Mumofballetmaddaughter

I did as did quite a lot of neighbours in doorways, gardens or from open windows. My next door neighbour is a midwife who said she felt quite touched  by the level of support in our street.  

Thank you for starting this thread. It will be nice to read something lighthearted as a little light relief at this current time. 

I used a gym ball for the first time in a while yesterday to do a very basic PBT exercise (it was much harder than it looked) and either the ball was under inflated or I'm over inflated as I ended up almost sat on the floor.   I've tidied out the basement and cleaned off my daughter's ballet barre in readiness for a class that she's giving me tomorrow via Zoom. The first challenge will be signing in to it. It should be an interesting morning!  Hope everyone is staying safe and well.

Excellent advice at any time drdance and even more so now. Thank you for posting x

1 hour ago, RachelSkipper said:

Check the contrast of your background and dress accordingly, especially your feet.

People will be watching on tiny screens and in low resolution and it’s much easier to see black leggings against a light background or pink tights against a dark one.

Ah yes, something I think which could easily be overlooked as it's not something you need to think about usually. Thank you RachelSkipper for this tip, it's much appreciated. 

3 hours ago, TYR said:

One piece of advice: think about whether the class can hear your *voice*. Don't wander away from the mic while introducing an exercise or giving corrections.

Thanks TYR, I will pass this advice on. I'm sure there will be teething problems to start which hopefully will be ironed out during the dummy runs my daughter is going to be doing over a few days with some of her older students. It's definitely been a steep learning curve so far!

7 hours ago, Bluebird22 said:

I’ve played about with zoom the past few days

I think numbers need to be restricted particularly so corrections can be given. They need to be quite far away from the camera to be seen fully. I feel it will be considerably slower than normal class as you will have to view each participant individually. Being able to mute everyone is very handy, a feature I’m sure I will miss when we get back to class! Supposed to be trying my first proper class on Tuesday so will feedback a bit more then. 

Thank you for your advice Bluebird. It's much appreciated. Looking forward to your feedback after you've gone live.

Any advice on using Zoom both from a teacher and student perspective would be greatly appreciated please. My daughter is going to be using this to deliver her classes after the Easter break. In the meantime she has uploaded some PBT exercises on FB and will be spending the next 2 days in the studio filming more PBT, floor barre and some syllabus/non syllabus work to post on FB to keep the students going until her live streamed classes start.  This is such a steep learning curve for teachers, students and parents who, up until now, have only had experience of face to face classes. Good luck to all teachers and dancers during this difficult and worrying time. 

Not actual dance but Joe Wicks the body coach will be doing free home workouts on youtube Monday to Friday at 9am for 30 mins starting on Monday 23rd March designed as a fun workout for school age children. 

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=11&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiw5qHNwanoAhVxQkEAHfxqBg4QFjAKegQIAhAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thebodycoach.com%2Fblog%2Fpe-with-joe-1254.html&usg=AOvVaw2mv0--7TmHYOl4mgl_XXdB

8 minutes ago, Peanut68 said:

Gosh that’s quite a tale... poor you to have gone through all that. 🤞🏻🤞🏻For long term improvements 

I too have recently been told my foot pain may be arthritis (🙁)....any advice on care/relief etc as really want to keep dancing wouid be much appreciated! 

Oh you have my sympathy Peanut. I would say that dancing is one of the the best things to do if you can continue. I do a very gentle beginners adult ballet class which I find is helping me. Supportive shoes help too. I wear Skechers trainers and shoes as often as possible and have ballet shoes with shock absorbing heels. (I've consigned my high heels to the back of the wardrobe in the hope that one day!!) You should also be able to have orthotics made for you by your local podiatry department. I have them but due to very high arches, struggle to get them into all but 1 pair of chunky trainers. They do help though. 

I do calf stretches 3 x daily consisting of 30 seconds on each leg and heel drops on the stairs or at times on escalators to keep the achilles from tightening and then slow foot rises, rolling through the feet throughout the day whenever I can, ie waiting for the kettle, standing at the sink etc. I also swim 4 times per week so do the foot rises in the pool as well. 

The consultant who diagnosed the arthritis said the only solution to being totally pain free is to have the ankle fused but that is a very long recovery period as you are 6 weeks non weight bearing and after last time, which was 2 weeks non weight bearing and 14 weeks on crutches, I'm reluctant to undergo the operation. Also the amount of pain relief I had to take in the 2 weeks following the op was quite high with morphine, codeine, paracetamol and ibuprofen and having to inject a blood thinner twice a day, as I was an older patient having lower limb surgery, wasn't pleasant. All things considered, I'd rather just cope with the pain at the moment. I hope some of this is of help to you. 

Apologies mods, I've just realised I've gone somewhat (totally) off topic so if you need to delete this, I will PM Peanut.

As someone who has highly arched feet they have been a curse to me all through life. As a child I was considered clumsy as I was always falling over and spraining my ankles due to the weakness. 7 years ago and 10 years after a very bad sprain which my GP on numerous occasions insisted would just take time and physio, I was fortunate enough to see a locum who referred me to a consultant. He decided 5 procedures needed to be carried out to try to give me some sort of relief to the constant pain I was in  but they had to be done in 1 operation otherwise it would have been counterproductive. It was decided that my heel bone would be broken, bone shaved and repinned to try to lessen the effect of the arch, my achilles was cut in 3 places as it would found to be very tight which was impacting the way I walked. Ligament restructure was carried out to remove 1 that had ruptured and splitting of another to make 2. I also had an arthroscopy to clean up the joint. It took a year of intensive physio and hydrotherapy to get to the point where although still in pain, it was such an improvement. Sadly though I've now developed arthritis in the joint so I am still in pain although nowhere near to what it was prior to surgery. My advice to anyone with such feet is to make sure they keep their feet and ankles strong. I only wish I'd had awareness of this when I was a child many (very many) years ago.

Hi TinyNEDancer

I'm not sure if these would be any good for your daughter. They don't do half sizes until 1.5 but the description states they are snug so might be suitable for a slim foot. 

Just to add that I've no experience of these personally though. 

Here's the link which hopefully works!

https://www.dancinginthestreet.com/Catalogue/Dance-Shoes-Dance-Shoe-Accessories/Soft-Ballet-Gym-Shoes/Starlite-Ballet-Shoes/Starlite-Flexi-Satin-Ballet-Shoes-Split-Sole

Congratulations to your daughter on securing her contract and ignore the other mother's insensitive comment. Why people feel the need to belittle others achievements with snide remarks is beyond me.  Even if your daughter had chosen a totally different type of career,  her classical training could never be considered to have been a waste with all the benefits it brings. I also used to get comments such as 'Oh, a cruise ship" as my daughter danced onboard for many years. She was lucky in that the cruise line she did the majority of contracts for, did put on classical numbers including pointe work (not easy on a moving stage) as well as ballroom and latin which she loved. Having been around the world several times she's experienced things that I can only dream about. I would say that the variety of skills she amassed whilst working onboard, made her very employable when applying for temporary work during her vacation periods. Employers used to comment during interviews that her CV was very interesting. 

Signed and shared. Thank you for doing this drdance. I've found this subject fascinating and after doing a google search on extreme stretching am appalled by the results. Lets hope things change for the sake of our youngsters. 

Hi oliviaT

I've copied and pasted an excerpt from the NAPM administrator in response to a problem some forum members were experiencing so this may explain the delay in the response.  The full post is entitled  'My IP has been banned' which is in the 'Messages you need to read' section. Hope this helps. 

I am currently working my way through 350 attempted registrations most of which are Russian Spam.

Wishing everyone on the forum, especially the moderators, a very happy and healthy Christmas and New Year. Thank you mods for all of the great work you do throughout the year.  Thoughts also go to John's family and friends for their very sad loss.

3 hours ago, Anna C said:

 

Ugh.  So ridiculous, anyway - assuming the student graduates with a degree, doesn’t it just have “Oxon” or “Cantab” after the qualification, rather than specifying College?  I know there’s College loyalty at both Unis but among students that’s always seemed more good-natured than anything else.

 

Mind you, I’ve come across plenty of Dance Mums in my time who have tried to either “big up” where their child was an associate or be quite pitying/disdainful if your child was “only” at X school’s associates.  I just nodded and smiled a lot.   Such snobbery is not limited to Universities/Colleges!  ☺️

Very true Anna. It's the same with contracts. I've come into contact with a few who've said, 'oh, a cruise ship'. Like you , I just smiled. Thankfully I've always been quite thick skinned, more so the older I get and am not easily offended.

Wholeheartedly agree with everyone who has said that you don't need to justify anything to anyone.  It really doesn't matter what anyone else thinks. For what it's worth, my 'non academic' daughter is carving out a successful career as a ballet teacher after dancing professionally for a number of years. She has founded her own school which is flourishing, is in demand as a freelancer and has developed skills in accountancy, marketing and media. She achieved her childhood dream of becoming a 'proper dancer', travelled the world doing what she loved and is now building a successful business. Not bad for someone who was advised by the careers advisor at the local comp to lower her sights and concentrate on getting a 'proper' job because dance was only ever going to be a pipe dream!

Hi Moonbeam

I've PM'd you.

Same here as Pictures (and Jan for RADA)

I have issues with it in a written format though, is it 'a' or 'an' before RAD? 'An' sounds better if shortened but wouldn't be correct if saying it in full. It's something that my daughter and I disagreed over when she was setting up her website.

So sorry to hear the sad news. Sending sincere condolences to John's family and friends.

Good luck to your son in his new venture and hope you enjoy your new found freedom!

Sorry to hear about the crash Pups Mum but glad you are on the mend. I use Flexitol heel cream as I've found it works really well on very dry, cracked skin. I had extensive surgery on my ankle, foot and achilles some years ago and get a lot of rough, hard skin around the scar on the outer side of my foot. Flexitol is the only cream I've found which works quickly and keeps the skin under control. Hope this helps and all the best for your continued recovery.

Not wanting to sound negative but as you've had problems with shin splints previously, bear in mind that as the majority of shows on board a cruise ship are when the ship is sailing, this can put a lot more stress on the body than the equivalent peformances on land. Best of luck with whatever you decide to do.

Lovely news C4D. You must be so proud of your daughter for her determination and perseverance. Wishing you both all the best for the future. 

Hi Maria

The label only shows the make and size so I've no idea which style it is unfortunately. 

If you would like some photos, please let me know and I'll take some tomorrow for you.