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Simply Adult Ballet: the progress of one adult dancer who took up ballet later in life


Michelle_Richer

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8 hours ago, 2dancersmum said:

To be honest , your session in Scotland in August looks like a long shot. Currently in Scotland residents are only supposed to travel within a 5 miles radius of their home and travel to Scotland is not allowed wihout good reason. Even at the next stage when more travel is going to be allowed, the Scottish government is asking that people try and stay local and avoid non essential journeys to other areas. And still no certainty on when restrictions on hotels, restaurants. gyms etc will be (partially) lifted in Scotland and basically anything could be happening (virus and lockdown-wize) between Lincolnshire and the school in Scotland to make your journey more ardous. I'd agree with LinMM on the risk of long distance travelling anywhere and on not going unless you can arrange it last minute as I think it flexibility in terms of decisions is required

Indeed, while  a well known adult 'intensive' hasn't cancelled their August bank holiday  event , I think quite a few of us who are looking at the  wider picture  suspect that this will  go by the wayside or be converted  in the way their  July event has been  ...  ( although the Yorkshire contingent  may have been heard to exclaim " 'ow much ?" )

there is also the  fact that if these localised lockdowns  have to go wider  we'll see progress slow nationally   even if  we don;t get a national roll back

 

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Apparently ballet classes in England for children can restart from 4th July with safety measures in place (not too specific about what these are!), but unfortunately just children so more waiting for news for the adults...

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16 hours ago, NJH said:

Indeed, while  a well known adult 'intensive' hasn't cancelled their August bank holiday  event , I think quite a few of us who are looking at the  wider picture  suspect that this will  go by the wayside or be converted  in the way their  July event has been  ...  ( although the Yorkshire contingent  may have been heard to exclaim " 'ow much ?" )
 

 


had to look it up and yes £20 per hour for a virtual class is a ‘little’ steep! 

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2 hours ago, Peony said:

Apparently ballet classes in England for children can restart from 4th July with safety measures in place (not too specific about what these are!), but unfortunately just children so more waiting for news for the adults...

Do you know the source of this information? 

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1 minute ago, hfbrew said:

Do you know the source of this information? 

because it's counter to what i am hearing from  all the ballet teachers  i know ... 

i think  it  really is [citation required]  time @Peony wrt  classes restarting

 

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According to the goverment website they're still shut - https://www.gov.uk/guidance/opening-certain-businesses-and-venues-in-england-from-4-july-2020

 

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In addition, all businesses and venues can reopen from 4 July, except for the list below, which remain closed in law:

  • Nightclubs
  • Casinos
  • Bowling alleys and Indoor skating rinks
  • Indoor play areas including soft-play
  • Spas
  • Nail bars, beauty salons and tanning salons
  • Massage, tattoo and piercing parlours
  • Indoor fitness and dance studios, and indoor gyms and sports venues/facilities
  • Swimming pools including water parks
  • Exhibition or conference centres must remain closed for events such as exhibitions or conferences, other than for those who work for the business or organisation who run the venue.

 

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providers who run community activities, holiday clubs, after-school clubs, tuition and other out-of-school provision for children will be able to operate over the summer holiday with safety measures in place. Adjustments to the current measures for these providers are part of Step 3 of the government’s recovery strategy (from 4 July). Children will be able to attend settings such as tuition and learning centres, extracurricular clubs (such as ballet classes, gymnastics training, football coaching), uniformed youth organisations (such as Scouts and Guides), supplementary schools, private language schools and religious settings offering education (for example madrassahs, yeshivas, and Sunday schools).

 

From the link @Peony gives. 

 

It seems to refer to after-school & extra-curricular activities are permitted in school/educational settings - so schools, for example. The "Dance studios" in the list cited above maybe for the stand alone studio eg Danceworks or Pineapple.

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I think they’ve had a last minute panic than there is no childcare available all summer! I can’t personally find anything that is running at all! Hopefully there will be potential for some of our ballet teachers to work and earn some much needed cash, there will certainly be a demand!

 

 

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I don’t read it the same as you Kate, I think it refers to all tuition/ childcare etc. I agree unfortunately like much of the information it’s not clear though! 
 

As the Prime Minister confirmed in his announcement on 23 June, providers who run community activities, holiday clubs, after-school clubs, tuition and other out-of-school provision for children will be able to operate over the summer holiday with safety measures in place. 

 

it also mentions later on ‘as these settings re-open’ which makes me think it’s broader than just those on educational establishments.

 

im not sure if there is still the facility to ask questions like there was with the briefings. It would be interesting to ask!

 

 

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Has there been an announcement on complementary therapies like osteopathy physio therapy and massage etc. does anybody know?

I was thinking that as Premier League football clubs have now opened wouldn’t they possibly need certain treatments if they pull a muscle etc etc 


 

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Well not the sort of massage I receive!! I class it on a level with osteopathy ....in fact usually keeps me away from the osteopath lol! 
And I’ve never had a massage in a massage parlour either! 
I originally had an appointment provisionally books for July 9th but had to be cancelled as Gov gave no announcement for these sort of treatments to go ahead. Just hoping will be by end of the month. 
 

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Really if chiropractors are working then don’t see why health massage can’t go ahead if the practitioner can set it up safely ( I know my person can we’ve been in discussion about the safety provisions and protocol will be in place)  etc) and if I didn’t think it was safe wouldn’t have made the provisional appointment. 
I wonder if the footballers can receive sports massage 🤔 
 

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I think it’s the qualifications of the person giving you the massage that makes the difference- whether it’s a recognised health professional. Otherwise I think it classes as the same as the ‘beauty’ industry. Many beauty therapists are extremely skilled and are very proficient at sports massage but without the health care qualification I don’t think they would be classes the same 

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Completely about to lose the plot here with all the confusing guidelines. Nothing is clear. Everything is left open to interpretation. So angry at the whole situation. What we need is set rules. Precise, exact, detailed rules. I’m so sick of vague claims and announcements. And the rules should apply to everyone. What was the point of this whole lockdown if people in positions of power can just decide to do what they want and it be put down to judgement. What kind of message does that send?
Yes a lot of lives have been saved compared to having had no interventions. But I really truly feel that we’re giving up too early. The infection rate and death rate are still too high. In the end this will have been a waste of time and in my opinion there will be a massive second peak due to lack of consistency in guidance. If only lockdown had held out strictly a bit longer to get the transmission down further. 
Sorry, I got completely riled up there!! 
And breathe 😓
I want to go back to the studio as much as anyone. But what I don’t want is a return to everything too soon which will eventually lead to another lockdown and several more months of limbo. I just want to get this year over with, Get truly on top of this awful virus, and then return to a genuine normal ASAP. 

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The person I go to is very highly qualified and now belongs to various Bodies. She is definitely a health care professional not in the Beauty business. 
when were Sports Physios given the go ahead to go back then? 
I think it’s just how some things are seen rather than any logic in these regulations. 
As sports Physios would have some degree of hands on then there’s no reason why similar practitioners should not be allowed to return to work. 
The person I work with is safer than some clinics as she is sole person on the premises and there would be fewer general public on a daily basis on the premises seeing other practitioners. 
Id be more nervous seeing her in a clinic setting. 

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Healthcare professional is a specific term for those registered with a recognised professional body. so for example physiotherapists have to do an approved 4 year degree course and then register with the health and care professions council  It’s illegal to say you are a physiotherapist without this. 
complementary therapists don’t have that requirement, so legally there is a big difference between practising as a physio and practising as a chiropractor etc. Which is not to say that individuals are not very skilled. There are voluntary registers which have been advising their members on re-opening so it will depend who she has membership with. 

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12 hours ago, DeveloppeD said:

Sorry, I got completely riled up there!! 

 

I'm totally with you, @DeveloppeD If I said what I really think is going on, I suspect my post would be deleted for being too 'political' but I think we need to think back to public statements about "herd immunity" made in February-March, and reflect ...

 

And as for risk: there are peer-reviewed papers emerging that suggest risks for people over 50 are very bad.** So a number of us are right to be very careful & cautious.

 

**If you do Twitter, Mike Otsuka (from the LSE) is worth following for links to this research.

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Yes this is why the person I work with ( for about 18 years now) had to cancel the July provisional appointment because although she is ready to go as such if she was to do a treatment without the okay of her main Professional Body her insurance would be invalid if anything should happen etc. 

I would feel safer going to her than even the hairdresser ( no appointments yet but starting soon!) Because there would be more people passing through that premises during the day etc.

She told me that her main Body are now finally recognised under Sports therapy rather than "massage parlour" which is a great step forward. She certainly knows as much about the body's musclular system and general physiology as most physiotherapists but she would never class herself under this heading and always knows when an osteopath or physio might be of extra benefit etc when treating any specific injury although I don't just attend when I'm injured. 

So I guess when Sports massage is allowed then she will be able to return to work too but would never operate without the authority of her main Professional Body. So it looks like roll on August at the moment!! 

Somebody has now told me that the reason footballers can have their treatments at the mo is that the Premiership clubs are operating a strict temp control and testing regime not really available to Jo Public in the same way.

 

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understand your frustration LinMM but hopefully it won’t be long until re-opening, to be honest it’s only recently that the necessary PPE has been available again which also would have made re-opening tricky

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  • 2 weeks later...

It seems things are on the move. Our Scottish school have confirmed they will take us providing they have the Scottish governmental approval. However after talking with Adrian about this years intensive and its associated cost, we have finally agreed to postpone this years event, as we are really not ready, and roll it into next year combining with next years plan too. Normally by this time of year, we will have learnt all our pieces of rep and will have spent the last month or so polishing them for performance.

 

One useful thing that did come out. Previously Adrian had expressed a wish to retire from Ballet, but I had persuaded him to do both this year and next (2021).

As we have had to cancel this year, he has said he is happy to continue for as long as he can as it keeps him fit, whoopee that I wasn’t expecting.

 

As we had made the final decision to postpone our Scottish school last Monday, it eased thing off just a little bit, so I arranged an Arabesque Zoom Master-class run by Enavant Ballet , in my eagerness to book it, I didn’t realise it was to take place the same day. I booked the class at 17.21; it was due to start at 18.00. It wasn’t until I checked my email later that I see my Zoom joining instructions, oh poo, I messed up that one, I assumed it on the following day.

 

 Hair

Had my first hair appointment last Tuesday morning (Colour and re-bun), I had to wait outside the salon on the street until my stylist fetched me in, which was understandable. I had remembered reading the salons email update about wearing masks, so I put one on whilst waiting outside. Once in I could see two other ladies in my half of the salon, having there hair done, neither were wearing masks. I couldn’t see any other ladies due to a wall partition, but they now only have 7 stylists working at a time.

 

The Stylist wore PPE in the form of face shield, glove and plastic apron; I also had a plastic apron covering me. The sinks for washing hair all had floor to ceiling plastic screens. Reception too had a large plastic shield on the counter between the customer and the receptionist. It felt so much nicer having someone else doing my hair.

I queried the wearing of masks at reception just before I left and was told, they prefer customers to wear masks but it’s not mandatory, just advisory. For me that really didn’t make sense, and sends out the wrong message.

 

Eating Out 

Last Saturday when pubs and restaurants were allowed to open their doors to the general public to dine in. Adrian and I booked in at a pub belonging to one of the large chains. As we had to book on-line our track and trace details had been captured.

We were greeted by a man on the door wearing a mask (face covering), who greeted us and showed us the sanitizer for our hands and a box of printouts, copies of the menu, a single A4 sheet printed both sides. Basically one for each person and then thrown away after we had finished with them.

After being shown to our table we were told to order the meal and drinks at the bar, shock horror, but it wasn’t like that. The bar had two designated points for customers, the first for ordering which had a screen, the second was a collection point for drinks. However what wasn’t so good, the floor makings for socially distanced cues, crossed the main walkway in, so social distancing often went out the window.

The waitresses that brought our food out to us, were not wearing any PPE, not even a plastic face visor, when they lent over to put our plates on the table, they were well short of a meter separation on most occasions. Once finished with our plates and cutlery we had to take them ourselves to a designated table, there were two such tables in our area. The place had been well set out in terms of social distancing between tables, and while we were there it was only about two thirds full. Although there was clear markings for the in and exit route, there was no control or monitoring of people of numbers of people using the toilets.

 

Dance Studios 

I see finally we have news of dance studios opening, as I’ve had emails from several Dance Schools indicating September, although I don’t think the actual guidance documentation is ready yet. However I have heard of one or two that’s targeting August.

I guess the next question is, is it financially viable with smaller class sizes and what order of magnitude is likely to be the price increase for dancers.

What will the class structure look like compared to what we are used too.

What will be the split between on-line classes and in-Studio.

 

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Yesterday we went to a pub in Lewes which had only opened on Saturday for the first time. You could sit inside but they had tables outside and had also commandeered the Argos parking place ( Argos are not open yet apparently) which backs on to,the river so loads of space on a lovely sunny day.  If you wanted to go and sit inside OR use the loos you had to have a quick temp check and then the loos were all marked out where to wait and you exited via another door in the pub. If wanting to stay and drink inside ( they haven't started food yet) you had to leave name and phone number on a pad. There was no linking of names with credit cards especially if doing contactless etc and they were not storing people's numbers etc on their phones a very good thing I thought. 

All the staff wore plastic see through visors and gloves and you were served where you were sitting.... No going to the bar. 

The organisation was terrific and we complimented them on this and the manager said having finally opened they didn't want to get closed down for not following the strict rules. 

A couple at the next table said they had just come from Brighton ( 15 mins on train or 20-25 min drive away) and had been in a pub which seemed to have no rules  at all especially where social distancing was concerned. 

So I think you have to find a pub ( if you go to them anyway) or restaurant that fits how you feel safe and stick with them. 

We now have two pubs that are scrupulous in Lewes so probably don't need any others at the moment.

A bit of sad news is that one of the main music pubs in Lewes The Lamb has closed 😢 and is being turned into an Italian restaurant. Not sure how wise that is as one of the big chains Prezzo recently (pre pandemic)   closed down in Lewes. 

But we had many happy nights dancing to many different bands which appeared at the Lamb over the years so a bit of an end of an era moment there 😢 

Have my first massage this coming Friday and have already been sent two forms I have to fill in and sign connected to Covid. It's touch and go with any activity against the moment as if one member of your or their household or say a pub team gets ill then you can't attend seemingly even if you haven't had a test for the Covid. So if you get an ordinary not even bad cold it looks like that's it ...curtains for doing anything. 

My first hair isn't until July 21 st and have been told will defo need a mask when having hair washed but otherwise it's optional for customers though staff will be in PPE and only two customers in the shop at a time...but with staggered appointments( so not arriving and leaving at the same time)  

 

To come back to ballet I'm glad Michelle you have decided to leave this year's trip as we are at a very dicey moment with this virus and you could do all the planning and then at the last minute end up in some local lockdown scenario!! 

The R number is at one ( 1.1 in London) almost every area of the country at the moment (though lower ironically in the Midlands) and East of England is lower at 0.8 too but all other areas as of yesterday were at one so there is no room for complacency. The R number areas are quite large so it won't mean the whole area is at one but it's at one in parts of that area. 

Ive decided that even if some studios do open in August I won't be venturing into a ballet studio before the second half of September as long as things are not worse than they are now. One has to feel safe travelling to the studios as well as when dancing in them. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Hi LinMM

 

I haven’t decided to leave this year trip that is still on. I decided to postpone this years one-to-one intensive in Scotland, although Adrian and I will still call in to see Gillian our teacher for a coffee and a chat . I dropped this year’s session as I mentioned, we were not ready, especially with Adrian’s PDD. Adrian was quite upset with both not being ready or feeling confident and the fact the cost is quite expensive against Adrian semi-retired rate, I know he felt quite uncomfortable about doing the event this year even though Im fully funding it. For me I could have dropped my Cecchetti studies to focus on our rep to keep going, but it was important to me that Adrian didn’t feel under valued with the differences rates and not being able to do his best, so I dropped it for this year, it just made good sense 

 

It seamed an enormous weight had been lifted off his shoulders when I told him. He said I don’t want to stop working on our PDD, and if I wanted he would perform it in front of the ladies at Christmas (ladies of my old Silver Swan class) as I always have an open invitation to go and perform for them.

 

Even more remarkable, he is now not retiring from ballet at the end of next year, which he had originally planned to do.

 

I almost notified my Cecchetti teacher that I was postponing my sessions until September, but luckily I didn’t.  I would have been really sad to do that, as advance 2 is not easy, even for my teacher, as gain are hard won, it tends very much to be more of an exploration exercise. The Enchainment I’m working on at the moment, takes up 9 pages of a book called “The Manual”, whilst that is my teachers bible. For the moment there is no Advanced 2 videos on DVD or music CD, other an old version of the music, as the Cecchette Faculty of the ISTD haven’t released these yet.

I tend to use multiple sources from around the world and material from the Cecchetti Diploma course as there is some common ground between them.

However I do have a video copy from Cecchetti Ballet Inc of Australia which certainly gives me some idea what is expected, however whilst the music on the surface sounds the same, the accenting, expressiveness in the melody (sorry I’m at a loss for the correct words) sounds different, its not a simply count. I confirmed this by comparing wave pattern printouts from an audio analyser and they are different in places.  The Australian version uses bit of crescendo for developpes into extension which give a clear signature, it know where near as expressive in the uk version.

Even to complicate matters further, my teacher provides the music on our on-line sessions, needless to say combine that with a bit of echo and distortion makes it even more difficult to dance in time with the music. It’s challenging if nothing else.

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It seams I’m going to be back to class in the studio much sooner than I thought.

 

I ask my Cecchetti teacher last night if she was going to do a summer break and resume studio classes next term in September. She told me she had an announcement to make, and she would make after our next class (Body Conditioning) when the other ladies are present.

It seams we will not be taking a summer break, but she intends to resume the Tuesday Ballet class on the 28th July and my one-to-one Ballet , followed by Body Conditioning on Wednesday the 29th. July. For the Tuesday Ballet class there is usually only two of us plus our teacher, however during lockdown our other dancer hasn’t attended the on-line classes, so I’m not sure if she is coming back or not. I made the point last night if she is not, I’m happy to do the Tuesday class on-line.

 

I wasn’t sure about on-line classes compared to that in a studio when I first started, but as a one-to-one class they seamed to evolve, they have changed from where a teacher demonstrates, to where the teacher selects an enchainment from the Syllabus documentation, then I go away and study it during the week and present it by dancing it for my teacher to scrutinise. For me that works really well and really I enjoy it, even though it’s extremely frustrating at times.

 

My teacher and I learn in completely different ways, she relies on the written word in a book called the manual, which is extremely wordy, 9 pages for our enchainment, it’s much too much, also it often doesn’t use modern terms, but describes a movement like a promenade in very fine detail. I much prefer when the Syllabus spec document contains the description of the enchainment using modern terminology and far less words, then it usually includes the counts against the sequence making everything far easier to comprehend.

For me I much prefer using videos as my first reference, unfortunately I’m having to use ones from Cecchetti Australia, occasionally there are differences but its not difficult to work around . However although the music sounds similar, the expressiveness of the Australian music is much stronger and easier to follow.  The manual for me is just a reference for conformation, a check list, but definitely not an efficient learning tool.

 

Last night for me went particularly well, we started to dance the piece on-line together, my teacher stopped about halfway through and said there is something wrong with the timing, she wasn’t sure if it was me or her. However I’m aware when I dance to her music there is a significant delay in my video going back. Firstly there is a delay in the music to me, which I’m dancing to and a further delay in my video getting back to her. We repeated the first half of the enchainment together a few times, but she still looked puzzled, then finally she decided to just watch. As I hadn’t got control of her audio I counted the music and added commentary as I went along, it went like a dream and I ended on the button, it felt a little bit like we had swapped rolls for a while.

To be fair it is quite a difficult piece dance and I had spent a couple of days really getting familiar with the UK version of the music.

 

I note Balletic Leeds will be up and running in the studio on the 25th July.

 

 

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