March 1, 2015

March Goals — Day 1 of #CityFitGirls March Instagram Challenge

February was a brutal month–it’s been freezing cold here in Philadelphia. I pretty much lost my way as far as getting any cardio in at the gym given the weather. However, for the most part I’ve managed to consistently get to two or three ballet classes a week, which I consider to be a pretty huge accomplishment.

Here are my basic goals for March (which is part of City Fit Girls March photo contest on Instagram):

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Expanding on them a bit more:

1. Stretch more: I’ve been trying to stretch for a good 20-30 minutes on the days I don’t already have ballet. So far, so good.

2. Become more flexible: One will help get me there. I’d also like to become more flexible person in terms of my personal and work relationships, too.

3. Strength train: I want to work both on my foot and core/leg strength. I want to incorporate more pilates, too.

4. Eat Healthy I started off 2015 eating like crap. I started Whole30 a week ago (more on that soon!) but even when Whole30 is over, I wanted to be eating better.

5. Take more photos: Given that this is a photo challenge this should be easy! I want more photos of me doing ballet, too.

6. Write more: I want to be writing more both for this blog and for other purposes. Even though it’s my day job, I want to do more of it.

7. Have fun: Have fun while doing all of this, and change my goals if it’s not fun.

What are your goals for the month of March?

Filed Under: Ballet, Blog Tagged With: , , , , 1 Comment
February 13, 2015

My Ballerina Story: Vince Svitak

100_1022First, let me say that ballet has been a passion with me since I was a kid. I remember going to Radio City Music Hall in New York for the first time on a field trip in school to go see the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. I thought to myself that I would like to dance like them one day — that’s when my passion for dance began. Ever since the show, I have had dreams of dancing en pointe and performing.

But being the shy kid that I was, I never followed that dream to take classes. So as I grew up, I just put dance in the back of my mind and went into the Navy.

What made me want get into dance as an adult?

Unfortunately, I got the chance to start ballet after a second chance at life after having an accident in 2012, when I was T-boned in my car. I was able to get back on my feet cause of my experience in the Navy, I was trained to get back on my feet without the help of physical therapy, but something still didn’t feel right with me and felt weak from the accident.

I wanted to do something, but going to the gym wasn’t something I wanted to do. Going to the gym, you do the same exercises over and over again. So that is when I  decided I’d check into ballet classes because it was something I always wanted to do, and I knew you always were learning something new when you go to class.

20141217_143959Even though I knew ballet wasn’t going to be easy and I knew may not become a professional, like my two favorite dancers, Polina Semionova and Mikhail Baryshnikov, I am finally following a dream I wanted to do.

Now, that I am taking my classes, I have finally found the happiness that I’ve been looking for since I was a kid. So, if people want to look at me and judge, that’s fine because ballet is something I want to do and enjoy. Even my teacher says she sees the hidden ballerina in me come out because I have the passion for ballet when I come to class and sees me getting better every class!

Since I started going to ballet, I advanced in November ’14, to go en pointe, and have slowly progressed in my classes. Ballet has opened me up to feel the happiness that I was missing in addition to the great exercise it gives me to keep fit and to enjoy life more.

I’m here to say, if you have a dream, don’t let anyone stop you from following it cause then it may stop you from finding the happiness that you were looking for!

Filed Under: Ballet, Blog Tagged With: , , , 1 Comment
February 6, 2015

Beginner Ballerina Profile: Jessica Bloxom

10885402_10102013620794694_2683103836041901678_nThis week’s profile is of Jessica Bloxom. Read on to hear why she picked up ballet in December!

When did you start doing ballet as an adult?

I’m 31, and I just started December 2014.

Did you ever take lessons as a kid?

I took ballet, tap, jazz, and gymnastics from ages 4-9. I had to stop because of what a huge commitment dance is.

Why did you decide to take ballet as an adult?

I always regretted stopping dance and got jealous when I saw dancers who were my age and still doing it. I honestly thought it was impossible to start again as an adult, but I googled “adult ballet class” one day and was surprised to find a class down the street from me. It seemed like fate. I read all the articles on this site before going to my first class, so I felt like I wasn’t alone.

Where do you take classes?

The Wilmington Ballet Academy of the Dance. Its in Wilmington, Delaware. My teacher also teaches a beginner class at our YMCA, so I take that once a week.

What is your favorite part about ballet?

All of it! I love wearing pink tights and a leo again. I slept with my ballet slippers the first night I bought them because I was so excited to have slippers again. I love stretching. I love petit allegro and the end of class reverence curtsies. I love how pretty it looks. I love that its in French. Ballet is unique in that you work diligently on all of these little details to perfect them: tucked in, thumbs down, heel presented, chin up etc, and the result is a beautiful without revealing the efforts. I love losing myself in concentration on the details and seeing the results.

What is your least favorite part?

Honestly, the cost. I wish I could afford to take a class every day. I also am not too keen on putting my leg on the bar and plie-ing my supporting leg.

Who/What is your ballet inspiration?

My teacher is inspiring because she started ballet again as an adult when she was 31 also. Again, its fate! My fellow students inspire me so much too.

What motivates you to keep dancing?

My fellow students. When I see one of the more advanced ones practicing double pirouettes or getting better extensions on her grand jete, I just can’t wait to get there! I also want to try en pointe so so so very much.

Do you take any other dance classes?

I took a jazzercise class for a couple years after my son was born, and that made me realize how much I really do love dance. I would really love to try jazz or lyrical.

What are your hobbies outside of ballet?

I am a runner too. I’ve been running since I was 13, and I run races with my husband. We just entered the lottery for the NYC marathon. I teach chemistry and fancy myself to a mad scientist, emphasis on mad. I love cooking and am an avid traveler. I lived in Germany for three years and spent a Summer volunteering with children in South Africa.

What advice would you like to give to those who want to start ballet or have just started?

If you want to do it, do it! There’s no substitution for the way dancing makes you feel! Also, if you just started, be kind and patient with yourself because your classmates should be kind and patient too. I’ve found my classes to be so hugely supportive of everyone who takes this courageous leap and tries a ballet class for the first time. The more the better, and everyone there had their first class horror stories. The more you mess up, the more you can learn. I appreciate hearing other dancers’ corrections too, so even if you’re the weakest link in class, you’re benefiting the class.

Filed Under: Ballet Tagged With: , , , , , , 2 Comments
February 4, 2015

Brainstorming Content for Adult Ballerina Project

Writing

The idea for this post and brainstorming session is pretty much completely stolen from Philly Love Notes, a local blog here in Philadelphia. But since I know that I really needed to go through a similar thought process here on ABP, I figured I’d share my process of going through it as well and take input from others.

How to Create Content starts off by talking about how people no longer go directly to the source for the content, instead people go to social media, RSS feeds, Pinterest, Tumblr, etc. Well I’ve found that mostly be to be true with other forms of content, I also know that a huge bulk of my readership comes from Googling how to do something ballet-related. Go figure.

However, I totally understand that this idea is true: You have to be everywhere and anywhere your readers might find you. ABP is–we have Facebook, a Facebook group, Tumblr, a Pinterest board, G+, Twitter, Instagram, and we are SEO friendly.

The overall goal of the podcast, to me, was to help you come up with easier ways to not take up too much time brainstorming how to do everything.

I’d recommend it to anyone who is looking for ways to get more out of blogging.

Grace shares that the key is to develop easy and effortless high quality content that can be shared over multiple platforms and comes naturally to you. She goes into a little bit about how to do some research, and one of the things I’ll definitely be doing a look through my analytics to see what has been really popular over time.

Grace then goes on to share 10 main categories of content, many of which I feel there’s a spot for ABP to fit in (and I’d love to hear what you’d like to see):

  1. How to/Instructionals: I’ve got some of these up there (how to sew slippers, how to to stretch, how to strengthen ankles). I’d like to do more. Let me know where you’d like me to start or if there’s something you’re dying to see an instructional post on!
  2. Informational/History Background: There’s pretty much none of these up on ABP, but I’d like to dive into it.
  3. Reviews: I love writing reviews and I plan on doing more ballet-specific ones in the future.
  4. List of Resources: Will definitely cover more of these in the future as well. Have a favorite resource you refer to again and again? Let me know!
  5. Interview: I’d really like to expand this category to include more professionals and instructors. I also think there’s some opportunity to re-interview some adult ballerinas, but I’ll get to that a bit later in this post.
  6. Visual Tour/Essay: I’d love to (or have a guest blogger) visually document a ballet class at a new studio or a trip to an exciting performance.
  7. Roundups/Best ofs: I need to be doing more of these of my current content.
  8. Commentary of Current Trends: Not sure how to work this in.
  9. Link Lists: Same as 7.
  10. Podcasts/Video: I could maybe do podcasts or audio interviews. I don’t know at this point if I personally feel comfortable with video.

Then the podcast went into some trusted go-tos, a lot of which I already do:

  1. Day in the Life: I’d love to feature other people’s day in the life as adult ballerinas, and I think it might make an interesting follow-up to the first round of interviews, and would be great to have some photos.
  2. General Guest Posts: Clearly, I love these. But it was also mentioned having someone take over your Instagram account for a week, which might be a good way to use the adult ballerina project specific one I don’t currently use.
  3. Share Personal Brand Manifesto: It’s recommended to do this about once a year, so I’m thinking I’m going to write one post blog.
  4. Story of a favorite person, place, or thing: I need to include more of these, and I think it’d be an interesting way to work in “reviews” of things I already have or places I already visit. I’d love to have other people share the same things as well.
  5. Sharing your trusted tools: Not sure here. Seems to be this would be similar to number 5 in my case.
  6. A moment of failure and/or success: I’d lump my regular class updates into this, but I need to do more of these. The podcast mentions that this reminds your readers that you’re human, too.

Overall, this was a really great exercise to help walk me through what I can be doing more of and what (and who) I can feature on the blog.

Is there any particular post, article, or idea you’d like to see in any of these category? Let me know in the comments!

Photo by: Alan Cleaver

Filed Under: Ballet, Info Tagged With: , , , 2 Comments
January 30, 2015

Beginner Ballerina Profile: Galene

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This week’s profile is of Galene, who started ballet almost three years ago because she wanted to try new things and she was impressed with the athleticism and elegance of a ballerina.

When did you start doing ballet as an adult?

I started almost three years ago. I was a freshman in college and wanted to try new things.

Did you ever take lessons as a kid?

I took a community ballet class when I was around 5, but that only lasted a few months. I did gymnastics from ages 3 – 8, and I think that “prepared” for future Galene’s ballet experience.

Why did you decide to take ballet as an adult?

I was always so impressed with the athleticism and elegance of a ballerina, and I wanted to achieve that too.

Where do you take classes?

Joy of Motion Dance Center and Maryland Youth Ballet

What is your favorite part about ballet?

I like the barre. It’s my time to relax while still exercising my body.

What is your least favorite part?

Ballerina “fashion” … the adorable leotards, legwarmers, skirts… there is a lot of pressure to look good.

Who/What is your ballet inspiration?

I watch a lot of ballet videos on youtube. I like the Royal Ballet. I get to peek into professional dancers’ lives and live through them. It encourages me to try harder in class.

What motivates you to keep dancing?

I like overcoming challenges and pushing myself to new limits. The accomplishment keeps me sane.

Do you take any other dance classes?

I took one jazz class. I really struggled.

What are your hobbies outside of ballet?

I like to play piano.

What advice would you like to give to those who want to start ballet or have just started?

Don’t give up! I really had a hard time adjusting at first. There is no easy way into ballet. When I thought something was easy, I was doing it wrong!

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