October Oasis

[AIC04]

So a happy October thread hadnt been started, so I thought I'd choose to start one.. I was having problems finding a O word to choose from, and ran across another meaning of Oasis, as a peaceful dwelling place to get outside of life's troubles, as ballet is one for me i found it fitting..That and i didnt know if Orgasmic October would be an appropriate choice of words here..

 

 

Anyways so I am fortunate enough to be able to take around 6hours of dance right now so that is awesome. I am also finding it much easier to remember combinations and am lucky to be taking from some awesome teachers, so right now long as I can keep mentally positive i am doing very well, i think...

[Balletlove]

I like the oasis AIC04, ballet is not only my oasis but on many days also the only reason that I stay sane!

 

We are busy doing Advanced II now which is really hard, but such a great challenge and opportunity. When I think back to when I started and I really couldnt even do a developpe I am encouraged to just go for it and give it my best shot.

[missvjc420]

My good news is that my teacher basically treats me like I'm back on the pro track again, I do everything on Demi pointe, doubles or more for singles, beats on jumps, and have been getting many "very goods" or "watch how missvjc does x step" for my troubles. I hope I can keep it up.

[Serendipity]

Wow! Missvjc, I'm pleased to hear it!

 

My news is that I spent this week testing out jumping again, after not doing it for quite a few years.

 

Well, so far, not bad. A little soreness but nothing major. A little TLC and all is reasonable. I'm going to keep on jumping for a while and see how it goes. It helps that I have been applying religiously the body and foot alignment corrections I've been given. I figure since I'm not doing anything in terms of performing, if I do get too sore, no big deal.

 

I love my teachers - they ALL have continued to push me instead of giving up on me! :-)

[swantobe]

Our tutus for the end of year performance arrived today!

[Serendipity]

I received a great tip on how to balance in back attitude. Once I applied it, I felt I could balance forever!! :-D

[gimpydancer]

So are you going to let us know what it is?!

[Balletlove]

Our tutus for the end of year performance arrived today!

And, how do they look? would love to see a picture!

[Balletlove]

Please, please, please share Serendipity

[Balletlove]

I had a good class last night, we were doing one of my teachers favourite exercises for building up some speed for petite alegro which is an exercise at the barre that involves a combination of degage's and demi ronde jambe (at degage height), well she was seriously on a mission to get hips level and not moving so she pushed and held us individually until we got it right; the sensation for me felt like some serious tucking although when looking sideways in the mirror I could see that I was actually straight but all the "extra" space that there was to do the movement was great! Then I got to thinking this morning while driving to work if this same tucking theory would work for grande ronde jambe en lair as I tend to pop the hip up and so never really get the ecarte look or feel (of course the extra stretching will probably help here too) cannot wait for class tomorrow to try it out!

[Serendipity]

Previously, I'd been working on doing things with my hips rather than my upper body, to try to get the balancing right. I finally just asked my "alignment teacher" as I call her and she told me it's the chest you have to move.

 

Once she said that, I was balancing forever!! It was so cool!!

 

As well, in the center, we were doing grand battements. She pulled us each onto our supporting leg. I didn't think that I had to move THAT far onto it to really free up the working leg. Apparently, I wasn't moving far enough, even though I hadn't had much trouble with that in the center. Once she pulled me into position, though, the leg felt like it had NO weight.

 

I love a hands-on teacher!!

[Balletlove]

Thats great news Serendipity!

 

I must say that this has provided some serious food for thought for me... I have to move right over to get onto the supporting leg for developpe's in the centre but have never thought about the fact that maybe I need to move as much for grande battements!

[TemptressToo]

My pirouettes are starting to come a little easier. That makes me happy.

[Serendipity]

Well, I had two fantastic classes tonight = both with favorite teachers. Tried the Gaynor standard shoe that I already had (from previous year) on the bigger foot and it worked perfectly. So now I have a matching pair (ish) - the custom-made one on the smaller foot, standard one on the bigger foot. I was turning pirouettes with stability and the roll-through was terrific.

 

The second thing that happened tonight was that my teacher had to leave the room for an emergency phone call and asked me to teach the class while she was gone. I did about 10-15 minutes or thereabouts. Asked some of the students at the end of class how they thought that bit went and they said it was good! :-)

 

I saw the studio director hovering at the window, too - not that I WANT to teach. I don't. But it's nice to be asked. LOL!

[Claude_Catastrophique]

I had a really shitty week. I caught a cold but I did not feel so sick that I did not go to classes. But I hardly could concentrate and my turns were awful (seemed to be something disturbed in my ear so that I had balance problems). So friday I was totally dead but I decided to stay for modern and just hang in the last row and do the exercises and watch the variation we learn in the end so that I won't miss the new parts. I felt a little bit better after the floorwork and I decided to do the variation and to learn the new part. I gathered my last energy and tried to do pretty well and - oh wonder - the first time ever since I take this class the teacher shouted through the whole room "very nice Claude, go on, shoulders down, now soft, very well" and when it was over she said "everyone did very good, great work". That made me really happy and showed me that it was worth to stay instead of going home.