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

[Peony]

Have you tried with normal padding instead of the perfect fit? Is there any of the moulded material over the little toe or is it one of your contact points? If you need a fitting dancique in Birmingham are great and very patient (with adults too! Some places don’t seem to be bothered with adults!) 10 to 15 minutes per session is normal for a beginner. It’s something you have to build up very slowly I think and as an adult most of us tend to be somewhat taller and heavier than an 11 or 12 year old so it is hard on the feet! I’d go get a fitting tbh

[Michelle_Richer]

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.

[Michelle_Richer]

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 12^th , 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 5^th Nov, at last things are coming together.

[Michelle_Richer]

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 5^th 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.

[Michelle_Richer]

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.

[Michelle_Richer]

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?

[Peony]

you only need to isolate if you are contacted by test and trace or have symptoms or a positive test. If the child had no symptoms and hasn’t tested positive your teacher wouldn’t be required to isolate. If your teacher hasn’t tested positive and hasn’t got symptoms you wouldn’t be required to isolate. The test and trace is only triggered by a positive result and then those in close contact would be contacted. If you have the app with Bluetooth turned on it should  tell you to isolate if you’d been within 2 metres of someone positive for more than 15 mins, however, you need to be careful if you leave your phone in a bag or pocket etc during the class, it may be right next to somebody else’s phone and you may not have been near them!

[LinMM]

I think the parent of the child is the one who has to tell her direct contacts ...so people she has been directly in contact with and it’s those who have to isolate and get a test if they then develop symptoms. 

I assume if you have not been in direct contact with this parent or child it wouldn’t affect you. 
I also assume dance schools are different to ordinary schools in that there is more social distancing going on than in a school classroom. 

It is difficult though for example when I attend my weekly ballet class where social distancing is in place if one of the other dancers had symptoms and then tested positive would we all have to self isolate or just her own close contacts possibly some work colleagues and family etc. 

 

[LinMM]

I still don’t think I’ve got a grip on this whole test and trace thing! 
For example if my partner and I go to a restaurant and we leave our details etc. 
We are there from 7-9pm say. 
We are sitting on our own table socially distanced from others there. 
Then somebody who happened to be in the restaurant at the same time later in week tests positive for Covid would everybody who was in the restaurant between 7-9pm get contacted and have to self isolate or just the people that person was personally with 🤔 
 

[Peony]

Apart from household and support bubble contacts who automatically have to self isolate the decision as to whether you are at risk is made by test and trace or the app based on a risk assessment. So you don’t need to decide yourself. Generally if you’ve been socially distancing you should be low risk but the risk assessment takes into account multiple factors I believe. A positive test would be considered confidential health information so the teacher wouldn’t be able to give you details which could identify the person. This could potentially include identifying the affected class, so although it looks like the teacher only had contact with the contact they may not be able to give all the details of the interaction etc! Obviously the tracing system has had a lot of problems 😫 but it is a better way because it removes the need to interpret your risk and it’s confidential so avoids any slip ups and difficult situations. 

[Jan McNulty]

I'm set up on the test and trace app although so far I have only been to one place where I have had to check in.  When I went there on Wednesday at about 2pm and checked in the app told me that I would be logged in there either till midnight or till I checked in elsewhere (whichever was sooner).

 

Would I still be contacted if someone checked in at 6pm when I had left over 3 hours earlier?

 

I don't have to check in when I go to the supermarket or the corner shop (just about the only other places I am going to).

[Pixiewoo]

I wish you could check out as well as check in to places!

[Peony]

It’s major problem with the app although it’s the same many manual check ins in  cafes, museums etc. They don’t note down what time you’re in/out either. You would have thought it would be much more straightforward to build that into  the app though. 

[Michelle_Richer]

On 20/10/2020 at 23:35, Peony said:

you only need to isolate if you are contacted by test and trace or have symptoms or a positive test. If the child had no symptoms and hasn’t tested positive your teacher wouldn’t be required to isolate. If your teacher hasn’t tested positive and hasn’t got symptoms you wouldn’t be required to isolate. 

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 5^th 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.

 

 

[Peony]

Hi Michelle, the QR codes are mandatory in cafes, pubs, restaurants but not in shops. Personally I think the Bluetooth system is better in shops as it will detect if you’ve actually been near someone who tests positive, I don’t scan the QR code in shops. I wear a mask and stay well away from other people. If I pop into the shop for 5 minutes at 8am and scan the QR code I won’t be logged out until midnight and I just can’t afford to keep isolating if I haven’t even been in contact! I usually avoid supermarkets but if I go it’s after 8pm and you can keep well away from people then, although pretty much everyone is wearing a mask here. 
 

good to hear the pointe has improved a bit. Is it just rubbing on the little toe? 6 hours of pointe is an awful lot, my feet hurt just thinking about it!

[LinMM]

You don’t have to leave your details in shops at least I’ve never seen it. 
I leave my details in cafes pubs and restaurants ( not that I’ve been to many) and the gym where I do my weekly ballet class. 
I’ve never seen this demand for track and trace details in shops so far but I don’t feel so threatened in shops anyway. The amount of time you spend in one particular place and being more static in that place is much more crucial as to whether you might pick up the virus or not. Smaller shops are fine as not long in them anyway but only thing in supermarkets is if there is a long queue...bit of a danger there but not so bad now everybody is wearing masks and compliance in Brighton and Lewes is very good. 
We haven’t got the App because there’s a glitch in it which still hasn’t been fixed so won’t consider that at the moment but do the pen and paper thing but have no idea whether that works in fact or not. 

[glowlight]

On 20/10/2020 at 23:35, Peony said:

 to be careful if you leave your phone in a bag or pocket etc during the class, it may be right next to somebody else’s phone and you may not have been near them!

I believe that you can temporarily turn off the proximity scanning if you will be leaving your phone in a changing room/locker - for just this reason.

 

As to where you need to give track and trace details - When using Cafes, bars, restaurants, close contact personal services (eg hairdressers), you must provide details for track and trace, either via the app or giving your contact details manually(they can refuse to serve you if you don't).  There is no such requirement when using shops.  I don't think the QR codes were really intended for use in shops.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[LinMM]

Have they fixed that problem with the App where unless you order a test via the App itself you can’t register a negative result so it automatically puts you into quarantine when you don’t need to be ....does anyone happen to know? 

[LinMM]

Apparently they have fixed that now. 

[NJH]

16 hours ago, glowlight said:

I believe that you can temporarily turn off the proximity scanning if you will be leaving your phone in a changing room/locker - for just this reason.

 

 

 we have  big posters to  the  effect  at my work place as most of the staff aren't allowed their phones inside the warehouse area

[Michelle_Richer]

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.

 

Edited October 26, 2020 by Michelle_Richer

[LinMM]

Do you think she’s taking too much of a risk taking a Pilates class if she works in a Care home? 
care home staff are supposed to be tested regularly ( don’t know how far this is happening or not) but people attending the class won’t be. 
I think it really depends on what you think about the social distancing in the class. 
If you can reach out and touch another member  whilst on the mat then probably not far enough away but if not then it could be okay. 
Some people are not using the full 2 metres distance but one metre plus but you will soon find out!! 
When you said was in someone’s house I thought it must have big rooms then to space out seven people plus teacher.
I hope it’s okay I love my Pilates sessions.  

[Fiz]

Michelle, Covid cases are on the rise all over Lincolnshire and Nottingham is going into lockdown now and South Yorkshire is already there. I guess nowhere is that safe now. Stay well. 

[Michelle_Richer]

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.

 

[glowlight]

I think with any out of the house activity we each have to do a personal risk assessment these days.  

 

It sounds as if the pilates teacher has done a risk assessment - but there's nothing wrong with saying it doesn't meet your own risk assessment if you are uncomfortable.

 

Distance is more important if you are facing than if you are side by side.

 

Ventilation is probably just as important.  Also the overall space in the room, and what happens in between sessions.

 

As to whether the care sector are getting regular testing - I know that the care organisation that my husband works with is testing its staff routinely (either weekly or fortnightly) and this may indeed be how the teacher came to know she was positive in the first place.

 

 

 

 

[Michelle_Richer]

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.

 

[SissonneDoublee]

It’s good to hear that your Pilates teacher has been given the all clear. I imagine they, like so many others are working out how to navigate the new restrictions whilst keeping their business afloat. My heart goes out to anyone that finds themself in this position again, especially as they really haven’t had time to recover from the impact of the last lockdown.

 

It sounds like your little toe will benefit from this period away from class, as a toe that is extremely painful really shouldn’t be used for ongoing pointe work, and possibly other aspects of your dance regime such as demi pointe/ relevés etc also need to be suspended until it has had a chance to recover. As frustrating as it is to rest, the damage done by continuing to dance on an injured toe will almost certainly be more serious than the original injury, and possibly wider reaching as the body tries to compensate.

A vocational student presenting with anything they described as ‘extremely painful’ would be on restricted dance (or possibly no dance) until the school medical team were satisfied that they were ready to return.

 

Wishing you a speedy and full recovery!

[LinMM]

I think I’ve just had a friend request from the same young lady as you Michelle!! 
I will message you with her name in case it’s a different person but have already deleted the request because I cannot see why on Earth this very young lady would want to be friends with an old lady like me who she is never likely to meet lol!! 
I usually only accept friend requests from people I know already or from somebody I know really well who knows them. 
 

[Peony]

How bizarre, I think some people just want to have a good old nosy round your pictures etc!

[glowlight]

It could be that the friend request has come from a spoofed account, not from the young lady in question - which could explain why she blocked a direct message so abruptly.

[Michelle_Richer]

On 01/11/2020 at 17:56, SissonneDoublee said:

It’s good to hear that your Pilates teacher has been given the all clear. I imagine they, like so many others are working out how to navigate the new restrictions whilst keeping their business afloat. My heart goes out to anyone that finds themself in this position again, especially as they really haven’t had time to recover from the impact of the last lockdown.

 

It sounds like your little toe will benefit from this period away from class, as a toe that is extremely painful really shouldn’t be used for ongoing pointe work, and possibly other aspects of your dance regime such as demi pointe/ relevés etc also need to be suspended until it has had a chance to recover. As frustrating as it is to rest, the damage done by continuing to dance on an injured toe will almost certainly be more serious than the original injury, and possibly wider reaching as the body tries to compensate.!

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.

[Michelle_Richer]

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.

[Michelle_Richer]

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.