March 13, 2014

Frozen Peaz Review

Disclaimer: Frozen Peaz provided me with a discount code for 30 percent off to purchase this product for review.

As someone who has struggled with shin splints and stress fractures, I’m always constantly icing my legs after any type of activity (running, ballet, etc.) as part of my regular recovery routine. Your typical ice pack makes it difficult to target a specific area (especially on my legs) and tends to lose its cool pretty quickly.

So when I first heard of Frozen Peaz, I knew I had to try them out. They’re flexible hot and cold wraps that come in all sorts of shapes and sizes depending on what your need is. They’re a bit on the pricey side, but totally worth it.

Here’s a little bit of information about them via their website:

The secret to the performance of FrozenPeaz® packs is the unique Clear Ice™ Solution. Unlike gel based beads and pearls, the VirtualPeaz™ in FrozenPeaz packs won’t break down with frequent usage. And unlike colored gel packs, the VirtualPeaz are floating in a non-toxic Clear Ice Solution that is free of preservatives, petroleum-based products, and animal by-products. The ingredients in the Clear Ice Solution are 100% natural! So natural that they are certified by the Natural Products Association (NPA).

Frozen Peaz

My Frozen Peaz arrived super quickly (they ship via Amazon Prime, too, if you’ve got it) and I was surprised to find that they were pretty heavy–a lot heavier than I expected, and a fair amount heavier than your typical ice pack. I ordered a single large wrap for my shins/calves.

I’ve been using the Frozen Peaz ice pack for about a month now and its the only ice pack I’ll use now. It stays colder than most other packs (I can get at least 20 minutes in on each leg at a time) and conforms to my legs really well (ignore my messy bedroom, I had just gotten home from class):

photo (5)

 

The only cons I really have are a) they are heavy and therefore tend to fall down if I try to get up and move around and b) they don’t conform to my calves (from underneath) as much as a would like. They still work better than anything else I’ve tried.

Frozen Peaz has been nice enough to offer 15% to all my readers if they use the code “Ballet.”

How do you deal with ballet-related injuries?

Filed Under: Ballet, Info, Outside Class, Reviews, Running Tagged With: , , , Leave a Comment
March 11, 2014

Taking Class in a New Ballet Studio

I’ve only taken ballet classes in a handful of different studios since I started ballet almost two years ago now.

Philly Dance Fitness recently started holding classes in a new studio in Center City Philadelphia. Once the studio was finally overhauled with new floors and wall barres, they started offering a Beginner II ballet class there (and they’ll offer another one in a couple of weeks).

I was super excited for my first class there, especially I wasn’t able to make it to the previous night’s ballet class because of work.  The new studio is also super close to where I live and I can walk to class in about 20 minutes.

Even though I was excited, I was still a little nervous. While not as nerve-wracking as attending a class at a new studio with a new instructor and new ballerinas, I was still nervous as to what the new studio would be like. When I first got there, I went to the wrong place (PDF classes are upstairs while there’s a store front downstairs). Luckily,  I was quickly directed to the right place.

I was a little bit late, so I had to quickly throw on my legwarmers and slippers, which helped to distract me from my nerves a little bit.

It was a little weird working off a wall barre (at the other studio, we have portable barres), especially since they were a bit higher than I was used to. A corner of the room was blocked off for storage, which made organizing ourselves in the room a little difficult. Other than that, things went relatively smoothly. I’m excited to keep taking classes there, as well as test out the beginner class on Mondays.

Here’s some photos from our first class:

Post by Philly Dance Fitness.
Filed Under: Ballet, Ballet Class, Info Tagged With: , , Leave a Comment
March 10, 2014

How Does an Adult Beginner Break in Pointe Shoes Safely?

bend that shankWhen I started pointe class last fall, I had no idea how to break in pointe shoes. Of course I heard of people bending the shank, banging the shoe on the floor, hammering or standing on the box and even slamming a shoe in a door frame. Remember the montage of dancers breaking in their shoes in the movie Center Stage? Since I didn’t know what I was doing, I knew that trying one of these methods was a surefire way to break (not break in) my pointe shoes.

On the first day of class, my instructor had us put on the pointe shoes and walk, then run around in demi-pointe. Although I felt like I was shuffling around in wooden shoes, I knew this was the first step to actually breaking in the shoes … I just couldn’t imagine my feet being strong enough and lasting long enough to break them in successfully. I felt more discouraged when I releved – my feet looked like tiny stilts.

A bit depressed and embarrassed, I lamented about my first class to my neighbor, a ballet dancer who performed the Sugarplum Fairy role in a professional DC-area Nutcracker production just 8 months after having twins. “Oh … maybe I’m in over my head. Maybe I’m not ready. Maybe I shouldn’t even be trying pointe,” I sighed.

She scoffed, “That was your first day! And you had on new pointe shoes! What do you expect?” She paused and thought for a moment. “Try this: wear your pointe shoes in the house, but put socks on over the shoes. Walk around the house in demi-pointe while doing your normal tasks, like the laundry, dishes, etc. with socks over the shoes.”

I wasn’t sure if this was going to work but tried it anyway. At least this method seemed safe (for me and my shoes) and built onto what I did in class. After a few of 20-minute sessions of walking around in pointe shoes in demi-pointe (that is all my feet could stand at the time), I felt like the shoes were not so stiff … and I felt less discouraged. Of course breaking in the shoes didn’t happen overnight and more exercises in class were needed to break them in, but I felt encouraged by this low-maintenance, convenient method that worked from my own body heat and foot strength. I liked this method because:

  •  the socks kept in body heat to warm up the shoes, which of course softened the shank and box, allowing them to mold to shape of my foot;
  • I wasn’t breaking or bending the shank in random places;
  • the socks protected the shoes from being scratched up;
  • I didn’t worry about slipping on the tile floors with the socks’ traction;
  • I was strengthening my feet at same time and;
  • this method took no time out of my day since I could incorporate it in my everyday activities – especially important for adult dancers!

By my second class, the shoes felt much more comfortable and I could bend and flex my foot to roll up and releve. I can’t say that walking around demi-pointe in pointe shoes covered with socks broke in my pointe shoes completely, but it was an encouraging start.

Filed Under: Ballet, Clothing and Gear, Info Tagged With: , , 2 Comments
March 5, 2014

Can Dancing Improve Your Memory?

memory

Usually I don’t have much of a problem remembering combinations in my ballet classes. More recently, I seem to be struggling a little bit more with remembering ballet combinations after my two month sabbatical from ballet. My brain seems to be somewhat scrambled and I seem to be struggling to remember things both in and out of the studio.

Now I know that the two probably aren’t really that connected and that my memory isn’t suffering that much from being out of class for a couple of months, but it still had me thinking–do ballerinas (and other dancers) have improved memory because of dance?

Back in September, information from a study was released that “implies that years of training can enable dancers to suppress signals from the balance organs in the inner ear, which might otherwise make them fall over” according to a Daily Mail article. The study was printed in a journal called Cerebral Cortex. The findings could help improve patients with chronic dizziness.

So I decided to go hunting for some information about ballet dancing and whether or not it’s been linked to improving dancer’s memory. Here’s what I found:

An article on Standford University’s Social Dance website, entitled “Use It or Lose It: Dancing Makes You Smarter,” was published back in 2010 by Richard Powers with a simple message: frequent dancing makes you smarter.  In the article, Powers referenced a study published in the  New England Journal of Medicine which found that the only form of physical activity that offered protection against Dementia was dancing.

But why?

Powers wrote that mental acuity increases best when you have to make rapid-fire decisions and that “dancing integrates several brain functions at once — kinesthetic, rational, musical, and emotional — further increasing your neural connectivity.”

So, those difficult ballet combinations you have trouble grasping after only having a few moments to learn will only help you improve both your memory and ballet dancing more.

Like my ballet teacher always says, no challenge, no change.

 

Filed Under: Ballet, Info, Outside Class Tagged With: , , 2 Comments
February 17, 2014

Guest Post: Ballet Skirt Tutorial

IMG_3825I wanted to share a ballet skirt I made, inspired by all the wonderful printed skirts I see on professional Ballerinas. This was a fairly easy project, I’m by no means an advanced seamstress, but it does involve a sewing machine. The skirt is pretty one size fits all, but you could always add, or subtract depending on your measurements or desired fit. For a bit of background, I’m a US side 6, and my model in the photos is a US 4. 

You will need:

1.25 Metres polyester chiffon (you can use silk as well, but you will need to hem it by hand)

3 Metres of 2-3cm ribbon

Thread

Scissors

Sewing Machine

Pins

Candle

1. Draft your pattern. I used an old ballet skirt to draft a rough pattern on some wrapping paper I had lying around. You can easily follow my pattern, just draw out the waist measurement and work from there. I also always draw the right side of the pattern, mark the centre line, and then fold to make the left (think of it like making a construction paper heart) to give completely symmetrical results. You can play around with the shape as well. Lengthening the back (the dotted line) will make it longer in the back, and shortening it to the same length as the front will give an even line all the way around. Also make sure to try on your pattern before cutting, that way you can make any adjustments before cutting the fabric.

2. Lay your pattern on the fabric as shown, by cutting on the diagonal (as shown) you are making it bias cut, which gives it that super great drape. Pin in the corners, bottom and top. Carefully cut around the pattern.

3. Take your ribbon and find the middle point and mark with a pin. Find the middle point of your skirt, mark with a pin. Match the two middle points, and fold the ribbon evenly over the top of the skirt and pin in place. Work in both directions, making sure that the top of the skirt is sealed in the ribbon, and pinned securely.

4. Sew along the bottom edge of the ribbon; I used a zigzag stitch, and backstitched at both edges.

5. At this point your skirt is pretty much done, but you still have that pesky bottom hem to deal with. You can painstakingly hand stitch a rolled hem, but I opted for the easy out and burned it. Because it is synthetic chiffon, it basically just melts, preventing it from fraying. I’ve heard a wood burning tool works great for this, but I don’t have one, so I just lit a candle and carefully held the edge near it, not in it, and waited for it melt before moving on to the next section. I also tested it first on a piece of scrap fabrics, because different fibres respond differently. If the burning technique doesn’t work, you could also buy some of the fray stop products available at any craft store.

So there you go, any easy Saturday afternoon adult ballet project!

Skirt Pattern

Visit Nicola’s blog here.

Filed Under: Ballet, Clothing and Gear, Info Tagged With: , , Leave a Comment