mod please contact me

[PerfectFeet]

Please contact me either via this community or my e-mail.

 

I would like to clarify some things, but apparently I don't even have the ability to contact a moderator at this point for some reason.

 

If I'm not contacted, I'll do my best to explain the policies and procedures here to the best of my knowledge to other potential users of this forum. I'm not sure why, but I feel very misreceived here. I've heard it suggested that everyone calm down, and I couldn't agree more. Since we're all on the same page, I warmly invite you, the moderator(s) to discuss this with me in private.

 

Thanks for reading, and if I don't hear from you, happy dancing!

[citibob]

I'm not a mod, but I think I know what's going on. You have been studying ballet four months (maybe a bit more) now. You've definitely learned a lot and progressed a lot from where you started. But you do not have the perspective that comes with 10, 20, 30 years of involvement with the art form. It is always easier to see how far you've come in ballet than to understand how far you yet have to go.

 

In the case of the threads that were apparently removed, you understood a few simple things about ballet, like the fact that ballet requires flexibility. But you do not understand the more nuanced aspects of what that flexibility is. Many people with tons of experience tried to tell you, and you refused to listen.

 

Other people look at this board for advice, and they need to understand that the kinds of things you were advocating are not ballet and are potentially dangerous as well. If they are new, they might not necessarily understand that your opinion was based on four months' experience and the opinions of others were based on decades of experience. It's possible that you didn't really understand what people were trying to tell you either; hopefully you will some day. I presume (guess) that the moderators felt that the board was better off without those threads, in the sense that it does not mis-lead other beginners.

 

I would advise a little more humility going forward in your pursuit of ballet. If you're still at it five years from now, that will be a big accomplishment. In the meantime, have fun dancing!

 

*a moderator's note that the threads were put in hold only so the issue could be addressed by the administrative team, the thread has been reactivated.

[Victoria Leigh]

When you write to Contact Us, via the link at the top of the page, it will come to me.

 

Citibob did, however, offer a very reasonable explanation of why you might feel that you were misreceived here. It is not our intention, ever, to make anyone feel unwelcome, however, when someone is brand new to ballet, and tries to tell others how to do things, that does not work really well for us, especially the teacher moderators. Perhaps it would help you by looking up our backgrounds.

 

Yes, we are a tightly moderated board. That is what makes us valid, in our opinion, and we know we are quite different from other boards where anyone can say anything. We are about education and discussion of classical ballet technique and performance, and all things directly related. The education is handled by professionals in the field, as citibob said, with decades of experience. We welcome newcomers to the board and to ballet, and hope that you are here to learn as well as to participate in the discussions, without trying to teach something in an area where your knowledge and experience are extremely limited.

[Redbookish]

PerfectFeet, as Ms Leigh writes, a Mod for this forum can be contact without using the PM function. There's a button for Contacting a Mod on each thread.

 

You cannot use the PM function because the MB is set up to allow the Private Messaging facility only after a member has made 30 posts & a membership time of a fortnight.

 

Yes, this is a tightly moderated MB, and that means that the advice and discussion here is of good value. I am taught by ex- and current professionals (from my city's company - a part of the Royal Ballet - can't get more expert than that!!) and I get good advice from them, but I also appreciate the discussion and range of advice here. Sometimes in class it's all too rushed -- here on BT4D, we have the advantage of an international panel of experts, and the swapping of our own experiences, and time to discuss, think, ponder, and digest. And remember that some of our fellow Adult Students are ex-pros, or trained from an early age in pre-pro schools. So our fellow students also offer sound advice and experiences.

 

I find that one of the really useful principles of this MB is that you can pose a question and get a range of answers from all sorts of different angles. No one answer is entirely right and the others all wrong, and we have the information and first-hand opinions of members -- we can then make a judgement that's right for us. Although, I think that one of the areas where we do get a little less catholic is in issues around health & injury, which is why your comments re mechanical and assisted stretches have elicited some clear & strong opinions, advising a great deal of caution.

 

One thing puzzles me -- I'm not sure why you say that you will explaining how BT4D works to others -- if your friends and class mates are interested in joining BT4D, they can find out for themselves how it works. I think there's heaps of information here for new members to learn for themselves about how this MB works, and it doesn't need anyone to mediate for them. If you've decided this MB is not for you, that's your decision, and I'd hope that you'd let others find out for themselves what they think of this site.