Dance Diary | Midweek Ballet Class

Yay, a special midweek dance diary! So that means I went to a ballet class but not on a Saturday. I will still go to my Saturday class though. Yesterday I posted I might be taking a ballet class because I didn't have to attend any college courses that day so that gave me an opportunity to take a class.

I left my laptop at the office at my ballet studio so I couldn't write this 'till now. So, I did my internship duties during the day and afternoon like always.

My class started at 7 PM and I stopped working around 6 to get dress and to stretch. When I got all dressed I sat in the hallways with my other classmates and stretched with them. Some of them I knew their faces from seeing them in class on Saturdays. I started talking to one and found out some much about her. She was so nice and really inspiring. She is a mother of triplets and her daughter wanted to try ballet. She used to do ballet but stopped because she couldn't afford it anymore, now that she can she dances 3x a week while her daughter dances once. She was so friendly and I liked getting to know the other ballerinas. To me it was kind of strange having older girls in my ballet class but I know it's a semi- adult class so I shouldn't really be surprised. The other girls were my age or close and some of the boys were too.

When class finally began we had a lot more students than what I was used to. All the barres were full and my normal spot was gone which I was kind of sad about but I dealt with it but you get so used to a certain spot. Some of the dancers took our class even though they just got done with the class before us. I thought our regular teacher was going to teach us because I gotten so used to her even though sometimes I was a little annoyed with her since she teaches slow and always reminds us and corrects us. But boy this class was not what I was expecting.

Our teacher was a company member and you should know that company members think you know everything like them so the class is fast paced and there is no movement being corrected. You either do the combination or figure out a way to do it. She was shouting out commands without demonstrating first and I hardly remember them anymore and I was just guessing and copying and trying to do everything all correctly at the same time. You thought I was having trouble doing it all before well this time around I was about to lose it.

I did keep up but I was trying to correct my technique and keep up with the pace. I know now not to complain about my regular teacher because it is slow after taking this fast one. But I do have to admit it was a nice change. I think I should take a couple slow classes that focus on technique and then this kind of fast paced one.

During class though she made us do releves every combination and then end in passe on demi-pointe. I can hardly keep my balance doing a regular passe so I was very unstable plus our arms were supposed to be in fifth position so that made me even more wobbly. I tried to remember what the teacher said and suck everything in and just imaging yourself being pulled up and I did and it did help a little but since I am carrying so much weight my ankles started cracking and I would go down right away. Now I know I should practice those and get my ankles to be stronger so I can don more combinations on demi-pointe.

Since I am writing this the next day. I went in again for my internship and to get my laptop back, my regular teacher was there and asked me how was class. I told her the truth and said it was fast but it was enjoyable and also I tried to follow her advice and tried to correct myself as best as I could. I was a little surprised with her answer, she said that it is one of the hardest classes on my level and she was glad I took her advice and did some correcting because that is what she wants to help me with. She also said since I took ballet before I knew most of the steps so she just wants to teach me the proper ways again instead of the actually move. That's why her class is slow and she does more corrections because she hates sloppy ballerinas and I know that would look bad. You should have seen us though we were all over the place with the company members class.

I hope to take it again though but since I have classes it might be a rare thing only if I get a break like this week. I enjoyed even though my ankles are in so much pain. If you would ask me if I would do it again I probably would. I am getting used this ballet thing and I think I will stick with it for a while. I'll still be doing my update on Saturday. It's going to be weird though because I am still a little sore and I usually wait a week in between my classes so my pains end up going away. We'll see what will happen than I guess.
xo
Jackie