Uses for Ballet besides Dancing.

[Fiz]

I have two long haired dogs and a dear black labrador and a King Charles Cavalier. They shed like crazy. I find if I point my toe in slippers, I can rake up bushels of the stuff much more effectively than my vacuum cleaner can. So much for dear Mr Dyson saying it was brilliant for pet fur!

[Pups_mum]

My DD on demi pointe can get things out of my top kitchen cupboards that I have to climb on a stool to get. I also noticed her switch off the light in the dining room with her foot the other day as she had both hands full of dirty crockery - that was quite impressive!

[petipacat]

My family always laugh at me if i bend down to get something out of a cupboard as my leg goes up into an arabesque ,I never knew i did it until i kicked my hubbys coffee out of his hands lol

[Anjuli_Bai]

When I broke my foot and had to keep it elevated I was able to rest it well above the keyboard when I practiced the piano.

[Anna C]

My dd always used to have to be lifted up to put the fairy on the Christmas tree. Obviously she's a bit long legged to be lifted up at 13 so last Christmas she put her pointe shoes on and went up en pointe to do it. :-)

[Lisa O`Brien]

While dancing in Japan many moons ago,a drunken guest at the hotel decided to flash me in the hallway after the show. I gave him, using my full strength, a very harsh kick on the shin.You should have seen the look of pain on his face. Dirty old git.! LOL

[Fiz]

My mother in law used to pick daisies with her toes, but she was piainist, not a dancer!

[alison]

My family always laugh at me if i bend down to get something out of a cupboard as my leg goes up into an arabesque

 

Mine does, too (leg, not family!). Plus I've mentioned elsewhere the advantage it gives you when you're defending at netball, being able to balance for ages on one leg with both arms up and out

[CeliB]

My son was at a friend's for a sleepover party and had both hands full with plates of food- he had to close a cupboard door at head height so he just whipped his foot up and closed the door. Cue a gaggle of teenagers jaw's dropping.....

[taxi4ballet]

Plus I've mentioned elsewhere the advantage it gives you when you're defending at netball, being able to balance for ages on one leg with both arms up and out

 

Being able to balance on one leg with arms stretched also helps when you're out picking blackberries!

[tomuchtallent]

My dd tries to turn her sheet music with her toes when playing the violin!

[alison]

Being able to balance on one leg with arms stretched also helps when you're out picking blackberries!

 

Oh yes, so it does. It's saved me from getting badly scratched on numerous occasions.

[Pups_mum]

_{Reading these posts is giving me a great idea of an act for next year's Britains Got talent!}

Edited May 12, 2012 by Pups_mum

[Fiz]

Laughing here, Pups_mum!

[Fonty]

In order to pick things up from the floor, or the bottom shelf in the office, instead of bending over, I execute a full plie. Not only does this ensure that I keep a nice straight back, it also amuses everyone else in the office.

 

Note: I discovered the hard way that it is best not to do this in extremely tight, non-stretch trousers!

[alison]

Just bumping this again with a seasonal contribution:

 

I was in the supermarket the other day, looking for Christmas crackers.  I eventually realised they were on the top shelf above the upper freezer cabinets, and just about managed to get them down.  Then, I needed to put them back again.  So, relevé into fifth with arms en couronne, nudge them back onto the shelf, open out arms from fifth to bras bas, and descend into a plié.  Well, okay, not quite: there were too many people around to bring the arms through second, but you get the general drift

[Fiz]

I was busy cleaning yesterday and demi pointe was very useful for the shower rail and curtain poles. Pointe would have been even better *sigh*

[Pups_mum]

I laughed when i logged on and saw this thread was back, as only 5 minutes ago i complimented DD on how well she had managed to pick her way through the mass of wrapping paper and presents on demi pointe, without treading on anything. Some grand allegro may be required shortly though as her youngest brother has just unwrapped a large nerf gun and seems keen to "test" it on DD!

[LinMM]

I was mentioning on another thread about a friends DD in Sydney who has been surfing. She looked very good up on the surf board and I'm sure all the ballet she has been doing has helped her get the balance just right etc for this. Just never know when all this training will come in handy!! She just got the result on Monday that she had passed her RAD Advanced one with Distinction!

[alison]

I laughed when i logged on and saw this thread was back, as only 5 minutes ago i complimented DD on how well she had managed to pick her way through the mass of wrapping paper and presents on demi pointe, without treading on anything.

 

I have visions of her doing it to the opening bars of the dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy - very good for picking your way through anywhere, I should have thought

[mimi66]

I am learning Italian and noticed that I am good at speaking with my hands and arms!  All these port de bras practice.

[BankruptMum]

Congratulations to your DD LinMM, great result xx

[LinMM]

Thank you very much BankruptMum but this was not my DD but a close friend of mine's DD who lives in Sydney in Australia. She's the same one who did the Yorkshire Ballet School summer school last July written about on that Thread. She is such a lovely natured girl very unassuming inspite of her considerable achievements at 13 .......mad about dogs ......so most of our emails to each other are about ballet or dogs!!.......and I always look forward to them all coming over(she has two older brothers.....one wanting to be an actor and the other a very good high board diver but also likes getting involved with the more technical aspects of theatre production like lighting etc) I catch up with them all properly every two years so have seen them grow up from babies so am just a fond "Aunty"

She sent me some pictures of her surfing in Oz and I was very impressed as she's only a beginner but I'm sure the ballet training has come in handy for this!!!

[taxi4ballet]

Hair pins come in really handy for fixing baubles to holly wreaths

[Hambleton]

DS latest trick is getting his legs underneath our sofa in frog. Not useful for anything except getting a nice stretch (and some funny looks if we have visitors)!

[Dance*is*life]

Talking of netball, I was quite a nifty goal shooter at school - leaping up in a beautiful temps leve in arabesque in order to get the ball in the net......

[Legseleven]

Sounds like DD, Dance*is*life - and so surprising to one's opponents!

[JulieW]

My daughter no longer dances now she's at vet school, but she's taken up rugby and  thinks her ballet in the past has helped - she's agile, nimble (jumps high, light on her feet and can turn quickly) and relatively fit.

[Lisa O`Brien]

How`s your daughter getting on at vet school Julie if you don`t mind me asking? Is she enjoying it?

[JulieW]

Thanks for asking - she loves it and said the other day that she can't believe she's part way through her second year already. It's really hard work - full days at uni and lots of work to memorise everything. She does a research project to get a BSc next year too so she (hopefully) gets two graduations (and my youngest son should graduate during the year inbetween!). He danced for a few years too and is thinking of joining the cheerleading society with a friend (they want him for his height and strength mainly lol).