Michelle_Richer

Thanks for all the comments on the Tier 4 restriction, especially Balletgremlin’s RAD link, just a quick off subject on RAD, have they moved into the new building yet? My take on Tier 4, should it be applied to my area, it would postpone my rep one-to-one sessions at Lincoln. Even if it was allowed to use my own studio, its too far to expect my coach to travel, over 40 miles each way. I would simple carry on, on my own, hopefully by the time I needed to present it up in Scotland, we could get back together to polish it, but its likely that I will have to cut down the number of pieces. As regards the PDD’s, I generally do all Adrian's ballet and PDD coaching. On RAD’s interpretation of the Tier 4 restrictions, I have a question as their unqualified statement that “Dance Studios must closed”, for me there should be at least one exception, and that is for those schools that host their on-line classes from their studios. Otherwise it simply doesn't make any sense at all against risk. I'm just hoping we stay in Tier 3, although my area of South Holland is well below Tier 2 infection threshold (130) and stable, whilst Lincoln must be in or very close to Tier 4 (almost 500), I know there are other factors than the rate of infection that set the Tier level, but that's the real disproportionate rate of infection risk I'm having and willing to manage.

Hi Linda To some extent this is what I'm doing, as I have already performed the Odalisque PDT and the associated solo’s by never showcased them in Scotland, I have all the costumes for that. Similarly I have learnt the one of the La bayadere solo’s at BBT, you probably remember it, I did learn the other two with my previous coach Emma but never presented them in Scotland, The PDD has started with Adrian its from Act 1 between Nikiya and Solor, again I have my costume for that too, I just have to sort out the detail for Adrian's, as I have a lady poised to make it. As for choosing something from Don Q, I have already presented the Entrance of Kitri solo (Act 1), and Kiti’s solo from Act 3 (loved that one, fast and firy), I did teach Adrian and the other guys in my Glen Ballet group at Sleaford, the Torridors Cape dance which then went into a short PDD, that has always been in my back pocket, but that was along time ago. Similarly I have already showcased quite a lot of the Swan Lake solos in Scotland, including from Act 2 Entrance of Odette including the Mime Scene, Odettes solo, From Act 3 Black Swan Solo and Black Swan PDD. My strategy at the moment is to focus on one ballet only, as we missed last year I decided to wrap two ballets into this year, but its taken me just over a year since loosing Emma my previous coach to find a suitable coach with the right chemistry going forward in spite of looking at several ballet teachers. One ballet I do particularly like the look of, that has several short solo pieces and a nice PDT is Paquita, you should remember when we performed it with Alive. What ever happened with Lock down, If I have to learn it on my own, then I will, but I know from experience that I will make more progress working will someone, perhaps its having to pay for it that provides that little bit more motivation to keep with the schedule, as I hate to waste money. Le Corsaire for me would still be achievable with what I have but would leave Adrian a bit thin on his content that Ive choreographed in on what was the Odalisque’s PTD to a long solo re-characterized for Medora being presented to Sied Pasha by Lankendem at the Slave Market. Hense the need to add a new PDD that we haven't showcased before. Hi Peony Doing one to one in- studio inTier 4 is news to me, do tell me more.

A little bit of Christmas normality crept in at the end of this term to brighten things up, I was able to dust down on of my Tutu’s (Blue Bird) for Karis Scarlette’s Tutu and Tinsel Masterclass, although for me it was on line. She did run one for a limited number of dancers, a few days before at Pineapple. For me the on-line class wasn't a patch on last years in-studio at the Place, with mince pies and Champagne at the pub down the road where we all met after class. I had quite a Christmassy red leo and skirt trimmed with white furry stuff that I used for my last Ballet Fit class and my last pointe class, that was quite fun. I guess that is where the fun ended especially with the Governments unplanned announcement of restriction to come in on Boxing day. For the time being my area is still at Tier 3, although we were expecting to be dropped to Tier 2 with a fairly low consistent level at 140 – 130, however it was said we remained at Tier 3 as Peterborough has risen and is now placed into Tier 4. I have very little confidence now that Tier 3 will hold to allow my one-to-one coaching, not necessarily because our own area will rise, but Lincoln must be dangerously close to Tier 4 with almost 500 cases per 100,000 where my in-studio coaching is done. So my on going plans for Adrian and I to present our rep in Scotland next August, to say the least is very shaky. If all else fails, I can drop the pieces from La Bayadere, in spite of all the PDD work I have already done with Adrian and just focus on Le Corsair. However I will need a proper PDD for Adrian, unfortunately the main one from the Pirates cave scene between Medora and Conrad, we've already done. I've been looking at a particular version of Pas d' Esclaves with Gulnare and Lankendem, that wont take too much reworking for us, however I would intend to dance this piece on pointe, which for the time being is probably a step too far, as I'm unlikely be ready on pointe, however for the time being I will consider it as a just may be option. I'm anxiously waiting to see what happens at the next Government panic review meeting on the 30th, otherwise all my on line classes are already booked.

Well done Colman. Today was my first day back in studio working one-to-one on rep from Le Corsaire, it was brilliant and such a change from not working on the new syllabus of Cecchetti Advanced 2. It almost felt like the gods were looking after me this week, my Cecchetti teacher had to cancel our classes this week, yesterday morning I received an email giving us clearance to use the Lincoln studio. Even though it was short notice as the scheduled slot for rep there was 10am on Thursdays. Naturally I assumed we were not going to get into those studios until the new year and the rep activity periods had be shared between Cecchetti and pointe work. Fortunately I has already documented the rep and managed to run through enough last night to cover today. Today went like a dream, it so so good to be back and at least I have found a really nice coach with the right chemistry to work with, really looking forward to next weeks session now. I feels a bit like a new era, as its been just over a year since I lost my last rep coach who I had been with for over 6 years. Adrian and I will still be showcasing our work in Scotland again next summer.

Hi Linda Thanks for the link, to be honest its not very helpful as its mostly about group activity, if not then classes neither of which is applicable to what I'm doing. Peony Yes I'm well aware that Boston with 450 is close to me but so is Peterborough in the opposite direction and its in Tier 2 with its rate above ours. My district of South Holland in Lincolnshire isn't a small collection of villages, we are around 90,000 people. So far we haven't heard anything back from our studio owner, where I referred that decision too. If we don't get a "yes" decision, then that completely screws up next year for my one-to-one intensive week in Scotland where Adrian and I showcase our rep work.

OH SHOCK HORROR THE NEW TIER SYSTEM During the first part of last week I was especially pleased the end of lock-down 2 insight, particularly when my hair stylist confirmed they would be open on the Wednesday, as was my original booking, the day before the general lifting of the lock-down. That was particularly important for me as it was for colour and re-bun, and the following day I was due to start working in studio on my own rep with my new coach, whoopee. Wednesday evening after my Cecchetti class my teacher said it will be good to get back to the studio next week as we can both be dancing to the same music, as she is finding difficult to accurately assess my timing. The issue is, my teacher’s system is the source of the music, generally we both dance to it as we are both learning the new Advanced 2 syllabus from the recently released DVD, the music I hear is slightly delayed by the internet and my systems processing, similarly the video my teacher sees of me is further delayed in a similar way, which doesn't make for good accurate feedback for critique. I guess as well my teacher this last week must have spent about two thirds of the time watching, rather than dancing with me. Also my partner Adrian had organised our restaurant rota for an evening meal of Friday nights, something that is through-back from when I was on rehearsal in London at the weekends, we would go out for a meal together one night in the week. He was keen to get that set up again as our local pub/restaurants were taking bookings, bless him he got everything in place. We knew that the rate of infection in our own area was well below the national average, we had previously been in Tier 1 and was expecting at the worst we would be allocated to Tier 2. We certainly wasn't prepare for what was allocated Tier 3, as we were grouped with the rest of the county of Lincolnshire. Lincolnshire is the 2nd largest county in England, which is divided into 7 districts, our own district is South Holland with about 90,000 people including my nearest town of Spalding. South Holland infection rate is around 140 per 100000, many of those in Tier 2 are well over 200, including our nearest city of Peterborough, it just beggars belief. Strangely in Tier 3 Gyms and Dance studio can remain open, however group exercise and group activities are not permitted. I have a query running about my one-to-one rep coaching, whilst my teacher is keen as I am for us to start, I have asked her to take it up with studio owner as to how she interprets this. For my perspective I think we would still be operating within the set of rules. One thing that really niggles me, during the last period when we were allowed back in studios, in my body conditioning class that followed my Cecchetti class, we all wore masks while we were in the studio for all of those weeks. I know for my one-to-one we relaxed it about half way through as the norm for ballet in studios became without masks or optional. As far as I am concerned the allocation of Tier 3 for my area does not follow the science, or my support.

Today I just had my 2nd visit at the clinic to have the remainder of the soft corn removed, this visit was completely different, I guess because I was paying for it, the first was like a free assessment. Not only did she remove the rest of the offending corn, she cut my toe nails, well trimmed them a little, as I told her about where they needed to be for pointe work, before she started on them. She also checked the other foot and said there was signs of a soft corn forming in the same space on that foot too, but I told her to leave that one as its not causing me any issues at the moment. She then rubbed what looked like conducting gel on the offending foot and place a sensor on it connected to a small hand held instrument. I could hear what sounded like my heart beat, she checked several places on that foot, so I ask her to try above my ankle, that has a bit of a dead zone since an injury about 3 or 4 years ago, she said it was fine. She then went on to do the other leg, by this time I was getting concerned she had found something. Needless to say I ask her, she was surprised at the response, it was a Doppler measurement of the elasticity of the veins in my leg and foot, it scored 3, normally when you get older you loose some of that elasticity and the score falls, so I ask what was a typical reading of an 18 year old? She said 3, I really don’t know what to make of that. There was another reading she had noted which was 61, which I don’t know what that corresponded too, I can only assume it was my pulse rate, but whatever it was she said it was good. Last weeks pointe class went without pain with the little toe taped up, prior to the pointe class I must have done at least half a dozen short 10 minute practice sessions on pointe that day, with quite a long period between for recovery. I must admit by the end of the 20 minute pointe class, virtually every toe was a little sore. At least during the class I did get a bit of a complement about the straightness of my legs in second, but I did get another remake too, when we going down into a plie, but still on a rise that I looked as if I was laying an egg. I hoped it was because I can get quite low, rather than I was sticking my bum out. Although my legs are strait from the front view as seen by the teacher via my Zoom camera, I know the ankle isn't quite there yet, but its getting there. At least I don’t get told by my teacher that dancers don’t have knees, as I did when I first started.

Taping my pinky toe to point slightly upwards did the trick and I managed to do Thursday nights pointe class and a couple of short practice runs too, although it does feel a bit odd. Unfortunately the tape doesn’t last very long before it appears to stretch and the toe begin to release, but it will get me by in the short term, at least its not painful now, I've another week to go before I go back to the clinic for the remainder of the soft corn to be removed by scalpel. Hopefully after that I can start to loose the toe tape and it begins to fully heal.

I guess the evolution of my studio came from a slightly different set of requirement than most for Zoom classes on line. Firstly the initial planning took place mid 2016, it needed to give me sufficient space for rep practice as I was hiring around 10 hours of studio time a week, at times some studio weren't available just when I needed them, and of course travelling was also an issue and time consuming too. The floor space ended up at 30sq/m under the building regs, I could have gone slightly bigger but then limited by the fact I would not be allowed to go closer than 2 metres to the edge of my river, so I stuck at 30sq/m. The floor is a Harlequin Sprung floor with a black vinyl top covering by them like many studio dance floor. 2 sides are mirrored ( stage front and most of stage right), although a large section of stage front is taken up with a 55inch display, and a control console underneath it. Most of the equipment development took place during the first lock-down, as we now have eight cameras, and video switching system that also incorperates a DVD played and a solid state video recorder that can access multiple sources in the system and can output HD .MP4 file for reference/editing. For Zoom operation, I use 2 main wide angled cameras, one which is built into the communications laptop, and a small Sony HD camcorder that is mounted on a platform above the main 55inch display but sits on a robot camera tracking system. The floor area is marked out with three different colour coded crosses to determine the range of each of these three camera combination, inbuilt camera white crosses, Sony in fixed mode red, and Sony in tracking blue. These extremities will all give full body coverage, obviously the closer I get to the camera, the legs are lost. Unlike most Zoom classes I have to be able to incorporate full centre work for my Cecchetti Advance 2 class and with the floor marking that relatively easy. With the tracking camera I guess the coverage is around two thirds, otherwise it about half the floor area but still adequate. I use Zoom a lot for fitness / stretch classes, one of the drawback if you are doing matt work, you are often facing away from the main screen and it awkward then to follow the teacher. For this I have incorporated a second large screen display, positioned a stage left, but extending down to down stage left corner. That is brilliant for matt work, for the other side but not quite so effective is viewing the second display in the stage right mirror. Zoom pointe work class is another interesting one for me, especially as I'm still working with the barre. My main display is taken up by my teacher in “Speaker view” and while I cant see myself in the mirrors facing unless I move to the side, I have small stage centre camera with a 20inch display to fill this gap, and another camera at stage left to provide a side view displayed in the second large screen display. With the side view camera strategically placed I can also see the right side view captured in the mirror on the stage right wall. The audio system interoperates 2 mixing desks, the first provides audio which ultimately will appear in the studio speakers, this will allow access for audio from 3 separate laptops and a DVD player, the mixing desk also incorporates a synthesizer to create music, selectable special effects and a sophisticated graphics equalizer, of the special effects I love the depth of echo and reverberation it give just like being in a great hall. There is a second audio mixer for the audio which is going out on-line, my main input from this comes from a blue tooth receiver as a common issue with zoom if everyone's mic audio is enabled , the feedback chirps and bangs, and seriously detract from the class. By using a less sensitive blue tooth mic in close proximity to the mouth, there is virtually no feedback, my mic is enabled all the time for my one-to-one Cecchetti ballet class as instruction feedback flows both ways, I can also take music from the DVD player or the other two laptops if I am to originate the music, so we get an accurate fit of dance to music timing. Other Facilities Lighting I have the equivalent 1000w of white light illumination available and about 300w each for red, yellow, blue and green flood light, although they are controlled by a little hand held unit, they are not yet automated into a timing sequence with the music, that's still work in progress. Fixed and portable barres Air Conditioning as the studio needs to have 100% availability for me. Teacher and Classes Initially during the first lock down once the basic system was up and running, it was a bit of a novelty to do lot's of classes from around the work, now that most certainly isn't the case. Mostly I'm looking for one-to-one or a small number to learn rather than copy, so feedback is essential. If that feedback is one-to-one then I prefer that style to change from teaching to coaching. It is a style I insist on with my rep work, I guess because that's what I'm paying for and the chemistry has to be right, that is something I have left for in-studio only. Currently my ballet / fitness time is around 30hours a week. My Cecchetti started of with 2 of us as students, because of my vocal enthusiasm I was always getting into trouble with the other student for my suggestion as I was told “that's the teachers job”, for me it about helping each other, apart from that I would study around the subject and find sources of reference material like organizing video downloads from Cecchetti Ballet Inc of Australia and utilizing those. During lock-down 1 our other student dropped out, for me things were a lot better and I progressed a lot faster, to the pointe my teacher was giving homework of stuff we hadn't yet touched. To a degree in places we were starting to swap rolls as I had to familiarize her with some of the pieces, and often she would tell me to slow down as she hadn't quite got the previous bit yet, for me that made her human and she realized how difficult I found it sometimes when things just didn’t click. I must say I like a relationship where we help each other, it become a team effort. The same is true now we both have started learning the new Advanced 2 Syllabus as the DVD has only just been released, needless to say we have been correcting each other and trying to over-burn the old syllabus memory. I know some teachers would disapprove I certainly got that impression on another thread when I attempted to teach some adapted Swan Lake for a group at my local Silver Swans school, naughty girl Michelle, you should know your place. I guess its possibly a culture thing, to give correction or teach from a student, but that me. At least not everyone take offence, I remember attending a R and J weekend workshop on Juliet's Solo, taught by Royal Ballet’s Sarah Lamb. It had several false starts as the rep begins before the music. I was fortunate as I had edited and provided the music for the workshop, I knew the music and rep reasonably well and I was aware of this. So I was able to take the timing from the previous piece of music and clipped it just before the of that last note to form a cue. I let about 3 false starts take place, then my enthusiasm to help get the better of me, then with a big “Excuse me”, I told Sarah about the cue I had left, then count to 3 and go, you should be at full extension on count 1, at least I got a very nice thank you. All ways there to help.

Sadly I didn’t make my pointe class last Thursday, I had rested the foot all week from pointe work but still carried on with my on-line fitness classes and my Cecchetti ballet. I tried going up on pointe on the Wednesday evening but my little pinky toe on the right foot was still quite angry, it was now time to seek help. Fortunately one of my Physios are still working as the clinic he works for comes under medical, although I have two others that are qualified sports massage therapist come under the same as beauty therapist which I guess is regarded as recreational. Although I did not go there for my foot issue, I mentioned it and ask if there was anyone there that could help, he mentioned a couple of Podiatrists and said he would get one of them to ring me on the Friday, it didn’t happen. Immediately I finished my Monday morning fitness class I phoned the clinic, hey presto they could fit me in at 12.00 mid day, I had an hour to get tidied up and travel into my local town. My podiatrist diagnosed a soft corn between my pinky and the next toe to it with some athletes foot, I ask if she could treat it, and of course she said yes, as she got as scalpel and proceeded to remove most of it, I have to go back in two week when the athletes foot has cleared up with the application of some cream, before she can remove the rest. Unfortunately at the moment the little toe is still very sore, however last night I discovered that if I lift the little toe a little, then press in the side of it to represent pressure in the pointe shoe, its was almost pain free. I then proceeded to tape it in that position, and put that pointe shoe on, I can take my full weight on that single foot, although it feels different to how it normally felt. I haven't had chance to research that further today as I have had a full day going through new Cecchetti Advanced 2 syllabus, ending with my one to one class with my teacher. If all goes well with a few short practice sessions Thursday morning, I should be back at my pointe class that evening. I must confess I really beginning to like the new syllabus, although it does contain some of the old with a few tweaks, but generally its much more challenging. I least I had a bit of a taster with a halfway position when I was using the Australian Cecchetti video downloads, which were more challenging than the old UK syllabus, but not quite as our new syllabus. Needless to say me and my teacher are learning it together, so I get lots of home study. One of the advantages of this latest lock-down, it has given me the opportunity to draw up the system diagram of my studio. In the past there has been various attempts, but then the system evolved and changed. This time its all gone down on paper ( be it hand drawn) and to a degree some of the facilities have expanded because it raised visibly of what additional link through options was possible.

Hi SissonneDoublee My Pilates teacher was back tonight and I did class with her, it was not quite what I was expecting, it was quite slow paced with a nice bunch of ladies and one guy. Like all classes its now closed going forward until the restrictions are lifted. They are not doing any on-line work in the meantime, if they were I would certainly be looking for something better. As for my little toe benefiting from this period away from class, the pointe class is an on-line class and we are now down to only 4 dancers, I wouldn't want it to fail because too few attended it and I was the reason it ran out of steam. As it is, the toe has calmed down a lot, normally I would have been doing a little pointe work practice today but I have refrained, but I think I will be back up on pointe tomorrow (Tuesday) so I'm ready again for another practice and then my pointe class on Thursday. As for suspending other aspects of my dance, both me and my teacher needs to get to grips now with the new syllabus for my Cecchetti Advanced 2, now the DVD has finally been released, we are starting on-line on Wednesday at least we can both sing from the same song sheet, so a busy day tomorrow split between pointe and Cecchetti, and another body conditioning in the evening. At the end of the day I know I have to listen to my body, but often when one stops, its so difficult psychologically to get started at the same intensity as you were forced to stop. Anyway one of my physios jokingly said to me, ”Pain is weakness leaving the body”, somehow that's stuck. Hi LinMM I cant make any sense out of the approach with that young lady, It doesn't appear to be a spoof account as my like has been registered on her facebook on-line ballet company and its there to see. As suggested by Peony having a “nosy round pictures etc.” , mine are not restricted anyway, so there is little point there, just very weird and sad. If she hadn't of blocked me or had replied to my email via her company, there is a good chance I may have joined one of her early morning fitness classes.

I had notification in the early part of the week, that my new Pilates teacher had now tested negative for COVID and our class would resume on Monday evening, in view of recent events I'm expecting an email to confirm it either way. I will attend if its available just to get some idea of its value, strangely enough one of my friends posted on facebook of another fitness class that was opening “Body Balance” on Mondays at the same time, If I hadn't joined the Pilates class, I would have joined the Body Balance as I used to attend that some years ago regularly on Wednesdays until it conflicted with ballet. My pointe work class has been extended through November, however I may have to rest it this week. After the last session my little toe on the right foot had become extremely painful, not so much whilst I was doing class, but when I removed my pointe shoe. Unfortunately it had been beading in the gap between the two toes and its extremely sensitive to touch. Adrian bless him has managed to accidentally kick it a couple of times and needless to say that's not nice, I'm also having to be careful what day shoes to wear, as any squeezing of the foot hurts like hell. At the end of the last session even the little toe on the left leg was starting to get a little sore but both big toes were extremely red and started to show signs of blisters forming, thank goodness the following morning all the toes, apart from the little right toe had fully recovered. Its difficult to know what other options/ strategies to follow to calm this angry little toe down, as I have no intention of giving up yet. Anyway I have seen some gorgeous looking exercises for pointe work in my new Cecchetti Advanced 2 DVD, I know I'm not ready yet, but I can dream, its a really good motivator. I was to have started with my new Repertoire coach next Thursday in Lincoln, that's really been blown out of the water for the immediate future with recent events, sadly I spent the last two weeks documenting some of my choreography that we would be using and developing at Lincoln, I was really looking forward to that, just love working with rep An Unpleasant Incident Early last week I received a friendship request on Facebook, as usual I checked their background, she was a young lady from Scottish ballet, if individuals are related to ballet or friends and family I usually confirm their request. I did in this case. It soon followed, that I was ask to like her on-line ballet and fitness company, needless to say I did again just to be helpful. I then sent her a message by facebook messenger, basically asking “Do we know each other, I see we share common friends, just wondered if we had met” I was then blocked, I found her email from her website and politely asked why, with some questions about her on-line classes as there was an early morning one that was of some interest, but alas no reply. I cant help feeling I had been used, after being blocked and then ignored, it seems extremely rude.

Hi Linda Yes its a fair size room but not quite a big as my studio, its just that its oddly shaped with the stairs coming up the middle, but I guess it does help support social distancing of facing groups, but I,m not sure what the sideways clearance is. I was initially concerned that the teacher works in a high risk environment (The Care home), but on balance I have no idea what the background of the participants are, it could be that some of them do and the same goes to ballet classes participants too. I must say my Tuesday fitness class is quite strict, mask must be warn on the way in and remain on until the teacher is about to start the class, and she instructs the participant that they can ten remove the mask. Like most fitness places there is a register, and a sanitizing station as you go in, before you are register your temperature is taken and you attention is taken to the COVID safety rules for the class, even though you are a regular participant. Although there is about 20 in the class, its a large hall with each participant box clearly marked. The hall is divided into 3 columns of participants, however there is a walkway between the centre column and each of the outside columns. The final part of our class is a relaxation / meditation session, then we are asked to put our masks on again and keep them as we finally exit the building, for me that works well. Hi Fiz Thank you, you stay well too, I'm back in Lincoln starting next Thursday doing a one-to-one with my own rep at GoDance. You take care and God bless x.

It seems I have another COVID indecent, I was to have joined a Pilates class this evening in the next village to my own, I checked the so called studio out last week, its a private house with a large upstairs room, where the stairs appears to come up the middle of the room, where everyone appears to be positioned in a horse shoe shape around it. Today I receive an email from the lady that own the house, to say the teacher has been tested positive for COVID at work, she works in a care home during the day. To be fair I was a little uneasy about joining this class when I visited the studio and spoke to the lady that owns it. She and her husband attends the Thursday class there with the same teacher. Firstly they do keep a track and trace register in the entrance hall at the base of the stairs, as does the hand sanitizer. I ask about masks, it appears no one wears them, not even when they arrive, however they do insist one one person goes up the stairs at a time to preserve social distancing. I ask about what we needed to bring for class, just a yoga mat, which I have. I ask about footwear as I don’t have any classes now which permit bare feet, although this class does, as it argues bare feet are always on the mat. The class consists of 7 participants and the teacher, It was difficult to tell how practical the social distancing would be in that class although the floor was marked out. I may just do the one class to check it out, but I guess that wont be for another two weeks, but I cant help but feel its got a lot going against it. And I thought I was safe out here in the sticks of rural South Lincolnshire.

Hi Peony I'm with my teacher on this one. I would rather be proactive about the decision making rather than wait for the track and trace system alert to kick in or for that matter wait for the appearance of symptoms as then its probably too late. As it was my teacher reverted to on-line working for the first week, I had actually pre-booked that week off and half term too, to work on choreography that I will be introducing my new rep coach to on the 5th of November for our first session together. The second week for my teacher was half term and she wasn't going to run the fitness class with the other ladies anyway. But as I mentioned in my previous post, the incident with the child occurred after our last class in a studio together, had it been before then there exists a possibility that the child could be a carrier, then that throws up another set of what if questions. I note everyone's remarks about the NHS track and Trace App, for me its even more fundamental than that, although some organisation display the QR code banners all over the place, some do not. On Friday Adrian and I did our local weekly shop at our local Supermarket, there was only one QR banner and it was displayed inside the store and by no means obvious, although we checked in, we didn’t see anyone else, that has become common place as if its optional. In some ways its like some of the public's reluctance to wear masks. I have to take my hat off to out local village cafe, the QR banners are placed at the entrance and all over inside, you really cant miss them, there is also a manual book in system too. As customers are shown to there table by the staff, the staff do a very good job of making sure everyone has checked in either via the app or manually, they also insist masks are warn other than when you are actually sit at your table. Just the other day a couple came in with no masks, the waitress informed them of the need to wear a mask until they were seated, they went out in a huff. There still seams to be a lot of complacency and many people not taking the pandemic seriously. SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT One more week and I will have completed my first two months of pointe training, at least this week I did get a complement rather than being shouted at “Michelle, dancer don’t have knees”, as I had trouble pulling up. I still do, but its much better than it was, but I am still suffering with the little toe on my right foot. The only way I can move forward is to practice a little and rest it a lot, and keep repeating that cycle. I really do want to fill my weekly allocation of at least 6 hours of pointe work to really move on, I must admit I'm getting really impatient and frustrated Grr , I know it was never going to be easy, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, I just want to get there. Not sure if the class is going to continue beyond the end of October as there was only 4 of us this week, fingers crossed we do.

New release of Advanced 2 DVD My Cecchetti Advanced 2 DVD finally arrived in Monday morning post, needless to say I played it through Monday evening. Many of the exercises are very similar to those of Cecchetti Ballet Inc of Australia, although I feel the Australian videos are slightly better presented. I haven't seen any exercise that has be dropped, some have been altered and there are some new ones in the centre work that look quite pretty for the Cecchetti style. What I do like in this version, some of the barre exercises are done on both sides with connecting steps in the music, so it becomes one exercise, I'm all for that. At least now me and my teacher have a good reference source rather that relying on written descriptions which which spans 4 documents, which is open to interpretation. COVID scare I had a little bit of a scare yesterday when one of my ballet teachers said she was having to revert to on-line teaching as she was self isolating as a precaution as a parent of one of the children she had been teaching had verified positive for the virus. My teacher confirmed last night that the child's class was later in the week, so my Wednesday ballet and fitness classes are in the clear. It just goes to show how risky things have become. Initially her posting was made to the fitness group on messenger, it didn’t say when she last taught the child, if it had been before either of our classes, what are the next steps, do we all need to self isolate and those in our bubble too?

Whoopee At last the faculty of Cecchetti have released the new Advanced 2 DVD, this must be close on 2 years late. Finally it appeared in the ISTD shop, I know it wasn't there last week, needless to say I've ordered it, now just got to wait another 5 – 10days for delivery. I'm on break for two weeks after tonight from my Cecchetti class, at least when I go back me and my teacher will be singing from the same song sheet, cant wait. Had quite a detailed pointe shoe fitting with Just Ballet, with examining my foot and toes before I got to try any, (that hasn't happened at other fittings I've attended), I did take a collection of my old pointe shoes for info though. After trying lots on, there were only two pairs that didn’t anger my little toe on the right foot, so I bought both. Hopefully I can start to make real progress with my pointe class once the shoes are properly broken in. The shoes I have chosen are the Russian Rubin Radiance and the Bloch Hannah, I'm currently breaking in by wearing the Russian ones, Thursday nights pointe class will be the acid test to see how well my little toe does in them.

I met my new teacher for rep coaching last week in Lincoln, it was basically a meet and greet to check out chemistry between us and look at the studio facilities. The studio geometry while not ideal, not purely rectangular, does have a reasonable diagonal path for travelling turns etc, and the upstage left corner has the greatest distance from stage front where most solos start from, so quite usable. Chemistry between me and the teacher was great which is extremely important to me, especially when we swap rolls, cant wait to get started on the 5th now. Pointe work this week was a bit of a disaster, Zoom had done an update on my laptop the day before, when we started my pointe class via zoom I had virtually no sound. It was extremely low and came from the laptop and not from the 55inch TV that's linked via HDMI, I check the laptops sound driver settings, I could switch it on the screen between the TV and the Laptop, but the sound remained with the laptop. During the class I had to make do with following the teacher the best I could, when there were verbal only instructions I had to follow some of the other girls feet from the smaller gallery display sized images. At the end of class I told me teacher. After class I went on to youtube and loaded a video, switching the sound driver between the TV and laptop, that worked normally suggesting the issue was with Zoom. I've since added another audio circuit in from the laptop to present the output to another speaker system if it should occur again, as I have another Zoom class tomorrow. Whoopee, going for a pointe shoe fitting tomorrow at Just Ballet, I've managed through with my old shoes for the last two weeks with my very sore toe, at least it hasn't got any worse and I haven't missed practice or a pointe class yet. Cecchetti ballet doesn't get any easier, I'm getting more and more homework strait out of the Syllabus spec, it truly is a road of discovery, especially as the Faculty of Cecchetti at the ISTD still haven't released the Advanced 2 DVD covering this standard Grrrrr.

There is light at the end of the tunnel. After spending almost a week with an angry little toe on my right foot, and my next pointe class approaching rapidly. In sheer desperation I tried one of my old pointe shoes on my right foot, it was the same type a Bloch Serenade, although that toe was still angry, it just felt so comfortable in that shoe, I tried going on pointe as it had been rejected by my pointe fitter at the time as having a broken back as it is quite floppy. But I had no problem at all getting on pointe and it seamed quite stable, but never the less I was still unsure weather to trust it. In the meantime I need shoes that I can trust, so I have booked a fitting with our own “Just Ballet” at Wisbech for the 12th , in the meantime I had to find an interim solution to cover two point classes. A bit more experiments with the new offending shoe using the previous narrow Perfect fit point insert, a silicon protector over the little toe, a fabric protector with a solid piece of silicon down one side placed with the silicon between the little toe and the toe next to it, and finally a large silicon protector that completely encapsulated the big toe, my logic thinks it may push the rest of the toe back just a tiny amount. But anyway it allowed me to get through last night class with no additional soreness to the little toe and its quite calm today. I also did somewhat better on the single foot releves last night too. Conclusion, it will get me through next weeks class, but cant wait to get my new fitted shoes from Just Ballet. Starting one-to-one rep with my new teacher on the 5th Nov, at last things are coming together.

Hi Peony Yes I’ve tried with normal padding, silicon and fabric ouch pouches, the little tuby things for the little and the toe next to it. I also tried increasing the depth of lambs wool under the Perfect fit inserts, but I think the main problem is once the little toe is angry, its difficult to distinguish the differences between the options. Yes there is molded material over the little toe but not very much, but there is fare more than that of the left foot where there is no problem. I'm not convinced fitting would help at all, firstly if the foot was calm as in not being on pointe for several week, then I don’t expect this issue would show up with my existing pointe shoes with the first hour of fitting, also the fitting does not allow for the differences of the shoe flexing once its broken in. Consequently my dilemma is, If I went for a fitting for new pointe shoes with an angry toe, I cant help but think virtually all the shoes would result in aggravating it. I take your point about height and weight of us adults being greater than that 11– 12 year olds, but tell that to my good foot, in any case I need to take all of my weight on to a single leg in the releve just using the supporting leg starting with the gesturing leg off the ground at cou-de-pied, that's hard, ( I know one can cheat by a little push off with the gesturing leg, our teacher has caught some of us doing just that) although I have managed it now and again, I still cant do that one in quick succession properly, I think its basically a combination of lack of strength at the mo and also a lack of confidence. That why I need to get a good deal of practice time under my belt. Oh poo, I think I have found it, the skin is red at the junction of the little toe and the toe next to it, now its less aggravated as no pointe practice since class on Thursday, looking between those two toes with a camera I’m not sure but there appears to be a hole with no skin covering it which seams to be the site of the soreness, grrrr I guess that needs seeing too, not what I wanted to find.

My rep lady has finally got back to me, suprise suprise, she trained at my favorite ballet school in Scotland. I have arranged to have a meeting with her, really to check the right chemistry exists between us, as what I am looking for in rep coaching is somewhat different in culture to that of a regular ballet class, its more of a partnership where I have ownership of the choreography and how its interpreted and the schedule too. I really do hope its a successful meet and I can get on with 2020/2021 schedule towards our weeks intensive showcasing our work. Ive managed to survive my first month of on-line pointe training and have booked the next 5 sessions for October, however I haven't got off scot-free. I have a very sore little toe on the right foot, I guess to some extent that has always been there as I remember many years ago when I did a little bit of pointe-work at Lincoln I used to use the silicon tube protectors on both little toes, but I didn’t do pointe-work for very long and next to no practice at home. When I first started back at the beginning of September I had no problems with either of my little toes at the end of the first class, I was really pleased about that, even though the class didn’t go particularly well as I had no preparation. Subsequent sessions I have put in considerable prep between of 6 and 8 hours although the class is only 20 minutes, it seams the more I do the worse the right little toe becomes and the longer it takes to recover. Mostly I try and do pointe practice for a few minutes then rest for a few minutes for some recovery, the really annoying thing is the left foot is absolutely fine GRRRR. For me working and resting is an inefficient way of working and I really need to find a solution that will ease the discomfort of that little toe so I can get on with my practice to progress the following week. The only thing I found which came out of sheer frustration, (This is not something I would normally do) but I shoved my feet with my pointe shoes on, under the settee to stretch the ankles, strangely enough quite a lot of the discomfort disappeared from the offending little toe, it may be that it gets pulled back a little, I'm not really sure. I've tried moving the little toe around with my fingers to establish just what area is sensitive and its very difficult to determine. I'm using a size wider pointe shoe on the right foot, and both feet are cushioned by Perfectfit pointe shoe inserts. The fit itself appears to be fine, it just get aggravated the longer I use them, I'm open to ideas as I really need to put the time in on this training activity.

Hi LinMM I'm reluctant to use anything in London as the overall cost is likely to be very expensive, in any case I would be looking at a 5 day Monday to Friday hire from 9am to 3pm which was based on the 2021 hire requirement in Scotland for next year, and of course an adequate teacher for much of that time, that we certainly had, she was exceptional. For the moment I'm trying to link them together, I have one teacher that was supposed to be coming back to me last Monday, but no response as yet, I have another school and teacher in mind that I may sound out, otherwise I’m likely to try something completely different

When I asked my Cecchetti ballet teacher if I could drop the Tuesday class if and when the other student returns, and continue permanently with 2 hours one-to-one on a Wednesday, she said YES, whoopee. All I need now is for faculty of Cecchetti at the ISTD to release the new Advanced 2 DVD as they have promised for September, then me and my teacher can truly sing from the same song sheet so to speak. Last Wednesday’s body conditioning class was perhaps the last outside without masks as it’s likely to be too dark this week, also as it was getting quite dusky by the end of class, where I was getting eaten by swarms of gnats, bites all over my arms and face, they lasted most of the week, not nice. Most unusually I manage to join a beginner’s pointe class with Holistic Ballet, which was really scary. Firstly the info said it was beginning in September, so I enrolled, then I emailed the question as to when, the reply was “tomorrow”, oh poo, that doesn’t give me much time to prepare I thought . Especially as I haven’t done any proper pointe prep since the beginning of COVID, not only that but I have lost stamina too. One questioned crossed my mind, “were we to start in ballet flats for strengthening first”, for some reason I was reluctant to ask, however one of the other students did, tjat was an half hour before the class was due to start. The reply was “we were to start immediately in pointe shoes. The only thing I could do was get my pointe shoes and do what little bit of prep I had time for, fully expecting to be kicked off the course. To be fair I struggled through the first session, I think on balance I probably did a little better than I had anticipate, although I had loads and loads of corrections. Again expecting an email throwing me off before the next session. The second week seamed somewhat different, not easier, but I felt a little warmth from the teacher, I felt my second session was somewhat better than my first, but every little bit of improvement felt really hard won and only through sheer hard graft between the sessions. Fortunately even though the pointe course wasn’t planned as such, I had scheduled in 3 days of 2hours for preparation for pointe, so it wasn’t too difficult to accommodate and I use every minute of it. I’ve two more session to do, as I’m not sure if the class will continue or not, if it does I most certainly will, I cant let go now. The only things that remain to be covered in my schedule now, is another body conditioning class taking me to 5, and a one-to-one class with a new rep coach, that will take me to around 30hours a week committed to ballet and related body conditioning, as part of body conditioning but not included in the 5, includes a weekly massage/ physio session with three different therapists on a rota as part of my team customized to my requirement. Never thought I would get this busy so fast. One last thing I need to find is a ballet establishment that will host Adrian and my annual intensive for showcasing our own rep, as our ballet school in Scotland did.

Hi Peony I really doesn’t pose a serious problem of me fainting so to speak, just uncomfortable and a bit more challenging, however I think things may change since our class this last week. We were half way through our second hour working a piece of centre work from the syllabus and my teacher was complaining of getting hot under her mask. As there was only the two of us and we must have been around 3 to 4 metres apart, windows and a balcony door open. I just suggested we take the mask off and we both did. We were fortunate with our body conditioning class as the weather was nice and still daylight, we were able to do that outside again. We may be able to just scrape it in before dark this next week, but I think that will be it, then I guess masks will most probably be on again for that class. I'm hoping to persuade my teacher to allow me to drop my Tuesday class with the other dancer when she comes back and permanently stay with the 2 hours of one-to-one that we do at the moment, as I learn so much faster and to some extent on my own with the way she sets my homework, by selecting something from the syllabus that we haven't yet worked on, to go and study, I really like that. I have a new piece this week, but she has tasked me with only learning it so far, then doing it from the opposite side, she knows full well I will learn it all, the full length of the music, I just hope I can master it both side by Wednesdays class.

Hi Peony My take on the mask issue stemmed from my disappointment of when ballet studios were allowed to open or rather the delay, as I had already booked the slot with my rep coach subject to permission being granted, well it wasn’t as dance studio’s came under the same heading as indoor gym’s. The advice at that time for indoor gym was each participant had to a 100sq of space, eg 10 x 10ft, which would equate to around 3 metres social distancing between centres, which made sense at that time with 2 metres social distancing outside, and then of course face coverings came in for supermarket etc. My thoughts are, if its necessary for supermarkets with air conditioning, then it really ort to be mandatory for dance studios. However on our last on-line class, on body conditioning, which followed my ballet, our teacher ask all of us as to if we minded wearing mask during class, every one was happy to do so, I also ask my teacher if she had done a risk assessment prior to us going back, she hadn’t, and I forwarded her the pack of documents from the ISTD including the risk assessment template. So it really started there, for me it was to be a Tuesday 1 hour ballet class with another dancer who is a ballet teacher in her own right, then a 1 hour Wednesday one-to-one ballet class followed by an hour Body conditioning class with a small number of ladies. The first two body conditioning classes we managed to do outside. But now thing have changed I have no Tuesday class and have doubled up on Wednesday, plus I think it likely to be dark by the end of the body conditioning class now, so that will be indoors too. I guess you also have to remember my teacher is wearing a mask for the three hours too. For me I guess I’m just hard core, if it’s possible I will do it, or at least I will find where the boundaries are. Just to say it’s unpleasant and I don’t want too, doesn’t work for me. At least I have found my boundary in the body conditioning class where the mask cannot deliver sufficient air for those exhausting cardio exercises that we do. For me the search for a better mask continues.