Dance Diary | 4th Week of Ballet

The picture was taken after class at the main theater. I wanted a little pictorial session so I got my aunt to take a few pictures. She is not that handy with my Iphone so they didn't turn out that good but I saved a few of them. Next time I will bring my good camera and hope to get better shots of my dance outfit!

I've been counting down to ballet class all this week just because of my new stuff! I usually have been counting down to Saturday's because they are a highlight to my week but this week's was most anticipated for some reason. Partly I was excited for wearing my new dance gear but another reason was I have been practicing at home to help me a little more and to get me more flexible and such.

Class began as normal. I realized if I get in the room as soon as the other batch of dancers get out I have more time to fix my ballet shoes and get them comfortable instead of trying to redo them during class. My teacher likes to start right away so I don't have much time to prepare.

This week we did barre as usual but my teacher was very focused on making us find our center and sucking our belly buttons into our spines. I know weird and crazy! She kept on say it over and over 'till we got it. I tried my hardest to get my big stomach in as hard as I could. I wasn't really breathing through the routine because I was so focused on holding in all that I got to be tall and stretched up as possible. It was kind of hard because I can hardly keep myself up and to suck everything in was definitely a challenge.

Next she tried to make us do different barre routines than our normal ones. I am still having trouble remembering the names and what they actually do. I forgot the names but I know how to do the move. Sometimes it frustrates me because my mind is trying to remember, my stomach is being tortured to stay in and all at the same time I am tying to keep my balance and do everything. I am beginning to struggle and I know my teacher sees that and has been pointing it out more. I really am trying but some times it is frustrating. I am not as sad I was in my previous week but I am just annoyed at how I cannot do anything all at the same time plus I just started again and yet I want everything to be more difficult. I don't know if it is because it is too beginner for me or too fast paced for me to pick up on.

Throughout the class I was always called upon to point my toes. How can I point my toes when I have 50 things running in my head to get everything perfect? I do not know how I did this before. The teacher always said perfect ballerinas have beautiful feet. No they don't because they are in shoes that help them and do not look at your feet when you don;t have shoes on because they are probably not perfect as she says. It just frustrates me that I have so many things I am trying to work on and she is calling all these demands making me confused.

Another thing we did was stretches for splits. I got my splits done before but quitting and not doing anything athletic for 5 years makes you lose that flexibility. Doing those exercises made me hurt badly. I can not do what they were doing and I felt like my knee was going to give out from holding up so much weight. I did try but I could hardly take it. When we did the other side I could almost do the split but it hurt so bad and I couldn't go down anymore. We finally stretched it out and I was so realized to stand up because I can not handle it. I hope to get flexible again. Her goal for us is to get down in front splits by December but I don't think I could do it.

One thing we did different this week beside the stretching was across the room. We haven't did that since we started and I was wondering if we ever would. I would always like that back then and now it seems like not so much. We did a coupe tendu which was different from what I remember. Before I never started in B plus attitude and then the move but that is how she taught it. At first none of us got it and we looked so bad but as we kept doing it we got better.

Finally when we got to the center part of class, we put all our time into across the room which I liked instead f center. I don't really like center all that much so when we only had to do a short routine I was glad. We did a move that I used to love but I forgot the name I even forgot it in class until she demonstrated it. The only good thing about that class was I was doing good with that move and looked graceful. U also liked the way my skirt swayed and moved with that move. I must remember its name next time. After that class was pretty much over.

So I'm sorry this post sounded like a mini rant. I dint mean it to but my teacher can be a little perfect and a little strict when it comes to these things. I hope again next week;s will be better and that I can get more practice and get more a hang of everything. Hope you enjoyed this post and again 'till next week.

xo 

Jackie