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

[LinMM]

Sorry to disillusion you Michelle but South Holland is 226 per 100,000 cases now. 
You are just a few cases less than 10 short of Brighton. We are now T4 not so much because of our numbers which were 172 at the time only a few days ago 😳  but because The Gov was worried about this new strain which seemed to be going around the South East but no doubt now is everywhere in UK 

We went from 58 cases per 100,000 to 234 cases per 100,000 in just three weeks from Dec 2 to today. 
I know it’s a pain but suspect nearly whole country will be in Tier 4 by end of the week. 
I do hope schools close for 3-4 weeks as well as the new strain seemed to take off in schools (purely because it likes larger groups of people together) and it’s pointless us all being in Tier 4 if it’s going to take off in schools again ....especially as so close now to the vaccine mass roll out ....don’t want to give it a chance to mutate yet again. 

[Michelle_Richer]

Yes Linda I stand corrected, thank you. I guess it wont be a surprise come the review on Wednesday, if the vast majority of the country is placed in Tier 4, or even totally locked down again. Either way I will just drop into my contingency of adding another PDD to Le Corsair and Dropping my pieces from La Bayadere.

 

Besides I’ve still got plenty to do in learning the new Cecchetti Advanced 2 Syllabus, that will keep me going for ages, its a real challenging teaser. Then add my pointe work on top of it. Don t think I will be getting bored just yet, however I’m really beginning to miss meeting up with our old gang of dancing friends from the companies we've danced with.

[LinMM]

Yes me too ...perhaps in the summer we can get some sort of get together arranged in London ....I wonder if Nina would do a workshop? 
Yes plenty of zoom ballet to be getting on with meanwhile have to keep positive! 

[youngatheart]

19 hours ago, Michelle_Richer said:

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.

 

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

[Michelle_Richer]

7 hours ago, youngatheart said:

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

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

[glowlight]

@Michelle_Richer - In the Tier 4 guidance on the .gov website, under 'Businesses and Venues which must close' there is an exemption 'for the purposes of film and TV filming'.  I'm not sure if this is intended to be for the purposes of virtual classes, but I think this may be what @youngatheart is referring to.

 

 

[Colman]

I’m resigned to zoom classes until March, at least, and the U.K. looks to be considerably worse off than Ireland. You might reopen before is though, not sure how wisely. 

[LinMM]

We might open up before end of Feb but it will probably just be back to Tier 3’s or if lucky Tier 2’s so probably not too many studios open much before March either. 
 

[Michelle_Richer]

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

[Michelle_Richer]

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

Initially I was attracted by the music.

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

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

 

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

 

 

[Michelle_Richer]

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

[Michelle_Richer]

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

Edited February 23, 2021 by BalletcoForum Moderators
Edited by Mods with member’s permission

[Peony]

Can you get the correct line without a pointe shoe on Michelle? If you can it might be your shoes hampering it

[Michelle_Richer]

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

[Michelle_Richer]

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

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

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

 

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

 

[Jan McNulty]

Gosh Michelle,

 

That is interesting about colouring your hair.

 

Thank you for the information.

 

(But what do you do if you colour your own hair?)

[LinMM]

I’ve not heard anything about this and would have thought would be more in the general news if there was a major problem 🤔 
I would think hairdressers should be communicating urgently by now with most of their customers who colour their hair but so far have heard nothing from mine. 

I can’t wait to get hair done as am completely gold and silver now and it’s just got to that length which is too short to really tie back so appears  unmanaged and emerging “teddy boy” look 😩 And might still have another four weeks to go yet 😱

Ive just booked my first swim at Saltdean Lido next week ....just hope the water isn’t so cold I don’t get further than my knees!! 

 

 

[Peony]

Coronavirus vaccine has been cleared from your body within a few days so I can’t quite understand what issue they are promoting? There doesn’t seem to be any mention of vaccines on the colourstart website and I don’t think there is any evidence that they cause skin sensitisation. I’ve never paid for a patch test at the hairdresser, £8 is an extortionate amount to charge for a blob of dye! I wonder if they’re on commission from the colourstart company.... I guess if you really like your current salon you don’t have a choice

 

[LinMM]

When I looked it up it was more a problem with some people who tend to be more allergic generally who had actually had Covid ....not vaccinated people ....and most of the articles dated from last summer! 
Ive certainly had my hair coloured twice since then and my hairdresser never asked if I had had Covid in between visits!! 
I will have the conversation with her though. 
I’m not sure but think I’ve booked an appointment online (for April 21st!) which I’ve never done before. It seemed to go through okay on the online calendar but have had no confirmation so not sure if the booking is “live” or not! Otherwise will have to wait until 12th to phone in. I’ve missed one in March but not sure if given any priority of booking because of this. 

 

[Anna C]

14 hours ago, Jan McNulty said:

Gosh Michelle,

 

That is interesting about colouring your hair.

 

Thank you for the information.

 

(But what do you do if you colour your own hair?)

 

Patch test at home as normal, I guess, Jan?

[Jan McNulty]

36 minutes ago, Anna C said:

 

Patch test at home as normal, I guess, Jan?

 

I know ... it costs me a fortune to keep my hair silver!!

[Michelle_Richer]

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

[LinMM]

Talking of hairdressers mine contacted me today and I can’t get my hair done until May 4th 😳😳😳
Of course she has had to be fair and do all the December January and February appointments first so as my original one was for March 4th that’s now become May. 
I’ve promised to drop in and give her a scare before then though 😱 

[Anna C]

10 hours ago, Michelle_Richer said:

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

 

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

 

7 hours ago, LinMM said:

Talking of hairdressers mine contacted me today and I can’t get my hair done until May 4th 😳😳😳
Of course she has had to be fair and do all the December January and February appointments first so as my original one was for March 4th that’s now become May. 
I’ve promised to drop in and give her a scare before then though 😱 

 

I sympathise, Lin - I only managed one haircut last year in between lockdowns and my hair is now halfway down my back, with another month until my appointment.  I’ve had to resort to plaits!

[LinMM]

So you’ve now got the Heidi look Anna C! 
probably marginally better than the teddy boy look! 
Still I wouldn’t need to wear a wig for the Gold and Silver Fairies in Sleeping Beauty lol! 

[Anna C]

1 hour ago, LinMM said:

So you’ve now got the Heidi look Anna C! 
probably marginally better than the teddy boy look! 
Still I wouldn’t need to wear a wig for the Gold and Silver Fairies in Sleeping Beauty lol! 

 

☺️ My neighbour said I look like Laura Ingalls! 

[Michelle_Richer]

12 hours ago, Anna C said:

 

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

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

 

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

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

[Anna C]

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

[Michelle_Richer]

13 hours ago, Anna C said:

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

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

Edited March 31, 2021 by Michelle_Richer

[TYR]

TOP SECRET: I have enjoyed doing my girlfriend's hair through the lockdowns enormously, and repeatedly surprised people on zoom calls with the results.

[Michelle_Richer]

An update on the ColourStart saga

 

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

 

 

 

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

 

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

 

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

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

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

 

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

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

 

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

[LinMM]

I still don’t understand all this Michelle. 
When I was new to my hairdresser a couple of years back she gave me a free allergy test to the dye being used. 
If there was any extra concern right now I’m sure she would offer me another free test now 😊

I’m not sure what all this ColourStart thing is 🤔

[Michelle_Richer]

What a week this week ,Whoopee!.

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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