Anyone Can Do Ballet!
UPDATE: 930 PM EST for the tweet chat, sorry for any confusion!
So, I’m thinking TweetChat Sunday at 9:30 PM EST, hashtag #adultballerinas?
And here is my photo incase you didn’t catch it last night from Day 9:
My nose can touch my knees! (and my knees are slightly bent because they overextend, if they were straight they’d bend backwards!) I’ve been avoiding actual splits because my ankle is in SEVERE pain.
And favorite spam comment ever?
One of the most difficult things I’ve had a problem with getting myself to do for my ballet is stretch. I’ll go through streaks where I work really hard at my split stretches for a week or so regularly but then I get too busy, forget, or just plain old don’t feel like it, but I know I’m going to have to do it regularly if I ever want to actually become more flexible.
When I do remember, I usually focus on split stretches doing these stretches as well as this one because it really seems to stretch out my hips a lot. I plan on adding some barre split stretches that I found this morning since I recently built my own barre (more on this in a later post, but check out Leotard’s and the Buns in Them’s post on it if you want to build your own ASAP).
I know I need to increase how often I stretch and stretch more of my body than I now do (I could really use some back flexibility!) so I want to know:
How often do you stretch?
What stretches do you do?
In about a week or so I’ll compile a list so we can have a complete ballet stretching guide!
Since Breaking Pointe was renewed for a second season yesterday, I figured this would be an appropriate post for today.
There’s always been a fair amount of dance shows on TV, from Dancing with the Stars, So You Think You Can Dance to MTV’s America’s Best Dance Crew. This summer, however, two new ballet shows premiered: Bunheads (my personal guilty pleasure) and Breaking Pointe.
Bunheads is essentially a show about a 30-something named Michelle who leaves her life as a Las Vegas dancer and ends up helping teach ballet in Paradise–a town in the middle of no where. The show has its moments–like when Michelle sprays the entire cast of the Nutcracker with mace. which she had accidentally grabbed out of her gigantic dance bag full of stuff (I’m sure a lot of us have messy dance bags!) instead of hairspray. It’s essentially my guilty pleasure because Amy Sherman-Palladino created it (creator of Gilmore Girls) and a lot of the old Gilmore Girls cast star on the show (Kelly Bishop as the ballet studio owner Fanny) or make guest appearances. I just wish the show focused on ballet more. If you liked Gilmore Girls, it’s definitely worth a shot.
However, Breaking Pointe is what has really inspired me to push myself with doing ballet. The show follows the dancers of Salt Lake City’s Ballet West company members as they train. Beckanne Sisk, my personal favorite on the show, is only 19 and already a demi-soloist for Ballet West (she also studied at the Rock School–which is here in Philadelphia where I live). The show also follows Katie Martin, who spends the show searching for a new company after not being signed for the next season at Ballet West (don’t let that lead you into thinking she isn’t any good–she is!). It’s amazing how she manages to stay so upbeat despite having to find a new job and having to leave her friends behind at Ballet West. Lastly, the shows main star, Allison Debona, (although she’s sometimes terrifying, but she means well), is inspirational to adult ballerinas because she attended college in Pittsburgh before going on to become a professional dancer at a later age than most. And of course, all the dancing on the show is amazing, and it’s the focus of the show, unlike Bunheads.
What shows inspire you to dance? Do you plan on catching up on Bunheads or Breaking Pointe before the new seasons air?
