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The_Red_Shoes

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  1. The_Red_Shoes
    When you watch Royal Ballet videos of their daily class, you notice how they all have that sort of "Oh no" grimace on their faces when it comes to the calf rises. My teacher has replaced the middle of the class free stretch time with calf rises in our advanced class - and everyone groans. Especially when people are very flexible, stretching is a lovely pleasant feeling and relaxing thing to do whereas strengthening exercises are always torture - but all the more necessary! I've added The Rises to my regular at home exercise routine. I try to make that focus on alignment feel calm and meditative - rather than desperately muttering "just another 8 to go" through gritted teeth.
  2. The_Red_Shoes
    Progressing Ballet Technique. There is a Junior level and some introductory exercises for even before that. As I said, my teacher introduces the first few exercises in her Primary classes..
  3. The_Red_Shoes
    Have you and your teacher identified specific things to work on that will make a difference? My feeling is that the biggest difference I can make to improved technique overall is to continue to develop stamina to maintain lightness and oomph and to improve my turnout and 5th position throughout. They are things that I have been working hard on over the last year, and there has been an improvement, but there needs to be more. I will also be working very hard specifically on pivoty things, as there's a lot in Grade 7. I also think that if I got a 7 for Musicality and Performance I should be able to get 8s as they are not limited by my physical/technical shortcomings. I do a lot of mental work on the musicality and EPIC side of it - kind of analysing the music and the choregraphy and working out the flow, phrasing and emphasis and how I will express that in my dancing.
  4. The_Red_Shoes
    I would add PBT exercises. They mainly use a big yoga ball, some theraband and smaller ball work. In my dance school it is introduced right from Primary, although there isn't time to do it regularly all through the year and we are encouraged to continue at home with the exercises introduced in class or my teacher may recommend a particular exercise to support a technique. If they don't do PBT at your daughter's dance school, a DVD and online videos are available on the PBT website which give progressions of exercises, music and clear demonstrations. Again, the issue is doing the appropriate level* for the individual and performing the exercises correctly, although the videos do give very detailed explanations. *NB the students on the video are terrifyingly strong and competent and I find myself mainly working at the little kids level!
  5. The_Red_Shoes
    Grade 6 result today -a Pass with 53, so 2 marks away from a Merit and I met my personal target of getting 10 more than in my Inter last year. A bit disappointed to only get a 4 for centre as that was a section I was expecting to do well in. I think I was nervous at the beginning of the centre and gradually settled down as I definitely wasn't expecting to do better in allegro at my advanced age. However I was chuffed to get a 7 for musicality and performance. So now I know where to focus on improving for Grade 7 and a target of at least +2 is doable.
  6. The_Red_Shoes
    I have a similar problem - a lack of strength and control in adage type movements when the right leg is the supporting leg and the left is the working leg. I think it's very much related to the "dominant leg" question on another thread with one side being more flexible and the other more strong. I'm concentrating on strengthening the supporting side and on using the torso and spine to control the hips. I can really feel the difference between the two sides. If I stand on my left leg and put my hand on my waist I can feel a wall of super-strong corsetry that just isn't there in the same way on the right hand side. So I'm working on building strength and control in the lats, back and abdominals equally on both sides. I definitely think of it as a problem mainly of the supporting side rather than of the working leg. And I'm trying to work equally on both sides. I realise that if I practice or mark a movement it will automatically be on my "favourite" side and I'm sure that has an effect over time.
  7. The_Red_Shoes
    I started work on the Grade 7 syllabus today - learned all the barre except for the coupé fouetté raccourci. Lovely, lovely, lovely. I'm allowing a full calendar year to work on it (i did Grade 6 in 6 months). I want to build up my stamina and also to be as confident in the Free Movement and Character as in the Classical. I feel that I didn't allow enough time to fully master those sections while preparing for grade 6.
  8. The_Red_Shoes
    Did my Grade 6 exam this afternoon. I didn't embarrass nyself - I don't think I made any outstandingly dreadful mistakes. I was a bit trembly with nerves. The examiner was very nice and she gave me plenty of little rests - just as well as I was doing the exam alone so there were no moments of rest when somebody else was dancing! I think I did the barre and port de bras quite well, in the pirouette exercise the connecting steps could have been neater but turns were fine, adage some slight wobbles but generally ok. I've done the allegros better but don't think they were horrendous. Dance was ok, as were free movement and character. The important thing is that I do think that I managed to perform/project/communicate at least most of the time. Despite having the driest mouth I ever had. When I had a drink of water it didn't seem to wet it at all - positively desiccated.
  9. The_Red_Shoes
    One week to go to my Grade 6 exam! I was feeling quite unready and anxious up to a couple of weeks ago. I had missed a number of weeks before Christmas after I had surgery and was worried that I hadn't been able to put in enough time to replace the missing lessons.However quite suddenly something switched and I felt calm and prepared. in general. Apart from this week deciding that the waistband of my skirt felt uncomfortable and buying a different one that turned out to be a slightly different colour. However, it feels really good on and the specs say that the skirt should be "matching or toning" and although a different shade it does look beautiful with the leotard - so that panic is over. Now I'm going around perpetually humming the first few bars of the Classical dance 6/8 time and mentally chanting "and 1 and 2 an-tic-i-pate". You have to be fast off the starting blocks with that dance! The other evening I was marking through the port de bras in the kitchen while waiting for the kettle to boil (as one does) using my reflection in the window to check my lines when I noticed that a neighbour was standing at his window staring at me, obviously thinking "What on earth is she doing?" Oh well, I have confirmed to the world at large that I'm bonkers, can't be helped.
  10. The_Red_Shoes
    Congratulations and good luck with seeking funding! Sometimes there are very localised foundations that can give bursaries that are well worth hunting for - they may be quite obscure. For instance when one of my daughters went to agricultural college without a grant she had funding from a seventeenth century charity that was set up to "educate a poor boy" from the area (they evidently widened their criteria at some point in history) and if I recall rightly it was not the only only one she applied for. My local parish has a (small) educational grant available too that anyone who lives in the parish can apply for. My other daughter had a local authority grant for vocational school, but that was a long time ago and I doubt that local authorities can find the money nowadays.
  11. The_Red_Shoes
    I have recently reverted to wearing leather ballet shoes rather than stretch canvas for this reason.
  12. The_Red_Shoes
    I find the poshest, best quality tights are the ones that tend to squash my toes and the most comfortable are the cheaper ones as they are softer and stretchier. I usually buy own-brand multi-pack from Move and I make sure that they are a big enough size.
  13. The_Red_Shoes
    I find that if my tights are of the very strongly elasticated kind they squash my toes together and then I can't spread them to give a wider platform for balance.
  14. The_Red_Shoes
    That's really not the case: if you are interested in continuing to take examination classes you most certainly can. There are plenty of adults - including quite a few of us on here - who take graded and vocational graded exams. You don't even need to seek out specific adult classes - regular higher grade and vocational classes will generally include students close to your age not only 12 year olds. The students in my inter class last year were aged 17-21 plus one 40 year old and me (aged 60+). However adult classes do have a different vibe and way of doing things, corresponding to adults' different way of learning. Personally I like to take both free adult classes and a syllabus class - they answer different needs for me. I enjoy both the structure and challenge of an exam curriculum and the breadth and openness (different kind of challenge) of a free class.
  15. The_Red_Shoes
    Funnily enough, I quite often have dreams too in which I perform incredible entrechats (dix or douze!) in which I'm hovering, virtually flying.
  16. The_Red_Shoes
    Congratulations, Ballet Gremlin! Really well done.
  17. The_Red_Shoes
    I would suggest consulting your teacher about weaknesses you may have and appropriate exercises. I really wouldn't go for any non-dance strengthening exercises without checking with your teacher first as ballet often relies on very specific muscles. I use The Dancer's Dozen every day at home (it's a little book of resistance band exercises from Gaynor Minden) and PBT (Progressing Ballet Technique) which is Pilates type exercises to music - there are videos of specific exercises.on their website, suitable for all levels of dancer, if you can't find a PBT class. There are coaching videos as well as ones for actually doing the exercises and complete sequences of exercises for all levels.
  18. The_Red_Shoes
    I think this is a really interesting and thought-provoking discussion. I'm just kind of musing here rather than coming up with answers. I think a response should ideally be natural and sincere, but that isn't always going to happen of itself and that's where acting comes in. I'm thinking now about the difference between "acting" - which you might do in a more dramatic or narrative piece - and an expression which might be purely abstract and based upon the feelings that the music and/or movements provoke in yourself (which would be personal and quite possible uniquely individual). Personally I never look to find a "story" where there isn't already one but rather try to identify the mood, style and character of the music or choreography. When dancing a piece that has been choregraphed by someone else for a performance, what you need to express must be based on the choreographer's intentions although of course you can develop and make it your own. But where you are creating the dance yourself or when nobody has defined how it should be then the expression is entirely personal - listen to the music and consider any feelings that arise (I don't think they need to be huge deep emotions or even clearly defined). I might listen very carefully to the music noticing dynamics as well as melody (and if there are lyrics, read them and think about them) and note down some key words that come into my head, not just emotions like "joyful" "serene" but descriptive words like "witty", "cheeky", "smooth", "sparkly" or "spikey" because quality of movement is part of expressiveness and of the way you communicate emotion (ie not only through facial expression). Of course all your emotional expression is undone if what comes over is your genuine emotions of "intent concentration" "anxiety" or "panic". I also think that if you can't come up with any genuine personal response then it's really difficult to actually enjoy that piece and you end up always rather disliking that dance!
  19. The_Red_Shoes
    I'd suggest listening to lots of appropriate music and tapping a foot or finger while counting (usually to 8 but sometimes 6). As Coleman said above, most ballet curriculum music is obvious, though usually gets less so at more advanced levels (sometimes deliberately diabolically tricky!). I've noticed that different people may also perceive the counts differently. Of course a teacher , choreographer or set exam exercise will give you the counts in a particular way and then you need to listen and relisten to the music until you can "hear" it in the way it has been set. The counts may also be a useful shorthand for talking about the steps (eg "make sure you pass though bras bas on count 7") in the same that a musician might talk about what happens in Bar 12. However some people feel that counting encourages a very mechanical response to the music and there is a move within the RAD at least to move towards different ways of finding your way through the music. Counting is not the best way to be aware of and express the phrasing the music, which is not nesessarily the same thing as neat sets of 8 counts, and your way of thinking about it may well be a better way of finding an expressive response than counting. I personally only count when it's tricky or complicated and even then usually only while first learning a piece.
  20. The_Red_Shoes
    Huge congratulations, Viv! What an amazing result. You should be extremely proud of yourself.
  21. The_Red_Shoes
    Best of luck BG! I think there must be an optimum season for taking exams - maybe late spring and early autumn. Keep your warmups on as long as possible and make sure you are fully warmed up before you go in. I'm sure staying warm won't be too much of a problem once you start dancing.
  22. The_Red_Shoes
    Many years ago we only had full sole soft ballet shoes with a fairly stiff leather sole. This was before the days of the more flexible chrome leather soles which I think appeared around the late 70s and initially the RAD didn't allow. The sole had some depth to it and finished underneath the heel in the same way that the sole on the pointe shoe does - so it needed working hard in order to point the foot, was uncomfortable if your weight was dropped too far back and there was a slight feel of being slightly raised off the level of the ground. So working for years in those shoes was much more similar to working in pointe shoes than modern split sole or even a modern full sole soft shoe. Demi-pointe shoes didn't exist and once we had a supply of used pointe shoes that's what we used to wear all the time in class. The old exam regs for RAD used to require the wearing of soft pointe shoes. Eventually the shoe makers found a market for a shoe that prepared the dancer for working in the stiffer pointe shoe. However the exam specifications don't say that the student must wear "demi-pointe shoes" - it still specifies "soft pointe shoes", so I assume students could still wear old pointe shoes.
  23. The_Red_Shoes
    All RAD exams can be repeated as many times as you like. I have come across several people who have repeated an exam that they have already passed once. There are some videos on Youtube of an adult student who seems to have retaken Grade 8 a number of times, choosing different options each time. Doing the DR variation units twice over once on demi and once on pointe seems to me to be a reasonable idea, allowing for a lot of personal development. I'm hoping to do DR Level 2 next, after my Grade 6 exam. I would do all the units on demi but I have been thinking that the Coppelia unit on pointe would not be beyond me and I'd like to do that later on (ie not in the same exam session).
  24. The_Red_Shoes
    I have RAD Grade 6 coming up in March (if the dates are like last year it could be the very beginning of March). However this depends on my making a speedy recovery from the eye surgery I'm having this coming week. I'm hoping to do better than in my last exam (RAD Inter) which I passed back in June. Partly because I trust I've improved with further work, partly because that was my first exam experience in nearly half a century, partly because I'll be taking it alone in my home studio rather than in the Manchester RAV with a batch of unknown teenagers and most of all because of the greater emphasis on performance in the higher grades. I'm setting myself a target of at least 1 mark higher in every section.
  25. The_Red_Shoes
    That's a good idea, the mental splitting up of the exercise. Actually I have a kind of love-hate relationship with it. When it goes well it's absolutely exhilarating, and I do think it's beneficial for technical development since it throws in absolutely everything required in the turning department at that level.
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