March 28, 2014

Beginner Ballerina Profile: Kara Lockwood

IMG_0199This week’s profile is of Kara Lockwood. Kara runs two blogs, one about here dance journey,  www.karasdancejourney.com, and one about her music and other creative pursuits, www.karalockwoodcreative.com.

When did you start doing ballet as an adult?
When I was 22, 6 years ago.
Did you ever take lessons as a kid?
No.
Why did you decide to take ballet as an adult?
I had loved dance since I was a teenager and longed to do it. I was inspired by my friend Anna who started taking formal dance training as an adult. So about a year after seeing her perform in a production on stage I enrolled in my first ballet class.
Where do you take classes?
I currently take class at the Goh Ballet in Vancouver. As well I take private lessons at Driftwood Dance Studios in North Vancouver.
What is your favorite part about ballet?
I love the beauty, grace, the artistry and the physical and mental challenge. I love the feeling I feel when doing it and the feeling of accomplishment I get after most classes. I love being in the zone and feeling like I’m right where I’m meant to be when I’m in class. I also love dressing up in a tu tu or dress and performing.
What is your least favorite part?
I don’t like frappes, they are hard for me to do. And sometimes I don’t get why they are a part of ballet.
Who/What is your ballet inspiration?
Well the girl I mentioned above Anna who jumped into a full-time dance program when she was in her early 20’s. I’m also inspired by the many adult ballet bloggers out there.
What motivates you to keep dancing?
I feel like it’s in me to dance. If I don’t dance I feel like something is missing. I have this ache inside me that won’t go away unless I dance.
Do you take any other dance classes?
Not at the moment, but I’ve taken jazz, contemporary, hip-hop, tap and swing.
What are your hobbies outside of ballet?
I’m a singer/songwriter, I enjoy anything creative like making feather earrings, taking photos and painting. I also enjoy traveling and hiking.
What advice would you like to give to those who want to start ballet or have just started?
Go for it! Don’t let you age, your life circumstances or physical limitations hold you back. Start right where you are with what you have. Find the right studio and teacher and get into class!
Anything else you’d like to add?
Try making your own dance costumes its fun!!
Do you have a blog?
Yes. For my dance journey Kara’s Dance Journey www.karasdancejourney.com  For my music and other creative pursuits go to www.karalockwoodcreative.com
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March 27, 2014

Reader Survey: Help Adult Ballerina Project Out!

This survey will only take you about 10 minutes and you’ll be helping me out a lot. This survey will help me better determine what I should be providing you with as a reader of this blog!

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March 27, 2014

Getting Back in to the Swing of Things

Up until this last week, I had only been attending one ballet class a week. This has partly been because I’ve wanted to take it slow and partly because it’s been super cold this winter. This past week I finally decided to take the leap and take not one  but three ballet classes.

As HQ wrote earlier this week,  he came to class with me last Friday. Friday night class is quickly becoming one of my favorite classes because it’s earlier in the evening and because it’s in a pretty nice studio. I decided to take another class Saturday morning.

While I’m not a huge fan of back-to-back classes, I decided to go to a Saturday morning class as well. It went really well, but I was immediately sore afterwards.

But it was good to feel that sore again and not really be in pain. It was mostly my quads, but my calves still tend to get really sore, too. Compression gear has helped immensely with dealing with the soreness and I spent nearly all Saturday and Sunday in full compression gear.

It’s good to be getting back into  the swing of things. As I wrote yesterday, I went to another class on Monday and felt great as well. Yesterday I was super antsy since I hadn’t been active  the past few days, so I even did a few barre exercises at home.

Here’s to another great weekend of ballet classes!

What’s been going well in your ballet classes lately?

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March 26, 2014

“There’s a reason why we do the boring exercises.”

“There’s a reason why we do the boring exercises.”

One of the instructors says this in Dance Academy, demonstrating how simple quarter turns eventually adds up to multiple pirouettes and fouettes. I was reminded of the value of the “boring exercises” in my class last Monday.

Despite being pretty tired from the weekend and work, I decided to try out Philly Dance Fitness’s new Monday night beginner ballet class. The instructor has been with Philly Dance Fitness for a while, but she just started teaching a new ballet class. I’m always nervous about taking classes with new instructors (since I never know what to expect), but luckily the class was at least in a familiar studio.

It was a super back-to-basics class, which I feel like I really needed. Currently, I’m trying really hard to focus on not over-pronating, which can be really tough to do when we’re doing more difficult combinations. The simple combinations allowed me to really focus in on this (although wearing too tight ballet slippers made this a little tougher). In addition, it was a pretty small class (there was only about five of us), which was nice. My only qualm about the class was that it was so late (8 to 9:15pm).

Overall, it was really nice to focus on the basics and work on positioning my body properly and having better technique.

I’ll definitely be keeping this class in my rotation so that I can keep working on the basics and really focus on not over-pronating.

Have you taken a “back-to-basics” class lately?

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March 24, 2014

Boyfriend Does Ballet: Second ballet class in…3 years?

It has definitely been a long time since I’ve done any ballet or taken a ballet class. I have to admit–I miss it. I’ve been relatively inactive since graduation: I became so used to being in college and going to the gym all the time because it was convenient. Once I graduated (and moved off campus), it wasn’t.

Now that I have a job I can start going to dance classes again and that’s what I intend to do.

Being at the barre felt bizarre. When I “started” ballet in high school through my schools theater program, we never did barre work. Now I know most of you are thinking “Blasphemy! How could you not work at the barre?!?!” but the dance classes were mostly there so we could gain exposure to different styles of dance. It also served as time to work on dances for our yearly musical and teach us the fundamentals. I definitely don’t miss doing jazz squares for 2 minutes in our musicals.

Back on topic: I forgot how tiring barre exercises are and how easy it is to forget form when trying to remember the entire combination.  When we were on the floor for our center combination I felt a little better about the combination, but still felt extremely lacking due to my terrible form.I have a lot of catching up to do in terms of technique and fitness.

All in all, I definitely want to start dancing more. It’s expensive, yes, but I feel that it’s worth it for how different it exercises the body and the mind compared to just going to the gym.

Why do you take ballet classes?

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