Improving balance

[CharlieChuck]

So you's are probably sick of hearing from me

 

Anyway, at home my balance is great and I have vinyl flooring in the kitchen where I practice but in class where they have a Harlequin sprung floor my balance is awful. At home I can hold an arabesque for a good few minutes but in class just past there I could barely hold myself up right. I'm not sure if it's because I'm not used to the flooring or what, I'm certainly pulled up but I don't know what I'm doing wrong or what I can do to improve. 

 

Any suggestions?

[Anjuli_Bai]

I am not family with the specific flooring you mention - but I have had the experience of dancing on a very spongy floor which will certainly play havoc with your balance.  There is a difference between a sprung floor and a too soft spongy floor.

 

Balance is affected by many things - the floor, the unfamiliarity with the space - as well as the body's chemistry at any particular time on any particular day.

 

"Pulled up" as  you mention is good - but that does not automatically compute to a dynamic engagement of the parts of the body and how they connect to and stabilize one another.

[drdance]

Have you considered the psychological aspect?! At home you are relaxed, no-one is watching you. How do you feel in class?

[CharlieChuck]

I am not family with the specific flooring you mention - but I have had the experience of dancing on a very spongy floor which will certainly play havoc with your balance.  There is a difference between a sprung floor and a too soft spongy floor.

 

Balance is affected by many things - the floor, the unfamiliarity with the space - as well as the body's chemistry at any particular time on any particular day.

 

"Pulled up" as  you mention is good - but that does not automatically compute to a dynamic engagement of the parts of the body and how they connect to and stabilize one another.

 

I do find, depending on my mood and where abouts my cycle is (although it is all over the place at the minute as I've been put into an early menopause) does effect my balance, suppose that could play a part. 

Have you considered the psychological aspect?! At home you are relaxed, no-one is watching you. How do you feel in class?

 

You do have a point, in class I feel like I need to do good because I don't want to look like a fool. At the barre it's natural to me and I just go with the music but my center work is a weak point. If I make one mistake I find it hard to recover and in class the others look to someone who knows what they're doing and if they're following me and I mess up then they will too.... My self confidence has been quite low but it's getting better, slowly but surely. 

[Anjuli_Bai]

The hormonal cycle (which continues throughout a woman's life) has a definite effect on balance - and self confidence.

 

I would advise you to concentrate on what you are doing and not to be concerned if others are following and that they might copy your errors.  Just be concerned with what you are doing and the rest will take care of itself.  

 

As to looking like a fool.....well, if one were concerned with that no one - and I do mean no one - would ever walk into a ballet classroom.  

 

There are no fools in the dance class - only people trying to do this very difficult business called ballet.   Don't divide your concentration by thinking about these things......just put your mind where it will do the job it needs to do.

 

Been there, done that!  

[lyn]

As to looking like a fool.....well, if one were concerned with that no one - and I do mean no one - would ever walk into a ballet classroom.  

 

There are no fools in the dance class - only people trying to do this very difficult business called ballet.   Don't divide your concentration by thinking about these things......just put your mind where it will do the job it needs to do.

 

Could not agree with you more there! I did ballet from age 5 to about 20 and while at times it was liberating and satisfying, it was really quite the emotional wrecking ball. I don't think I handled it well at all and always saw it as a competition and judgment on myself. I lost so many opportunities to improve because I refused to embarrass myself -- I'm furious that I never learnt how to do fouette turns just because I would always stand at the back and hide when that part of class came. Ridiculous.

 

I don't know how much you can really protect young kids from feeling this way in ballet though, to the point that I seriously wonder if I should let my kids do ballet in the future. It really is such a hyper-critical activity where you're basically training to critique every little detail about yourself (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11693698) -- confounded by the fact that the truth is no teacher really focuses on how the artistry of it is supposed to move you, or just broader ways to appreciate the whole art form in general. Thankfully, some 20 years since I started, I'm finally getting back into it again with the right mindset, and enjoying it hugely. There's delightful security in me (and the teacher) knowing there's no stakes involved except for how much I want to feel like Odette or Juliet today, how good whipping around in that perfect pirouette would feel in and of itself. And it totally helps with the balance when I'm imagining I'm Aurora doing hers!

 

Yes so getting back on topic of improving balance (sorry ).. CharlieChuck, since you mentioned your hyper extension before, I thought you might appreciate this revelatory post! http://dancers.invisionzone.com/index.php?showtopic=24388

[Anjuli_Bai]

 

 

 

 

- confounded by the fact that the truth is no teacher really focuses on how the artistry of it is supposed to move you, or just broader ways to appreciate the whole art form in general. 

 

 

Well, I'm not sure I'd say "no teacher" - but I might agree with "many do not focus on ........"

 

Like everything else, learning the "why" of a step - "why is this step choreographed at this place in the ballet - what is the choreographer trying to say/" - is as important as "how" to do the step.

 

The student learns "how" to illucidate the "why."  That's not easy to teach but actually is the entire reason why we dance.

[CharlieChuck]

Yes so getting back on topic of improving balance (sorry ).. CharlieChuck, since you mentioned your hyper extension before, I thought you might appreciate this revelatory post! http://dancers.invisionzone.com/index.php?showtopic=24388

 

Yes I read through that on my phone and it really helped give me a better understanding. Thank you for that

 

I have hyper extended arms as well and reading through that really did help. It always reminds of something my first teacher said that really meant a lot to me then. She said I was born to dance because I've been given the extensions in both my arms and legs and naturally flexible ankles and feet, I fell badly ill a few months after that and lost it all with the weight I put on. Her words always come back to me and back then they were a huge comfort now sometimes it feels a bit like a burden in a sense that why couldn't somebody else have all of this and use it better than I. Suppose that's just my lack of self confidence though.