Ballerina Profile: Linmayu Appavu

lin in la esmeralda 2014When did you start doing ballet as an adult?

I made my final decision to return to ballet at age 35, and will never quit dancing again.

Did you ever take lessons as a kid?

Yes, a lot of lessons. From age 6 to 25. I was the worst student in class and got yelled at a LOT, until I finally learned the difference between my right and left foot. I think I was 16 by then.

Because I had danced for so many years in the past, I thought it would be easy to come back and wow everyone, but no! I had to start over from square one. My mind knew what to do, but all my ballet muscles had disappeared into the ether from lack of use.

Why did you decide to take ballet as an adult?

During the years I wasn’t dancing, I couldn’t even go to a show and watch other people dance–any kind of dance–without feeling like I was being stabbed in the heart. Then I read all the magazines and all the articles that say people over age 20 who have boobs and butts shouldn’t do ballet. But you know what, I decided I don’t care about that. We each have just one life on this Earth, and I couldn’t imagine living out the rest of mine without taking myself to the absolute limits of my ability in dance. With God all things are possible. I’m just getting started.

Where do you take classes?

Currently, I take most of my classes with University Ballet of Chicago, a student group affiliated with University of Chicago. (That’s a tip for budding adult dancers: find a local college or university group that is open to non-students! You’re more likely to find performing opportunities, and it’s easier on the psyche to go to class with college kids than with high schoolers.) If I can’t get to UB, then I take class at the Joffrey Academy or Lou Conte Studio of Dance. Both have great adult classes at all levels, from basic to advanced/professional.

What is your favorite part about ballet?

Where do I begin? I think first and foremost, I love the beauty of the art form and the fact that it carries hundreds of years of human history. I love to move my body. I love to challenge my body, to do something today I couldn’t do yesterday. I love to land a perfect pirouette. I love jumping (a little bit too much; I tend to get crazy and then get injured). I love character dances. I love the music. I love the costumes (most of the time). I love performing, and feel very fortunate that I actually get to do that right now!

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What exercises do you do for flexibility?

I’m always struggling to fit stretching and flexibility training into my schedule, although it’s always something I’m trying to get better at. Here are two of my favorite videos for stretching (which are for splits specifically, but they’re good for general hamstring flexibility):

The longer version:

The shorter version:

What are your favorite stretching routines? How do you find time to stretch?

How to Make Blog + Social Media Scheduling Easy: CoSchedule Blogging Tool Review

Finding time to blog is tough, but finding time to blog and post social media for that blog can be even tougher. That’s why I first tried CoSchedule a few months ago, and honestly, I’m in love with it. Here’s a quick video overview of what CoSchedule can do:

I started using CoSchedule a few months ago for Adult Ballerina Project and I also used it as part of my job, too.

What is CoSchedule?

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It is a drag-and-drop editorial calendar for WordPress that puts your blog posts and social media messages on the same schedule. It beats out the normal calendar provided in WordPress (and other calendar plugins) with the social media add-in. I love that CoSchedule has a “drag and drop” option so that if you want to quickly move a post from one day to another, you don’t have to log in to WordPress and change the scheduled date/time. You can also move a scheduled post to drafts and a draft to the calendar.

Key Features:

Here’s a list of other key features CoSchedule lists as including:

  • Drag-And-Drop Editorial Calendar
  • Schedule Social Media While You Blog
  • Save Time, Grow Traffic
  • Easily Re-Schedule Old Blog Content
  • Lightweight WordPress Plugin
  • Automated Social Publishing
  • Simple Team Communication
  • All-In-One Publishing Solution
  • No More WordPress Hacking

What platforms work with CoSchedule?

CoSchedule works with WordPress, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Buffer, and even Google+ Pages (using a to Buffer). One of my favorite was to use CoSchedule is to push posts to Buffer, so that I can re-arrange them using Buffer’s built-in scheduling system (pre-set times set by you). It makes it super easy to rearrange the order of your posts and even remove things last-minute if you need to — like if you discovered an error in a post and don’t want to share it again, but you’re on the go and only have your phone.)

While CoSchedule has no mobile app at the moment (a downside) — if you push to Buffer, you can have access via their mobile app to edit and change things on the go!

Multiple Blogs and Users

I love that you can have multiple blogs (great if you run many of them) and multiple users. While I don’t currently take advantage of these, I’m looking forward to using the multiple users functionality when my interns start. You can even set tasks for users (or yourself, for that matter — I often set tasks for myself so I remember certain things I want to include in social media posts in the future!)

See your top posts

I love that CoSchedule will tell you how often and on what platforms your posts get shared on. I also love that you can see what your top posts are, either over a specific time period or all time. Here’s ABP’s top posts of all time by social sharing:

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Other Integrations

I love that you can connect Bit.ly, Google Analytics, and Google calendar to CoSchedule, too! It makes it super easy to help track of how posts and social media is doing.

Test it Out!

If you want to test to see if you’ll love CoSchedule as much as I do for all your blogging needs, CoSchedule offers a free trial.  You can also extend your trial for every social media account you link up to CoSchedule (which I did when testing it out!

 

Happy National Running Day!

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I don’t often write about my running anymore here, but since National Running Day is today, I figured I’d share a little bit about why I run while doing ballet and how I recently started running again.

Why do you run?

I run because it relieves my stress and helps give me a cardio boost. Even though running has been one of the hardest things to start and re-start, I really enjoy it.

How do you plan to celebrate National Running Day?

Given my toe injury, I won’t be doing that much, but I’m hoping to make it out to one of Philly’s trails for a quick run if anything. I was hoping to participate in a specific National Running Day activity, but unfortunately that won’t be happening now.

How many miles have you run so far this year?

Not very many, but I just started getting back into running at the start of May. I’m hoping I can add more and more as this year continues.

What big events do you have on the race calendar so far this year?

I’m super super excited for the Philly 10K (a race that goes through Philadelphia’s neighborhoods) that’s put on by Philadelphia Runner.

Before I leave for a run you must have:

Lots and lots of water. I usually make sure to grab essentials (keys, phone, GPS watch, etc.) too.

Do you have one favorite app to track your runs?

My favorite app was RunKeeper, but now I use a Garmin Forerunner 220.

Who is your favorite running partner?

HQ by the river!

HQ by the river!

HQ. We run pretty much every run together. (This photo was taken on national running day a few years ago!)

What races have you ran so far this year?

I haven’t run one yet, trying to pick a 5K to run in the next few weeks, so if your near Philly and have a recommendation, let me know!

If you had to give someone one piece of advice about running what would it be?

Same as I would for ballet, don’t give up! It doesn’t necessarily get easier, but it does get more enjoyable.

Describe your relationship with running in one word:

Difficult.

Pick the #AdultBallet Twitter Chat Time + Suggest Questions!

adult-ballet-twitter-chatWe’re looking forward to restarting the #adultballet twitter chats we held a while back. Chats typically last an hour, and typically the hosts ask about 6 questions that everyone and anyone is welcome to answer!

And if you want to suggest a question that should be asked during the chat, add it here:

We can’t wait to talk everything relating to #adultballet on Twitter!

(P.S. If you’re interested in co-hosting this chat, or another one, get in touch at aballerinaproject@gmail.com!)

Top oimage modified from Flickr User Kryziz Bonny with Creative Commons Permissions