Michelle_Richer

Hi Esme

 

Thank you for that, that's really interesting, I have never come across dry needle work, reading up on it , it looks as if it may have merit and worth checking out. I'm with one of my Physio’s tomorrow, I will certainly ask him about it, he is a senior physio working between a number of clinics.

 

As for the ShockWave, he doesn't do that nor do my other two guys, I also mentioned it to my Chiropractor and I know she doesn't either.

 

However I do have a shock wave impact massager device which I haven't used yet, but once my holidays are out of the way, I can take on a more elevated risk running up to the Christmas break.

If all else fails I can call on Liz Atha, senior physio within the Northern Ballet Building in Leeds for her advice.

Gosh what a term once group classes restarted, Initially I started to suffer from the effects of overuse that plagues me some years ago. I added in stretch after every class but that took about 3 weeks before I really noticed the benefits.

 

One of the things that has emerged out of the stretching, after each rep session which is quite full on, not only do we do a conventional stretch session for about 10mins but we have also added partner PNF stretching, something I experienced from Sander Blommaerts stretch class that followed our rehearsals at BBT.

 

The rep this year has come together nicely, in fact we added in an extra as a stretch objective of Gulnara’s solo from Pas de Esclave and we are pretty well up to date with it with one week to go. Our solo is loosely based on a combination of ENB, Bolshoi and Mariinsky, however in order to stretch it further mainly as a result of a restriction of the studios diagonal from upstage left corner to down-stage right corner. I have decided to restrict the travel by utilizing ENB’s spectacular travelling turns ending.

Normally we would be showcasing our work in Scotland during August, but that isn't possible this year, however we are planning to wrap this years rep and next years for showcasing together next year, so we will need to keep this years rep fresh during next year too.

 

The increased time to showcase our work has also led to another stretch objective, a few years ago I performed the Odalisque PDT as a long solo, it really did take a lot of stamina and I was so worried I would run out of steam before the end or at least I would not be able to do the final curtsy properly, so consequently in the performance I held back and didn’t really do it justice. This time round, not only do I want to dance it full on, but also the three solo in succession with no more than being escorted by Lankendem (My Adrian) to the up-stage left corner to commence the next solo.

 

The motive behind this is really to check my stamina level after the lock-down, as I feel generally when I'm out shopping I’ve lost a lot, but strangely it doesn't appear to be holding me back with ballet or fitness classes.

 

Sunday I said goodbye to my Cecchetti advanced 2 teacher at her retirement party, about 4 weeks ago she broke the news she was retiring, however she has arranged another school to take over her younger students. That school teaches to the ITDA syllabi and I think its unlikely anyone will contact me, although I left my availability with my old teacher.

In any case I'm quite happy to continue through the new Cecchetti Syllabus on my own, as quite often my old teacher would select the pieces for me to study on my own then present them to her the following week and then we would go through them together.

 

Pointe work for me seams to have plateaued, whilst I'm still gaining strength, its mobility of my ankle which is letting me down, particularly the Tibia -Talus joint. We have increased the intensity of the PNF stretching of the ankle with my Physio’s, which started off quite light, through the barriers of discomfort to the last session which was intense pain virtually to the maximum limit that I could tolerate, before saying no more.

A few week ago I also approached a Chiropractor, the initial meeting was a full body check even though I had documented the ankle mobility issue, she admitted ballet dancers feet wasn't something she was familiar with, she promised to look into it for me from some form of injury / therapy data base. A detailed report with a lot of recommended exercised followed as promised. The exercises were far to gentle to have any real merit, so I rewrote the exercise plan, but it did give me a chance to start to think about things a little more deeply and utilize some of the things from class but in a far more intense way. Essentially warm up the feet with the resistance band, at least 150 reps per foot, then forced prances with a heavy push on the front edge of the pointe shoe using imagery to sense the stretch of the ankle particularly the Tibia – Talus joint, the music track I used gives 48 prances, I run through it twice.

The other I use is coming up from a pie onto pointe before rising up with the legs, however I only use the into of the music to get onto pointe, then its 4 counts up and 4 counts down whilst focusing on pushing the ankles out under tension all the way up and all the way down. I'm not sure how many reps are involved but the music I use is a piano version of the Dream Scene from Don Q, its quite long and I take it twice through, its quite tiring. I haven't been using this for long, it it does feel as if it has merit, also my feet fit into a foot stretcher more easily than it did before.

I guess now I have just about completed my first year of beginner pointe work.

 

So any words of wisdom to increase ankle mobility would be gratefully appreciated.

 

One bit of welcome news on my hair dressing saga, went on my weekly appointment on Wednesday, this time it was for wash-n-blowdry and re-bun my hair, whoopee no increase in price, still £18.00 and still below their regular price.

 

This was always done prior for rehearsal, sadly these days I have to make do with my on-line Cecchetti one-to-one class later that evening which after the Easter break was quite challenging this week with the amount my teacher packed into it.

 

Although not strictly rehearsal, Thursdays I now have my one-to-one rep coaching in studio, so my hair is still in good shape for that one too.

Another good run through this week, however I do need to modify the rep slightly as we cannot accommodate the space needed to get in 3 grand jete / arabesque combinations in the studio we have mainly due to its shape of the upstage R corner to the downstage L corner which is restricted. Although the opposite diagonal if fine for the particularly lone sequence of travelling turns which I thought we may have a problem with. Even so we have to keep the turns very tight so they don’t travel very much, at least we can accommodated them.

Due to the space restrictions for the Grand jete combination, we are now replacing the first with an introduction port de bras, although me and my coach through some ideas together, the actual port de bras is still work-in-progress for next week.

Next week we also need to add in the previous weeks rep giving us three and a half minutes of mainly grand allegro, that I will need to build my stamina for and my teacher too.

Who said Ballet was easy, not me.

Hi Laetitia

 

I love the idea you have of running a piece of rep over multiple weeks, as you say about a month. If you only intend to run your on-line sessions up to the summer, I’m assuming the beginning of the summer break at the end of July which would give you between 3 and 4 pieces of rep.

 

As for not having to commit every week, in order for those that either missed a week or started halfway through a piece of rep, would they be able to have a recording of the zoom class(s) missed of that piece of rep to allow them to catch up.

 

I like the idea of Starting with Swan Lake and focusing on “Swan arms”, however to carry that forward into a piece of rep with space only sufficient as you say “As long as you have enough space to extend your arms and legs all around, this will be sufficient space” , seams very challenging.

 

I've tended to stay away from on-line tuition for rep, even though I have 30 sq metres of harlequin sprung floor space with the floor marked for camera coverage. For me its just about sufficient with care to cover my Cecchetti Advanced 2 Syllabus centre work, rep for me does need more.

 

I cant help wondering what rep within Swan Lake can be adapted down sufficiently to meet your criteria, the only piece I can think of is possibly Odette’s solo’s from Act 2, as I cant see the usual popular pieces for adult ballet rep like “Entrance of the swans, “Waltz of the Swans” and “Dance of the Cygnets” could be sufficiently restricted in movement to contain them. I guess the length of the music of the opening of Act 4 would be far too long to contemplating using that one anyway.

I guess you are a gifted choreographer to squeeze the movements into tiny spaces, I would dearly love to see it.

 

Sadly Thursdays at 10am I’m committed on working on my own rep in-studio with my own coach, ready for presentation in August each year.

 

Never the less I love the sound of your offering and I'm so so curious as to how it can be squeezed.

 

PS can I ask a favor with Swan Lake, if possible, can you include the mime scene from Act 2 just after the Entrance of Odette, as so many ballet companies have dropped it, and I for one would certainly love to keep it alive as an essential part of that ballet, and also the art of expression in using mime before its lost forever.

 

Many thanks and good luck x

I went back through my on-line banking to find the comparable cost just before the first lock-down, it was £55.00, after first lock-down £79.00, now after last lock-down £91.00, its almost doubled in not much more than a year, hence my ouch!

 

Do I begrudge it, no. As it was it did give me a lift for my in-studio rep session in Lincoln. I went through the rep on Tuesday as I thought my Cecchetti class resumed Wednesday this week, but luckily I was wrong, its next week. To be fair, I over did my Tuesday rep practice as I thought I still knew it, and had to relearn quite a lot, the other issue is, it requires a lot of stamina which I know I had lost over the year lock-downs. At the end of Tuesday after spending several hours going through the rep, I was so so stiff and though I would really be in trouble when I came to dance it in Lincoln on Thursday.

 

Surprise surprise, it went incredibly well, both me and my coach danced through the first two thirds several times, as we both had minor issues with connecting steps and orientation between sections of a PDT which I has re-choreographed into one long solo. In fact I even had time to walk through the last third with my coach for next week, needless to say that became her homework for familiarity. We both parted with a real feeling that things had gone really well, for me in particular that I hadn't tired at all which I was dreading.

I don’t know if the weather had an effect but the drive to and from Lincoln in the sunshine was incredibly nice and really gave me a buzz.

At least for the time being I can say we are on schedule as I have allowed 4 weeks for this piece, mainly because of the stamina required to dance it full on with three and a half minute of mainly grand allegro.

I’ve also allocated 2 weeks for each for the 4 solos,  but expect to continue to refresh the main piece during this time too. There are three weeks at the end to dance and polish everything for showcasing in Scotland in August.

 

Hair, weather and dance, all was well, what more could I ask, Thursday was a good day.

Hi Laetitia

Welcome to the forum.

I wonder if you can share what pieces of repertoire you have in mind or at least inspired you choices.

 

I see your classes start at 10am Thursdays, what is the duration of the class eg an hour. How many sessions are you planning on each piece of rep.

 

If each piece of rep is multiple sessions, do you intend to record the Speaker View from Zoom for participants to use as reference and practice from for the following week.

 

As the rep is basically centre work which requires a good deal of space, how big a floor space do dancers need at home in order to dance the rep you are teaching.

 

How long a period do you see yourself offering on-line repertoire classes eg until the end of the year etc., as I guess normal in-studio class sizes will be restored, hopefully.

Ouch, the cost of my hairdressing has risen again, before this last lock-down for colour, cut, blow dry and redo my bun was £79, today it cost £91. At least it looks nice for my in-studio session tomorrow.

What a week this week ,Whoopee!.

 

Yesterday I attended my first group class, Pilates outside. Fortunately we were in the sunshine although it was quite cool at 12 deg C and fell to 9 deg C towards the end with a cold wind. I guess the high light at the end was our relaxation session, which was filled with bird song from real birds, it was absolutely gorgeous.

 

Tomorrow is my long awaited visit to my hair dresser for my hair colouring.

 

Thursday for my first in-studio one-to-one session on my own rep, I will start to feel like a dancer again

 

This should keep me going until the 17May when things become a little more normalized with group classes inside.

Personal training sessions can take place inside a gym or leisure facility on a 1:1 basis, or with one household, as of today 12 April.

 

Follow The Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity (CIMSPA) link  https://bit.ly/3sINBm6

 

An update on the ColourStart saga

 

This is an extract of an email I received from my salon after I had registered directly with colour start, this was a general email issued to all there clients.

 

A few queries have come in because quite frankly it's alot for people to get their heads around and even being in the industry we have struggled at times.

But the long and short of it is... •every hair and beauty professional must allergy test for your safety and for insurance purposes

 

•by using colourstart you are free to change, adjust or tweak your colour without further testing

•this means we can all just carry on as we were before covid (and that is something we are all striving for)

 

So what's next? •By using the invite button below you can sign up for an account with Colourstart.

•Answer the 6 questions and share with the Salon or your stylist by typing in the search box.

•You will then receive a link from your stylist/salon to pay for your test.

•Once payment is complete we will send the test in the post.

•Log back into your account for instructions when applying the patch, you need the batch number on the packet.

•After 2 days you'll receive a reminder to remove it.

•After another 3 days you'll receive a reminder link to share your results.

 

Colourstart will keep a record of all of this for us so that we know you are ready to have your colour. Hooray!

 

 

 

My first response was shock horror as I had only two weeks to the day for my next colour appointment and with waiting to get a link from my salon/ stylist to pay for the test, and the time in the post to receive the test kit, it looked quite possible I could miss my first appointment, and I'm a stickler for planning and maintaining a schedule.

 

Fortunately my stylist is a close personal friend, so I contacted her directly, bless her, she sent me the payment link strait away, I paid and text her back to confirm and she delivered it to my home that evening (Wednesday), the patch kit had instructions with it, so I fitted it at 10pm that evening.

 

Needless to say I didn’t register fitting the patch with ColourStart until the following day.

My next problem was finding out where to log in as an existing Colourstart customer and required a bit of faffing about. I had to go in via the New Customer route, ignore the new customer fields and navigate to the bottom of the page to find the Log in illustrated in a small blue font Grrr.

This did not allow me to enter date and time, but just took the current date where I had already been wearing the patch for around 12 hours. Furthermore the site also took a photo of the patch on my arm, at least I did have a little bit of control, as I was using the main PC within my studio and it brought up the wrong camera, so I could easily select the right one. It must have had some checking behind it, as it said the picture was ok before I pressed the button to take the photo, I was then asked to upload it from within the site. It then set a counter to going for its removal.

 

48hours later I received a removal email, I was half expecting another photo to be taken, but not this time, however it did ask that once the patch is removed to check the area again 20minutes after removal, needless to say no reaction to the patch. Then things get a little bit confusing as different parts of the site suggests I will get another email in 3 day’s and other places in 2 days.

Today the email came 48 hours after patch removal and another request for a photo of the area, when it had taken it, the response was a bit in-determinant as it followed it with a yes / no as to if I had uncured a reaction, redness or a rash. I wondered if it had detected some of the freckles on my upper arm, I simply pressed the no button and it said I was free to have my hair coloured. It then ask me to share the results with the salon / Stylist, I shared it with the salon so anyone there can do it should my stylist be away. Unfortunately the site didn’t seam to have a proper exit route and left one wondering if the operation had been fully completed.

 

All the issues I have found with the ColourStart site have been fed back to my salon as I know the stylists have had issues navigating it too.

13 hours ago, Anna C said:

Do you have a Tangle Teezer brush, Michelle?  My hair is wavy and knots itself up constantly, but as well as detangling spray, I have one of these and it makes brushing wet hair an absolute breeze:  https://www.boots.com/tangle-teezer-millennial-pink-wet-detangler-hairbrush-10248119

I do have a detangler brush from boots, I bought it some time ago and there was a huge choice, I will certainly pop into my local boots and give your one a whirl, thank you for that Anna C. 

12 hours ago, Anna C said:

 

My goodness, Michelle, you’ll have to teach yourself how to do a ballet bun, then they’ll only have to charge you for the colour!

The bun itself isn't really the issue, its the time it takes when I do my hair myself. Hair during lock-down has consisted of shampooing and conditioning my hair whilst in the shower, toweling it dry. Popping on my dressing gown, then sitting in front of the fire in our lounge, then I would start untangling the front of my hair, whist Adrian would untangle the whist coming through, that in itself is rather uncomfortable even though we do use a spay on detangler. But that said when its fully untangled, I really do like Adrian to comb my damp hair down my back, that feeling is really super gorgeous and I could let him do it for hours, but sadly his arm aches after a few minutes, so its then finished off with the hair dryer. I usually then re-bun it, or no later than first thing the following morning. I must say I prefer a bun, but only occasionally do I do it differently for the odd special occasion.

 

In any case my hairdresser seams to glide through my hair with next to no tangles, and it always looks really nice when she’s finished and holds well for days and of course it take her a lot less time that it would take me.

For me that's a more efficient use of my time and fits into my weekly ballet and fitness schedule well. I guess at the end of the day, for me, its about time management, just as if I was still at work.

Although my hairdresser is self employed, she works as part of a collective that uses the same salon, I guess they hire the chair. I've known my hairdresser now for around 15 years, since she first started as an apprentice and was only allowed to wash hair, how time flies.  Now she is a real expert with ballet buns, there is a couple of other hair stylist I get sometimes if she is on holiday, the bun isn't half as nice and soon falls out.

 

As I understand it, this requirement came from the insurers, although you don’t actually need to have the ColourStart passport, each and every time you have your hair coloured a patch test MUST be done. To be fair I cant remember when my last patch test was done although my hair dye has remained the same over many years, as I have it coloured once a month and go to the hairdresser once a week. This would normally be done first thing in the morning on my day of my rehearsal.

 

I'm waiting on the patch test kit to arrive in the post to get it done, as not only have I an appointment in the first week the hairdressers are back, I've ask my hairdresser if she can start half an hour earlier than normal, thankfully she has obliged as my busy Wednesday schedule would have become compromised and I would have had to drop a class I really don’t want to loose.

 

I know how you feel Jan about the cost of hair-styling, the costs have risen significantly from before Lock-down 1, I don’t think I will get much change out of £100 for my next visit to the hairdressers.

It looks like some form of normality is to be restored.

 

I'm starting back with a Pilates small group class outside on April the 12^th, not sure how we will get on if it rains.

 

I'm starting back to in studio rep coaching on April the 15^th, that is very welcome.

 

Above all else, thank goodness hairdressers return on the 12^th of April, but that not strait forward for those that have their hair coloured. For that I need a ColourStart passport. Apparently there is some issue with hairdressers insurance companies assessing risk against hair dyes reacting with Corona virus vaccine. The options are firstly, you have a clear patch test 48hours before having your hair coloured, that is a test, each and every time, not only is it inconvenient, it also costs an additional £8. The alternative is for the hairdresser to be registered with ColourStart, to give you an invitation link to the ColourStart site, where customers register, in that they are screened by six relatively strait forward questions, if all the responses are ok, notification is sent to your hairdresser to issue a Patch Test Kit for you to do at home, if its clear I think the hairdresser notifies ColourStart and your Passport is issued at a cost of £15. So you don’t need to go through this process every time one needs their hair colouring, furthermore you may authorize its use between selected ColourStart registered Hairdresser or all that are registered with them. The Hairdressers that you have authorized, have full access to a clients registration details (responses to the 6 questions). I've done the initial registration bit, and now awaiting my Patch test kit from my Hairdresser, as I have an appointment booked for the 14^th.

 

 

Cecchetti ballet is now starting to get harder for two main reasons, the more I do the more I have to remember and refresh every week, although I cant do it all, I have to make sure non of it ever gets stale. The other with it being a new syllabus, me and my teacher were learning it together, that was really nice, especially when she used to say, learn the next two pieces, that neither of us had done and then go through it with her the following week.

Unfortunately she now has developed a balance problem with vertigo and isn't able to dance, so now she only observers, however its a bit more challenging than that, as the music she is using for our classes comes directly from the videos from the latest Syllabus DVD, she is watching the DVD and me at the same time, so you can imagine I’m not short of corrections, some are ones we have both missed in the past, but I guess that why she is there. Next Wednesday is my last class before Easter and two weeks away from Cecchetti and let my brain recover.

 

As I'm getting a break from all my classes, I need to use the time to concentrate on my pointe issue of getting on top of the box, particularly in second. At least I've got a little time when I can afford to take on some additional risk in conditioning my feet, as this isn't going to be easy.

 

I was surprised to see that such a thread didn’t exist so I have opened this one to allow the different interpretation of the rules as they evolve.

 

I personally already have an issue that require clarification associated with Step 2 (not before 12 April) of the Governments roadmap

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-response-spring-2021/covid-19-response-spring-2021-summary

 

Which states “Indoor leisure facilities such as gyms will also reopen (but only for use by people on their own or in household groups)”

My perspective on this is, does a person on their own receiving rehearsal coaching qualify under the definition of “ for use by people on their own”

 

I have enquiry's running with both the The Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity and EMD UK both are waiting clarification from the DCMS

 

Ive checked out RAD at :

https://www.royalacademyofdance.org/coronavirus-guidance/restrictions-in-the-uk/

What the Roadmap Means for Dance

Following the Prime Ministers announcement of the Government’s four-step roadmap for cautiously easing lockdown restrictions in England, we advise RAD teachers and students to plan on the following basis:

Step 1 – 8 March onwards: RAD Faculty of Education students will be provided with information directly from the Faculty of Education staff.

Step 2 – no earlier than 12 April: a return to in-person dance classes for children and young people, under the age of 18. And video-assessments (exams) can begin again for under 18s only.

Step 3 – no earlier than 17 May: a return to in-person examinations for all age groups. And a return to in-person dance classes for Adults (over 18s)

Note: in-person indoor activities may only resume in Covid-safe premises.

 

I've also checked out the ISTD at :

https://www.istd.org/discover/news/2021/february/latest-coronavirus-announcement/

 

Step 2: At least 5 weeks after Step 1, no earlier than 12 April.

Indoor leisure open for use individually or within household groups

Rule of 6 / two households outside, no indoor mixing

Outside attractions,

All children’s activities indoor parent and child groups

Minimise travel

 

Step 3: At least 5 weeks after Step 2, no earlier than 17 May

Indoor entertainment and attractions

30 person limit outdoors

Rule of 6 or two households indoors (subject to review)

Organised indoor adult sport

Some large events

 

Step 4: At least 5 weeks after Step 3, no earlier than 21 June.

No limits on social contacts,

Larger events

 

Do please add information and links as it becomes available.

11 hours ago, sunrise81 said:

Is that book really worth that much!? We have a copy of it at home....found in a charity shop for my daughter!!!

I've checked the price of the book on several site and they are similar, for me its not worth it, of the pages I can see, it shows the illustration of the poses but not its precise usage. I would much prefer a video dictionary of ballet mime.

I finally got a reply from Julie Cronshaw last week, apparently my email ended up in her spam folder.

 

To be fair we exchanged several emails not only about her streaming collection of 150 video on the Cecchetti Method mostly on the exercises allocated to each day of the week, but also including Barre.

We spoke about the collection I have spanning Advanced 1, Advanced 2 (Australian), Advanced 2 2020 release, Diploma 2019, and of course the changes in the recent Advanced 2 syllabus, I know Julie is not in favour of the new tweaks or the newly added over complicated additional exercises, I guess I am as it tend to be a bit less formal and quite dancey.

 

I haven't checked if Julie has published the finished video collection list yet, but she did attach a rough version of the list for me.

 

Much of our conversation was on Ballet Mime, as I had seen one of her youtube clip that featured elements of ballet mime, and I was interested as to if that was included in the video collection, which is not specifically but it is touched on with various named poses in a set book called the Manual which forms part of the syllabus.

 

However Julie has another website called TheCecchettiConnection.com its quite a useful list of resources in that, she references a book called "Mime in Ballet" by Beryl Morina unfortunately it didn’t have an ISBN number which I found later  ISBN: 9780953935802 . What I didn’t realize was just how expensive that book was (Amazon new £1290.00 used £995.00), The book is 144 pages with typically 4 photographs illustrating various mime poses, I did managed to find about 30 pages of the book photographed on youtube, but they were of poor quality.

I mentioned I would much prefer to see a video clip of the usage of a piece of mime rather than an illustration.

I mentioned I once bought a RAD Mime DVD, which was put together as a conversational piece between three ladies, whilst it illustrated various pieces of mime, is wasn't a very useful tool as a quick lookup reference.

Julie said “ A video reference library of the mime gestures is a fantastic idea and very important if we are to save mime from extinction in the ballet.”, I just hope she takes the suggestion on board and adds it to her collection of resources.

 

The emails I received from her, were so full of interesting content and enthusiasm, I really enjoyed them. I was really impressed by the responsiveness of her replies, the one that sticks out in my mind was, when I sent her a reply last Wednesday after my evening Cecchetti class, It was 20.46, I had a detailed reply from Julie at 21.26, that was impressive by anyone standard.

 

Hi Peony, describing as the correct line is a little bit misleading, its not so much a line but where the foot is extended out to second, or as a tendu to second without pointe shoes on, the metatarsals just below the ankle should steepen beyond a strait line, ideally especially with no pointe shoes should finish off that extreme arch with the toes perpendicular to the ground. Mine are not, the left upper metatarsals are starting to go, but the right are not, if anything its probably ever so tiny flexed upwards.

 

Unfortunately there are a couple of issues with my right leg, firstly its quite a bit weaker than the left since an injury about 3 to 4 years ago which resulted in some muscle wastage from a tear in my front quad, by the time it was diagnosed correctly (2 years later), it was too late to repair.

 

Something else that may cause a miner restriction in the pointe shoe of my right foot, but I don't think so, is, I have to strap up the little toe more or less on top of the one next to it. 

 

Last Thursday I went to see one of my Physio's, he did some quite strong PNF work on my ankles and metatarsals, in the process he managed to get a release from both of them, on getting home I check out the arch and toe position on tendus ( no pointe shoes), they were considerably better, but sadly I haven't been able to hold on to the full improvement only some of it.

 

As for issues with pointe shoes, as a reference I sometimes go back to my old ones where the backs are broken and they are quite floppy, that gives me an indication if it foot or shoe restriction.

This is the first winter that I have been using my studio 7 days a week, partly due to the lockdown and partly due to two of my classes moving days. Fortunately due to the recent cold snap and the amount of time i'm spending in the studio, it has resulted in quite high electricity costs. Even the Studios air conditioning found it hard to maintain temperature at 25 deg C at the worst of the cold weather. Normally the studio would take about half an hour to get to temperature, from zero or below it would take around 3 hours and then sometimes struggle to maintain 20 deg C. Fortunately for the moment the temperatures are well up, but last month electricity cost was around £250, I'm expecting February to be quite a bit higher.

One Saturday during the cold snap during the day of my pointe class, I did the initial feet warm up with a resistance band in the main house, whilst the studio was warming, about an hour before class I decided to do some gentle warm up with my pointe shoes on at the barre in the studio, it was only 12 deg C, I was almost at the point of aborting the class through risk of possible injury, By the time the class came round the temperature had risen to 15 deg C, I was still uneasy but went ahead, by the end of class it was 18 deg C although with the exercises I felt quite warm.

 

In spite of me practicing my pointe work for around an hour each day, progress is faltering. The issue particularly in second position I cannot get on top of the box, I’m on the side and of course its wearing. I don’t have those beautifully curved in upper metatarsals and toes that some dancers have. My Left foot is not too bad, but the Right whilst leg foot line is almost strait, I cannot take the upper and lower metatarsals in to get on top of the box as I should, and it has become very frustrating.

 

I have spent a lot of time going back to basic exercises with rolling out the arch, resistance band work, scrunching towelling in with the toes, using various methods of foot stretching, even using PNF stretching with my Physio.

 

To be fair there has been some improvement but its been painfully slow, but there is absolutely no chance of me giving up.

Hi Nicky73

 

The clip you have shown does not include “Sofia National Opera with Boris Spassov”, However I did find Sofia National Opera music for that piece.

 

Firstly you need to be able to download from Youtube, if you can’t then you will need something like Save2PC ultimate, sadly its not free. That will provide you with a .MP4 video file, some sound editors can process video files directly into sound files eg .WMA .MP3 etc. I use Goldwave and it can, its also available free for evaluation and that should provide what you need as it is.

I'm not sure if Audacity can process video files directly, otherwise you would need to convert the video file to extract sound track first  which would be another piece of software like the NCH File Converter.

 

If you are editing the sound track from a performance piece like this variation, although you can carefully extract at the beginning and end of the music to minimise the applause, this piece does have an applause in the middle of it, that is fare trickier to minimize and requires a good deal of skill. I had to edit this piece some years ago as I was the sound editor for The Alive Ballet Company as well as one of the dancers.

 

Sometimes you may want to use some of the background noise as a cue to get ready, say a second or so before the intro, I remember using the last punctuation of the previous music as a cue to count 3 before the start of Juliet's solo, it was one of those pieces where the dancer actually starts before the music and Juliet had to be at full extension on count 1.

I edited and provided that music for a BBT Easter Workshop taught by Sarah Lamb.

 

If you need any help feel free to PM me x

I see Julie Cronshaw’s documentary about a week or so from a facebook newsfeed.

 

It least I did learn something, I always wondered what the days of the week represented, as I have danced several enchainment from them, they feature quite strongly through all the Advance 2 Manuals and Documentation.

 

After seeing the video, I found another four short youtube clips by Julie covering various tips, sadly the format of all these were the same: Beginning was Introducing Julie, the body being very short was about the subject, and the ending was an advert about the documentary and the website.

 

After wetting my appetite about the 150+ videos available to watch from the Ballet Secret Code website, I went to investigate only to find there was not contents list and the only way to access them was to pay £65.00 to view them (I assume they will be streamed and you cant down load them).

As some of these videos may be of interest I emailed them with the following extract:

 

Is there anything in the videos not covered by the 2020 release of the Cecchetti Advanced 2 Syllabus DVD from the Faculty of Cecchetti within the ISTD, as me and my teacher are working through that at the moment, prior to that we were using the old 2003 syllabus documentation supported by the video downloads from Cecchetti Ballet Inc of Australia.

I also have “The Enrico Cecchetti Diploma” DVD video’s of 2019 which has formed a really useful reference source for me.

 

Disappointingly I haven't had a reply to my email, it almost feels like there isn't any urgency, similar to the experience I had with the ISTD releasing the new Cecchetti Advanced 2 DVD, is this just part of the culture now ?

New additions to add to my home studio, I'm increasing the number of large 50+ inch displays from 2 to 3. The largest in the centre to view my teacher, then one at each of the down stage right and left corners. These are particularly helpful for body conditioning / stretch class floor work as I can see my teacher at any angle.

 

In the past I have always had a third monitor, although it was quite small for pointe work, I was able to see myself on the small monitor from the front view, and the down stage left monitor for both side views, as the opposite view was reflected by the RHS wall mirror.

 

Since Adrian and I have been working on PDD’s from Le Corsaire we ideally needed a third person the Pasha. We can either display a photo of the Pasha or a short looping video of the Pasha gesturing to add an element of reality on the new DSR display.

 

The next item is a bit more serious, its a webcam link from one of my riverside garden sheds monitoring our river. We have had about 3 weeks of very high river levels on the River Glen that flows past my house. On two occasions it has taken friends miles away to warn me that my own river was flooding, as I was happily doing ballet in my studio. Fortunately its never got as far as the house, but my neighbours about two miles down stream have had there houses pumped out by the fire brigade several times in the last three week. It has only ever flooded our lower lawn, but I think its prudent that I can see the rising river level from the studio as that's masked off by mirrors.

A bitter sweet start to 2021 for me, my Sunday stretch class with Karis Scarlet is no more, however its sort of moved to Wednesday mornings, replacing another fitness class she runs, I guess at some point they will merge.

 

Before my first class that was Scheduled for the 4th I discovered the my Wireless Mic received had pack up, and was the only one I had, so initially had to revert back to a long cabled mic for my zoom classes, needless to say I replaced it from Amazon virtually overnight.

 

First class back on the 4^th Ballet fitness was cancelled as my teacher was ill, Cecchetti Ballet class notification came on the Wednesday that it would resume on the following week, oh poo. At least I still had my Thursday Pointe, and Friday Ballet Fitness.

 

The icing on the cake came last Sunday when we started work on Adrian's PDD with me, well it was more like a feasibility study to find out what Adrian could and could not do. The piece I chose for us was from Le Corsaire Act1, Market place the Pas d’ esclave between Lankendem (Slave Master) and Gulnara.

Initially I was attracted by the music.

As always I arm myself with about a dozen slightly different versions of the choreography that I can blend together to suit the way I want it danced.

Originally I had intended to keep it quite short and start where Lankendem unfurls Gulnara’s veil, however although the introduction has three quite challenging pieces, they are quite repetitive, but for me they have some really expressive mime/gestures which will really suit Adrian. In fact I have extended the music beyond the beginning to make much more of Lankendem’s introduction of Gulnara to the Pasha. The Introduction will be quite challenging for me too, as I would like extend the cabriole’s derrier on the introduction to a double without the lift, although I know I can get away with a single and that works quite well.

 

That really brightened my week up from last Sunday, this week has been a full week of classes including Karis Scarlette’s Wednesday stretch class, although I love the class, it does rob me of a little bit of time that I would be dedicating to my Cecchetti ballet studies for my class that evening.

 

 

Needless to say its happened, I guess it was no surprise that we are now in Tier 4, so I need to re-choreograph and start to teach Adrian his new Le Corsair PDD on Sunday the 10th, ideally get some of it documented too. In the meantime I must document the Odalisque solo's in my own style for polishing when the current restrictions are dropped and I can get back to my coach in Lincoln. My guesstimate is around Easter, although this strategy is quite feasible up to June, to be able to present it in Scotland for August. In the unlikely event that we get ahead of ourselves, I may just drop in Gulnara's solo, but that would be a stretch objective, even though I have presented and documented that piece before, but its a nice filler if the opportunity arises.   

7 hours ago, youngatheart said:

Yes there is still an exemption for film or video making which would allow that Michelle

Where is this documented for Tier 4?, I couldn't find it in the RAD document or the Government docs.