Guest DancingBoi Posted September 13, 2003 Report Share Posted September 13, 2003 I had my very first ballet class today! oh, by the way, I am new here, if you hadn't noticed already. I'm 18 and I currently attend college here in Virginia. Anyway my first class was today and it went great! There were about 12 students in the class including me(the only boy) and majority of them have had ballet in the past. The barre was a bit over my head in terms of vocabulary but once I saw what it was I able to do pretty good. We started out with plies and tendu's and then we did this combination that included fondus, rondejambes(spellng) and arabesques. After that we did some stretching in the center and then we started working in groups. We did a pique turn combination, one with a lot of jumps and one moving across the floor. I really liked it and although I did have a little trouble the teacher told me after class that for a beginner I did really well and caught on very fast. My schedule will include two 1 and a half hour classes plus rehearsals. If any of you just recently started dance I would love to hear about your first class! Link to comment
Mel Johnson Posted September 13, 2003 Report Share Posted September 13, 2003 Well, it sounds as though you had a very successful first class. That experience in high school must have helped more than you knew! Congratulations. I'm especially impressed with your correct spellings of terms and your having memorized them after only one class. FYI, it's rond de jambe, and if you want to use alt characters to provide accents for the terms, é = alt 130, è = 138 and à = alt 133. There's a whole big thread on it in the forum "How to do Things" at the very top of the board. http://balletalert.ipbhost.com/index.php?s...?showtopic=8579 Link to comment
Guest DancingBoi Posted September 14, 2003 Report Share Posted September 14, 2003 Thank you so much. Yeah the only major problem I had with the class, besides doing the steps, was understanding the french terms. I looked up the basic steps on the internet, specifically www.abt.org dictionary, and with my past experience I was able to pick up rather quickly. But the teacher was very understanding and told us who were new that we could sit out of the difficult combinations but she always did two versions of the exercise: one for those who were experienced and for those new people. This included only making us do single turns etc. She told us(the new people) that we did good and that really the only way to learn is by participating so it was really encouraging! I will definitely keep you guys informed as well as take advantage of this valuable resource of having you guys here for advice! Link to comment
Mel Johnson Posted September 14, 2003 Report Share Posted September 14, 2003 That's a good thing. We're here to keep you on the straight and narrow, but occasionally upside-down road of ballet. I must presume that you're at Washington and Lee, as I doubt that that other college in Lexington offers ballet. Link to comment
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