the stars, through dance. The feeling, the pain of it can consume me when I don’t have a regular dance practice in my life. Especially if I watch a ballet performance, and I’m sitting there, passively observing. All these strong emotions rise up, this understanding that you can never be what you were, do what you once did. I know there are former dancers who don’t go back to dance, or watching performances, for that reason. And yet, it’s so deeply ingrained in me, the love of ballet, the need for the movement. When I feel that way now, I know it’s time to hurry back to the studio for another class ASAP.

Do you take any other dance classes?

No, but I’m a longtime yogi, and enjoy, in particular, the vinyasa or “flow” classes, which give me the opportunity to really “dance” the practice, which I love. I take a kickboxing class which couldn’t be more different than ballet, but it’s a good cardio workout, it’s free at my gym, the time slots work, and there’s free childcare there. (A big perk in past years when my son was little.) I also lift weights and jog; I like diversity in my workouts, and that ballet dancer’s ethic of working out six days a week has never left me.

What are your hobbies outside of ballet?

Seven years ago, when my ballet class at that time disbanded and nothing else seemed to fit my time/budget constraints, I decided to switch arts and started playing the violin. Very, very challenging! And yet, it was something performing arts-related that I could do, from my home, on a daily basis. It was classical music-based, so that part of the equation felt right. Now that I’m back in a ballet class, I’m still trying to keep up with the violin. It’s a very nourishing (and humbling) experience, to be an adult beginner on the violin. It’s why I relate so well to adult beginner ballet dancers, even though I myself am a lifelong dancer. We all understand the journey of discovery as an adult, how thrilling and humbling it can be. Switching gears, I’m also a book-reading junkie and always have stacks of books around the house, often reading two or three at the same time.

What advice would you like to give to those who want to start ballet or have just started?

Enjoy the journey, and it’s all about the journey, and the love of what you are doing, moving your body to the music. it’s such a beautiful, organic thing to do, and at the same time, it’s a pursuit that will challenge you mind, body and spirit. Don’t talk yourself out of the impulse to give it a try and/or keep at it. (I’ve blogged about this very topic in the post called “Beginners’ Remorse” over at my own site.)

And this: don’t think you’re too old, too big, too clumsy, too tall, too anything. If the urge is in you to dance, then the solution is simple. You go, and lovingly pursue that goal. And, for the record, no one arrives at perfection in ballet. Ever. You have flaws, fine, so do all of us. We all just show up to work on our stuff. Oh, and to dance to pretty music!

Anything else you’d like to add?

Aim for the stars. Dare to dream, and believe. And come visit me at my blog, The Classical Girl (www.theclassicalgirl.com)!