April 28, 2013

Back En Pointe!

English: A pointe shoe, showing the elastic ba...

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It’s taken me forever to get there…but yesterday I took my first pointe class again!

I hadn’t been in a pointe class after my first one in January when the pain in my shin started to get super intense and I had to take a fair amount of time off.

Yesterday I decided it was about time to try pointe again.

I don’t know whether it’s the running or all the stretching I’ve committed myself to over the past week (or something else entirely), but my nagging shin pain has finally started to disappear. While running hasn’t been 100% pain free, it’s been more manageable once I decided to adopt a better training plan. The pain usually disappears after running and I feel great afterwards. Ballet was a different story for a while–but this past week has been great!

Class went relatively well–except for the moment when I accidentally jumped onto pointe–OUCH! Not what you are supposed to do, I know. I was super worried that the rest of the class was going to be too advanced (pointe classes started in December, I think….) but my ballet instructor gave me different things to do when the exercises were too challenging.

I can’t wait for this super busy semester to be over so I can start going to more ballet classes!

What ballet or fitness-related accomplishments have you made recently?

Filed Under: Ballet, Blog, Etc. Tagged With: , , , , , 8 Comments
April 23, 2013

Dancers=Clumsy?

Is it possible that dancing could be making me even more clumsy?

Dance requires a fair bit of balance and coordination, but according to an article by the The Dance Training Project, it could be making you clumsy.

Now, I’m a pretty clumsy person to begin with–and I’m clumsy in my dancing too–but part of me wants to blame these reasons that dancers are clumsy for the reason I tripped and fell on my ass yesterday when attempting my first Couch-to-5k run.

I was doing my second walking portion of the training and trying to fix my headphones–when BAM!–my foot landed at an awkward on the part of the track where it just begins to slope downwards and landed on my butt, just barely scraping my knee. Now, there weren’t too many people on the track to witness me being a complete klutz, but the two guys who were walking near me asked if I was okay cause they saw it happen. I’m just glad they weren’t laughing.

Otherwise–it was a really good first training run and I finished 2.64 miles and got an exciting e-mail with some exciting news which I’ll be sharing next week!

Have you noticed that you’ve been more clumsy as a result of dancing?

Filed Under: Ballet, Blog, Etc. Tagged With: , , , , , 5 Comments
April 18, 2013

Reaching My First Ballet Milestone: One Year (Again!) with Ballet

Roughly 15 years ago, I was a little ballerina, ecstatic to be receiving a perfect attendance trophy for attending every ballet class of the year during my first year of ballet at our year end recital. Seems crazy, right? Two years later, I quit after I switched to a new studio.

Now, 15 years later, I’ve completed my first year of ballet again. Except this time, there’s no perfect attendance trophy  (although my attendance was far from perfect), no year end recital, no moving up in class level. But, it has been worth it.

I never thought when I first walked into the studio in my brand new ballet shoes a year ago I’d ever be in love with ballet the way I am today.

No, I don’t have perfect splits yet.

Yes, I still stumble over my own two feet.

No, I can’t dance en pointe yet.

Yes, it has been tough.

But it’s been worth it.

Ballet is tough, and although to an outsider it may seem like I haven’t improved much in a years time, I can tell I’ve come a long way. My pirouettes are almost there and my tendus don’t look nearly as sloppy as they used to. I’m improving. Slowly, but surely.

I’m hoping the next year brings more ballet classes. More ballet friends. More improvement.

More fun.

Although my future is uncertain–I graduate in May and don’t know where I’ll end up–although I hope to stay in Philadelphia because of all the wonderful things it offers (including a plethora of ballet classes)–wherever I end up, whatever I end up doing–I know it’ll include ballet.

How do you  celebrate milestones in your training?

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Filed Under: Ballet, Blog, Etc. Tagged With: , , , 4 Comments
April 17, 2013

Should Dancers Run?

English: Running woman Nederlands: Hardlopende...

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I was going to post this earlier this week, but it just didn’t feel right, after the Boston Marathon bombings occurred. A few of the #sweatpink members ran the marathon, and thankfully they’re all okay. It’s great to see that everyone in the running community coming together after such a horrific event.

Now, I’ve only just started running, and I’ve dealt with a few issues with it (HELLO, shin splints) especially given the injuries in my background. There’s a lot of controversy surrounding the idea of dancers–especially ballet dancers–and running, with many people saying it’s too high of an impact and stresses your body too much. Some suggest swimming, biking or the elliptical instead. Trust me, I love all three of those, but there’s nothing quite like running.

Personally, I think both are perfectly fine in moderation. Charlotte Stabenau wrote in a blog post for Pointe Magazine that she became a runner after being a dancer for a long time–and it only helped improve her stamina and confidence.

Especially as recreational dancers, why not go for it if you want to?

The best way to do it, as Charlotte wrote, is to start out slow. How do you manage that? Add running to your schedule slowly, 3-4 days a week (max), alternating between walking and running. Programs like Couch to 5k (available as iPhone Apps and downloadable schedules) are great. Another free app, RunKeeper, has a similar program (as well as a bunch of others of other levels).

Do you run or have your wanted to run?

*I am not a personal trainer or medical doctor, this is just information found through my own research that I have found useful.

Filed Under: Ballet, Blog, Etc., Info, Outside Class Tagged With: , , , , , , 7 Comments
April 11, 2013

Catching up on the Stretch, Plank and Squat Challenges!

King Pigeon Pose

My favorite yoga pose (Photo credit: lululemon athletica)

Good news is, while I’ve missed a few days of my squat and plank challenge–I’m completely caught up. While my boyfriend and I have a few days–we’ve caught up on the challenge’s days off. I’ve even managed to pull off a 1:30 plank, and I’ve been thinking about incorporating side planks and straight-arm planks.

Stretching has not been going quite as well. I was getting slightly sick of doing videos, so I basically ended up skipping stretching this weekend after a two-hour long ballet class and a super stressful Sunday (my 5k did not happen because of my shin splints). So I’ve been working on getting that back on track and Monday and Tuesday I just did some of the yoga poses and stretches I had worked on. Hopefully these will help me get closer to my splits in the end. Maybe I’ll get brave enough to put up some split photos when we reach the halfway point of our April challenge.

I’ve added another element of fitness to my daily routine to try to strengthen my calves for running and for pointe work (eventually–I’m taking baby steps in getting back to pointe work!). I’ve just been incorporating 3 sets of 12 calf raises and 3 sets of 12 single calf raises.

Now I just need to work more theraband stretching into my routine.

How have you been challenging yourself this April?

Filed Under: 30 Day Stretch Challenge, Ballet, Blog, Etc., Outside Class Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment