May 6, 2013

More Life Updates–Busy, busy, busy!

I mentioned going to a journo awards ceremony last Wednesday, but I didn’t mention that I happened to win an award for my dance reviews! The award was called the Sam Singer Reviewing Award, after a critic who worked for the Philadelphia Inquirer.

My latest review was also published about a Philadelphia contemporary ballet company, BalletX.

In other news…

Yesterday’s yoga video, Yoga for Athletes, was really awesome. I’m off to a double whammy of yoga and ballet at my dance studio as long as I feel like my stomach can hold up to it (I didn’t sleep well last night because I wasn’t feeling great). I’m going to try to remember to take a picture of my splits (to use as a comparison for my starting point) when I get home tonight if I’m not exhausted.

I won tickets to the PA Ballet for Friday. YAY!

I have orientation for my new internship tomorrow–also awesome.

The boyfriend and I are running again in the Urban Scramble as part of Philadelphia Runner again this Thursday–it’s a scavenger hunt where you run over the city to collect raffle tickets.

I’ve also signed up for a Nutrition, Health, and Lifestyle: Issues and Insights class on Coursera so that I can learn more about eating healthy (something I really need to do in my life)–hopefully I’ll be able to fit in in with everything else crazy I’ve got going on this summer.

bh420

Lastly, I bought myself a new pair of ballet slippers (mine were getting pretty gross) and some Bunhead Hair Nets (finally after everyone kept recommending them) as an end-of-the-semester present to myself.

Mostly, I’m looking forward to getting lots and lots of sleep–something I’ve been lacking in the past couple of weeks.

I’ve only got one more final to go next week  and I’ve got lots of great posts planned for the upcoming week!

What exciting things do you have planned for this week?

 

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May 5, 2013

Weekly Recap: 4/29-5/4

It’s been a really long and difficult week. My legs are seemingly rebelling against me after I had two really great ballet classes last week. Sigh. Anyway, here’s what it looked like:

Monday:

It was rainy and yucky out so we went to the gym and I got one of my Couch to 5K workouts done as I  clung to the sides of the treadmill the entire time. But, I got it done. I spent the rest of the day going over my presentation for one of my English classes.

Tuesday:

Because of being tired and needing to get some last minute work done, I take today as a rest day from working out.

Wednesday:

I had another rough Couch to 5k day out on the track here on campus, but I get it done. I had planned on going to the new jazz class at my dance studio, but since my journalism awards ceremony took forever (and I stuffed my face with both with sushi and a quesadilla afterwards because I was STARVING from not having eaten) I decided to rest at home for the remainder of the day. But, I am pretty proud that I won an award for my dance reviews.

Thursday:

Ballet was kind of rough because the class was packed and I kept forgetting combinations, but it wasn’t horrible and my legs feel alright.

Friday:

My boyfriend and I head to the gym so I can test out the treadmill again–but this time it doesn’t go nearly as well and I can’t even finish my workout. I feel like I’m somehow just pushing myself harder than I should be on the treadmill given the speeds I set the treadmill to.

Saturday:

The first part of the ballet class is rough. I’d forgotten to take my allergy medicine so I’m stuffy with a headache. I just feel tired and my arches are killing me for some reason. My leg isn’t happy either, so I do pointe class, sadly, in flat shoes so I don’t kill my leg. I get through 20 minutes of the yoga for today when I take a break to head to the gym with the boyfriend and make up for the rest of today with a really slow and painful #C25k, but I get it done.  I know by the time I get home I’m way too tired to finish  yoga, and I call it a day.

I ended up sleeping for about 10 hours last night, so I feel a lot better than I did yesterday. So hopefully I’ll be able to fit a #C25k workout into today along with some yoga and a lot of paper writing.

How do you recover from a really challenging (and disappointing) week of workouts?

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May 3, 2013

Help me Pick a May Challenge!

Yoga Class at a Gym

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

So I’ve used challenges recently to try to get me to get more motivated to actually do the exercises I need to be doing, but I’m kind of clueless about what I should be doing for May (yeah, I know, it’s already May 3rd, but I’ve been busy bee). So, while I’d like to keep it kind of related to ballet–a lot of things do, when it comes down to it–pretty much anything is fair game. I will create a post detailing the challenge as well so anyone who wants to join in can. No matter what I end up doing, I plan on updating at least once a week with how I’m doing.

Here are a few ideas I’ve come up with (I’m slightly leaning towards yoga or the ab challenge, but don’t let that influence you):

-Mile a Day (I’m still going to be doing #c25k, but this would push me to get a little extra mileage on my off days)

-Ab Challenge (I’ve done planks for about the past month, but this would mean doing more exercise ab-related exercises)

-Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred (it’s $8.99 on iTunes and could help me get in better all around shape, something I really need)

-Yoga Challenge (A different yoga video everyday to help improve my overall flexibility)

-Split Challenge (Yes, I’ve done it before, but if this wins I promise to give you photos on bi-weekly basis)

Vote in the poll below for one of these options, or leave your own suggestion in the comments.

If you suggest something new and exciting and I pick it, I’ll send you a pair of pink shoelaces from Sweat Pink as a reward!

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May 3, 2013

Beginner Ballet Profile: Lionel

This week’s profile is another of Susan Attfield‘s ballet studio students, Lionel–who first started to take ballet in October 2012 after seeing So You Think You Can Dance. 

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LionelDid you ever take lessons as a kid?

No, never took any lessons as a kid, I grew up in a small town and my interest was mainly athletics.

Why did you decide to take ballet as an adult?

There are a few reasons, I have always loved watching ballet, I was always an active individual but since I left school it gradually got replaced by work, deadlines and the idea that one day my busy schedule will get better.  It was the infamous series So you think you can dance which made me look for adult ballet classes in my area.

Where do you take classes?

In Centurion, Gauteng, South Africa.

What is your favorite part about ballet?

When after 3 months you finally start doing something right…lol, just kidding for me it’s that one hour when all the troubles in the world disappear.

What is your least favorite part?

To be honest…. when the classes are over 🙁

Who/What is your ballet inspiration?

I’m not yet familiar with the great names in ballet, but at this stage watching anyone who can really dance, you don’t realise how hard these dancers have to train to dance at that level, when you see them you think to yourself o that’s good, but you don’t even begin to realise that there is a reason they train for years…

What motivates you to keep dancing?

To dance makes me happy, if I had discovered this at an earlier stage in my life things might have been different, but I like the feeling I have when I leave the class and that makes me want to come back.

Do you take any other dance classes?

No not at this stage.

What are your hobbies outside of ballet?

Gardening, Cleaning, Swimming.

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

I have started the class about 4 months ago, and in every class I see new faces, if you like ballet just keep going, with every class it gets better just persevere.

Anything else you’d like to add?

I wish to thank the teachers and owner of the DANCE HUB group for dedicating their time to beginner adult dancers, even though I will not become a professional what your classes do for my soul is far more fulfilling than anything money can buy.  You guys are awesome.

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May 1, 2013

Beginner Ballet Tips: How to Improve Jumps

Now that my legs finally seem to be getting back in shape, it’s finally time that I start to work on my jumps a little bit more, which, honestly are pretty pathetic. I’m not a jumping person AT ALL. In fact…it’s probably my least favorite part of ballet. But, I am ever so jealous of pretty professional ballerinas and their perfect grand jetes.  So I did some research into what I could possibly to do improve them and found out the key was:

Plies, Plies, Plies!

Plies are one of the keys to  jumps (and  turns as well).

The Ballet Dancer’s Guide says:

Your plie is crucial to every single jump, for both the landing and the take off. Without your plie you simply can not jump, but more importantly, without the right use of the plie you won’t be give full value to each jump.

Other tips from Dance Advantage (which also mentions plies!) include strengthening your core and proper alignment (my dance instructor is always reminding us of this). I know I need to work on proper alignment more, as its one of the things I’m likely to forget as I’m focused on something else. It also mentions working on strengthening your feet as well through exercises in class (tendu, degage, releve) as well as through theraband at home exercises.

Dance Advantage also has some pretty great tips for doing grand jetes.

What do you do to improve your jumps?

 

Filed Under: Ballet, Ballet Class, Info Tagged With: , , , , , , 2 Comments