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


Michelle_Richer

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It is feeling a little more normal this week as it’s been a very long haul this time. 
Im just about to go in for first Pilates 1-1 since October and tomorrow meeting a friend for the first time in 15 months for a walk and garden coffee and on Friday have my first massage since October as well so it’s all looking up!! 
My hair is a sorry story though and driving me mad at the moment and still until May 4th to go 😢

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Yes I used to pay around £80 ( started at £60 but went up over ten years) Anyway the hairdresser I used to have 2 years ago left to finally have a baby ( they had been trying for ten years so it’s a lovely story in the end with a baby girl arriving on the scene)

I started to look around Lewes for another hairdresser and just couldn’t find one for less than about £85-90 😳 

I then came across my current one who 2 years ago was charging £48!!! It’s now £55

But was amazed the charges were so low by comparison. I can only assume they or the main lady (who I have)  must own the property( it’s just the two hairdressers) 

I’m really glad I found them though as was wondering if I might have to drive to Seaford to get the cheaper prices. 
Brighton is expensive most seem around £90 for colour cut and blow dry. 
One very well known chain there was charging over £100 and it annoyed me to see that they effectively were charging for the blow dry twice..... as they added a cut and blow dry to a colour and blow dry to get the price.....unbelievable and literally daylight robbery 😬 

I look like a bedraggled and straggly granny at the moment 😱 

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9 minutes ago, Anna C said:

 

Blimey! 😳😳 That’s like London prices, Jan!  

I paid £120 in one salon where I used to live for the same cut and blow dry! They had moved to a larger salon in the town and were handing out glasses of wine to the customers as routine. I was shocked rigid when I was told the cost. I never went back there again.

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I went back through my on-line banking to find the comparable cost just before the first lock-down, it was £55.00, after first lock-down £79.00, now after last lock-down £91.00, its almost doubled in not much more than a year, hence my ouch!

 

Do I begrudge it, no. As it was it did give me a lift for my in-studio rep session in Lincoln. I went through the rep on Tuesday as I thought my Cecchetti class resumed Wednesday this week, but luckily I was wrong, its next week. To be fair, I over did my Tuesday rep practice as I thought I still knew it, and had to relearn quite a lot, the other issue is, it requires a lot of stamina which I know I had lost over the year lock-downs. At the end of Tuesday after spending several hours going through the rep, I was so so stiff and though I would really be in trouble when I came to dance it in Lincoln on Thursday.

 

Surprise surprise, it went incredibly well, both me and my coach danced through the first two thirds several times, as we both had minor issues with connecting steps and orientation between sections of a PDT which I has re-choreographed into one long solo. In fact I even had time to walk through the last third with my coach for next week, needless to say that became her homework for familiarity. We both parted with a real feeling that things had gone really well, for me in particular that I hadn't tired at all which I was dreading.

I don’t know if the weather had an effect but the drive to and from Lincoln in the sunshine was incredibly nice and really gave me a buzz.

At least for the time being I can say we are on schedule as I have allowed 4 weeks for this piece, mainly because of the stamina required to dance it full on with three and a half minute of mainly grand allegro.

I’ve also allocated 2 weeks for each for the 4 solos,  but expect to continue to refresh the main piece during this time too. There are three weeks at the end to dance and polish everything for showcasing in Scotland in August.

 

Hair, weather and dance, all was well, what more could I ask, Thursday was a good day.

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3 hours ago, Anna C said:

Speaking of expensive salons, here’s the marvellous Andrew Cotter with another Olive and Mabel video:  

 

 

Chipdog did exactly that on Saturday and I had to shower his lower half when we got home.  It was disgusting, smelly stagnant water mud.

 

I never thought to charge him £80 for the privilege of being hosed down and shampooed!!!  

 

Thanks Anna for brightening my day.

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One bit of welcome news on my hair dressing saga, went on my weekly appointment on Wednesday, this time it was for wash-n-blowdry and re-bun my hair, whoopee no increase in price, still £18.00 and still below their regular price.

 

This was always done prior for rehearsal, sadly these days I have to make do with my on-line Cecchetti one-to-one class later that evening which after the Easter break was quite challenging this week with the amount my teacher packed into it.

 

Although not strictly rehearsal, Thursdays I now have my one-to-one rep coaching in studio, so my hair is still in good shape for that one too.

Another good run through this week, however I do need to modify the rep slightly as we cannot accommodate the space needed to get in 3 grand jete / arabesque combinations in the studio we have mainly due to its shape of the upstage R corner to the downstage L corner which is restricted. Although the opposite diagonal if fine for the particularly lone sequence of travelling turns which I thought we may have a problem with. Even so we have to keep the turns very tight so they don’t travel very much, at least we can accommodated them.

Due to the space restrictions for the Grand jete combination, we are now replacing the first with an introduction port de bras, although me and my coach through some ideas together, the actual port de bras is still work-in-progress for next week.

Next week we also need to add in the previous weeks rep giving us three and a half minutes of mainly grand allegro, that I will need to build my stamina for and my teacher too.

Who said Ballet was easy, not me.

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  • 3 months later...

Gosh what a term once group classes restarted, Initially I started to suffer from the effects of overuse that plagues me some years ago. I added in stretch after every class but that took about 3 weeks before I really noticed the benefits.

 

One of the things that has emerged out of the stretching, after each rep session which is quite full on, not only do we do a conventional stretch session for about 10mins but we have also added partner PNF stretching, something I experienced from Sander Blommaerts stretch class that followed our rehearsals at BBT.

 

The rep this year has come together nicely, in fact we added in an extra as a stretch objective of Gulnara’s solo from Pas de Esclave and we are pretty well up to date with it with one week to go. Our solo is loosely based on a combination of ENB, Bolshoi and Mariinsky, however in order to stretch it further mainly as a result of a restriction of the studios diagonal from upstage left corner to down-stage right corner. I have decided to restrict the travel by utilizing ENB’s spectacular travelling turns ending.

Normally we would be showcasing our work in Scotland during August, but that isn't possible this year, however we are planning to wrap this years rep and next years for showcasing together next year, so we will need to keep this years rep fresh during next year too.

 

The increased time to showcase our work has also led to another stretch objective, a few years ago I performed the Odalisque PDT as a long solo, it really did take a lot of stamina and I was so worried I would run out of steam before the end or at least I would not be able to do the final curtsy properly, so consequently in the performance I held back and didn’t really do it justice. This time round, not only do I want to dance it full on, but also the three solo in succession with no more than being escorted by Lankendem (My Adrian) to the up-stage left corner to commence the next solo.

 

The motive behind this is really to check my stamina level after the lock-down, as I feel generally when I'm out shopping I’ve lost a lot, but strangely it doesn't appear to be holding me back with ballet or fitness classes.

 

Sunday I said goodbye to my Cecchetti advanced 2 teacher at her retirement party, about 4 weeks ago she broke the news she was retiring, however she has arranged another school to take over her younger students. That school teaches to the ITDA syllabi and I think its unlikely anyone will contact me, although I left my availability with my old teacher.

In any case I'm quite happy to continue through the new Cecchetti Syllabus on my own, as quite often my old teacher would select the pieces for me to study on my own then present them to her the following week and then we would go through them together.

 

Pointe work for me seams to have plateaued, whilst I'm still gaining strength, its mobility of my ankle which is letting me down, particularly the Tibia -Talus joint. We have increased the intensity of the PNF stretching of the ankle with my Physio’s, which started off quite light, through the barriers of discomfort to the last session which was intense pain virtually to the maximum limit that I could tolerate, before saying no more.

A few week ago I also approached a Chiropractor, the initial meeting was a full body check even though I had documented the ankle mobility issue, she admitted ballet dancers feet wasn't something she was familiar with, she promised to look into it for me from some form of injury / therapy data base. A detailed report with a lot of recommended exercised followed as promised. The exercises were far to gentle to have any real merit, so I rewrote the exercise plan, but it did give me a chance to start to think about things a little more deeply and utilize some of the things from class but in a far more intense way. Essentially warm up the feet with the resistance band, at least 150 reps per foot, then forced prances with a heavy push on the front edge of the pointe shoe using imagery to sense the stretch of the ankle particularly the Tibia – Talus joint, the music track I used gives 48 prances, I run through it twice.

The other I use is coming up from a pie onto pointe before rising up with the legs, however I only use the into of the music to get onto pointe, then its 4 counts up and 4 counts down whilst focusing on pushing the ankles out under tension all the way up and all the way down. I'm not sure how many reps are involved but the music I use is a piano version of the Dream Scene from Don Q, its quite long and I take it twice through, its quite tiring. I haven't been using this for long, it it does feel as if it has merit, also my feet fit into a foot stretcher more easily than it did before.

I guess now I have just about completed my first year of beginner pointe work.

 

So any words of wisdom to increase ankle mobility would be gratefully appreciated.

 

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Hello Michelle

I had an undiagnosed fracture of my foot two years ago which I recently found out. I have been seeing a dance physiotherapist in Edinburgh and he dry needles it and then shockwaves it.  I've found this really helpful. Shockwaving is not particularly pleasant but has great results and might be worth considering - just a thought and quite a few physios use it. 

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Hi Esme

 

Thank you for that, that's really interesting, I have never come across dry needle work, reading up on it , it looks as if it may have merit and worth checking out. I'm with one of my Physio’s tomorrow, I will certainly ask him about it, he is a senior physio working between a number of clinics.

 

As for the ShockWave, he doesn't do that nor do my other two guys, I also mentioned it to my Chiropractor and I know she doesn't either.

 

However I do have a shock wave impact massager device which I haven't used yet, but once my holidays are out of the way, I can take on a more elevated risk running up to the Christmas break.

If all else fails I can call on Liz Atha, senior physio within the Northern Ballet Building in Leeds for her advice.

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Hi Esme

 

I see my physio last Thursday and he is familiar with dry needle therapy, but he wouldn't use it to increase mobility as in my case, strangely enough they already have a shock-wave devise on order.

 

I wont see him now until after my holidays at the end of September, but I will still need to keep the pointe strengthen up, jumps without plie’s including single foot, that's hard.

 

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2 hours ago, LinMM said:

What are jumps on pointe without plié? 🤔

Its probably not quite the correct term as you are launching the jump from flat feet, but just imagine you have a resistance band around your knees, it done purely for strengthening, just imagine it as a high speed rise on to pointe where with the momentum you leave the ground.

 

We also do a lot of rises on to pointe and up and down between full pointe and ¾ pointe.

 

As for jumping on pointe, we most certainly have done changements on full pointe (no flat feet at all), but of course the knees do bend in that instance.

Edited by Michelle_Richer
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I do recognise what you originally said now Michelle it’s just I wouldn’t have called it a jump ...it’s a sharp push onto pointe from straight legs and is used in part of a warm up at the barre...so it isn’t really a releve or a jump. 
But beginners don’t usually perform changement on pointe as this is an advanced movement if you literally mean starting and finishing up on pointe. 

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Once you leave the ground...as in a jump there has to be a plié. You could push into a jump without a plié but would need one to land even if a small jump. It wouldn’t have to be a deep plié but it would be there! 
In the exercise Michelle is talking about you are not actually jumping...just using leg and ankle strength to push onto pointe ( or Demi pointe) and then closing again....it’s usually executed from first or a small second position. 

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Michelle will have to come back and clarify for us! This 

just imagine it as a high speed rise on to pointe where with the momentum you leave the ground.

 

made me think it’s a small jump through the feet with no plié to start, rather than a quick rise up to pointe. I think it’s possible to come down on a straight leg going through the foot as you literally leave the floor by a hairs width! Could be wrong there may be a little give

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The action doesn’t work so well for Demi pointe as it is then more of a quick rise with no plié ...when on pointe though it has to be much sharper to actually push up but you wouldn’t actually leave the ground even when on full pointe in that particular exercise so don’t need a plié. 
It’s hard enough especially for beginners to get up into full pointe position but if you do leave the ground even half an inch you would need a small Demi plié on return unless you want to do your knees in of course!! 

 

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Firstly in the jump I described you are airborne by an inch or 2, there is no plie on either the ascent or the decent, this is purely to increase the ankle and metatarsal strength, in our exercises we do for this in first position, second position which is a little harder and on one leg with the other at cou-de-pied which is really tough, first position can be done with a towel clenched between your thighs.

 

Linn: As for the changement on pointe, that was probable down to me finishing off the music in one of our exercises by adding in a little conventional changement, I think that inspired our teacher to show us the changement with out coming off pointe during the landing, however it does involve clenching your toes which is normally very much frowned upon 

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3 hours ago, bangorballetboy said:

Unless one is using a barre, I'm pretty sure the laws of physics don't allow for a standing jump without some sort of knee bend.

 

Indeed! Also, landing from any sort of jump onto straight legs can’t be good for any part of the body.  

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6 hours ago, LinMM said:

I do recognise what you originally said now Michelle it’s just I wouldn’t have called it a jump ...it’s a sharp push onto pointe from straight legs and is used in part of a warm up at the barre...so it isn’t really a releve or a jump. 

 

I see what you mean, Lin - for example, standing facing the barre, feet in parallel, and “snatching” quickly onto pointe without rolling through demi-pointe? 

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Yes you can do in parallel or from first or second position ....at least that’s how the exercise I know is executed. You can rise slowly through the whole foot ( very strengthening of the toes) or releve using a plié as shown in your video or this push from straight legs onto pointe probably more strengthening for the ankle. Mind you it’s a few years now since I’ve been in pointe shoes but often don’t mind doing pointe work exercises in class on Demi for general foot strengthening. 

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3 hours ago, bangorballetboy said:

Unless one is using a barre, I'm pretty sure the laws of physics don't allow for a standing jump without some sort of knee bend.

There’s upward momentum from going through the (strong muscles!) of the feet at speed (especially repeatedly). Maybe not ‘jump’ so much as leave the floor a fraction, slightly ungainly hop is a better description for my effort but it is certainly possible without pointe shoes on and reasonably flexible and strong feet

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Without pointe shoes on it would definitely have to turn into a jump.. maybe a very small one but because you won’t be going onto your toes in flat shoes ( unless showing off to friends!) you can push your feet out from straight legs but unless stopping at Demi you would have to leave the floor I reckon there would still be a smidgeon of a  Demi plié on bringing the feet back together though. Try this from second position and see what happens!  

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Wow and I thought I was the beginner here.

What a lot of disbelief, when is a jump not a jump?, a hop perhaps as suggested by Peony.

For me a hop suggests on one leg, not two. We are strongly and immediately corrected by our teacher if our legs / feet are not symmetrical on either the accent, decent or in the air, that is true of of any movement.

 

Although this is a beginner pointe course, its been running now for almost a year, we started on day one with pointe shoes on. The jump is a natural progression from rises on strait legs for strength building. We have spent weeks, and weeks with various rises slowly up onto full pointe, down to 80% pointe (on the edge of the block) and back again in all position. Basically everything we do is based on building strength. The fast rise off the ground is a natural progression providing you have developed the strength to do so, and both feet are clear off the ground,

 

I can still hear my teachers commands Jump, pointe, close and Linn is quite correct when you descend you do go through demi-pointe, in fact you resist to some extent all the way down, but maintaining those strait legs.

 

Cumming back to bangorballetboy assumption that we were using the barre, that's quite correct, but our teacher discourages relying on the arms, by insisting we cross our arms over, it makes it much harder. We now do all our pointework exercises with the arms crossed.

 

The jumping exercise I have described we have only been doing for the last couple of weeks.

Edited by Michelle_Richer
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Might help for people to think of how a kangaroo jumps- no knees just using the ankle joint as a lever. But adding to the power by going through the foot on the way up

and down. I haven’t seen it as a pointe prep exercise but it takes a lot of strength and flexibility so can see why it may be useful. I’d be a bit worried about slipping on a pointe shoe sole though, and a bit worried about misjudging and coming down onto full pointe with a straight knee. As a novice I’ve never felt in full control of my feet in pointe shoes though!

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