i've not done so for the longest time... more than a decade i guess. it's awfully hard to get back once you walked out of it... i suppose i could no longer do pointe work... i doubt my right ankle will be able to withstand it anymore. for most people, their dominant leg is the right, in my case, it's my left when it comes to pirouettes and pointes etc. ... a terribly silly but awful injury altered that norm but it's okay... we all have a physical weakness of some sort.
i have completely forgotten what it was like in a formal ballet class... it could be rather competive in some classes, depending on the students and dance-teacher, or the school ethos i suppose. i have long forgotten what it was like...
during the many years i have been away i have tried to find classes like the one my dance teacher would give... and everytime, i leave those try-out classes disappointed... so i wasn't sure what i should expect today in the open adult class at the St Paul City Ballet for which i summoned enough courage to finally drop in... but i was much surprised to find myself in a class wherein some of the exercises were rather close to what i had so many years ago... focussing on strength, technique, and poise...
of course i was a rusty hopeless case in terms of turning out my toes as dancers should, which demanded suppleness and flexibility that won't necessarily come naturally after all these years of non-required use of those muscles... and i couldn't for the life of me remember all the french terms used to name the different steps... but enough to get by today... i could more or less keep up with the class even if i was trying to get my feet to do what they should (pas de burre, pas de chat, jete jete jete, sou tenu... glissade, tonde, coupe, piqe... pirouette on demi... ?!?! sp?) and although i may not be the most elegant nor the most confident (not my forte i guess)... it was nice prancing in ballet slippers after all these years... even if it isn't quite the same informal casual fun as ceildh-dancing!
ps:
it was funny that the dance teacher should play an old video of the Bolshoi Ballet performing The Nutcracker to the following class... for listening to the music, i was reminded of the ballet wherein i pretended i was a wee lad wearing breeches in the x'mas party where clara receives her Nutcracker, a chinese-dancer wearing a silly hat (i think we had to wear hats), and admiring the soloist dancers in all their grace and elegance as i peeped from the back-stage curtain...
sounds like you had fun! you should do this more often to get your mind off work!
Posted by: dimsumdolly on Sunday, 8 January, 2006 at 19:44 hrs*Note: in case you were thinking of leaving a comment and the option isn't here anymore... it is because the comment section of each entry is closed after sometime to prevent malicious comments... if you are looking for the actual entry, type in the keyword(s) in the little box on the main page http://overacuppa.com where it says "fossicking pebbles & seashells" and press *search*... thank you for popping by and happy browsing!