Practice at home

[chocakety]

So what made me post this topic is that my mum hasn't been very pleased with me attending ballet classes (Min 3 times a week 1 hr 30 mins or 4 if I have extra time off from the polytechnic (I think it is something like college in the USA except that we graduate with a diploma))

 

She believed that any dancer would be good if she practices REALLY HARD at home despite her only attending ballet classes once a week. She felt that I wasn't practicing at home as much as I should because she never sees me executing the steps. This is true because I do not wish to get injured when I do jumps on a non-sprung floor. Furthermore, I don't live in a big house where I am free to temp leve (Sorry my keyboard doesn't have the French accent) as many times as I want across due to the placement of the furniture. But! I do my conditioning exercises at home and have been doing port de bras infront of the mirror to check my arms. Also, I get on the Internet to research about what I do not understand from class, read it,understand it and apply to the next class or do it after a walk. Some of the "practices" that I have done would be retires because I had problems looking for my centre so I would just go up to a retire, look for my balance and hold it for 15 secs for around 4 times and repeat it the next day and so on.

 

I tried to tell her very nicely that ballet requires a different form of technique and it needs to be done under a watchful eye of a qualified teacher. Ballet requires usage of muscles that is not used in everyday life. Furthermore, I am en pointe and I personally feel that I need to do at least 3 times a week to gain the strength needed.

 

She dances country so what she advices to me would apply differently to ballet.

 

Well to get straight to the point, She got so mad at me that she have decided to "challenge" me that she will take up adult ballet class once a week, practice really hard and prove that she would be 3x better than me in technique. (I do hope she is kidding though but you never know!)

 

Personally, I am not aiming for a professional career but I would like to be trained seriously. I do understand that practice makes perfect and I am sorry that I am not practicing as much as I should at home. But I am just really upset that she feels that I should only be taking classes once a week and practice really hard at home since I am not aiming to be a professional but still be good to be considered in ballet.

 

I really have no idea what else to explain to her to sink into her mind that one would NOT be good in ballet if you just attend one class and practice at home really hard.....

[Victoria Leigh]

Just let her try it! She will figure it out rather quickly, I think. You are totally right, she is wrong, but maybe she needs to find that out for herself.

 

First of all, beginners should never practice at home. The reason for that is that they do not have enough knowledge of how to do things correctly, and just build in bad habits that make it harder to improve.

 

As for practice at home for you, still not a great idea except for stretching, maybe some barre work, and port de bras. You can't jump or turn or even relevé safely on a floor that is not sprung, as you know. Plus, unless you are at an advanced level of technique, you could still build in bad habits without a teacher being there to watch you.

[chocakety]

Thank you Ms Leigh!