Simply Adult Ballet: the progress of one adult dancer who took up ballet later in life

[Fiz]

What a shame!

[pastel]

I took my dd to see the LAB presentation this afternoon - we had a lovely time! I saw you Michelle, but didn't spot you afterwards to introduce myself.

 

Great work everyone! Such a lovely atmosphere

[Michelle_Richer]

Hi Pastel

I sorry we didn’t get a chance to meet, I would have liked that. But unfortunately I had another ballet to go to so I couldn’t hang around. I went to see Chelsea Ballet’s annual performance at the Lanterns Theatre Docklands and somehow managed to get dragged onto the stage by some youngsters to dance with them as did one or two of the audience from the front row.

 

I know there were a lot of faces I knew in the audience at RBS as was the case in Docklands too.’

I have at least a two day break from Tom at LAB, as I'm doing the second part of his Le Corsaire Solo Workshop next Tuesday.

However there is barely a three week rest and LAB is back at RBS with another 6 day intensive on Swan Lake this time, needless to say I will be there.

[LinMM]

Glad the LAB Intensive performance went well yesterday.I know just how hard you lot all work!! How does Tom keep going?!!

 

Michelle you must be pretty exhausted too......time for a nice rest in the garden today!! Looks like the sun may be back anyway.

[Michelle_Richer]

Hi Lin

I though you knew me better that that, resting in the garden is for other people.

 

Sunday was spent charging around doing shopping and the lawns ready for the following week.

 

Monday 9am an hours practice session at the hall on Le Corsaire. 10.30 my Body balance class, rest of the day house work tidying up the debris caused by last weeks visit to  RBS. However I did get a brief visit out tonight with my boyfriend for a nice meal.

 

Tuesday: I have two hours booked at the hall for polishing my Le Corsaire solo ready for Toms workshop in the evening at the Place.

 

So no rest for me, it’s a pretty full week as I’m going up and joining Ballet West for Thursday, then back in London early Saturday morning for my Coppelia workshop at the Coliseum, hope I see you there.

[VBee]

Positive thinking can work, I think I had a pirouette breakthrough last night!

 

Last week I had some disastrous attempts at double pirouettes en dehors which resulted in me falling on my bum    (not my best moment)! I allowed myself to get frustrated and tensed up and that obviously made things worse. After class last week I decided that I wasn't going to let myself get worked up about pirouettes any more, and that I needed to take a new approach so that I didn't feel so terrified of them. 

 

So I went to my grade class last night and did the pirouette exercises and really struggled  ,  I was starting to get cross with myself again but my teacher gave me a few pointers. I've been making my preparatory 4th position too large in en dehors turns (which I have been told in the past but with long legs I find it hard to make it small) and too small for en dedans. 

We had a half hour break in between the grade class and the intermediate/advanced class, so I kept on practising pirouettes without the pressure of timing or anyone watching. I tried thinking confidently and rather than getting frustrated to really focus on all the separate elements, especially using my core. 

 

When it came to pirouettes in the next class I did a few sturdy singles and felt happy so I went for a double, and..... I didn't fall over! In fact I think I actually managed to land a few with half decent placement.    

 

Who know's what'll happen in class on Wednesday, but for now I'm definitely happy with the effects of positive thinking! Try it, it might work for you too!

Edited July 22, 2014 by VBee

[LupusMelis]

VBee you are so right about positive thinking! And I'm very happy for you about your pirouette success last night (breakthrough!!) and for not falling on your bum again

 

Slightly off-topic but I've just blogged about Crystal Ballet's Associates programme: http://jelterps.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/adult-ballet-associates-uk.html. Are any forum members signing up for it? I am trying to think positively about the next 6 weeks and hope that come September I will be safely in London, ready to start my course at Laban and maybe even joining CB Associates!!!

[LinMM]

It does look interesting but not sure if I could take on two performance aimed classes in London as just about to send cheque off to LAB for their course!!

But this is great news for adult dancers and those who either live in London or not too far away .......and/or a little younger in years to have the energy to take on all these lovely projects!!

 

Sky dancer will you be in London all!the time then from September.......would love to meet up!!

[Fiz]

I really wish there were such opportunities elsewhere in the country for adults.

[LupusMelis]

It does look interesting but not sure if I could take on two performance aimed classes in London as just about to send cheque off to LAB for their course!!

But this is great news for adult dancers and those who either live in London or not too far away .......and/or a little younger in years to have the energy to take on all these lovely projects!!

 

Sky dancer will you be in London all!the time then from September.......would love to meet up!!

 

From what I can gather the classes won't be performance-based yet and sound as though they are going to be 'class' class. It is really great news, though, and sounds like a good ballet training opportunity as much as a performance/dance one. One thing I really like about it is that it is going to be split into 3 different levels (like most associate programmes) so progression and development will probably happen much quicker. I'm also really interested as to whether the men's workshops will be opened out to female dancers like me with grand allegro skillsets, I find myself craving a 'men's class' sometimes (especially when we only get to spend about 15 mins per class on jumps) but as far as I'm aware there aren't any in the UK (correct me if I'm wrong!)

 

And in answer to your question, Lin I really do hope to be living in London from September. Although things aren't confirmed for Laban yet, especially on the funding front (see my website www.skydancermel.com for more info) I believe that moving to London will be beneficial for me in the long run and give me a much better chance of pursuing my dance ambition than hanging around in Yorkshire will. There's already a small company in London - The Crossword Ballet - that is starting to put on productions with 'warrior ballerinas' so I don't think my artistic vision will be quite so 'out there' in the capital, and may even interest some people! And I would love to meet up with you too

 

Fiz - I know it is such a shame! Is there any way you could create this opportunity yourself?

[LinMM]

I know exactly what you mean by loving the men's steps!!

 

When I was younger(sorry to keep harping on about lost youth etc) I too loved the jumpy grand allegro sections but especially the men's jumps and often used to practice them.

 

In fact I'm sure my current injury is partly due to this as on one of the Giselle workshops I attended in London I kept joining in at the back with the men's jumps bit .......which I didn't need to have done.....so probably set off this injury trying to man it up as it were......as if dancing from 10 till 6 wasn't enough already!!

 

Well I'll definitely have to let go of the tours en l'air for quite a while I think and just be very happy if I can at least do some nice delicate glissade assembles again soon!!

[Michelle_Richer]

It does look interesting but not sure if I could take on two performance aimed classes in London as just about to send cheque off to LAB for their course!!

But this is great news for adult dancers and those who either live in London or not too far away .......and/or a little younger in years to have the energy to take on all these lovely projects!!

 

Sky dancer will you be in London all!the time then from September.......would love to meet up!!

 

Hi Lin

That’s the trouble with you youngsters, no stamina. I’ve shed all my non-performing classes with the exception of ENB, but I still visit some of those ive shed in the past when term breaks allow, just to keep some social contact going.

 

Shortly I will be shedding again and that will be to shed the performance classes that are based on teacher own enchianement rather than something from the classics. I don’t mind a classic being re-choreographed to much if its still preserved the original theme, or its to accommodate a larger corps de ballet.

[LupusMelis]

I know exactly what you mean by loving the men's steps!!

 

When I was younger(sorry to keep harping on about lost youth etc) I too loved the jumpy grand allegro sections but especially the men's jumps and often used to practice them.

 

In fact I'm sure my current injury is partly due to this as on one of the Giselle workshops I attended in London I kept joining in at the back with the men's jumps bit .......which I didn't need to have done.....so probably set off this injury trying to man it up as it were......as if dancing from 10 till 6 wasn't enough already!!

 

Well I'll definitely have to let go of the tours en l'air for quite a while I think and just be very happy if I can at least do some nice delicate glissade assembles again soon!!

Well, allegro is definitely one of my 'things'! And it's nice to hear about your lost youth and know that I'm not the only allegro lover out there

 

I've have the strength and explosiveness needed for big dynamic movements like that, but as with anything it's hard to develop the correct technique in just a few minutes a couple of times a week. I think sometimes my body feels like it's still in hurdler mode (hence why my teacher literally barks at me to stop travelling so much with i jump) and I'm yet to truly develop my full ballon potential!

 

Well if that's how you did it at least it was a good way to set off your niggles! I probably would've done the same thing, in fact I would have been more likely to skip the female rep and focus on the male steps!! Keep resting and working your feet and legs properly and I'm sure you'll be jumping around again in no time

[Fiz]

To celebrate my new ballet class and the fact that I am so happy again, I have gone a bit mad and bought three new leotards, more tights and a new dance skirt - oops!

[Moomin]

Have you worn the beautiful degas one yet? What colours this time? I really must get out of black!

[LinMM]

Me too!!

[Fiz]

Well, Moomin, they aren't really that exciting. There's royal blue, black and lavender but the one that startled me was the one that called itself blueberry. It's bright turquoise! Ah well, I really will stand out!I love the Degas ones but in this current heat and humidity I am wearing the leotards I have with the highest cotton content instead of artificial fibres. I'll wear them when there is less chance of me melting all over the floor at the end of class, which I nearly did on Tuesday.

[Jan McNulty]

Fiz, it sounds like your laptop is as naughty as mine, which keeps booking tickets when I am not looking!!!

[Fiz]

Mine is a Nexus and they are notorious for their self will.

[LinMM]

Ha ha you two...... I'm going to try that one on some time!!

Edited July 25, 2014 by LinMM

[LinMM]

I still haven't had a chance to wear my lovely Degas leotard (black though) as almost as soon as I bought it I got injured.

 

I did manage to wear my WearMoi one (navy blue) once though with my black wrap skirt! I had quite a few compliments that evening as people were not used to seeing me dressed a bit more like a proper dancer instead of my more usual "st Trinians" tunic.

[Fiz]

How upsetting, Lin. Let's hope it won't be too much longer before you can wear it. I would love another Degas leotard. They make me feel great...must resist..!

[Jan McNulty]

How upsetting, Lin. Let's hope it won't be too much longer before you can wear it. I would love another Degas leotard. They make me feel great...must resist..!

 

Turning your naughty Nexus off may help Fiz!

[Fiz]

It's no good, Jan! It only wrote to Sheila and ordered another one! I am simply in despair at its antics.

[Michelle_Richer]

Although I was supposed to be on break from my regular ballet classes last week, I somehow managed a pretty full and eventful week.

 

Although I had no actual class on Monday I did hire my local hall for an hour for practice with the Gamzatti Variation prior to my Tuesday class on this. As I was still not completely happy at the end of the hour I booked the hall for a further two hours on Tuesday morning.

 

During class Tuesday evening it was clear there were some differences between my version and the one being taught and not just bits of simplification, The basis of the LAB version was Natalia Osipova whilst mine was by Yulia Stepanova, hence the LAB shorts workshop didn’t go quite as well as I had anticipated, however I will continue to develop the Stepanova version as for me its much more pleasing to the eye in terms of dance quality. Although I am very much a fan of Osipova, her version to me feels overdone and does nothing for me other than to marvel at her gymnastics.

 

Wednesday was the 400 mile journey up to Ballet West at Taynuilt.

 

My original inquires to Ballet West was about joint their two evening Adult classes, Fitness 7-8pm and Ballet 8 – 9 pm, however I was invited to join a morning class 9-10.30am attended by some of their full time students, that I accepted.

 

Thursday morning when I arrived I think I was expecting something a little different, but once I got out of the car, I could hear children’s voices from the open skylights in the roof, clearly that was the accommodation block. I knocked on the big blue door at the centre of the large white building. A lady opened the door and introduced herself as Gillian, I cant remember the words she used but it must have been the very best welcome I have ever had, in simple terms we just clicked. The house inside was absolutely gorgeous. Gillian was in fact Gillian Barton owner and principal of the school, she took me though the house to a large pine building situated away from the house, it had at least two large well equipped ballet studios.

 

There I was introduced to the class, which was day 4 of one of their summer schools, the student were in their mid to late teens. I was also introduced to their teacher Jonathan Barton Teacher and male principal dancer within the Ballet West company.

The standard taught in the class was high, in centre work we were mainly going across the studio 3 at a time, for me it was a case of remembering what I could and a little bit of high speed copying, however Jonathan did say I was thrown in the deep end as the rest of the students had been building up the enchainement during the week, but I enjoyed it any way.

 

At the end of class I was also invited to do their body conditioning class, I though “Oh good this will be easy”. One of the girls warned me it was a hard class. This class was run by our Fitness Instructor Mathew however Jonathan and Gillian attended this class in a student type capacity although Gillian left before the end.

The beginning of the class was straightforward and quite aerobic, then we started on stretches which then went into front splits both sides and box splits. At one point front splits was done with the aid of a skirting board ledge (3 – 4inches high) to add purchase to front leg.

I found the most interesting stretches were partnered stretches, the first was concerned with high leg extension devant (vertical). Basically the student for stretching knelt on one leg, held her body upright by clasping he hands around her partner standing behind her. The student would lift her other leg as in a developpe and take it as high as she could, her partner would take hold of that leg and pull it toward the student being stretched, ideally taking that pointed foot to her ear. That was also repeated with the other foot. Needless to say I did not do that exercise, Gillian had gone by then and Jonathan was exercising on the floor with a back roller.

 

From legs we went on to arm with various press ups, I though this was going to be easy as I used to be able to comfortably do 50’s in my days of Tai Kwan Do. I barely managed 10 and it was really hard, I had lost all that upper body strength I once had when I was doing Tai Kwan Do. After this we went into partner stretching of the arms, as the girls had all partnered up and I was on my own, I thought I would sit that out. The Jonathan ask if I would like to be stretched, without thinking I said “Why not”, so he partnered me for that. He was terribly gentle and ask me to tell him when the stretch starts to get tight, which I did. Then I would try and stretch a little more and Jonathan felt that then ask “do you want to go further”, I would say yes, I could feel a little tremble from his hands, not sure if it was the force he was applying or just trying not to hurt me, but I would keep saying “Keep going”. At the end of that session I felt fine, the next two days the arms really ached, but that was purely down to me try to push things that little bit further.

 

Although I was invited by Gillian to stay for the afternoon and watch the students rehearsal for their end of course presentation, I left for the afternoon and tried to squeeze in a bit of site seeing in Oban.

 

I went back for the Adult Evening Classes, Fitness 7pm – 8pm, Ballet 8pm – 9pm. Gillian ran those two classes herself and were thoroughly enjoyable but no where near as challenging as the earlier ones. I remember when we said our goodbyes Gillian said something to the effect she would love to teach me ballet, it really did leave with a lump in my throat, and needless to say I will be back

 

Friday Travel 400 miles back home with minimal breaks as I had a hair appointment at 4.45 with I managed to keep and go Salsa dancing that evening.

 

Saturday ENB workshop at The London Coliseum on Coppelia starting at 9.30am. We had 29 dancers in our corps de ballet. The dance we learnt requited partners, I was the odd one out so I partnered one of our teachers. I cant remember the name of the dance but its early in act 1 , however we learnt a simplified version of that dance, watch video from 3.12.

We managed to get an audience as the audience for the company class arrived early and we were able to perform the piece twice and got an applause.

 

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=K5VgnfdokOs

Edited July 27, 2014 by Michelle_Richer

[Jan McNulty]

Thanks for the report about your experiences at Ballet West Michelle.  As there is a thread about Ballet West I have posted a link to your post there for interested DPs to read.

[Fiz]

It's a mazurka, Michelle. How funny - my new teacher says she is going to teach us this in class.

Edited July 28, 2014 by Fiz

[Michelle_Richer]

Hi Fiz

 

Thank you, I thought our teachers called the dance something else but I may be mistaken. I have downloaded the Mazurka music for Coppelia from Amazon and it matches. You will really have fun dancing this one as its quite lively. I'm doing Black Swan from Swan Lake tomorrow (Tuesday), the most challenging piece I have ever done. I'm just waiting to see who's version it is.

[Sheila Beelam]

Lovely to read about you travels and classes Michelle, thank you x

[red]

Hello all!

 

I was back at ballet last night after a month off when I just couldn't squeeze in getting to class. Did a lovely long barre followed by a short petit allegro, then half an hour of pointe with just two of us in the class so lots of individual attention which was really helpful. Discovered that (according to our teacher) I have very long achilles tendons - never knew that before!

 

My legs ache quite a lot this morning but so happy to be back at it

[Michelle_Richer]

Another sort of break week, Monday was spent preparing for my LAB Black Swan Solo Workshop, but without knowing what version it would be based on.

 

I chose a Youtube example of a 16 year old Moscow Gold medallist, the solo was cleanly executed with beautiful lines. Although I didn’t have time to learn the whole solo I managed to make a good start.

On the day (Tuesday) the solo was quite different it was from American Ballet Theatre. Fortunately before the end of class I was able to video it as I had a lot of conflicts in my head between the two, however there were some similarities.

For the purpose of the next and final workshop session I will practice ABT version from Youtube but personally I really don’t like it, particularly the messy arms. Form me it has to be the Moscow Gold Medallist version with a few enhancements added after this workshop.

I have my local hall booked for that Thursday morning, if need be I can book Mon and Tues mornings too.

 

 

Wednesday morning Body Balance fitness class. Wednesday evening Adult Ballet then Stretch and Tone at Sleaford.

 

Something that’s a little worrying both from Ballet West Body Condition, Spalding Body balance class and Sleaford Stretch and Tone. I have lost a tremendous amount of upper body strength. I’m hoping it’s just down to not doing my morning workout since my ankle / leg injury last Christmas. I'm restarting that immediately and as I will be back as Sleaford next week, it should give me some idea of progress.

 

The following week I’m back on the second LAB Summer Intensive at RBS doing Swan Lake

 

 

 

It's a mazurka, Michelle. How funny - my new teacher says she is going to teach us this in class.

Fiz

I met your teacher Ellie tonight at Sleaford and spoke about he plans for Coppelia

Edited July 30, 2014 by Michelle_Richer

[LupusMelis]

I've (just about!!) come back down to earth after attending Chantry Dance Company's Summer School last week! It was a fantastic intensive and provided the opportunity to develop contemporary ballet, contemporary and jazz technique as well as lots of time spent on improvisation. Although the other participants varied in age from 11 to 30+ we were all treated by Rae, Paul and Gail as a real company and the standards were very high indeed! Our presentation performance consisted of repertoire from the company's upcoming 'Happy Prince' ballet, a re-choreographed take on the 'helicopter bit' from Miss Saigon (took my right back to my teenage Musical Theatre days!!) and our own modern ballet creation 'The Harvest', which was inspired by Ballet Russes and Communisim. We also got the opportunity to showcase a contact improv session to the audience, which added in a new dimension (it was interesting to feel the difference in some of the dancers as they contact improved in front of an audience rather than the usual studio situation) I've blogged about my week here: http://skydancermel.com/2014/08/02/summer/, hope you can give it a read!

 

Even though the week ended badly with the theft of my debit card and subsequent emptying of my bank account, there was some good news when I returned home to Sheffield.....Trinity Laban have offered me a place on the 1-year Diploma course in Dance Studies, which was my first choice of course before I even auditoned for the Scottish School of Contemporary Dance!! I'm very happy, but quite daunted by the fact that I've still got to find quite a bit of money to self-finance the course, so, on that note if anybody visits this page and thinks they might be able to help (or needs a good freelance copywriter!!!) please do get in touch: https://tackk.com/kcy0ek

[Fiz]

What an incredible week, Skydancer! The course sounds amazing but I am horrified by the theft of your bank card and what happened thereafter. I do hope you get some redress from your bank.

I am finally happy with my dance school. It doesn't break up for another fortnight but I won't be able to go as we will be driving my poor mother to hospital for radiotherapy and won't be back till late. Roll on September! Her treatment will be over and I can go back to class. My attendance over the last year has been far more spotty than I would like thanks to the move, illness and finding a school I really liked.