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

[LinMM]

Honestly don't worry about it Loulabelle......carry on posting!!

Of course at face value it is a funny comment......the idea of the muggers all running away when they see Michelle coming!

 

All yelling "help it's that crazy RAD women again"

 

I have my suspicions that Michelle might quite like the Idea of frightening off the muggers somehow!

[Moomin]

I think you should find some lessons loulabelle :-)

[Jan McNulty]

Oh dear I seem to have inadvertently said the wrong thing, for that I apologise.

 

I enjoy reading this thread immensely as I'd love to be doing ballet as an adult, but as such cannot contribute to the conversation above about walking/busing routes as I know nothing about it. I simply came to Michelle's post and laughed, that's all nothing more.

 

I will restrict myself to merely lurking in future ;-)

 

Loulabelle please don't stop posting.  My opinion happened to differ from yours but that's something that happens.

[DancingPixie]

I must admit I thought it was quite funny the thought of Michelle getting scolded for upsetting muggers...

[Michelle_Richer]

 

Well girls your comments have tickled me pink, thank you for that. I’m glad most of you have a sense of humour too, and yes it does have a bit of a serious side too.

 

I remember a few years ago when we first started to get an influx of eastern European immigrant worker into the Boston area. I used to go into Boston Central Park to walk my little dog Chino, there would be large gatherings of guys, about 10 or 15 in a group and two or three groups separately grouped in the park somewhere along the main circular path. At first I would avoid them sometimes cutting short my dog walk, or giving them a wide birth and going on the grass around them. I got so annoyed on day I really felt defiant, so I deliberately went all the way round the circular path, each time I got to group it was a BIG EXCUSE ME as I sailed right through them, I guess I felt I was regaining a little bit of territory that I had previously lost.

 

Similarly some Salsa venues in Boston involve going down a poorly lit lane with a side entrance to pub, again guys tend to congregate there, I just sail straight through them. Although Boston is quite a rough town and the police vans are always positioned in the centre of the town late at night to keep revellers under control, I have never experienced any hostility towards me.

I do remember one night a little after midnight, not sure if it was one Christmas or New Years eve. Two guys came towards me as I was going to the car park, it was poorly lit and no one else around, I must admit then I did feel a little apprehensive as these guys deliberately came towards me, then they wished me a happy whatever it was, they were eastern Europeans but I guess were really nice people.

 

Don’t get me wrong I don’t deliberately court trouble, but I don’t give in lightly to intimidation either. As for the original route in question, I will make my own mind up, but it’s more likely to be the winter weather that becomes the deciding factor.

[LinMM]

I would never have suspected that Boston was a bit of a rough place!

 

As I said above I lived in London for 28 years and never any probs including walking back from things after midnight etc .

However am less keen to do that these days......haven't got such a good sprint on me!! But it's not based on personal experience so guess one picks up the general feeling and media feeds etc.

 

The one time it did happen it was two schoolboys trying to grab my bag at the back of the Festival Hall at 2 ish in the afternoon.

On that occasion because I was so shocked by their ages my best school ma'am voice seemed to do the trick so they ran off without my bag luckily.

 

But honestly Michelle although one doesn't really want to be driven away from what one would want to do.....it just would not be worth the worry to me to that walk unless there was really no choice. Good luck with it all anyway!

[Michelle_Richer]

What I think could become a real worry is the cold and its effect on my legs.

 

I have had a fantastic week with ballet but on Tuesday at Pineapple, I did my class as usual, a really nice class, did lots of pirouettes as part of our enchainement, teacher said to land in arabesque but didn’t qualify it, so mine stayed in the air whilst everyone else was on the ground. I guess I was just being a smart arse. We did them both sides. Then our teacher decided everyone was to do them in the air together with other movements in that enchainement. The upshot of it all, we worked very hard and got very hot as you would expect. After class I didn’t boro one of there studios this time but went to there café for something eat and drink, it was very cold in there. I was still in my leo and tights as I usually am just after class. I popped on a cardigan which helped with my upper body but my legs were starting to get very cold, the right led developed quite an ache in it, that remained for the rest of the day until I really started to use it at ENB. At the end of my train journey home it had almost ceased up again. Wednesday when I arrived at Oxford even though it was relatively warm in the car, my right leg was still very stiff again, but once I got going with ballet it soon returned to normal. I was wearing leg warmers yesterday, but took them off for class. They remained on for this morning’s session.

 

I guess I’m either going to have wrap up very well or work out even harder.

[Michelle_Richer]

Well Oxford certainly left its mark, I haven’t been able to get the jingle of the Le Corsaire “Harem Girls Dance” music out of my head, I was so frustrated at the weekend as I had no where big enough to dance the enchainement we had learnt and I was so so desperate to dance it, even more I want to dance the majority of that scene which is performed by a trio of dancers but I need to re-choreographed for solo. For that I also need to edit and re-cut the music then get my prospective pianist to play her interpretation of it.

 

 

 

This is Bolshoi’s version:

 

 

 

But at the moment I really must hold off, as I still have a Giselle piece to finish and three scenes from Swan Lake and from my Lincoln class tonight, the first piece of our enchainement for our Christmas show. The Christmas Show must take priority.

 

One piece of good news, Travel Lodge have issued me with an E-Credit for the loss of my Scottish Ballet trip, Haven’t heard anything from Trainline yet.

 

One piece of bad news, I got a parking ticket at Stamford today whist at Ballet class there, even though I had bought one. What I cannot be totally sure of, if it was the right way up on the dash board. I will find that out Wednesday when the parking authorities get the photo evidence in, which I hope, I can see.

[2dancersmum]

Re your parking ticket Michelle, if you are lucky, they might waive that if the ticket is on the dashboard but the wrong way up - given how windy it has been - if you still have the ticket to prove you paid.  I had my ticket on the dashboard face down and emailed an apology, along with a photocopy of my ticket and blamed it on the wind catching it without my noticing and the authority cancelled it.  Good news re Travelodge.

[LinMM]

Yes I left mine upside down once and got a ticket but when I sent the ticket in I didn't have to pay the fine.....it's just a palava having to write in and all that but worth it.

[Michelle_Richer]

I’ve been in touch with the Car Parking people, and there is provision on the website to attach a scanned image of your parking ticket, for an appeal which I have now done. So I’m hoping that will sort that one out.

 

I’ve had an email from TrainLine to send my unused ticket in for a refund and they are going to pursue East Coast for recovery on my £13 parking for that day, so that one is looking promising too.

 

 

Tuesday’s classes certainly took its toll on my legs again, only did an extra half hour at Pineapple after class on rep work as it was only a small studio this time. No extra time at ENB as a couple of professionals were dancing PDD before our class started. As I arrived at the studio door the ballerina said it was OK for me to go in, so I had a ring side seat (on the studio floor) for half an hour while they practiced, that was really nice. By the end of the last class my ankles were really aching and I was quite tired too, I think that was the left over’s of the cold I had. It really did feel like a long, long walk back to the tube station from ENB. The heel issue seems quite strange, I know it related to the amount of classes I do in a particular day, and Tuesday’s being the heaviest. If I’m at rest for a period (Like driving) of half an hour or more I get very stiff, Its almost as if it’s a lack of stretching. When I begin to walk my right ankle is extremely tender and I cannot fully put the heel on the floor, but after half a dozen or so steps I can progressively bottom my foot, just as if I’m stretching my hamstrings, then I can walk with reasonable comfort, but the back of the heel is still tender to the touch. The other odd thing that I have noticed, If I go on pointe (pointe practice), the heel problem just about clears up for several hours.

 

Most of today (Wednesday) I have been hobbling about with a limp, but went to ballet tonight and warned my teacher. She was reluctant for me to do the pointe practice class but I did. I also did the main class, with some difficulty at the start particularly grand plie’s, which I can usually bottom. But by the end of class I was fully mobile and rearing to go.

 

Unless this clears up, I will have to seriously think about dropping one of my less important Tuesday classes.

[Thecatsmother]

Sometimes if you get pain on a regular basis it is worth seeing a Physio so you know what you are working with. It can be very useful to have an expert opinion on what is causing the pain, what you should/should not do to and what you can do to improve and prevent it becoming a chronic problem. It is often advisable to go earlier rather than later given that this reduces the likelihood of having to take time off dance if it continues to fester. There are some good dance physio's on the dance UK and BAPAM website so you can see if there are any in your area or an area where you travel to do class.

[Anna C]

I agree. It does sound as if a visit to a good physio would be in order.

 

Good news about the train tickets. :-)

[Michelle_Richer]

Thank you Balleteacher You're a star.

 

I went on the Dance UK site as you suggested, and found one where I go past the door every Monday on my way to Ballet class at Stamford. I tried ringing them but just got the answer phone, so I have dropped them an email too.

 

I know Pineapple also have an Osteopath, I think his name is Ian Schofield.

[Michelle_Richer]

Physio booked for the 18th, then I will see what they come up with, however my heels are much better at the movement since my ballet activity tails off towards the weekend. Next week is a light week too, as I am going to see Moscow ballet Tuesday evening and miss ENB that week, however to compensate I will do two classes with Northern Ballet Tuesday morning.

 

I received notification the my parking fine had been dropped which is good news.

[Thecatsmother]

Glad you have found someone Michelle.

[Michelle_Richer]

Thank you balleteacher

I just hope they can restore my legs to that of an 18year old, then I WILL be very happy.

[Michelle_Richer]

Yippee just got notification from trainline.com that the East Coast cancelled Scottish rail journey has been refunded.

 

Scottish ballet is now on for the 9th December, not sure what they will make of me.

Edited November 11, 2013 by Michelle_Richer

[Michelle_Richer]

Section 2 added to our show piece, very ambitious of our teacher as it contains a Jete en tournant, chaines travelling turns and a pirouette, we still have section three to go. The show is only three weeks away, gosh this is going to be tight and concentrate the mind, its also a public paying one too.

 

Fortunately my teacher has allowed me to video it for practice, as it will be useful to dance this at more than one venue so there is no surprises in terms of special awareness when it come to dress rehearsal on the actual stage.

[Michelle_Richer]

Had a really fantastic day at Northern Ballet, the girls there are so friendly and sociable its really nice to meet up in the local café after class for a coffee and a chat, its the only class I know of does this and its wonderful. Even their teacher is really nice even though she uses Yorkshire French pronunciation for ballet terms, but she it getting me trained in that now.

[Jan McNulty]

I came across this via twitter this morning:

 

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid2827562160001?bckey=AQ~~,AAAABm817ak~,dMHthNCc433hIJiZB3ACbHTSIWYYRsK5&bctid=2820428292001

[Fiz]

Thanks, Janet. That is very useful.

[Anna C]

I came across this via twitter this morning:

 

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid2827562160001?bckey=AQ~~,AAAABm817ak~,dMHthNCc433hIJiZB3ACbHTSIWYYRsK5&bctid=2820428292001

Great stretches. As a rather random aside, I love the look of SF Ballet's Nutcracker - beautiful costumes!

[Michelle_Richer]

Yes Janet a nice video. I had not thought of using a resistance band sideways, most of the other stretches we do in our body balance class and its left to each individual how far you go. I do two of those classes a week and love them.

 

One of my teachers doesn’t rate the resistance band for strengthening the feet, but it seems to work for me, especially as I have broken two or three stretching them too far. Its certainly helped with preparation for pointe work. In pointe class we are still concentrating on building strength, last night exercise was quite simple apart from the usual prances and rolling up onto plie’s, We were taking the body weight onto one foot and holding it there. There was only two of us last night, the other girl struggles a bit so the teacher left it at 15 seconds. My right foot is my strongest and has the best straightness profile. Strength wise it feels almost indefinite but my toes get a little sore after a minute or so. I ended up doing developee’s to the side, and front then with front gesturing foot in attitude and round to the back in arabesques, all at the barre of course but only one slight fingertip support. My teacher just told me to be careful, but didn’t stop me. It was awesome the sense of height.

It wasn’t all good news though, my left leg still has a little bit of a knee injury, which I can feel when that leg is supporting my full body weight en pointe, it gave a little last night, so I put an elasticated support around it. I continued with the class on that foot and it held up, but it was a warning not to push it too far, so I just stuck to the teachers exercises. It did screw up my pirouettes, with that foot as the gesturing foot during the class that followed, the mind boggles why.

[Michelle_Richer]

Went to see the Physio today, that was a very painful experience when she found the fluid build-up on my ankles. While I was there she massage them and treated them with ultra sound, she has shown me how to massage them too. I have some exercises to do which will also strengthen it using a step or ledge. There are two types, the first using strait legs is called the gastrocnemius drop, and the second with knees flexed at 45 degrees called the solius drop. Basically I go from demi-pointe through flat to the foot pointing up on the ledge then to repeat, one foot steps on demi-pointe and then the other. The exercise set by my physio calls for 3 x 15 reps of each, twice a day, 7 days a week for 12 weeks.

 

I did my Lincoln class tonight; I did get a bit of a reprieve as we were going through costumes for our show. My teacher brought a pile of romantic tutu’s in, although I have my own, both my teacher an I took in a range of coloured leotards, as many of the girls only have black ones. So about a third of the class time was spent discussing what to wear.  Unfortunately we did not finish part 3 of the show sequence. Most of this time my ankles and legs were playing up, I think it was aggravated by the pain I felt when the fluid areas were pressed in the afternoon.

 

Tomorrow (Tuesday) which is my heaviest ballet day, I think I will suspend Pineapple for a while to give my ankles a fighting chance to recover, aided by my new exercises.

[Anna C]

Sounds like a good idea Michelle. Post-treatment soreness is very common after a session with the physio. :-(

[Thecatsmother]

Did Physio give you an idea what was causing pain michelle? Glad you got it looked at.

[2dancersmum]

Glad you found the physio useful Michelle.  Do you have any idea what is causing the extra fluid on your ankles?  If this is something new and not a pre-existing condition or known to be linked to medication, it might be worth a visit to the doctor to get it checked out.

[Michelle_Richer]

Did Physio give you an idea what was causing pain michelle? Glad you got it looked at.

Hi Balleteacher

The Physio asked a number of questions in order to investigate the cause of the pain like badly fitting shoes etc, in the end her conclusion was the same as mine, overuse, especially when I mentioned my Tuesday could extend to seven and a half hours of ballet when I add on my hour of Ref practice at Pineapple, and a further half hour before class at ENB. I know that’s not every day, but I generally have multiple classes most day, and on top of that I attend most Rep workshops going.

 

The condition appears to be well known and understood, its called Achilles tendinopathy, the exercise treatment suggested by my physio is know as “Alfredson’s painful heel-drop protocol”. This is strait out of Brukner and Khan, Clinical Sports Medicine BE, McGraw-Hill Profession”.

 

During the session with my physio, other observations came out: My arches we considered to be low, when I did a releve my right heel appeared to roll in a little. When I stood normally, I appear to put my weight on to one foot, but it could be either foot. I tend to stand on the ball of my foot rather than the heel fully down, I very much agree with that observation as I often get told off on changement that I don’t fully put my heels down. No real conclusion was drawn from all that. My balance in the physios consulting room was also rubbish, but I think that was just a bad day, she suggested going to a gym and using a wobble board, but I told her I already have one.

 

I started the day (Tuesday) with the heel-drop exercises as recommended, it was somewhat painful to start with but eased a little as I did more reps. Then it was off to my Dance Fever class at Castle Sports in Spalding, when I got there the car park was, I had to park a 10 minute walk away, that made me late and I was trying to rush to the class, my right ankle was giving me hell and I almost aborted going there. The dance fever class(Fusion of ballet and latin) was quite hard on my feet as there was quite a lot of jumping, which was on a hard gym floor. But never the less I survived it, after I had a coffee with the girls and walked back to the car in a less hurried fashion, that was a lot easier on my feet.

At this point I was extremely unsure about doing my two classes at ENB, but surprising when I got off the train at Kings Cross they were not as bad as my previous visit, although I still had quite a limp.

At ENB I told both of my teachers prior to starting class as I was very apprehensive about being able fully do both classes. As it was I did, furthermore when I left, my feet were in a far better shape than when I arrived. Although they were starting to get a little painful by the time I had walked (20 minute) to the tube station, they were in a far better condition than my previous visit. I think the improvement, although only one exercise session, has contributed to it, but it has also helped by suspending my visit to Pineapple.

 

I really do need to get a significant improvement in the short term, as I have another normal week after this one, then I’m committed to 15 successive days of ballet.

 

 

 

Glad you found the physio useful Michelle.  Do you have any idea what is causing the extra fluid on your ankles?  If this is something new and not a pre-existing condition or known to be linked to medication, it might be worth a visit to the doctor to get it checked out.

Hi 2dancersmum

The overall condition has been developing since about July as far as I can recall.

 

As for GP’s, I’m sorry I don’t have much faith in them to provide effective diagnosis or treatment for this type of condition other than hurriedly writing a prescription for pain relief.

Edited November 20, 2013 by Michelle_Richer

[Guest chinafish]

... I really do need to get a significant improvement in the short term...

 

Oh my, if I had a penny every time I thought this, I'd be very rich...

 

Obviously this might not apply to you, but in my early dancing days every time I have a niggle in whatever part of my body I tend to just grit and bear it and ignore it. I'd do something about it (stretch, massage etc) but on hindsight I almost never give it enough TLC that it deserves.

 

Then the problem stays and exacerbates and then before I knew it it turned into something worse / spreads (e.g. for me an ankle problem would inevitably become an ankle & calf problem) and then I had to go to a physio / osteopath, which becomes expensive (with both time spent at physio, money spent at physio, which also means time taken away when I could have been getting on with life / dancing!)

 

I have personally found that if I started having pain if I step back a bit it would always heal quicker, and if I rush to go back it would ultimately cause an even bigger injury.

 

But then again sometimes I don't practice what I preach... and boy did I bear the consequences... just this summer there were intensives and shows and I injured myself right before that. I had already committed myself to the shows and paid for the intensive, so pulling out and resting was really not an option. Therefore a few trips to the physio and painkillers were the answer. Which ultimately led me to having a grade 2 tear in my calf, couldn't walk for a week (let alone dance), and out of dancing completely for a month and a half. I've only started jumping again about 2 weeks ago.

 

A friend of mine sprained her ankle while we were running for a bus. She iced it, rested for a few days, and went back to class. We knew it was still bothering her but she didn't want to sit out to appear "unreliable", "weak" or "lazy". (Story of all dancers lives probably...!) She would then sit out of half a class, rest for one day and go back full steam. Eventually she went to get a scan because it wasn't getting better, and found a ligament completely torn off the bone in the foot. This was 3 years ago. Within these couple of years as far as I know she's had 2 surgeries in the ankle, 1 in the knee and another one coming in the hip joints, all because of not resting that ankle injury properly and as a consequence of compensating in other areas of the body. She hasn't been able to take full class ever since.

 

Michelle I have been following your posts and you have explained well why you are so passionate about ballet, and why you are dancing so much. Obviously what happened to my friend and I would not necessarily happen to you, these are just personal experience, that carrying on through injury and pain did set us back, and I would not want this to happen to you.

 

Take care,

Fish

Edited November 20, 2013 by chinafish

[LinMM]

Yes take it easy Michelle. You are doing Ballet at Sportsman almost Iron Lady level and most people at this level end up with injuries sooner or later.......even Professional dancers of course. If you want to go on enjoying your dancing for the next few years it may be time to review the number of classes a bit.......at least just at the moment. I would try to avoid jumps where you are landing on one foot at the mo especially of the more "grand" type like Grand jete en tournant.

 

2 dancers mum I wonder if you were thinking of the more significant pooling of fluid in the ankles connected with the venous return to the heart being sluggish rather than around the centre of an injury which is more in a specific place.

I would hope that if Michelle had the former the physio would have suggested a GP visit anyway as its not a physio's area!!

 

I think Michelle may mean the injury type. When I injured my ankle again (I had broken it some years before) there was fluid around the bone on the inside of the ankle but it was so painful I couldn't have danced anyway. There is a point in time with injuries when resting it is the healing action you can take.......then bring in exercises etc gradually after a couple of weeks etc.

Take care Michelle......I want to see you on the 1st!!

[2dancersmum]

Lin, I know an ankle injury causes fluid build up as I have seen it for myself but I wasn't clear if this predated the problem with the Achilles and painful heels or had developed alongside.  Significant pooling linked to heart and circulation is a different matter altogether but I am well aware there are many other reasons besides these and it is just something to keep an eye on.

[Thecatsmother]

I am glad you have got professional support. I agree with some of the comments of other forum members. It's far easier on every level to try and heal injury from an early intervention perspective. I too relate to looking back at early injury signs with benefit of hindsight. I unfortunately got the wrong diagnosis but the diagnosis suggests you Achilles' tendons are inflamed so act now. Use your planning skills to direct determination to healing injury even if it is sadly less entertaining.

http://www.patient.co.uk/health/achilles-tendinopathy

 

Hope this helps