Archives for October 2014

October 24, 2014

Beginner Danseur Profile: Don Wilson

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This week’s profile is of Don Wilson, one of my classmates at Philly Dance Fitness who started at our studio 6 months ago. Read more about him below:

When did you start doing ballet as an adult?

6 months ago I began taking Beginner 1 at Philly Dance Fitness.

Did you ever take lessons as a kid?

No, but wish I had!

Why did you decide to take ballet as an adult?

There are SO many reasons… For starters, I love to dance! Working at a desk most days, it’s nice to have a fun form of exercise. We men also tend to be a little too stiff in our general movements, so another goal was to move more fluidly and gracefully in everyday life. With only the reasons above, any dance probably would have been great but there’s just something about ballet that’s therapeutic. It’s so graceful, requires so much strength and concentration that it’s impossible to be thinking about problems at work or home when taking the class or practicing at home.

Continue Reading

Filed Under: Adult Ballerinas, Ballerina Profiles, Ballet, Interviews Tagged With: , , Leave a Comment
October 22, 2014

Cross Training–Arm Strength

“Dancers often lack upper body strength. We spend so much of our time focusing on what the legs and feet are doing that we neglect the upper body,” says Nikol Klein, a former dancer and personal trainer.

I didn’t realize how true this was until I started doing arm workouts last summer. I now have a better understanding of how much arm strength can affect not only port de bras but also posture and overall movement quality.

Thanks to the internet, it’s easy and inexpensive to improve arm strength. Here are some workout videos I’ve found helpful:

Without Weights

Andrea Palen, 5 Minute Arm Workout

 

Ballet Beautiful, Swan Arms Workout

 

With Weights (Or water bottles)

Nikol Klein, Ballet Strength Arm Exercises for Port de Bras

 

Arm-Toning Moves from Ballet Body

 

Blogalites, Applause Arms Workout

 

Fitness Blender, Tank Top Arms Workout

Filed Under: Ballet, Info, Outside Class Tagged With: , , , Leave a Comment
October 20, 2014

Things Have Been A Little Crazy Around Here…

…but I’ve still been going to ballet, more than I used to. I just haven’t had time to write about it. But it’s been going really well. I’ve finally been able to go to class consistently, which has made me feel a lot stronger than I have been. I also finally feel like I’m starting to get some of my flexibility back.

My feet still seem really weak — although my calves seem really strong — so I really need to keep working on therabanding and other foot strengthening exercises.

I haven’t really been running as much, besides a race and a fun run in late September and early October. Here’s a photo from the fun run on a new boardwalk on the river here:FullSizeRender (2)

I plan on starting to run more now that things are slowing down a bit and recent things have given me a bit more of inspiration to start running some more, including the boardwalk opening and reading What I Think About When I Think About Running by Haruki Murakami. I plan on starting super slow again, to be extra careful.

Other things we’ve been up to:

A trip to the Baltimore aquarium where my friend got engaged:FullSizeRender

Working a fair for college students with work:FullSizeRender (1)

Art Museum trip with my friends (channeling Rocky here):

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Filed Under: Ballet, Blog, Etc., Running Tagged With: , , , Leave a Comment