Quite awhile ago, I asked readers to submit instructor and studio reviews so that their fellow ballerinas could have a guide to the best studios and instructors to check out in their area. I’ve done a little bit of reorganizing, but you can still find all the reviews under the Instructor Reviews and the Studio Reviews. I’ve also added a product review submission form so you can review your favorite leotard, ballet slipper, tights, food products (I love snack bars and protein powders all that stuff), etc.–even running products. We still could use a lot more submissions, so use the forms below to submit some more to help out your fellow ballerinas. I’ve moved to Google Forms, so you should be able to submit more than one response and multiple reviews unlike before.
Archives for June 2013
DIY Barre–ballerinas can build too!
Before: giant pile of pipes and wood. After: beautiful ballet barre that matches my decor. Yippee!
I’m really excited for this post today because the project in it has changed my life. (A little dramatic, maybe, but you get the idea!) It has been so nice to be able to have a barre at home to practice my port de bras, tendus, pliés, etc. when I don’t really have time to go to a full class. I had been using my door frames and kitchen counter to balance previously and let me tell you- not so graceful looking! I had seen some Instagram posts of people using portable barres so I looked online to see where to buy one and was not super excited about price. I got to scouting for other solutions and found this lovely tutorial by Laughing Abi and I thought I’d give it a shot. As to not be horribly boring and repetitive, I’ll leave the step by step out and summarize the process and also include the little changes I made to my barre from the tutorial.
Here’s what you’ll need to replicate my barre:
- Six 1 1/4 inch PVC cross joints
- Four 1 1/4 inch PVC elbow joints
- Two 30 inch long 1 1/4 inch PVC pipes (I made my barre at 43 inches because I’m tall. In order to change the height of the top barre, adjust the lengths of PVC that are 30 inches.)
- Two 6 inch long 1 1/4 inch PVC pipes
- Four 12 inch long 1 1/4 inch PVC pipes
- Two closet rods or wooden dowels between 1 1/8 inches and 1 1/4 inches in diameter… these should be around 6 feet long in the store.
- 8 screws
- Spray paint (I used Valspar Perfect Finish Gloss in “Tropical Oasis”)
- PVC glue (I used Christy’s Red Hot Blue Glue)
What you’ll want to do is assemble the 2 of the 12 inch pieces together with a cross in the center and an elbow on each end. Repeat for the other side. I glued all of those joints together for extra sturdiness. It’s optional but if you choose to do it, make sure you work fast because that glue dries in a heartbeat! From there stick the long pieces (mine were 30 inches) into the cross you just attached the 12 inch pieces to. You’ll then add a cross to the end of that. Repeat for the other side. Now you can slide in your first barre! Now insert the 6 inch pieces into the top cross joints. Add the final cross joints to the tops of those and now slide in your first barre. This is where I took mine apart again to paint it. After the paint was dry I put the barres back in where I wanted them and instead of using foam as suggested on the tutorial, I screwed through the cross joints into the wooden barre. This was my dad’s suggestion to help the whole thing from wobbling side to side. I did a screw on each side of the cross joints (8 total). I then carefully sprayed those teal as well. That’s more or less it! It was simple, sorta fun, and fast. I think I managed to finish the entire project in under two hours which isn’t bad for something I get so much use out of.
In progress.
Overall, I’m pretty pleased. It made practicing at home a lot easier. It also has come in handy for stretching! I must say, because of how lightweight it is it isn’t super sturdy. This means that you can’t really put much weight on it, it’s really only good for adding some balance to what you are doing. In the end, that’s really what a barre is for anyway so it is helpful not only to help you keep balanced but also to remind you not to use the barre to hold you up. Make that supporting leg do some work! 🙂 I also added a big piece of cardboard left over from when we had some bark delivered for our landscaping in order to keep my shoes from getting scuffed on the flooring. It also comes in handy for practicing in the bedroom, where we have carpet. The combo has become my own little studio that all tucks behind my dresser when I’m not using it which is perfect for how small our place is.
Using my barre for pliés and stretching in my kitchen which is right across from a full length mirror.
So there you have it! An easy, affordable, and portable ballet barre that you can make yourself. I honestly am glad that I made it. If you decide to give it a whirl, let me know how it works out! Do you have any other suggestions for ballet at home?
-Caysie
Birthday Celebrations–Urban Scramble and more!
Today is my 22nd birthday (yes, cue the Taylor Swift music now). In the afternoon, I’ll be covering Campus Philly‘s Opportunity Fair via social media (both via their Twitter, Instagram and Vine and mine as well) but I’ll try not to overwhelm them.
After that’s over, I’ll be heading to Philadelphia Runner‘s Urban Scramble. It was supposed to be last week, but a chance of severe thunderstorms made them reschedule it (it barely rained, so I got to go to ballet class instead). I know some people were upset that the Urban Scramble got reschedule, but I was pretty happy. It gave me something fun and exciting to do on my birthday instead of just heading to work. So it getting rescheduled for today was kind of a win-win for me.
Other birthday weekend plans include going out to fancy dinner at White Dog Cafe (and using up some of a gift card to there ages ago) and ballet early on Saturday. Hopefully I’ll be able to squeeze in another run (besides the Urban Scramble) along the Schuylkill river trail, but I’ll be pretty busy this weekend because I’ll also be attending a Girl Develop It Philly workshop on WordPress which I received a scholarship for to cover the costs. I’m excited to continue to improve the look and functions of this website as well as to continue to spread the community aspect of it. I’m still looking for guest bloggers and people to interview, so if you’re a blogger, runner or adult ballerina (or instructor) and you’re interested in participating in some aspect of Adult Ballerina Project , make sure you fill out this Google Form.
What do your weekend plans consist of?
From Campus Philly: My Love Note to Major Moment Studio
While I’ve been busy messing around with the layout and other tweaks with the new site, I wanted to take the time and share this post I wrote for my internship a few weeks ago dedicated to my ballet studio.
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Dear Major Moment Studio,
I first approached you nervous with palms sweaty, unsure of exactly what an “adult ballet” class would entail. I pulled open your door and stuttered as I introduced myself to the ballet teacher with the vibrant red hair, curled into pigtail buns. I wanted to run away—who does ballet as an adult beginner anyway? But I stayed.
And I fell in love.
The studio is on the smaller side, located on west South Street, lumped between an apartment building and Magpie. The studio’s smooth hardwood floors and gigantic mirrors make up for its size.
Everyone who attends the classes is warm and welcoming—no one is going to scoff or laugh at you when you can’t get the hang of a move. We’ve all been there before.
It doesn’t matter whether it’s your first ballet class or your 2000th, everyone is welcome at Major Moment—male, female, 18 or 65. The students remind me that you’re never too old to start taking ballet. Every week, I get excited by the new students who walk in. Sometimes they’ve never taken a ballet class before; other times they’re returning after years of being out of a dance studio.
I just barely fit in the latter category: I took classes from ages 4-6. Then I participated in a slew of different sports: baseball, soccer, gymnastics, swimming, cheerleading. Who would’ve thought I’d return to ballet at age 20?
Major Moment’s owner and resident ballet instructor, Beverly, is charming—she may occasionally mix up her own two feet—but she always takes the time to make sure all her students don’t get left behind during an exercise. Beverly preaches that she doesn’t teach “baby ballet.” She knows adult beginners are capable of more than that. She pushes you to work harder, if you need it–but her corrections are always kind and gentle. She wants you to get better. This isn’t just a dance fitness class. As a student here, you learn real ballet.
Beverly teaches three levels of ballet classes (Absolute Beginner, Beginner II, and Advanced Beginner) that are offered through Philly Dance Fitness. She also never cancels unless it’s Christmas, New Year’s Day or Memorial Day.
Her motto is “No challenge, no change.” She doesn’t mind it when I show up to the Advanced Beginner classes, although I’m not quite up to that level yet. I go to challenge myself.
Major Moment Studio, I never thought I’d be able call myself a ballerina, but thanks to you I feel like I can. Philadelphia has a great, burgeoning art scene–I’m grateful that I can be a part of it.
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You can check out the original post over on Campus Philly and check out Philly Love Notes for more awesome spots in Philly as well.
We’ve Moved!
If you’re reading this, then my process has been successful! I’m still in the process of figuring stuff out, but for now, the majority of posts and other resources on this blog have been moved over to WordPress.org. We’re still accessible at AdultBallerinaProject.com.
I’m still in the process of getting followers moved over from WordPress.com, but that should happen shortly and everyone who was receiving an e-mail update should receive one with the upcoming posts, but this one might not make it.
If you were subscribed to my posts via WordPress’s reader, my posts should still show up in your reader as an RSS feed. I’ll be testing this out shortly and crossing my fingers that it works.
I’ll have another way of subscribing now too: feel free to subscribe via MailChimp, where I’ll send out a weekly newsletter with the news and posts from this week.
The good/awesome news is, I’ll be at an awesome 2 day workshop this week with Girl Develop It Philly to learn the ins and outs of WordPress so that I can make this blog even more awesome.
