odd adult ballet course

[skip]

i phoned to my friends over in the states yesterday (i stayed over there for 2 summers) and kind of got worried about the women...(won't say names online).

 

she is in her 30s and always wanted to practise ballet. i already received an e-mail last week from him that she started ballet and that she was complimented by some things (basics) she saw when i was practising over there.

 

so, yesterday on the phone, i asked her how her classes were going....and she told me she wouldn't go anymore, because everyone had to get shoes (split sole leather by one perticular shop). she said she wouldn't buy the shoes, because she didn't know if the course was continued after this and their i started wondering.

 

she explained me that this is just a six-week course and probably a try-out to see if it's gonna be continued. she told me that she thought it was to expensive to buy leather split sole ballet shoes for just a six week course with not knowing about having any other classes after that....and i kind of agreed with that....cause i think it's odd to get shoes if it's only six weeks and maybe not anymore after that.

 

than, she told me that this course was given by someone who works with the milwaukee ballet....ok, sounds secure and everything, but still....why do you have to get shoes if it's only six weeks.

 

and my next question, what can you learn in six weeks....?!?! they were doing some basic stuff, ok, but they also started out in first class with full turns and piques en diagonale....isn't that a little too fast???

 

i would like to know how you feel about this course....what's your opinion about this...???

 

~SKIP~

 

PS: moderators, if this belongs on the adults buddy board, could you please move it overthere, i just wasn't sure where to put it

[Mel Johnson]

Skip, I think you can figure out why you need ballet shoes for any ballet class, longterm or no. If you don't go on beyond the six weeks, you at least have a pair of house slippers!

 

Without seeing the class, it's very difficult to figure out what the teacher's goals were in teaching it that way, but it sounds to me as though this was one of those "get-'em-moving" classes which stresses how much fun it is to move across space rapidly. It's also possible that other students in the class were not neophytes, as your friend is, and so can do some of the turning things more easily. There are adult classes just for fun, and adult classes for actually learning ballet technique.

[skip]

but 6 weeks??

 

i know you need balletslippers, but she told me that they could only go to one shop, the teacher mentioned a price and it was quite expensive at that shop....i offered to get her some sansha shoes from overhere where they're really cheap, but good, so that she has shoes. but still.....it's kind of a try-out course, not sure if there will be a continuing course and she has looked at other schools....all too far away or times that didn't suit because of the little boys.

 

we have second hand spare slippers at out school for new students so they can take a class (or even two).......and not buy shoes immediately, so that if they don't like it, they are stuck with the shoes.

 

but, i don't know how those things go in the states....

 

what do you mean by neophytes??? i don't understand that word do you mean newbie???

 

i know that the classes are for fun, but still.....isn't 6 weeks a little short for some who never took ballet???

 

sorry if this whole thing doesn't make sense....i have a little bit difficulty today with expressing myself in english....(had a >24 hours day yesterday and slept for 15 hours)

 

by the way...as i mentioned above, we offered to get some shoes overhere. does anyone know what a US street size 9 would be in sansha ballet slippers??? if someone know.....could you please tell me???

 

~SKIP~

[Guest grace]

skip - i have just started teaching a 5-week adult beginners ballet course.

the idea is not that 5 weeks is enough for anything - except to try it out...but rather: that people feel able to commit, and able to AFFORD 5 weeks at a time.

 

we actually advertised a 10 week course.

but we held one free tryout class, at the beginning. and at that class, one of the older women said that she found 10 weeks hard to commit to, because she recieves her government pension MONTHLY. therefore, she budgets monthly. so, finding the money for 10 weeks in advance was too hard to do.

 

based on that very sensible response, we changed our plans on the spot, to two 5-week courses, instead of one 10-week course. the reason behind your friend's situation, could be as simple as that!

 

however, the shoe thing , in my opinion, is almost 'suspicious'.

why i say 'almost' is that some towns (like mine) only HAVE one decent ballet shop - and if you go to any of the others, there's a risk you'll be sold something inappropriate, or wrongly sized.

 

it MAY be that the teacher just wants to ensure that if they go to the expense of buying ballet shoes, at least they buy GOOD ones from a reputable shop...

 

unlike mel, i have always insisted to adults that they DO NOT go out and buy shoes until they are sure they are going to continue. reason # 1: i don't want to put people off coming to try out ballet, #2: i don't want to add un-necessarily to their expenses (ballet shoes in my country are NOT cheap!), # 3: ballet shoes, when well-fitted - are not sufficiently comfortable for house-slippers IMO!

 

my BEGINNING ADULT students are encouraged to wear socks until they decide to commit. i think that if your friend wears ANY (soft) ballet shoes at all, that should be perfectly acceptable to the teacher.

 

don't know if my experience helps you at all - but: there it is!

 

can't help you with the shoe size.

[Mel Johnson]

Skip, yes, neophyte=newbie. I noticed that your English was a little broken up, and figured you must have had a busy time at work. I used to pull those shifts on the flight line, and I know just what they're like!

 

I doubt very seriously that a studio could get rid of old shoes the way you recount, because of public health laws here in the US - athlete's foot, nail fungus and other yukky things can get passed on that way.

 

Here's a Sansha sizing chart - automated to convert, for your convenience.

 

http://www.nydancestore.com/sizetable.htm

[skip]

grace, thank you for your reply! i kind of feel silly with my question now, i didn't think of all the reasons you an major johnson gave me.

 

i asked her if they were allowed on socks with an anti-slip bottom (i don't know if they're common in the us or anywhere else, but we have them overhere), but no, they had to get the shoes from that one shop. (there are two shops in milwaukee, but they all had to go to the other one. they're both ok, i saw them last year when i was overthere).

 

major johnson, thank you for the link. if i understand correctly, the sizes are the same. i also searched for my size, but that's not correct. i have a size 4 in sansha shoes and got a size 5 (and even size 6 with the american street shoe size )....so, if anyone has information....to see if it's the correct convertion??

 

and yeah, i had a busy day at work...i had a week that was not normal. starting at 9.30 am (tuesday), 7.00 am, 4.00 am and 2.00 am....no....hopefully not a week like that again. when i came home from my 4.00 am shift...i went to sleep, slept for 4 hours, woke up and had to kill time for 5 hours before my alarm would go off and i would get up to get myself dressed and all but, when i was at work, things went ok, i got awake again !!

 

~SKIP~

[Mel Johnson]

Funny about that sizing chart. It's linked directly from the Sansha website.

 

I've always wondered about hours that flight personnel are expected to work. Pilots have to have had eight hours of sleep in the twelve preceding a flight, but the mechanics who have to fix the busted parts can be worked around the clock and who knows what happens to flight-critical components toward the end of the shift?

[skip]

well, i would have had a 9-hour sleep, but i couldn't sleep anymore after 4 hours.... !!! we also have a minimum time between two shifts....so, i cannot work when i just finished work 6 hours before that....

 

anyways, at the end of my shift, i was terribly awake and had to drive in our courtesy car around schiphol, trying to not to hit all the passengers !!!

 

as for the sizing chart, i'm gonna have a further search, trying to find out if this convertion is correct.

 

~SKIP~

[sheila]

Just an FYI. I wear a 8.5 US shoe and Sansha canvas size 9. My 8.5 is a 39-40 in a European shoe. I think the Sansha only come in whole sizes.

[skip]

thank you sheila for your information. does your shoe fit snug or do you still have a little bit of spare space?

 

~SKIP~

[Guest piccolo]

Currently, I teach a true beginners ballet class, and I am fine with the dancers working in socks until they know they will continue with the class. I am lucky in that this community can offer a once-weekly class for any adult who feels like taking class.

 

We tried to start a regular adult ballet course in the last city where I was, but we couldn't get adults to come to more than a few weeks. So I suggested that we do 8-week "courses" a few times a year and then, at that time, if there was more interest, they could start a regular weekly class. I haven't checked in recently to see how they're doing.

[Jaana Heino]

but we couldn't get adults to come to more than a few weeks

 

You didn't say how big the city in question is...

 

Helsinki is a city of about 550 000 inhabitants. The population base is maybe a million or a million and half (?) when you count all the surrounding areas, too... We have at least two schools giving good adult ballet classes, several times a week, with ongoing, technique-oriented, level-based programs. About 15-20 people have come regularly to the classes I also take, for two years now. Most come two times a week, some more (up to five days a week), some just one. On other levels and with other teachers there are similar amounts of people, which must mean at least a hundred committed adult dancers put together, if not more. And when I say committed, I mean committed for years, not for months.

 

(In addition there are for fun -classes, and schools offering ballet classes once a week.)