Moondust99

That's true! I've never been good at any sport, I have little coordination and balance (which has been apparent in ballet too!) and no confidence, so I've steered clear of anything other than walking since I was about 12 or 13, so most of my muscles haven't been worked for a long time! I imagine it's a question of getting used to it, and as I'm enjoying it and not feeling overly judged or uncomfortable hopefully I should progress! But it'll be a lot of hard work!

Thank you everyone! The class has been going since at least September; aside from me and a couple of other people everyone else is really good (well from my perspective anyway XD), I'm talking 180 degree turnout, one guy can even do pirouettes! So I think I'll stick to 3rd (the teacher even said that 3rd was good if we weren't quite ready for 5th) and just work on my turnout and strength in general. The last thing I want is an injury. I guess I'm just really weak 

Ok so I had my second lesson today (with the normal teacher- she wasn't there last week) and it was much slower and I got more hands-on corrections (mainly with my feet) and some things I'm getting quite good at! But I'm REALLY struggling with 5th position. Like as in I don't even know if what I'm doing even vaguely resembles 3rd. I can do 1st pretty well and 2nd ok, but 5th is just awful and any work in 5th I'm stumbling all over the place. The other problem I have is with fondus and chasses; when I have one leg bent it tends to shake and messes up what I'm doing  does anyone know of anything I can do to help solve these problems? Thank you! Apart from that I am enjoying it a lot, I just have a few things I know I need to work on.

20 hours ago, Nicola H said:

Excellent ! regular attendance at class really does help so keep it up ! 

if it's easy you are doing it wrong  ! 

i.e. as you  get better   your teacher should be encouraging you to put more into it , to get   more extension  to get  things that should be straight to be  absolutely straight , keep the bits that should be still still and the bits that should be moving moving ... 

yes your legs will ache,  turnout  uses muscles  in a  way  you don;t usually ,  as do   some of the exercises where  your  working leg is keep 'up' off the ground   ( e.g.  developes, rond des jambes en l'air etc )

and if  the ballet bug sticks perhaps   we'll be seeing you at  some the many  and varied   workshops and intensives for   adult  recreational dancers ... 

Thank you! Yeah I knew it would be hard and weirdly enough I like the challenge a lot! I found keeping turned out was really hard especially, but with work that'll come with time! I hope so!  Any opportunities I can get I'll take! I'm annoyed at myself that it's taken me 3 years to take the plunge but I've done it now and that's the first step!

AN UPDATE: I went to my first class today  I absolutely loved it! It was a LOT harder than I thought it would be, a lot of them had been in the class since September and were very good. It hurt the legs a bit, but I got the hang of it and really enjoyed it!

14 hours ago, RachelC said:

Hello

 

You have already had lots of great replies but I just wanted to add that regarding your trouble with coordination and picking things up - one of my adult students is very similar and it's because of her Dyspraxia. It certainly doesn't hold her back through and you might that those difficulties are just because of starting a new and very alien dance form.

 

Exams definitely don't have an age limit and they are becoming more popular with adults. I was training for my RAD Advanced 2 last year at the age of 26, but have needed to put it on hold while I have a baby, so I will likely be 28 by the time I'm rest to take it. At the other end of the scale one of my adult students who started fairly recently has now taken her Grade 3 and Grade 4 exam.

 

Thank you so much that's really reassuring! I know I shouldn't expect to find it easy at first and other people will be in the same situation, so hopefully with time and effort I'll get better!

I hope that goes well for you!  it's good to hear that other adults are doing the slightly lower grades too! Thank you that's helped me a lot

Thank you everyone! I know it's going to be hard, but I'm hoping I'll enjoy it and I won't be too awful at it  but I'm looking forward to it a lot more than I'm nervous. And good luck Cara, I hope your class goes well too!  

On 07/01/2018 at 22:15, Nicola H said:

'demi pointe' shoes   are a bit of misnomer -  aka 'soft blocks' they are basdically shankless pointes to get you  (back) used to full soles,  toe box  etc .... 

dancing on demi pointe  however is  dancing on the  balls of the feet , i.e. wit hthe heel raised off the  floor 

 

16 hours ago, ArucariaBallerina said:

Demi-pointe work is usually done in flats to get the right muscles strengthened ready for Pointework @Moondust99 

Ah thank you both that makes a lot of sense! I can start next Monday and I'm looking forward to it! Hopefully it goes well  thank you everyone! 

12 hours ago, Cara in NZ said:

Hi Moondust, just wanted to say that my mother wouldn't let me dance as a child (She didn't want to be a 'ballet mum', haha), and I started ballet at 19. I learned with a Russian lady for 4 years and even made it en pointe after 3 years. She offered exams, and I did Pre-Elementary and Elementary at age 22 and 23. Then I moved to London and did classes at Pineapple (no syllabus identified), then over the years I've done classes at various schools, wherever I could find adult classes.

Although others will have more recent and relevant advice, I just want to say that ballet is ballet, wherever you go, and the differences are really more about terminology and perhaps emphasis. My DD's current teacher trained in Cecchetti and RAD, and although the school is RAD-focused, she uses lots of Cecchetti exercises. to round out the RAD approach From my viewpoint, they all have something to offer (my Russian teacher was trained in Legat, although she always just called her training 'Russian Classical Ballet').

 

I don't think you should worry too much about the syllabus or exams. It's much more important to find a class/school that you like, with qualified teachers and the option of exams if and when they advise. Just jump in and make a start!

My mum's quite similar! So I think she's happier knowing I can just go it alone! Thank you for that advice yeah I guess it depends on the teacher rather than the syllabus, especially at the early stage. It's reassuring to know exams are still an option even though I'm older than the intended age!

9 hours ago, Anna C said:

I've heard good things about BBO and as you have no aspirations as a professional, there's no reason for you to change syllabi at this stage.  The school you've chosen sounds great in that it offers the classes that you want.  The main thing to remember with ballet is that if you are dancing for pleasure, you should enjoy it!  It will be difficult, especially until you get the technique into your muscle memory, but difficult shouldn't mean you can't enjoy learning.  

 

I suspect you're feeling overwhelmed because you are overthinking everything at the moment - exams, modern, adding classes etc can all be considered at a later date.  Start beginner ballet, take it all a step at a time (literally), then once you've got to grips with basic technique and are feeling more confident, then you can decide whether the BBO syllabus is right for you, whether the school is right for you, and think about exams.  Take a breath and think about enjoying the journey of learning ballet, rather than rushing towards the destination.

 

Thinking further down the line, if you can get into London by train, there are plenty of adult ballet classes and even some amateur performance opportunities for adult recreational dancers.  

 

Good luck, and welcome to the forum. 

Thank you, I have heard good things too it's just nice to have more reassurance  Yeah I agree! I do unfortunately have a tendency to overthink everything and imagine the big picture rather than the individual steps (maybe literally having to focus on individual steps will help ). Thank you I will do! London is accessible by train and my boyfriend is originally from Essex and very close to East London so it's definitely a possibility! Thank you again  

9 hours ago, Picturesinthefirelight said:

My dd went to an RAD school & my Ds goes to a BBO school though he doesn't do ballet. 

 

Dd is now at vocational school but when she's watched shows & masterclasses at ds's school she has been very impressed by the technique of the students & the quality of the teaching. 

 

Thank you it's good to know it's also a reputable syllabus!

5 hours ago, youngatheart said:

Hi Moondust99,

 

Unfortunately there are no BBO videos available at the present time. They used to sell DVDs, but pulled them because they are currently in the process of updating the syllabus, and the new videos are restricted to teachers only at the moment :-(. Hopefully once the new syllabus has rolled out they will make them more widely available again.....

 

It is a good syllabus for adults as it is not at all "childish" even in the lower grades. In Brighton there is a BBO school aimed at adults who want to do exams.

Oh I understand, yeah hopefully I can see some soon! Yes I've seen that, it's such a good idea and I'm glad it's not childish, I often worry about feeling a bit humiliated but it seems it'll be equally good regardless of my age, thank you  

5 hours ago, Bluebird22 said:

There are videos available to teachers... and computer savvy teachers (or their computer savvy other halves) can do fancy things and convert them into private youtube videos to share to students!

Thank you, hopefully they'll be more widespread soon!

Another question sorry, I've seen on the grade 4 syllabus that there is Demi-pointe work, and I'm slightly confused as to exactly what it is because I've heard conflicting things? Does it involve wearing different shoes? I know Demi-pointe shoes exist but that's about the extend of my knowledge. Thank you again and thank you everyone for replying  

Hi! So I've been lurking on this forum for a while, reading posts and trying to find out as much as I can without having to actually bother anyone but I'm at the point now where I think it's best to get some advice

I've REALLY wanted to dance, particularly ballet, since early 2015. My aunt used to be an outstanding ballet dancer and has done some teaching, and her daughter is also very good, and she took me to see a ballet performance of Aladdin nearby. Now, I'm not saying I'm aiming to be professional or even do much performing, I just enjoy the art, but it really made me want to try ballet out. So from then, I started researching places to dance, thinking about the styles I wanted to do, and it was hard. I live in quite a remote part of Gloucestershire where there isn't much in the way of dance, but I was happy to get to Gloucester or Cheltenham if required as I assumed they would have somewhere good to dance. Unfortunately, nothing ever materialised due to a number of reasons, most notably time, money, and my mum not really wanting to drive. So the search continued, despite the fact I was losing hope in ever starting, and I was finding it increasingly hard to decide where to dance. I got really stuck choosing between a pretty typical 'competition school' (where I did a commercial masterclass, which I enjoyed, but I was put off by the fact I couldn't find any teaching qualifications possessed by the teachers and that on their various social media accounts, they posted plenty of videos of contemporary, lyrical and commercial, but none about ballet for anyone older than 8, and they had no tap class for my age and the hip hop teacher that drew me towards it left, but that's another story) and a much better looking school (I don't know if I'm allowed to name names here!) where they have a really comprehensive (at least compared to pretty much everywhere else I've seen!) adult ballet program, didn't have a cut off point of 18, and offered a variety of styles and performance opportunities while not sacrificing quality ballet training. All the teachers are qualified with the BBO and a huge number of students have got into vocational schools, colleges and associate schemes. Eventually, after a long time deciding what was really important and what was beneficial, I decided to email them and ask about their basic adult ballet class, however it is only now that I've actually been able to start.

Enough of the background (sorry for the essay!), I now have a few questions that I've been thinking about for a while:

-I'm interested in doing exams, I like the thought of the attainable goal and the way of knowing how well you're doing with the grade, but is there much difference between various syllabi? This school does BBO, but I'm finding it hard to find videos of the syllabus. Is it good for all the disciplines? Or would ISTD be preferable, or RAD for ballet? These are the three options for schools I've been considering, and I want to choose the best syllabus. 

-Does anyone have any recommendations when it comes to syllabus classes about any schools that I should also seriously look into? Ballet is my priority, but I'm also very interested in street and tap, and if possible modern, though I know these aren't the focus of the forum

-I don't have any medically diagnosed issues (as of yet anyway) but I have quite bad coordination problems and balance and find I pick things up physically slower than most people, will this improve with practise and effort or will I always struggle?

-Is it generally accepted for adults to do exams, whether in a group class or private lessons, or is 18 too old to start? 

Thank you so much for reading and I'm really sorry it's so long! I've just waited a very long time for this and I want to make sure I'm in the best position and don't make any major mistakes  thank you again!