Ballet Classes - At Month 2
It has been over 2 months that I’ve been back in ballet classes. Month one was a fairly rigorous re-introduction to basic barre work. Early on, I had a feeling that with the addition of one more class, technique would come back much more quickly. So, for the month of February and in to March, I paid up and took three classes per week. They paid off. Initially, both daily tiredness and general, low-grade soreness hit hard. But the satisfaction of progress eventually overrides both.
Along the way, I take notes on my classes, including Ballet Bob’s bucket-of-cold-water truisms.
Class Notes:
- Commit to great technique. Strength will follow. Balancing will be much easier with these two things in place.
- Balance isn’t just about finding a point on the wall and staring at it. It’s more about “turning on” core and standing leg muscles.
- Concentration isn’t supposed to show in your facial expression. Impossible, I say.
- Surprise, surprise: landing consecutive sautees, in the same position, is much harder than it looks
- Plies should move with the music and should never “hit bottom.” The knees “catch” a plie and send it back up.
- Arabesque beyond 45 degrees has to be one of the more unnatural elements of ballet
- Holding on to the barre too tightly is a sign that back muscles aren’t engaged (or just weak).
- Even when a class is 90% barre work, hydration helps. Dehydration is a disaster.
- Changements are still my favourite step in ballet, followed by the grand battement.
- Ballet classes are expensive
Bob’s Bon Mots
“Think of your pelvic floor as the child in a bitter custody battle. Your legs are the divorcing parents. The standing leg always gets custody! Do not grant custody of the pelvic floor to the wandering leg!
“Darling, I have a small wish. Could you not do what you just did there?”
“Oh. My. GOD. Could I please put my hand on your leg?”
“Fifth position is about the scapula! That sexy scapula! Which by the way, looks so lovely in a Lululemon shirt.”
“Great great great! Yes Yes Yes! Right Right Right!”
“Gather round. Who would like to see who I dated? That’s her. A woman!”
“This is a picture of Susan’s arabesque. Oh Susan Jaffe, we hate you. No we don’t. That’s jealousy speaking.”
“Your foot is moving through a space the size of a tiny, tiny alleyway, every time! Some of you seem to think that your leg has a multiple lane roadway to itself!”