March 21, 2013

Back to the Barre

After over a month of sitting around (trust me, it’s been killing me), I FINALLY get to go back to ballet tonight. As excited as I am, I’m also super nervous. It feels like forever since I’ve been at a barre and that my body will have forgotten everything.

amethyst

amethyst (Photo credit: McBeth)

Things like….

What if I forget some of the moves?

What if I can’t keep up anymore?

What if I’m in pain again?

…keep running through my mind.

I know I’ll make it through the class just fine (my teacher is super supportive and so are the women I take ballet with!) but I tend to be a nervous nellie. I’ve returned from long gaps between classes before, and I know I’ll work myself back up to the level I was at before. Unfortunately things like jumps (even though I hate them anyway) and pointe are probably out of the question for a while–but I’m still excited to be back in a ballet studio!

I’ll post an update with how the class went tomorrow!

How do you get yourself prepared to return to an athletic activity you haven’t done for a while?

 

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February 27, 2013

Oops…

…I’ve been neglecting this blog again.

It’s really tough to write about ballet when you can’t do any of it, and that’s been one of the reasons I’ve avoided blogging. Good news is, I don’t have a stress fracture, but my leg still has its moments when it hurts like hell–especially after some speed walking I shouldn’t have done to get to a meeting on time on Sunday. I have another ortho appointment a week from today.

Does anybody have any recommendations of good yoga video online–I’m in desperate need of SOMETHING to do. Sitting around doing nothing has not been good for me.

The other reason I haven’t written here in a while is that I’ve been busy. I’ve been writing articles for local dance publications like crazy–I’ve had three published in the last two weeks and I’ll be writing another about a performance this Saturday.

Passion Ignites Kariamu and Company

Review: Hold Me To This, Temple University MFA Thesis Concert

Review: An Evening of Duets

In addition, I saw a show at Bryn Mawr College Saturday and then had a workshop with the wonderful Claudia LaRocco from the NYTimes and ThePerformanceClub.org. I was truly a great experience, and I learned a lot about writing.

And, because you’ve probably been missing some ballet advice here’s a few articles to read until I get my act together:

On Balance: How to Nail Long Balances

The Ballet Bun: Best Practices (okay–it’s meant for parents–but that doesn’t mean it’s not helpful).

And not ballet advice, but if you’re a Bunheads fan, here’s an article from Times Magazine on why the show is important:  On the Importance of Bunheads

Please fill me in on what you’ve been up to!

 

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January 24, 2013

Dance Book Club Anyone?

Recently I discovered that my university’s library has a small collection of dance-related books. I first went searching for them when I wanted to read Conditioning for Dance. Unfortunately, at the time, despite the library listing the book as being there, I couldn’t find it. I did however find Conditioning for Dancers. I haven’t read much of it (I’ve got some serious course reading to do now that my last semester of college has started and I’m enrolled in a Popular Fiction course–hello a novel a week). It looks really useful though, and it has some useful stretching techniques I’ve spotted as I flipped through the book. I also grabbed Dance Analysis: Theory and Practice, since I figured it might provide some helpful insight for writing critiques of dance performances.

When I read this article over at 4Dancers about The Pointe Book, I had to check to see if it was at my library. The books contains almost everything you’d want to know about pointe shoes, from their history, how to get fitted for pointe shoes, how to sew ribbons and elastic and care for them, how to teach pointe, information about pointe related injuries and treatment, and perhaps one of my favorite features of the book, sample pointe classes ranging from the first day pointe class from the American School of Ballet to adult pointe level

Cover of "The Pointe Book"

classes.

I also picked up Ballet 101, a complete guide to learning and loving ballet (which I haven’t read any of) because my knowledge of actual ballets is kind of lacking. I want to pick up a copy of The Ballet Companion as well; it looks like it could be a good resource.

Have you read any dance books? Which ones would you recommend?

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January 23, 2013

Floor Barre (and why can’t I take ballet in a swimming pool?)

dance-academy-heatwave-cart-c19In a post on my old blog (around the time I first injured my ankle/leg), I posted about how I wished I could do ballet in a pool. I’ve always really enjoyed swimming (I was a lifeguard full-time for four summers and part-time for two summers). I first got the idea from an episode of Dance Academy entitled Heatwave where the academy holds their barre class in the pool because it’s too hot and the air conditioning in the studio is broken.

While I have messed around with barre exercises a little in the pool, I don’t really have a place where I can put this into practice as my school only has lap swimming at odd times. So I’ve been looking into floor barre, or doing exercises normally done at the barre while sitting or lying on the floor, as an alternative.

This Dance Advantage article entitled “How Low Can You Go?”  lists several benefits of floor barre, including it being good for injuries, developing strength, and helping to improve with movement execution (including realizing what you might be doing wrong with bad habits).

While there are no floor barre classes in Philadelphia (that I could find) you can find a list of instructors of the method developed by Zena Rommet here. Another book I’ll be looking into checking out at the library is Maria Fay’s Floor Barre.

Would you ever consider doing floor barre or taking a floor barre class?

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January 16, 2013

Ugly Feet

(Note: This is a repost from my old blog, so some of you may have already read it)

KAITLYN JENKINS, EMMA DUMONT

Dancers (especially ballet dancers, because of dancing en pointe) are known for having rather beat up feet. It’s been brought up on several dancing-focused shows like Breaking Pointe, Dance Academy, and of course, on Bunheads, where the girls enter an Ugly Feet contest for dancers (and win).

Despite that all the major ballerinas having less-than-pretty feet, I didn’t expect this to become a problem for me, since I only take once or two classes a week.

But, ugh, I was wrong. At class on Tuesday, two of my toenails cut into the sides of my toes (I keep my feet well-groomed mind you) and my left big toe’s nail started peeling back again (I slipped once in the pool locker room and OUCH! bent my entire toenail back).

On top of all that, my ankles often get black and blue (because they’re so weak) which results in me taping them like crazy (although the bright pink KTTape I just bought I must say looks pretty cool).

I think I see a pedicure in my future.

Do you have “Ugly Feet” because of dancing? What do you do to make your feet pretty again?

If you haven’t already, don’t forget to leave a comment on this post to help me enter in a DanceAdvantage contest: Top Dance Blog Contest 2013: Recreational Dancer

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