FlowerPower

*Excited* I just received a newsletter update that Ballet Black are airing some of their performances online - each one will be available for seven days then the new one will be posted. They're also airing Beginner Adult Ballet Classes on their instagram page @originalballetblack, starting Sunday 26th April, 12pm. Website: https://balletblack.co.uk/bb-on-film/ For anyone interested, the Programme: - Now to 25th April: House of Dreams (2017) House of Dreams is a sparkling quartet exploring themes of love and loss set to the delicate music of Claude Debussy with costume designs from Ballet Black’s long-term collaborator, Yukiko Tsukamoto. - 26th April to 2nd May: Captured (2012) A four-hander by Martin Lawrance characterised by intricate detail and propulsive energy; Captured ebbs and flows to the fiery emotion of Lawrance’s edgy choreography, set to a Shostakovich string quartet. - 3rd May to 10th May: Ingoma (2019) Ingoma (song) is by company dancer and choreographer Mthuthuzeli November, who has received nominations from the Critics’ Circle National Dance Awards (Best Emerging Artist) and the Olivier Awards (Best New Dance Production). Ingoma is a fusion of ballet, African dance and singing. Ingoma portrays a milestone in South African history and imagines the struggles of black South African miners and their families in 1946 – when 60,000 of them took courageous strike action, and is inspired by Song of the Pick, a painting by South African artist, Gerard Sekoto (1913-1993), and the poem, Blue Head (2018) written specially for this ballet by Asisipho Ndlovu Malunga.

C-19 is structurally part of the same group as SARS, which has been around for a while and no vaccine has been found yet. If they find one now, that'll be highly impressive. As you said, resurfacing may occur. And potentially in a slightly different form that may negate the vaccine which isn't ideal! In the meantime, the best we can hope for is for long enough self-isolation to "dry it out".

Ah no, how are they feeling now?

I'm late coming back to this! London has mostly been okay travel wise - barring buses acting to their own timetable and having to shout at people to a) not help me, b) [please] get out of the way. The first being that my balance is pretty good (with the walking sticks at least) and being grabbed or something taken from my hands without warning is so unhelpful, rude, and would throw me right off. Not sure why people can't ask first (unless the person is actually falling to the ground)? Update - two weeks ago, my brain auto-threw a crutch aside and I managed to hobble alright without it. Then last week, the other! Both following weight bearing PT sessions. And today, I took a very careful stroll (around the house) without the knee brace. While I haven't shrugged off the crutches or brace for safety as I can't navigate variable grounds yet and I have strict surgeon's orders, what a relief to feel like things are plodding along alright! I'm excited that my exercises include standing leg exercises like calf raises and even the tiny little baby squats (which feel ridiculous) and I can just about do tendus though they can't brush the floor and the leg isn't quite perfectly straight yet. I was able to balance long enough on the injured leg to do a couple of tendus with the good leg and it felt soooo good. Ridiculous. 😂😂

Absolutely - I did like barre work so will definitely ask about it. I'll eventually be able to get back into impact stuff but only on the say-so of the physio. It'll drive me nuts, not being able to spin or jump on the leg but will look forward to it when I can. 😄😄

Ooh no, that's a crazy injury. I hope you're feeling better! I've heard of others developing frozen shoulder from crutches so I wouldn't be surprised. I'm not sure if it's too late, but can you engage your scapulas and core at the same time as you are using your crutches? I was lucky, at the hospital after the injury nurses spotted me struggling with crutches and found me the correctly sized ones and showed me how to use them which I think has helped stave off shoulder issues for the most part (though I did wake up in pain a good few times!). I totally appreciate feeling frustrated about not being able to get around - have you been able to get back into using public transport (if it's there!)? How do you feel, back in the pool? I was swimming regularly too pre-injury and I'm mildly scared about going back in. I'll need to harass my friends to take me I think when I'm cleared to go. To answer your other post and glowlight's, I do have access to physios who I am listening to as religiously as I can. They have you on exercises within three to six days of the surgery and ideally six weeks pre-surgery. So I've been exercising the last month plus seeing a sports ACL specialist once a week to get a more rounded treatment. The NHS knee class is actually really good but there's only so much they can do! With pilates, I've tried it before but due to spinal fusion (joy, more limitations 😅) I don't get on well with it so I do actually need one-on-one or small group sessions and will definitely consider it and yoga (which I quite like).

Will do - I'm already doing sort-of squats. I might have to have an assessment by the dance studio's physio beforehand but I'll look forward to it!

Am here for a bit of a moan, truthfully. Please feel free to share yours too if you'd like. I've had the unfortunate circumstance of getting myself into an accident, taking a really bad high-powered landing (from my main sport) and completely busting one of my ACL's in the knee and wonderfully mangling the meniscus right before (adult) beginner classes started again at the beginning of the year. Due to the seriousness of my particular injury (others can wait a year and be fine) I had to have surgery incredibly quickly (within the month) which will extend recovery in addition to the limitations surrounding the actual injury itself. 😟 It's a bummer, I was really getting into my classes (started October last year) and super excited to show my progress as I had been practising at home and finally understood how a pirouette worked. My physios and consultants have said that dance and impact sports are the last things that you can really go back to following this sort of injury but I'll ask whether I can do simple barre work when I'm strong enough. It's a bit heartbreaking when you're not allowed to do the activities you enjoy the most. Even things like reading are harder following injury and post-surgery as you're experiencing either fatigue, pain, or both so you have little concentration power. Friends and family however have been absolute legends, hanging out, checking-up, driving me to hospital, and making me meals in Tupperware. My hamstrings are still weak and hurt a lot when used as part of them was sacrificed in the name of future balance, control, and proprioception and the quads atrophied (typical of the injury) quite a bit. But I am on the mend and I'm finally walking (with the crutches). Onwards!

It's quite sad that fitness/athleticism isn't the preference - wouldn't it make for better dancers? 😕

Hello! I'm new to this ballet business too - although I did 'train' as a young child, it was a good couple of decades ago and I remember about five instances of the whole experience. So I was effectively an almost complete beginner when I started about 3ish months ago. Let me describe my first "beginners class" session - the class started a bit late so we jumped straight into the fastest demonstration of tendus imaginable, the teacher explained posture as we were doing them, set moves known to experienced class members were done so I had no idea what was going on, centre work was a blur and half the time I couldn't see anything. I was also pooped physically/mentally by mid-session. If that's a recipe for not wanting to return, I don't know what is! 😧 However, I'm a stickler for 'if you really want it, try the brand new thing for at least 3 months before moving on'. Of course if there are more pressing things to do then that is understandable. The next session was much better: we warmed up nice and slowly, focused on posture and went through all the movements slowly on both sides before the music. I place myself near to people who I know are usually good at following the class so if I get lost I can figure out what I should be doing if the teacher is too far. If you don't know who these people are, ask the teacher to place you. I also started going to class three times a week - two with the first teacher and one with another. They have slightly different styles of teaching and their temp replacements were totally different too. I'd recommend to go for drop-in/taster sessions to try different teachers and figure out your learning style. You'll then be able to approach them for a private session if you want. I'm easily the first teacher's least technical and capable student (not an exaggeration - many students are from other dance and performance backgrounds or are more advanced). I've mentally/emotionally found it very hard to deal with being consistently not very good, particularly at keeping up in the centre as I struggle with recalling the sequences. Even with repeated exposure. I also felt super silly when doing the movement across the floor for a while. However, we're not the only ones who can't keep up - please don't worry that you can't. As a student had said to me 'just try to do something like the basic steps or move with the group, the rest will come later'. To keep going back, I've been counting each little victory and I fully recommend that to everyone. So far, my posture and technique have definitely improved, my turnout too. I understand hand movements to the point that it's a bit more instinctive (I still forget and hold my hand weirdly when totally focused on the feet!) and I can reach the second section of movements in the centre before completely zoning out (hurrah - I had posted a desperate 'I understand nothing' post a couple of months back about this). I've reached the point where I can now practice at home. The point of the spiel about my recent experiences is that if you really want to give it a shot, try different teachers, go at least twice a week (if you're financially able) or do a set absolute beginners course, and keep going back for at least a few months to get a feel for it before throwing it in. Good luck! 😀

Possibly a combination of a lot of work (as going to class almost straight after), decreased fitness, and my current diet/exercise. I had put on several kilos from a couple of injuries at the beginning of the year and now being able to mostly exercise properly (swimming, outdoors, jumping around being silly etc) I can maintain a healthier diet - although it is currently aimed towards shifting the unnecessary weight which probably isn't helping the energy levels! I'll try out the banana before class. Have bought these - probably overkill to buy two, but my second-hand book has cool notes in them!

Thank you guys for your reassurances and sharing of personal experience! It is super appreciated and a relief that I'm not a lost cause (well.. may yet be 😂🤷‍♀️). I think being surrounded mostly by people who know the movements or figure them out quickly has made me assume that I need to have figured them out or be able to keep up with the sequences too. Amusingly, I should know better as I take part in outdoor sports that require fairly decent levels of coordination and problem solving for even moderate difficulty and find myself reassuring beginners in the same ways that you guys kindly have with me!

Ouu thank you The_Red_Shoes - I'll look these up too!

'Morning, thank you for the replies and the welcome! Yes, I'm not in an absolute beginner's class but they are accepted - the range of students range from absolute beginner to persons wanting a general beginner session. The absolute beginners class schedule doesn't work well due to work and other commitments and I cannot take a specific set course for the same reason. I think the teacher will be okay with me keeping my arms in a set place for a bit or to simplify it - he's already specified it's okay not to follow all the arm movements while in the centre of the room away from the barre. We do work on the same sequences for most of the session and I usually opt for the simplified sequence where possible - I'll try to make it for two sessions in a week when I can to help with understanding/remembering the moves. The_Red_Shoes - I'll see if I can find the 'Classical Ballet Technique by Gretchen Ward Warren' to buy!

Hello, Adult beginner here! I'm not an absolute beginner as I danced as a small child, but it's been so long (maybe 20 years?) I hardly think it counts.. 😂. Feel free to skip to the next bold line if you're too tired for a backstory! Anyway, I'm four lessons in and still struggling to keep up with the sequence of movements - it's a bit overwhelming if I'm honest. I struggle to recall any lengthy sequences or if I'm at the end of the session (although the end of the session fog is improving). In the end, I basically look for another person in the group who looks the most put together in my eye line and copy them but this isn't that helpful as my brain isn't then absorbing the information to recall later. I think I struggle in part because my brain is split between getting the correct movement with the feet and moving the arms into the right position. I can only really concentrate on doing one of these at a time and as soon as I lose my concentration, I end up having to catch up my feet as I've lost my timing, the brain gets fatigued, and I become a bit of a disaster. 🤨 At least I think I made the teacher laugh today (they did that suppressed 'I can't laugh in their face' laugh) as they turned around in time to witness the above for the umpteenth time since I joined. 🤷‍♀️ Now for question(s): I super want to learn but I think I need to understand how the position of the hands relate to where the feet are. Is there a set pattern, i.e. when the leg moves to the side, the arm will also always go to the side etc? Are the arm movements different for moves such as plies vs tendus even if they go in the same direction? Or is it a counter-balance thing? Or does the teacher set all of this? Does anyone have any links/books/videos etc that can help explain or practice this? Ouf, my head hurts again going through that. 😅 Any advice/pointers will be hugely appreciated.