December 6, 2013

Beginner Ballerina Profile: Jaime Hughes

jaimeballetAnd beginner ballerina profiles are back! This week’s profile is of Jaime Hughes, who began ballet two years ago by taking private lessons and then followed along in an older girls’ pointe class–talk about dedication!
When did you start doing ballet as an adult?

2 Years ago in January of 2011.

Did you ever take lessons as a kid?

No, but I always wanted to, but there was no money for me to.

Why did you decide to take ballet as an adult?

I always thought that ballet was beautiful and I loved the artistry behind it.  And I think it was one of those things where everyone has it on their bucket list but I finally just said, “hey, I can try that!”  But at the same time, I had NO idea what to expect and I was terrified to go to that first class.  I’ve never been very coordinated, flexible or athletic.  The only thing I had going for me was being thin.  Which doesn’t really mean anything except that I didn’t mind wearing a leotard.. I loved that part actually!  haha.

Where do you take classes?

I started with private lessons at Muncie Ballet in Muncie, Indiana.  There are no adult classes within an hour of me unfortunately.  I took private lessons for about 2 months and then moved into the older girls pointe class and kind of just followed along with them (not en pointe obviously!)  The lovely director of Muncie Ballet knew my financial situation and worked with me so that I could afford to attend classes on top of the 40 minute drive from my house.  Then my hubby and I moved to Marion, Indiana and I found Community School of the Arts which is only 4 minutes from my house!  I’ve been taking ballet with them for a year now.

What is your favorite part about ballet?

I LOVE the discipline. My favorite part is barre.  And barre is all I’m doing currently because I just started my first year teaching art.  I so look forward to going to ballet and focusing.  I can stop thinking about everything that is stressing me out and I can zone out into something beautiful and disciplined.  With each centimeter I gain with my extension, I am filled with joy!  I am having a hard time expressing, in words, how ballet makes me feel!  It’s almost spiritual in a way!  And there is always something to work toward..  There will never be a point in my dancing where there isn’t another goal.  And that makes it so worth it!  I can count on ballet to always challenge me!

What is your least favorite part?

I have a love-hate relationship with center… I have a really hard time learning the steps… It has to be broken down into tiny bite sized pieces for me to “get it”… I remember it took about 30 minutes for me to learn a pas de chat… PATHETIC, I know.  I still can’t spot at all when doing chaines or pirouettes… I’m working on it!  I think I also am frustrated quite often at the limitations of my adult body…

Who/What is your ballet inspiration?

Well, there are quite a few adult ballerinas who I look up to and admire.  I aspire to have as much dedication as those who started late and are now in their 40s and 50s, en pointe and able to do multiple fouettes in a row!  That’s my long term goal!

What motivates you to keep dancing?

The fact that it feels so rewarding… And in my group of friends, it’s MY thing.  It is something I have, that no one else can touch.  (Maybe my control issues are coming out there!  haha)  But really, I feel like I can’t STOP…  I get very sad when thinking about having to take a break for having kids or something.  I hope that I can find a way to never stop doing ballet.

Do you take any other dance classes?

No, but I have thought about attending some zumba classes.

What are your hobbies outside of ballet?

I’m an art teacher.. So that’s pretty much my whole life right now!  But other than that, I LOVE to watch tv shows.. I’m currently on season 3 of Dexter.  I have 2 parrots and 2 lakeland terriers.  I love decorating my home.

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

Don’t be discouraged early on!  It will be hardest at first.  But be aware that an adult body is only capable of so much, so fast.  And that is ok!  It doesn’t mean you can’t achieve whatever it is, it will just take longer and more work.

 

 Do you have a blog?

I do, and I hope to update it more often, unfortunately it’s been a while!  😉
http://homeofhughes.blogspot.com/

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December 5, 2013

And Here’s Another Post About My Injuries

I’ve probably written about a dozen or so posts about my leg injuries in the past year. It hasn’t been fun, and while I thought that physical therapy was finally my solution–apparently I was wrong.

My shin pain goes back to the beginning of October 2012, when I got out of a ballet class and practically had to wobble home because of the pain–I had to call my boyfriend to pick me up from the train station. It seemed to get better for a while, but running/walking on a treadmill was painful. I got it checked out, got an x-ray, was told to stay off it for a month or so with a diagnosis of tendinitis. I had a couple of bad cases of the flu and didn’t do a whole lot of ballet during the month of December and January with the holidays.

In February/March, the pain started acting up again when I got back into the swing of things. I had more x-rays and even a bone scan. But nothing. I stayed off it for 8 weeks. I failed at running a 5k thanks to my shin splints. I finally listened to my body and took it easy, gradually increased my running. Things were going well.

Then slowly it got gradually worse. My leg was moderately unhappy after doing the color run in old sneakers. There was an off week where it felt pretty bad, but a week off helped tremendously. But after the Rescue Run 5k I decided to go back to the ortho and was prescribed PT.

PT went well. Before my most recent ortho check up, I had a somewhat rough ballet class and my left calf and knee seemed really tight to me, so I mentioned it to my new ortho doctor (the one from September moved offices) and because of the pain he wanted to do an MRI. I wasn’t even sure I was going to get one, but when I got an appointment for the same day, I got it done. Then a week ago (the day before Thanksgiving–after fainting at a blood drive, no less), I got a call telling me I had stress fractures. One in my left leg, and the start of one in my right.

So now I’m off my legs again for 6-8 weeks while they heal.

Kudos to you if you’ve read all of that! For now, I’m looking for recommendations as to no- and low-impact activities I can do from home. I’ve already had some recommendations, so I’ll be writing a post about what I’ve come up with and tried soon. I’m also trying to read more, write more, and maybe even do some crocheting of some legwarmers to keep myself occupied.

What have you found to work for coping with injuries?

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December 2, 2013

#Elf4Health Daily Challenge: Write a Handwritten Note

The Lean Green Bean

I had a pretty wonderful Thanksgiving break–minus that I found out I had a stress fracture on Wednesday(but more on that later). It felt kind of good to get away from the Internet for a little bit, especially given that, but normal blogging and profiles will resume this week! I’ll be putting the photo challenge on hold for a little bit while I get in better shape myself and work on securing giveaway ideas.

Now for the main part of this post: this past week I’ve participated in a holiday season challenge called Elf for Health. There’s a series of daily challenges (ranging from healthy foods, workouts, to personal health) plus you get partnered with an elf to exchange e-mails with twice a week to keep you on track! My wonderful elf is Emily from Fit and Free Emily! If you want to take part, you have until December 6th to sign up for round 2.

Today’s challenge is write a handwritten note. I’ll be writing to an elf I’ve been partnered with and we’re sending letters to each other to send back to ourselves in a year with our hopes, goals and more–but I wanted to go a little bit further than that. So I’m sending out send out holiday cards to my fellow blogger and ballet buddies! So if you want a card, you can e-mail your address to adultballerinaproject@gmail.com, fill out this form or leave me a comment here and I’ll get in touch!

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November 22, 2013

Contribute to ABP!

It’s that time of year again–I’ve almost ran out of subjects for profiles! I’d love for you guys to submit yourself or others using this form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/18bU12tBQE84mbEB079ss_mGfBTNnoDOThk-VnCR7GII/viewform

I’m also still on the hunt for more studios to list in the Studio Directory, so submit them here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1IGwiQWhbCnI8EzS7UiZc051x_I_lLxv2cxbJtdW54t0/viewform

If you’ve already completed a profile, recommend somebody else–like a dance teacher or a friend! I’m also looking for writers to write short posts on their experiences more in-depth as well as different informational articles about ballet for adult beginners. Contact me at adultballerinaproject@gmail.com if you’re interested!

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November 20, 2013

Updates, Updates, Updates–I’m almost PT free!

Why hello there!

I feel as if I’ve been awfully busy lately, between work and freelance work and Physical Therapy appointments and haven’t been updating on here as much as I’d like.

Finally, after about a month of PT, I should be just about good to go. I had my last appointment last Friday, and as long as everything still feels okay this week (my PT is supposed to be calling at some point this week to check in)–everything should be great. I have to go see my ortho again at the end of this week too–well actually a different ortho doctor considering my old one switched offices–but at least this one now is much closer!

I’ve been back to my (almost) full-on ballet schedule for about three weeks now which consists of two classes a week and it feels great–although sometimes it’s really tiring since I haven’t been in class a lot. We’ve been working on a Nutcracker combination in class that focuses on some of the steps we’ve been learning at the barre and center–which has been a lot of fun, but I can’t say I sad to see it go as we’ll be working on something new this week. Two weeks ago I was really exhausted from work and ended up having a terrible ballet class where I completely messed up the combination and got really frustrated with myself for messing it up. Luckily the week after I had two good classes in a row where I felt like I did really well.

The last step in getting completely back to ballet is to add Monday classes back . I thought about going this week but then I completely forgot about it until it was too late!

In other news, I’m still not running as much as I used to. I ran for about a week and a half when my PT said it was okay, and then I twisted my ankle (while walking–not running) and haven’t ran since. The cold isn’t helping to motivate me, but hopefully I’ll be back at it soon with more of a free schedule.

What has your ballet life been like lately?

PS. The studios have all been moved over to this URL, but if you notice something is broken–let me know! I was having some issues uploading them. If you’d like to add a studio, email me at adultballerinaproject@gmail.com

Filed Under: Ballet, Blog Tagged With: , , , , 4 Comments