Kate_N

so so true! I’m at the top of my field in my job, and one of the reasons I love doing ballet class is that I’m still learning and I’m not tops at ballet - it keeps me humble! also, @Angela Essexyou say you worry about people watching and judging. a) as others say, we’re all too busy focusing on ourselves! and b) I love watching others dance in the centre(when I’m waiting for my turn) - most adult dancers have something they do well which makes them a pleasure to watch.

@Vivplease please don’t apologise for updating us. What else are we here for but to share experiences and views? I am so pleased you are coming out the other side of a very difficult time, and that you have found new joy in the studio! As well as those bullying you being gone - that really is a win. Also, so sorry for your loss - a friend of mine said on the death of his father, that he thought the stretch marks of grief would take some time to fade. Hurrah for dancing!

I've never taken class from him, but I've been in the same class with him a fair bit (pre-pandemic!) and watching him dance (beautiful technique and an easy way of moving) and seeing his demeanour in class - really kind, making space, encouraging smiles to other dancers in the class - I imagine he'd be a wonderful teacher!

I think if this thread shows anything for certain, it is that different children respond to the same situation in different ways! This is absolutely normal in any educational setting - ballet, school, hobbies, and so on - teachers know that what works well for one pupil doesn't necessarily work so well for another.

Congratulations! Particularly coming back after injury. Your teacher is wise - focus on the things you do well, because they will help the things which need more - or more constant - work. Maybe also the way to think about something like your pointe work is that you know you've improved - but the examiners are marking you against a set of fixed criteria, rather than grading your improvement, if that makes sense? And Intermediate is a pretty high level exam, so to achieve a 50% in any section is an achievement!

This is really interesting @Tango Dancer and gives me heart for Zooming in to the Danceworks Masterclasses. As I get older (I'm in my early 60s) I find that as my body is less malleable, I seek out teachers from whom I can find new things to learn. SO I'm not interested in just doing any old class - I like to learn from teachers who can teach me new or more logical ways of working. It's hard to describe, but what you say about Mr Muntagirov is sort of what I look for in trying out new classes, new teachers.

Awww, so sorry you feel like that - we all know the feeling. My professional dancing family member said to me once, that sometimes class is just medicine. You have to take it, even if it's nasty, because you'll get better in the long run. You could keep going, but just turn off your Zoom camera? It sounds like you need to find a class where you sign up for a series, rather than the open drop-in classes. Could you ask at local ballet studios if you could do class alongside children? I know that sounds weird, and you'd probably need an enhanced DBS check (or whatever they're called now) but you would get the basics, slow & steady. In London there are several places which offer a termly enrolment, for regular & steady learning - City Lit, and RAD, from memory. Would it be possible to enrol in one of those in the New Year?

This! superb and personalised service, even by mail order!

The back & knees might be DOMS - a fancy term for the "delayed onset muscle soreness" you can have about 2 days after unaccustomed or new exercise. It's why cross-training is so important for general fitness. Our bodies become accustomed to movements we do regularly. But the Achilles stiffness needs some care: try doing what are called "eccentric" movements to really stretch the Achilles under load - hang off the end of a step or stair tread - stand in a careful well-aligned parallel position (no turn out!) have just your toes spread nice and flat (not gripping) on the stair, hold onto the bannister or wall, and as you breathe out, on a count of four, drop your heels below the stair tread as far as they can go. Then on another count of 4 rise up, and up to your demi pointe. Do this about 9 or 10 times. The last few will be tough! Also at the barre, before you go into the centre, do heel raises in strict parallel, moving slowly from flat to demi pointe. Do maybe 8 on both legs, then try 4 on one leg, swap legs. You're aiming to build up to 16 on each leg. It's a very simple, slow exercise, and very tough! It's important to have your alignment really strong for this. But it will help with Achilles soreness. Caveat: I'm not a medical doctor (just a PhD!) but I had a bout of Achilles tendonitis, and saw a physiotherapist a couple of times. The exercise of hanging off a step/stair was prescribed and supervised by the physio (see vids on "hell drops"). The simple heel raises are done by the Australian Ballet and the Royal Ballet in classes. There's a World Ballet Day interview with former Australian Ballet Artistic director David McAllister where he explains the physiological science of the heel rises, and their role in decreasing ankle injuries in the company. I find if I don't do a set of heel drops after most gym sessions, I get that stiffness - the heel drops stop it becoming actual pain.

I don't but don't need to - I think the main thing is that underwear shouldn't show.

What you describe is fine! I wear a leotard & tights because that's what I've always worn. I do tend to layer warm-ups because I like to dance very warm (feels like it oils the joints), and I shed layers as I go. If I'm not in bare leo & tights by the centre, I know I'm not working hard enough. I also prefer tights & leotard because my gym kit is made of much thicker poly/lycra, whereas my ballet tights are thinner & move more easily - the heavy workouts I do at the gym don't need the same precision of tiny muscles that ballet does. I don't wear a skirt because I'm not that much of a bunhead, and it's a fashion thing, as well as a cover-up of hips & upper thighs (also I have a pro dancer sister who would be extremely rude & mocking if ever I wore a skirt 😉 - she's from a generation of dancers who wore nothing but tights & high cut leotards). I think the skirt thing is part of the stereotype of a "ballerina" but I know women like to wear them to cover what they think of as their large bottoms.

i think you need to see more contemporary dance. There are hundreds of small companies, with beautiful and beautifully trained dancers of all sorts of bodies - what they all have in common is an extraordinary athleticism. Contemporary training uses ballet, but also other training techniques.

So pleased for you that you’ve enjoyed a Zoom class. and do stretch!!! I’m in the 3rd week of an annoying blower back spasm/strain which has now died down to nagging dull ache, because I did a heavy gym training session (I lift v heavy - I think I was sled pushing at 200kg that morning) and then had to dash to teach and then catch a long distance train, so didn’t do my usual 20-30 minute stretch/cool down. lesson learned.

The ballet version is from Suzanne Farrell: "Pliè is the first thing you learn and the last thing you master."

If you're there live she threatens to fine you a pound every time a Kung Fu panda leg appears. Isn't she fab? And a really lovely person, too. I'm sorry that online didn't work for you. Hannah's classes (along with other brilliant teachers, Christina Mittelmaier and Nina Thilas-Mohs) kept me sane during the lockdowns over the last 2 years. I really think they were brilliant. But now I can get into various studios live, I'm less inclined to do online classes, so I know how you feel.

🤣 @AnneMarriott

I'm getting rather irritated by Dan. He's given very simple choreography, compared with, for example, Rhys. Rhys is my favourite (channelling Len Goodman there) - I think he's really watchable & exciting, and we all know it's much more difficult for a long-legged, tall, long-limbed male dancer. Most top male ballet dancers, for example, are medium height - not really very tall for men. Dan is playing the "ordinary person" card in an annoying way! I'd like to see Rhys succeed. I'm actually not that fussed by John - but maybe I'm just also irritated by his & Johannes' mawkishness. Maybe I'm just becoming a grumpy old woman!

This is exactly what I was going to suggest. There are some really good safe teachers doing hybrid - online and in-studio - classes. Give Hannah Frost's Beginner class at Pineapple a try. She is brilliant at keeping an eye on you, and explains everything really thoroughly while still getting through a pretty solid barre and centre. Christine Mittelmaier is also a wonderful teacher who's doing in-studio & online - her style of choreography is a more "dancey" approach, and slightly more demanding even at Beginners level because of that, but you'll get a sense of expansion and use of your head & back which is different from Hannah's very pure and pared down approach. The other thing is that with only one class a week, it's hard to make visible progress. It's hard to get your muscle memory (proprioception) embedded. So supplementing your in-studio class with an online class will help with that as well. Centre work is trickier in your kitchen, but most teachers are now adept at adapting exercises for limited space and dodgy floors. And maybe once a month you could get to London to dance live with some of the great teachers in London who specialise in teaching adults. There is a lovely community of dancers once you get to know the regulars. I've seen some very beginner people in classes above their level - it's only annoying when they crash into you, but you can learn to avoid doing that! But if you stick to Beginner level, you'll really start to "get it." I agree with you about the meditative moving to music - I have friends who are late converts to yoga (they never had any kind of physical practice before that), and I do yoga semi-regularly, but it doesn't give me the pleasure of moving to music in the way that any dance discipline does. RAD Inter is quite difficult - in the "old" RAD system when I was a teenager, it was (I think) the next step past Elementary which was the first vocational level, named because they cater for serious students. And corrections are gold. Lucky you!

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that’s assuming schools have access to that information. For example, most universities have big alumni networks, and employ people to try to get this information, but if our graduates don’t keep in touch, there’s little we can do. So I very much doubt that far smaller schools, without access to the kind of funding universities can devote to this, could do what you think they should do.

Everything, everything, everything @Anna C says. The more I read your posts, the more I become alarmed and think you need to SLOW DOWN! You're asking for the opinions of randoms on the internet, so I'll be straightforward here: you really should not move your whole family simply for the very precarious possibility that your 11 year old DD should be going to one particular ballet school. There need to be other reasons: I gather that you want to get away from a climate which is relentlessly hot & sunny? I totally sympathise (it's why I never settled in the US, and returned to the UK from Australia). What about your son & his education and talents? How would they be attended to in this move? What happens if your DD is either a) injured; b) falls out of love with ballet; c) is assessed out; d) gets interested in other things; e) reaches the peak of her ability & progresses no further? I'm not saying any of those things will happen, but there's a lot riding on the say-so of a couple of teachers and an 11 year old child. And that is before you look at a) the difficulty of visas for the UK, post-Brexit; b) the extortionate cost of London housing - you'll need the best part of up to £800,000 to purchase a family home - probably a flat - in the more central parts of London (eg Tube Zones 1-3) (although Londoners might take issue with this?) c) the cost of ongoing healthcare for non-UK citizens; d) the happiness of all of your family ... Could you look at the more northern (ie more temperate) bits of Spain, if you are Spanish. The Artistic Director of the English National Ballet is Spanish, as are several top UK dancers - there's obviously excellent training in Spain! Now I'm going to have a good talk with myself about getting over-involved with posts on a messageboard. Apols to Mods if I've been to harsh.

In terms of buying a property in London, I imagine you can find whatever you want if you're prepared to pay for it. But that won't work for UK visas.

@Pups_mum puts it so well! Have a great time in London, and toi toi toi to your DD for her auditions.

I know that must have been lovely to hear, but I would take such advice with a pinch of salt ... No-one is guaranteed anything in a pursuit such as ballet. On the one hand, your DD can audition & see what happens. On the other hand, she's only 11. There's a bit of time yet. As far as I was taught, "Balanchine training" is a style or a variation of Russian training, introduced by Mr Balanchine, and a style adapted for the typically very fast footwork favoured by New York City Ballet (Mr B's company). A properly trained dancer is trained in ballet, which is ballet, which is ballet. The different national "schools" (French, Italian, Russian, English, Danish) have their emphases, but as one of my very experienced teachers says, Ballet is ballet is ballet.

Central runs an after school programme, I think.