Hello my poor, neglected, imaginary readers! I had an abrupt start to my holiday break when I came down with the flu. I ended up missing what would have been my last ballet class before break. The good news is I only missed one scheduled class. The bad news is that because of that, I never bought a new class card, and now I can’t bring myself to spend $100+ on top of the cost of the unlimited class card I want to buy for this semester (I think I wrote about the awkward start times last entry—I can purchase the pass next week, but adult open classes have already…
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beating and nothingness
Whoops, I have taken three classes without posting here! I did start to write something after last Wednesday’s class, so let me start there. Wednesday Something is not right with my arabesque on my right side (right leg is working leg). I don’t know when or how this happened. I glanced over in the mirror and it just looked awful. My back was a weird C-shape and my leg seemed to be somewhere in orbit around my body rather than attached to it. Why am I getting worse? Once I noticed it, I reigned it in a little by keeping the leg lower. Although I’ve lost and gained height over…
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ghost in the balanchine
Free class day was on Saturday, so I went back to that big, old studio I’m in love with. The class was accurately labeled for once, as “intro/beginner.” But the “intro” part was maybe too accurate, and it may have been just a little too watered down for my tastes. It was still a good workout but I’m not sure how much that class would really help me improve. Taylor’s Saturday class at my regular studio is much more on my level. Next year when I start taking class on Saturdays, I’ll probably just go there. Both classes have a pointe class afterward. Just sayin. After class, one of the…
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Ballonnaise
Class on Wednesday was packed! We were already pretty full when three students walked in slightly late, all absolute beginners. I forget sometimes Wednesdays are billed as “beginner ballet.” We had to pull out a second barre, a rare occurrence. It was nice having the beginners in class, although Taylor didn’t change much and it was still a good level of challenge for the regulars. She just jumped in with the beginners and gave them some variations (hands on hips, etc). It was nice to see ballet class through fresh eyes—like wow okay what I am doing is actually pretty difficult and it really did take SO MANY YEARS to…
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Now it was time to stumble anew
I never wrote about the class I took before Thanksgiving break. I took a true break and neglected everything in my liiiiife including this blog. All I did was eat brownies for 5 days. (Now it was time to stumble anew) The last class before break was my regular Monday class. I still felt weak from my Mystery Diagnosis illness so it was nothing to write home about. The only thing of note was that Taylor, the other teacher, took class with us! It was slightly intimidating, but I’m sure she wasn’t checking on her students’ technique during class. Likewise, I tried to pay attention only to myself and not…
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One more dream
I was not feeling well all week. It was a strange malaise with a frustrating lack of any real symptoms. I began to wonder if what was wrong with me was that it was raining, every day, all day. Or that two of my pets had to go to the emergency vet within a few weeks of each other. But telling myself it was all in my head didn’t give me any extra energy or make me feel like a living human being any faster. So I tried to rest, and I tried to patiently wait until the very idea of going to a ballet class didn’t make me want…
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Modern Dance!
Special bonus dance class recap: MODERN DANCE!! My sister takes modern dance classes with her friend, a dancer and choreographer named Alyona Almato. I think I mentioned last time that one of Alyona’s sons went to my sister’s in-home preschool and that’s how they met—it was so fortuitous for them to meet and my sister to discover a love of dance!!! I said this on Instagram, but growing up, my sister took gymnastics, and I took ballet (only once a week, for a few years). My sister was a lot more serious about gymnastics than I was about ballet, but eventually quit and played volleyball, and was on the swim…
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Embarabesque
I was late to class for the first time. I was late leaving work, there was this whole thing with the shuttle I have to take to get on/off my work grounds, and then traffic was unusually terrible from home to class. I hate being late, but it wasn’t too bad. Taylor had waited a few minutes, since I wasn’t the only one stuck in traffic. I was still the last one in, but I only missed the first side of pliés. The other day, I filmed myself doing a few different exercises. It was a strange experience, mostly because some of the faults I noticed were a total surprise…
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Drosselmeyer for president
Happy election day! I hope you voted if you are in the U.S. Enough about politics, let’s talk about d a n c e Content warning: I talk about weight/body image a bit. No numbers. Daylight Saving Time ended Sunday night, so when going to class on Monday, it felt like it was really late. I kinda wasn’t feeling it. I felt like a mess. I work from home on Mondays, so I hadn’t bothered to wash my hair. I pull my hair back as best I can for class, and sometimes it forms itself into a nice sweaty mullet while I dance. So that happened. Then I was sort…
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Trois Classes
So my schedule being thrown off by sick cat + Halloween has led to… taking more ballet classes than usual? Ok (Our kitty is doing well by the way!) The main studio I go to has free class day on the first of every month. Last month it fell on a Wednesday, so I just didn’t have to use up a check on my class card. This month it was on a Thursday, so I decided to skip the hip hop class at the Y and do a free ballet class instead. The studio I go to has 3 locations around town, and there was a class that fit my…
