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

[Fiz]

I think you are rather like me - hard on yourself when something isn't as good as it could be. Cherish it when it happens the way you want it to and be kind to yourself when it doesn't. I leaned this the hard way.

[Pups_mum]

Going off the topic a bit sorry, but reading about all the "ballet babies" born this summer made me want to tell you all about another one. One of my DDs teachers also had a little girl during the summer. She was teaching to within 12 hours of giving birth which amazed me, as I could barely get off the sofa at full term! And she is now back at work and looking fabulous already. Yet another benefit of a life time of dancing I am sure - the core stability that goes with ballet must have a positive impact on pregnancy and labour.

[Fiz]

Gosh,Pup_mum! I could barely move 12 hours after having my first although it was a complicated delivery. Maybe if I could have found an adult ballet class earlier it might have made all the difference?

[LinMM]

Looking forward to the start of LAB year tomorrow!! Hope I can get further than one class this time!

 

We are spending this term looking at ballet Le Corsaire.......and treated myself to a nice pink Moleskin notebook ready for all choreography notes will be taking!

[Terpsichore]

On 3 Sept 2014 I mentioned KNT Danceworks class in Manchester and the evening of free classes that they had promised in Liverpool town hall on Monday night. I attended those classes in the ballroom of the town hall on Monday night and I doubt that there could be a more glorious setting. This was the first time I had entered this magnificent building and I spent a lot of time admiring the architecture, furniture and paintings. 

 

There were well over 30 of us in the ballroom. All of us were women many in their twenties or early thirties.  Our teacher was the principal of KNT Danceworks. 

 

The first class was ballet.  As there were no barres in the ballroom we had to perfect our balance in order to practise our plies, tendus. glisses. ronds de jambe and grands batterments. I found that far from easy but a good discipline.  We then practised and performed in groups two port de bras exercises - one with chasses and arabesques and the other with chaines. For our turns our teacher told us to focus on something.  In a studio I usually spot a door handle or a vase on a panel but in the town hall there was a magnificent portrait of Lord Canning and I locked onto him. Finally we had jumps finishing with a temps leve.

 

We were the guests of the Lord Mayor, Councillor Kemp and her daughter Rachel Plant the Lady Mayoress. For the interval the Lady Mayoress had laid on refreshments for us and she out a table of literature and other goodies on her mother's charities. It turned out that Ms Plant is an authority on dementia and she talked to us about the condition over a game of dementia bingo. Every right answer was rewarded with a bag of Haribos and line winners won chocolate.

 

After the break we returned for a jazz class which was a bit too fast for me but great fun. Then we had a contemporary class which I found the most difficult class of the evening as it required a lot of rolling about on the floor. It was the first time I had tried those styles and I enjoyed them tremendously.

 

Yesterday was the first day of the new term for our over 55 class at Northern Ballet in Leeds. It was so good to welcome our pianist back. She had given birth to a daughter and we gave her a round of applause. It was also good to see our instructor again and of course the other members of the class.  However, there was one notable absentee - Michelle_Richer - and we all missed her.  We had a good class and some of us stayed for an extra session in which our instructor worked on arabesque, pivoting in attitude, pirouettes and jumps. After that class we adjourned to a cafe just opposite Leeds bus station. There are some really interesting people in our group and these meetings after class are an excellent opportunity to get to know them better.

 

While at the class I received a text from my first teacher Fiona reminding me that Tuesday was also the first day of class at Huddersfield. You might have thought that three hours in Liverpool and two in Leeds in less than 36 hours would be quite enough dance for anybody and you'd be right but how could I resist?

[Michelle_Richer]

Hi Terpsichore

 

I think that must be a first for me to called a “notable Absentee”. I will usually only pop over to do class at Northern if my Tuesday classes are on break. ENB breaks are generally different to most other schools so gives scope to find alternatives during these periods.

 

However this week was my last week at ENB for Tuesdays, as next week I start a performance course with City Academy. Leaving my class mates and one of the teachers at ENB was quite sad, however I’m restarting with ENB on Wednesdays with one of my teachers from Tuesdays.

 

I tried to persuade Northern to do a Christmas Show, but I’m told the general consensus from the ladies was “once a year was quite enough”.

 

Did you manage to get a DVD of our last show, if so, where can it be ordered from.

[Terpsichore]

"Did you manage to get a DVD of our last show, if so, where can it be ordered from"

I am afraid not but if you call Northern Ballet on 0113 220 8000 I am sure they will tell you how to get one.
 
The reason I didn't buy a DVD is that my telly is a very old analogue model for which I bought a digital converter from our local Co-op when I had to do so. I don't watch a lot of TV and I am not going to replace my receiver when it finally breaks down. I am afraid that I regard television as a harbinger of old age which I am doing my best to postpone with frequent workouts at the gym and regular ballet classes. I have not yet drawn my pensions for the same reason though I have obtained a senior rail card and a bus pass.[/size]
 
Liverpool town hall has tweeted a lovely photo of our teacher Karen from Liverpool Danceworks and the Lord and Lady Mayoress to twitter which I have tried unsuccessfully to embed. 

Edited September 11, 2014 by terpsichore

[Michelle_Richer]

Hi Terpsichore

I will have to try to phone Northern, I did get a reply from our teacher and she said she would ask someone called Emma to get in touch with me regarding what I needed to do to purchase that DVD. I haven’t had a response from anyone called Emma.

You amaze me with your TV.  I very rarely watch TV usually about an hour a week if that, yet I have TVs in the Lounge, Dining Room, Kitchen, Bed room, Study, Gym and my Dance studio.

 

I thought I had sustained an injury during my Bodybalance class Wednesday morning. We were laid on our mats doing leg extensions, and then I felt something go in my right upper leg, a bit like a twang. I gave a yelp and brought the leg down, however I finished the class with a much lower extension. When leaving the class I was surprised I could still work normally. Later that evening I did a Stretch and Tone class, although I could still feel some discomfort in the leg, it  was not bothering me. It seems on this occasion I have got away with it providing I am careful with it.

[LinMM]

How did the Thursday LAB go Michelle?

 

We had our first Wednesday session at the Italia Conti school near the Barbican......as Sadlers Wells not book able this week.

 

Anyway I got there early as wasn't quite sure exactly where it was along the Goswell Road ......and was told the class would be in the ground floor studio. So got changed and about twenty past six wandered in to find nobody there. After another five mins and NO sign of ANYBODY I thought have I messed this up and got the wrong venue.

I went back out to reception and lucky that I did to be told that the class was actually on the 7th floor!!!

I looked at the lift which barely had room for four people and thought no not in there on my own so was just about to tackle the stairs up to the 7th floor knowing I'd be done in before the class even started .....when another LAB person arrived and so we went in the lift together. Certainly fine views across the rooftops from the studio there at any rate!

 

The barre was a little more complex than have been doing in my grade 3 recuperation class in Brighton and although I adapted some bits I think I should have changed the fondu exercise ......which had the working leg returning to retire and then continuing on to second and then retire and on to derrière etc etc because it's a long time on each supporting leg......to a simple developpe..... Ive worked out for next time anyway .....as foot not too happy about that .....but otherwise was fine. We had a lovely port des bras exercise in the centre including an en dedans pirouette at the end ......which I did "on the flat" to the right........and then we launched straight into Corsaire choreography.

We have started to learn a Garland or flower dance which was great fun using water bottles for the flowers! The music is a well known piece..........not the well known bit from the pas de deux ......but anyone familiar with general ballet music or with Corsaire would recognise it.

So a very good beginning.......and have written the choreography down in my new pink notebook especially for all things ballet!

 

Next week we're back at Sadlers. I don't even mind the lifts there as they are huge.

[Michelle_Richer]

Hi Lin

Thursday turned out to be a very strange day, firstly I arrived at RAD an hour early in case our studio was available, it became vacant at 6pm (half an hour before class). I though good, I can give my solo pirouette a good run through, it was hopeless the floor was extremely sticky, you could execute a single turn and that was about it with the screech friction between your shoes and the floor.
One strange observation I note was that there seemed to be more breaking friction between my left foot and the floor and less with the right. I took the ballet slippers off and couldn’t see any real difference between them. Pose turn were OK but did feel a little different.

 

 

At 6.30 we had a pianist and one other dancer, a guy from my previous class but no teacher. Our teacher was held up in traffic until 7.00.  The two of us did a short barre session before going into rep. At the end of the barre session a young lady turned up, a newbie we had not seen before and she was straight into rep.  The beginning of a pas de trios, after a circular walk on to the stage, our guy was in front with a girl on each out stretched arm, each girl was on demi point with their inside legs in attitude, I was on the left side. after a coupe off to change legs we then did a temps leve / pas de chat x 2 for each girl on opposite diagonals. That was as much as we had been instructed to do, however our pianist carried on playing, so I pose turned back to our guy in the centre. A loud voice said “Michelle”, I though whoops “I’m in trouble”, our teacher said “Thank you, that fits nicely” and that was my contribution to rep that evening. As the music repeated itself so we repeated our sequence. That was as much as we got done. I am told next week we will be having more dancers joining our class.

 

I was a little sad seeing a lot of my old class waiting outside to come in, but at least I was getting home in the same day this time and not at 1am as previously. I will be particularly saddened if other groups pick up my favourite scenes.

As for the Italia Conti School, I will be there next Tuesday when I start the new City Academy performance course.

[Michelle_Richer]

Nice class at Lincoln tonight, but still don’t know what we are performing for our Christmas show piece. However we do have a new date for the show,12 and 13th December, although I am doing an ENB Nutcracker Rep Workshop at the London Coliseum on the morning of the 13th, there is sufficient time for me to get to Lincoln to do the Saturday evening show.

 

 

I start a new performance class tomorrow night (Tues) with City Academy, cant wait, I’m really exited.

[LinMM]

Hi Michelle thanks for info on the ENB Nutcracker workshop in December......I'll look it up.

 

The reason is unfortunately October is still too early for me ....for Rejane's Nutcracker one .....BUT.........today started my first jumps in the physio session.

I was too scared to jump at all at first had a real block so we did lots of bouncing up and down through the foot then she managed to get me to do five jumps .......then said "relax....stop thinking about it so much!" And then Immanaged ten jumps! Then later on another ten!

 

These jumps are in parallel ......with arms swinging ......she doesn't want me to do in a ballet position just yet.

I've also got a sort of front and back step,and hop and a side step and hop and am also now practising taking the balance in demi ......at the barre that is.....with leg in retire instead of just off the floor by the ankle.

 

 

SO .....all in all a rather happy bunny here today as also broken a bit of a psychological barrier as probably wisely too I think have been very almost over protective of my foot as Ive been so scared of being told I might not be able to carry on dancing at all.

 

Still no jumping in class yet though but may be able to soon at least take a balance on demi on the right instead of a pirouette.

[Fiz]

So glad for you, dear Lin. I am not going to Pilates and ballet today. My glands are all up, and I have a temperature and cracking headache.

[LinMM]

Sorry to hear this Fiz hope you feel better very soon x

[Fiz]

Thanks, Lin. It really is annoying. I was so pleased when term started.

[LinMM]

Michelle Ive looked everywhere on the ENB website and cannot see any workshop for adults in December!!

 

Did someone tell you about it or did you manage to find it on the website?

Do they take off if the workshop is full etc?

[Michelle_Richer]

Hi Lin

Follow the link for the Nutcracker Workshop:
http://www.ballet.org.uk/whats-on/nutcracker-2014/centrestageseries-nutcracker-adultballetworkshop-13dec/

 

I attended City Academy’s Performance Course last night, it was a good session, 13 of the 16 dancers were present, I hope we get a better attendance in future weeks. We did about 45 minutes of general barre and centre, 5 to 10 minutes talking about the course and costume requirements etc, then it was straight on to rep. In that we learned two phrases and the opening, the opening was done in cannon on the diagonal from opposite down stage corners. We linked in phrase one but we did not get as far as phrase 2, I guess that’s for next week and more. I really enjoyed it although the sound system in our studio (41) left a lot to be desired.

 

Was at my local hall this morning working on Odette’s Solo from Swan Lake act 2 as we will be covering that in the next City Academy workshop, I’ve also booked next Wednesday too for that piece.

 

Went to Sleaford tonight for Ballet and their Stretch and Tone class, both were good, Fiz’s teacher joined us as one of the dancers, sometimes when our teacher Harriet is away she teaches us too. I also enquired about hiring their studios, as it looks as if I will be hiring one of them in the future, especially if I need a large studio with a sprung floor.

 

Back to my hall tomorrow morning for my Le Corsaire solo, then LAB at night.

[LinMM]

Thanks have found it!!

 

Ive booked it as it is fairly short so should be okay for me by then.

[Michelle_Richer]

Today has been really frustrating. I went down to my local hall to work on my Le Corsaire solo, particularly the pirouettes. Unusually the floor was extremely sticky, normally its quite slippy and a good floor for pirouettes. A single turn was as much as one could get out of it before the pivoting foot screeched to a halt with breaking friction, even pose turns were noisy. While I was there I noticed my pink ballet slipper bottoms appeared blacker than normal, I had some brand new slippers with me but the elastics were not sewn on yet, I tried them, although they were marginally better, the level of friction was still quite unacceptable.

 

When I handed the hall keys back I queried the condition of the floor. Apparently there had been a complaint from some sports people that had hired it, as being too slippy and one person had actually slipped over, so consequently they had it cleaned, but it must have left a heavy residue behind.

 

When I arrive at RAD tonight (Thurs) for our LAB class/rehearsal I found our studio was allocated until our class, so no free practice, oh poo. As I had about 45 minutes to kill I went into RADs lounge/waiting room and started sewing the elastics on my new ballet slippers. Tom our teacher came in, so I told him of my tales of woe. However later in class when we were doing pirouettes in the centre, although they were only singles, my foot kept screeching with friction, something I had complained about last week. In sheer frustration I said “I know if I dampen the soles of ballet slipper, I know that will make them less slippy, is there anything I can do to make them more slippy”, Tom suggested I go to canvas from leather if I’m dancing on Vinyl Floors like Harlequin, but Leather is fine with wood. He also suggested that I may knock out a pair of canvas slippers in a couple of weeks with my level activity.

 

I wonder if anyone else has experienced similar things between incompatibilities of footwear to different dance floor types.

Edited September 18, 2014 by Michelle_Richer

[Petunia]

Yes Michelle, you never know. All kinds of floors can range from too slippy to not slippy enough  – depending on footwear, room temperature, humidity, moon phase… you name it.

 

If somebody has done floorwork e.g. in a Contemporary class before you come to work you might even slip in little pools of bodylotion and sweat. Bah.

But you should be prepared – take different kinds of footwear with you.

 

 I teach in different places – some have vinyl (different kinds of), some have wood. I always have canvas slippers, different kinds of socks and also Jazz slippers with a PU sole to choose from.

 

If the residue on the soles of your shoes bothers you too much, you can try to scrape it off with a knife or a steel brush. You should not wear them anywhere else because the dirt might come off and produce nasty sticky spots. Also, you can wash leather slippers just like the canvas ones (by hand, not in the machine)!

[Michelle_Richer]

Hi Petunia

 

Thank you for your comment.

 

I know floors vary enormously and also with temperature as I have experienced that with my own spring floor with a Harlequin vinyl overlay. As it’s in a large conservatory at the side of my house, when it gets hot in the summer it most definitely gets more slippy.

 

I have managed to wash off most of the residue on my regular leather ballet slippers, but I must get some canvas ones and check them out. I have some satins and I could have tried them but wasn’t aware at the time the effect different shoes have.

 

If I can solve the problem of pirouettes in my local hall it will save me a great deal on expense and convenience, otherwise I will have to book one of the studios in a ballet school I sometimes attend in Sleaford which is about 20miles from home, but if needs must.

[Michelle_Richer]

A really good night at Lincoln last night, we did more pointe work than normal this week. but still no news as to what scenes from Coppelia we are dancing for our Christmas show.

 

However it wasn’t all good news this week, LAB have altered the dates of the Autumn Intensive which goes on open booking on Wednesday. Its now 25th and 26th of October at Central rather than 3 days at RBS, this time its on Manon. Sadly I have a prior engagement on the 26th so I'm going to miss this one, which is probably as well as I have a dozen solo’s to concentrate on and consolidate for the next few months.

 

Only two more weeks to go before I re-join ENB and get back to normal, whatever normal is.

 

I’m eager to get back to my local hall and the RAD studio we use, to check out my new canvas ballet slippers on these otherwise sticky floors.

Edited September 23, 2014 by Michelle_Richer

[Jan McNulty]

Good article in the Daily Mail about the health benefits of ballet for older dancers.

[Michelle_Richer]

Its a good read Janet,thank you. I wonder what I will do when I become an older dancer, I guess I wont be doing City Academy 7 hour Swan Lake Workshops with the ankle cracking Cygnet dance, that we are doing this weekend. I hope I can do the splits when I’m 88, wow that’s incredible.

 

I was at my local hall this morning which gave me the opportunity to check out the floor with other types of ballet slippers. Using brand new canvas slippers, pirouettes seemed a little easier but not as good as that floor generally is, after two pirouettes the soles were starting to get discoloured with deposits. I also tried new leather slippers, they appeared similar as the soles were very clean. When I tried my regular slippers they were a lot less slippery, they had an hours build up of Odette’s Solo practiced beforehand. Conclusion, it’s a rubbish floor since its been cleaned to make it less slippy for the sports users.

 

I had another chat with one of my ballet schools at Sleaford tonight, it looks very likely now that I will be hiring one of their studios for an hour or two every week. I took the opportunity tonight after classes had finished to see if I could squeeze enough pose turns down the diagonal in their small studio to fit in with a piece I’m working on , it did which means it’s a little cheaper to hire than their largest one.

 

I will get the opportunity to check out my canvas ballet slippers on the RAD sticky floor tomorrow night, I hope that improves things as I often get the opportunity to practice in their studios before our LAB rehearsals.

Edited September 24, 2014 by Michelle_Richer

[munchkin16]

I managed to find a class at uni, its ages away by bus but was totally worth it. Huge studio with perfect sprung floors and massive mirrors. The teacher is male and he was so funny but really broke stuff down to get the basics right. The class was RAD intermediate so a little different and fast combinations but it seemed really friendly so I can't wait to go back. Oh and thanks to Just Ballet I had perfect pair of new canvas shoes for the marley floor so i didn't get stuck!

[Michelle_Richer]

Managed to check out my Canvas ballet slipper on the sticky RAD floor last night, whilst they were considerably better than leather there was still some stickiness present. Last term we hardly used that studio for centre work, only barre work. Centre was in a much larger studio where we also carried out our rehearsals. That floor was absolutely fine for pirouettes.

 

However working in the small studio for LAB does have its compensation's, we are a very tiny group, only 4 of us at the moment when everyone is present, but often only 3. During our company class prior to rehearsal the feedback and correction is fantastic, its almost one to one with such a tiny group. The rehearsal is also brilliant as it contains a lot of partner work with our male dancer. We are now 3 weeks in to this term and our routine is starting to look really nice, I'm really going to enjoy dancing that on the Bloomsbury stage at our next Gala performance. Next week I'm go in a tutu to allow our male dancer to get used to the additional spacing needed for my pancake skirt.

Edited September 26, 2014 by Michelle_Richer

[Jan McNulty]

I've come across this article via Facebook.  I know most of the people who contribute to this thread are already attending classes but there may still be something useful for you!  Also what do you think of the "tips"?

[Fiz]

Cramps √ Balances √ Dance wear obsession √ Spotting √ It's a very good article for those thinking about restarting ballet. Thanks, Jan!

[Michelle_Richer]

I did 7 hours of Swan Lake with City Academy on Saturday at Saddler's Wells, unusually there were only 4 of us, 2 girls and 2 guys. That would have been ideal for a Pas de deux, the nearest we got was the mime scene, towards the end of “Entrance of Odette”, so there was some partner work to the end of that scene. We all did the ankle cracking Cygnet dance, us girls did Odette’s Solo, whist the guys did Prince Siegfried Solo from the Black Swan scene. In the guy solo the music was very powerful, I would just loved to dance that scene.

 

Monday was my Lincoln class and finally we got to know what we are dancing for our show, it’s the “Waltz of Hours from Coppelia”. We start rehearsal next week.

 

Tues was my City Academy performance course for our Christmas show. We have  a new venue this week as our class is growing (19 dancers), we have now been relocated to Old Finsbury Town Hall, home of the Urdang Academy. Although the studio is bigger unfortunately we cannot get in earlier than 15 minutes to our start time, so no free practice studio for me. As I arrived early it did give me the chance of checking out 2 alternative routes from Kings Cross station. Route 1 via Angle on the underground came out at about 20mins, as did walking all the way from Kings Cross, however late at night I couldn’t help feeling that the Angle route may be a little safer.

Our show sequence is 6 minutes long and we have already passed  half way in 4 weeks of a 12 week course.

[Michelle_Richer]

Today was a little sad when I left my Sleaford classes as I shall be back with my ENB classes next Wednesday when the new term starts. However I have taken the opportunity of hiring my Sleaford ballet schools largest studio on Mondays 3pm till 4pm from the 13th, that minimises my travelling as its on the way to my rehearsal at Lincoln later that evening.

 

I will still continue to hire my local hall on Thursdays as that handy for my LAB rep practice, however for some reason our LAB classes video of last weeks work has not been made available yet, which is unusual and a little disappointing, especially as I’m already working on 3 separate shows and are trying to learn the Sugar Plum Fairy solo as I need that for my next City Academy workshop in less than two weeks.

[LinMM]

http://youtu.be/AiKLQ_0OqlM.

 

 

Just to show ballet can be entirely beautiful and satisfying without pointe shoes!!

 

A young student Anastasia Lukina of the Maryinski school.

[Fiz]

That was lovely, Lin! Thank you for sharing it. I love the solo from Esmeralda but the best I have ever seen it danced was by a 12 year old on demi pointe. Her technique was solid and she made it look beautiful. It was much better than several other versions by young teens who were insecure in their pointe shoes.

Edited October 4, 2014 by Fiz

[Billyelliott]

Beautiful!