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.

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.

Here is another useful one, that applies to the larger classes that have portable barre’s in the centre. I think those that intend to use that barre particularly guys with there superior upper body strength should be those that move the barre’s into position and away at the end. At one of my main classes, its very disorganised and left to those that will, usually its myself and the same young lady, in spite of there being guys present and using the same central barre. I know on one occasion when ask a guy for help ( I guess I was being a bit direct) and he told me to stop practicing my assertion skills on him and walked away. Personally I don’t think the guys should let us girls move heavy barre’s when there are sufficient guys in the class to do it. Some may say I’m sexist, but I think I’m just old fashioned, even if on occasions I do try and organise things.

Black Swan Me.

I agree, but when you know the previous dancers are about to go off, then I would expect you to assemble in a professional manner for performance. In any case during rehearsal the only thing you are waiting for is the music. There is no wonder I get reprimanded for telling dancers off in that class, I may be a newcomer, but I expect a bit of professionalism too. Someone has to set the standard and this gals got fire in her belly to do it. Lin "Running on stage", doesn't sound very elegant, are you sure you haven't been practicing with this lot?.

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.

I was reminded of my pet peeve tonight, the first night of learning our enchainement for our Christmas show. And that’s standing in the wings ready to go on stage in no form of proper preparation pose. I remembered that from our summer show, where we formed a double line of dancers ready to go on stage, only two of us stood in a standard preparation pose, the rest were in a sloppy 6th position if as if they were waiting for a bus with arms just dangling. I know the audience could not see them,, but it just looked sloppy and very unprofessional. I would not have minded if we all stood uniformly with feet in 5th and arms at bra bas, as long as we were all the same. This was also true of rehearsal in the studio with the teacher present, but it didn’t seem to matter.

Correct breathing technique sounds interesting, for the arabesque Gayle Kassing in her book "Teaching Beginning Ballet Technique" suggests Inhale as you perform the pose, and exhale as you leave the pose. Which to some degree I find contrary to breathing I learnt for martial arts, which would favour Exhaling on an extension and inhaling on the return. As for eye-line, I was always taught to imagine a little bird had flown off my finger tips and into to the distance, that's where my eye's should be. My local teacher "Nicky" has a thing about eye-line generally, not just for arabesque's. Even though my head and chin are up, if I dare to look down with my eye's at another dancers feet, my teacher spots it and I'm corrected immediately, she has eye's as sharp as a hawk, bless her.

Check out this video "Technicality of the Arabesque" http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=ACuVnmS7h9A

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.

Wow that does sound nice Anjuli. Reverence in the classes I attend vary very widely from a simple clap to a full reverence, however in all cases its lead by the teacher. I really love a proper reverence I think it has an elegance all of it own. For me personally irrespective of what the class does generally, I will always finish with a full knee on the floor curtsy, that’s just my style. Similarly I will always personally thank the teacher and pianist if we have one. I’m not too sure if it would have the same meaning if everyone did that.

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.

I went to the adult one last night and it really was fantastic, we had the theatre but no barre’s, so we had to use chairs, but that did not detract from it for me. I guess not quite so good if you didn't like dancing more or less on your own. We danced two scenes, the first from the Slave Market in Act one which I have virtually forgotten. The second was from Act 3 the Harem, we did the dance of the slave girls as a group although we were divided into two groups because of floor available space. As at the end we danced as opposing duets, only two girls on the floor at a time. it really did look quite spectacular, I loved it. We only had 11 girls in the adult group, no guys, but one girl retired just before the end after hurting her leg. What did surprise me, there were no dancers I recognised, other than our teacher, and she made the same comment. My only downside was the parking in Oxford, its so expensive and done on an automated phone systems virtually everywhere, however I did find a park down Oxpens Rd that did still have some of the old coin machines alongside telephone parking, but it sill cost me over £10 to park.

Why is that Balleteacher, do you think I might get into trouble for upsetting the muggers?

Hi mimi66 Here is another combination to add to your configurations, that’s dancing as a duet. I have just returned from my Le Corsaire workshop in Oxford and it was fantastic. We did a couple of enchainements, the first I’ve mostly forgotten. The second enchainement we spent most of the time on. Although it was quite long it did have a lot of repetition using both sides so to speak. However after doing it starting on the diagonal from upstage left, out teacher got us to do it from upstage right. We danced the enchainement in two groups one of 5 and the other 6. The crunch came about 15-20 minute before the end when she decided we would dance it as duets. One girl retired as she had hurt her foot leaving two groups of 5. One girl from each group would start in opposite corners, the girl from upstage left would have precedence as both would be dancing on opposite diagonals, the girl from the left would cross in front, once they both got to opposite down stage corners they would only dance that side to the centre as mirror images, it was awesome, at the end it was finished with a couple of chaine’s and a temps lie en avant towards each other where the gesturing foot of each dancer is almost touching and opposite arm in 5th displaying a beautify mirror image ending. Needless to say every girl danced the duet combination. I guess that is not for the faint hearted as you cannot follow your partner as everything is reversed. That’s the first time I have danced that type of combination and I was really impressed by it.

No I have been naughty at another class when the teacher hesitated to answer a dancer behind me, then I answered it for her, and I did get into trouble for that one too. The one I mentioned wasn't quite that simple, it was during rehearsal for our show, our performance piece was broken in to about 4 sub group pieces, our teacher would often be address issues with another group, we would be there practicing and helping each other out on our own piece(s), that was expected of us. I think even from this forum I think people realise I have quite a strong character, plus my local teacher (not the one at the Theatre) is very much a stickler for detail and a lot of that has rubbed off on me. It was only when I was off one week, some of the girls had a bit of a moan. I only ever missed 2 rehearsals, the first week they started, there was no warning and it was my week for the ROH class, then the only other one I was ill. Its also quite fully the week before I was ill another bit got added to our performance piece, that was taken from a section of what we had already done but this time on the opposite foot (Simples). When we danced everything through when I got back including this new piece, I turned round, everyone was facing and close to the opposite wall. I couldn't understand where I went wrong, then our teacher told me, the girls found it difficult doing that piece on the opposite foot so it was changes back. Well there you go that's experienced dancers for you. Sorry for being catty.

Hi LinMM It looks very likely our guy will be joining us at City, I spoke to him tonight, he hasn't booked it yet, but I'm fairly sure he will. So if its the lakeside scene of their first meeting, I hope your ballet mime is up to scratch.

Yes if you know the steps by name it requires a lot less brain power, many of the girls at one of my classes have been dancing and performing for a very long time, one of the 44years but they seldom use proper names for the step even though their present teacher who is quite new does. You get such descriptions as that funny turny thing. At one point I got reprimanded for telling some of the girls off for not using appropriate terms. But there you go, I'm only a newbie against them.

Hi It her life Thank you, I'm with RAD during daylight on the 17th of November, I think I will try the 170 from Victoria, and then walk to Clapham Junction for my journey home. It sounds as if its no longer than the one I do every week to ENB from South Kensington station, I just hope the area has good lighting, as it will be Thursday evenings starting January.

I have never ever seen PDD done at any of the open classes I attend, however I do know that PDD does sometime take place at the LAB classes which are totally separate from the LAB Intensives, but I don't think you could truly regard them as an open class. When you join you have to commit and pay for the full term which is quite expensive, its a two hour session each week, first hour is usual barre / centre, the next hour is rep/rehearsal. I start with them in Jan but many of my friends from ENB have already started, so I do get to know a bit about what they are doing.

Hi Lin I have the info from City because I talk to them, I'm very proactive with all these schools including RAD. Needless to say I'm in dialog with Northern Ballet and Scottish too, for me I will travel anywhere for the right Rep workshop. Essentially the bits that have been simplified in Odette's solo are: After the three Hi extension developee's (reduced extension for us), there is a glissard into an arabesque in attitude, we use the same arm positions but the foot remains on the ground. The grand pirouettes are replaced with a pivot turn with the gesturing leg at cou-de-pied. Otherwise its more or less as per RB. I'm afraid I cannot get very exited over the Russian dance, I cant say I can recall that as part of Swan Lake, one of my favourite's that I have ear marked is the RB version of the First Variation from Act 1, I did get my Stamford teacher to add in the Sissonne / temps de fleche combination to our centre practice on week, it didn't go down well with the rest of the girls. I was accused of working for Bolshoi. That school is a very forward looking school and I love it.

Hi LinMM This is the last info I got from City Academy: Waltz of the Swans, Odette's solo and Pas de Quatre (Cygnet Dance). If they have a male participant the schedule may change to Odette and Prince Siegfried 1st encounter scene, Odette's solo and coda with Corps de ballet. Don’t forget there will be a friend and family performance at the end. Odette solo has an easy and harder option, the harder one is a little bit simplified as I’m learning the full on version, but never the less will have to dance what City come up with on the day. I spoke to Tony last Tuesday at ENB, he is still unsure if he's going, but I will keep you posted on that. One class done already today, two more to go. Wednesday I’m doing a rep workshop on Le Corsaire with ENB at Oxford, I don’t know what scenes were dancing so I’m going in cold on that one. I hope we do Waltz of the Swans too, I did that with LAB, I didn’t get a choice there, I was at the front facing the audience, on right hand side, we were three columns of eight girls, needless to say I had no one to follow, that was awesome and I was also way outside my comfort zone. I know I could have done a lot better, but I wouldn’t swap that experience for the work.

Thank you Janet, its a really nice example.

Balleteacher Ref Post 1122 You don’t think I could let that post go without a comment do you? Whilst I don’t in principle disagree with what you are saying. I do believe in reality it’s an over simplification. How well a student dancer learns a combination is not just down to there ability to remember but also by the way it’s presented and made memorable by the teacher. A student dancer’s confidence is another aspect, perhaps that why some prefer to have someone to follow and of course as LinMM implied in post 1123“It can just be that one had a bad day”. If the class selection is a total miss match then a student dancer is not likely to enjoy it and is likely to leave. What we shouldn’t be doing is creating a culture where someone finds the odd combination difficult, making them feel inadequate thus destroying there confidence and forcing them to leave either by pressure from the teacher or peer pressure from other dancers. Those situations are quite different. It should also be remembered that the vast majority of adult classes do cater for a wide range of abilities and graded classes are not that common unless you’re in a big city like London. I would also make the point that where dancers only attend one or two classes a week, they get to know those teachers styles and combinations very well, as each teacher will have her favourites and the way she assembles them. That in itself will limit the range of a student ability to cope with unfamiliar steps and combinations created by other schools. As for me, if I’m not being challenged in some way, then I feel I’m definitely not working hard enough. That’s why I attend so many classes, both with and without a grading structure. If I do find something particularly difficult or challenging, I take it on board for homework and work it through until it becomes strength rather than a weakness, I certainly don’t give up and say I can’t do it, I had better go down a grade. I’m not one for living in a comfort zone either. However with ENB I do attend both Level 2 and Level 3, those are MY CHOICE, level 2 which is extremely easy, which underpins level 3 and level 3 is quite comfortable but occasionally I may get challenged by remembering to odd combination. Level 4(advanced) I will try the taster early next year as I intend to do another term in January of levels 2 and 3. When I move to 4 then I will carry on with level 3 to underpin it, that my strategy and it makes very logical sense to me. One of the nicest classes I went too was Northern Ballet’s Intermediate/Advanced class, however I only got to do two classes there before it was time to return back to ENB, with out a doubt it’s the teacher that makes the class and she was a really fantastic teacher, really easy to learn from. LinMM I note your comment in Post 1113 ref “Odette's white or black swan solo”, don’t forget you will be dancing “Odette’s (White) solo from Act 2”, as I ask Rejane to include it; it’s in both options now, with and without male dancer at the workshop. Even I wont attempt the Black Swan variation just yet. Need to get my turns sorted first. I'm interested, at what sort of level are travelling turns around the room are taught. I need these for Giselle's first variation, whilst I can now both spot and navigate the appropriate circumference with music set at half speed for Giselle, and go at full speed with music down the diagonal, I cannot do both (YET). As for LAB Spring Intensive, Tom only teaches for one standard which is different to that of City. I personally really like Toms style, I learn a lot from him, he is one of my best teachers. I know we are doing a corpe de ballet piece from Sleeping Beauty but not what scene, as Tom has not decided. The style is not unlike that we did at Chelsea Ballet with Pilates, general class (Barre and Centre) and pointe work for those that are experiences on point (No beginners), those that are not on point (majority) do the same class on demi. Only half of the schedule each day is spent on rep and rehearsal. During the last LAB SI show, all Swan Lake that we did, everyone was on demi, it was only a short enchainement in the middle of the show that was a mixture of en pointe and demi, dancing together. Fiz Are you still going to Lincoln, if so do you have a date?, as we need a minimum of four to get the Lincoln pointe class off the ground, otherwise I will chip in for two to make it happen. The Angles Theatre pointe class is another tiny one, its been cancelled a couple of times but its still going, we are purely concentrating on foot strengthening at this stage, although one girl has some experience en pointe.

Interesting thread running, but I think its way off beam. Firstly mimi66 comment : . “If one is not yet able to 1) pick up the enchainement on the spot 2) reverse to the other side without much difficuly and 3) excecute the enchainement with reasonably technical accuracy and artisitry, then even the watered-down version is too difficult for us.” This is an extremely wrong and dangerous assumption to make. I have known girls at Pineapple leave during centre practice, which I believe is associated with difficulty remembering enchainemant. I personally know someone who stopped doing level 3 at ENB because they had trouble remembering enchainements. That I think is extremely sad. I must admit I too have trouble remembering some but I just persevere and refuse to give up. Ones dancing ability should not be compromise on memory, its really not that important, there are ways to work around this. In teaching Salsa we allow for this by repetition and building up combinations to create muscle memory, its extremely successful. But then the strategy is not throw away in memory term, its to utilise that combination or favourite parts of it on the dance floor during social dancing. So it does have a real life application. As for Video’s I use them all the time, firstly for reference in the form of a Classical Ballet Video Dictionary. I also have several formal training video’s including RAD. Never the less I have a whole host of repertoire video from various sources, again for reference and I do use those extensively. If I am to attend a repertoire workshop then I prep myself with familiarity of the scene being taught, not just from one video but from three or four, and if it exists then the Royal Ballet version. And of course I have danced it before the workshop. That now allows me to concentrate on tweaking the technique, and from the teacher weather my interpretation is correct, as sometimes I will inadvertently miss something. Similarly teachers also miss bits, not through deliberate simplification, but they just missed that bit of attention to detail or possible forgot. As they say two heads are better than one. Although the teacher may simplify it, my goal is to dance it to the full standard within my own capability, however like other artists I will create my own version with little differences to account for such things as limited leg extension, utilising the same type of step but on the opposite leg and of course not on full point etc, but I stress no necessarily simplified. I know there will always be bit that a teacher will leave out I guess under health and safety, but the only one I can recall is travelling turns around the room, which I'm currently working on from Giselle. Most teachers operate a dual standard system which Lin is aware of , particularly with City Academy, the more challenging one is for those that are able, and a simplified version for the relative newcomers. So I really don’t think its that essential for a pre-entry level, in any case I guess I would get excluded, but then I put in a lot more effort than most. I may not have had years of experience like many but I do generally a lot more regular ballet classes that concentrate on technique, last term is was at least 12 a week. As for repertoire work, I already have my own small studio with sprung floor, mirrors and barre etc., I hire the hall we use for our local ballet class each week too and when available (Mostly) I boro a studio after class at Pineapple. So I put a hell of a lot into my ballet and in particularly repertoire. I have probably gone on abit about repertoire as its close to my heart, but I also heavily promote it with fliers up in such places as Pineapple and Danceworks, ballet classes I attend and some ballet shop advert boards too and of course this forum. I'm there to make it happen and I make no apologies for that.