Back to Ballet, and Still Smiling. Sort of..

Back to ballet after the holidays and oh boy.. everything hurts! All major muscle groups hurt, several joints hurt and even my pride hurts, just a little bit. I can´t believe it would be so hard to get back into ballet-shape after a mere 14-days long hiatus.


Maybe the blame is on the freezing cold winter weather, or the strenuous inventory at work, or the one-too-many Christmas chocolate box. Heck, maybe I just spent way too much time couch-potatoing when I really should have been doing ab exercises and relevés! Still, breaks should be good for you, giving muscles and mind a well deserved rest. Right? Why then does this dance-break feel more like an unwelcome interruption? It´s as if I took one step forward before the break, and now I´ve taken two steps back again. But I suppose that´s ballet for you: you think you have it "made", and then you fall flat on your face. 

I have been on this road before, so why would I think I could just pick up where I left? I mean I can handle the achy muscles and sore ankles, that´s just part of the package. What I am having trouble with is losing my pirouettes (they are all over the place, just not "under me"), my jump (ballon to you ballet-French aficionados) and my coordination. A mere month ago I wrote that "my brisés are better than ever". Yesterday, they pretty much sucked. Our teacher (she of the old-school-Vaganova) gave us a basic exercise: three brisés traveling to the front, three to the back, followed by brisé vole, pas de bourré, and then repeat to the left. The first tempo gave me just time enough to send conscious command to my feet, but our teacher thought it was too boring. The quicker tempo was fun, as in me watching others sauté away! LOL. 

Then there was this beautiful but gruesome adagio: Starting from 5th in croisé, grand plie, return then relevé (arms up in 5th/3rd), back leg passé developpé to the front, leg down to tendu efface, plie and cambré forward, nose to knees, then raise with extended leg coming up, turn to seconde en face, then fouetté to 1. arabesque, followed by penché. Promenade in arabesque 3/4 of a full circle, ending in 2.arabesque, pas de bourré.. this is as far as I can remember. I think there might have been two more pirouettes, in attitude and arabesque and a Italian fouetté thrown in just for fun. Now, I do like challenges, but that adagio was at least two streets away from my comfort zone! So I´m still getting my groove back. I know it´s out there, right along with my disappearing pirouettes, my balance and bobby pins, and yet to be bought perfect pointe shoes. 

Tomorrow it´s back to ballet with Madame M-P. The French style that she teaches is a nice change from the Vaganova classes of late. But best of all, Madame´s classes are both strict and demanding, yet at the same time motivating and exhilarating.. I cannot help but being excited. It´s also the first pointe class of the New Year, and no matter how hard and difficult and even  painful it gets, I still want to be there! 




The clip below is from Christiane Vassaurd´s advanced pre-pro ballet class (Paris Opera Ballet school). It is way beyond any level I will ever reach, but a wonderful inspiration nevertheless. It is also an excellent example of the French style, which according to the German voice-over, demands "brilliant technique, clarity, virtuosity, and lots of chic." Whew!

Space(y) Pirouettes

I have had this dream repeatedly where I keep turning, endlessly and effortlessly, counting 4, then 8, then 16, then..., well then I usually wake up, somewhat disappointed might I add, because reality never lets me defy the laws of physics and ballet. The thing is, I´m pretty much useless at spotting my turns. And spotting, it seems, is the key in succeeding at triple or quadruple or even - yikes - quintuple pirouettes! Case in point, just check out the amazing dancers from Pacific Northwest Ballet taking company class and turning their butts off:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8p_VB6Q7fE

Strangely, I have somehow managed to pirouette for the past 15 years without focusing on any spot. And the truth is, you can do it without - it just doesn´t look neat, and forget about turning multiple spins! This sad fact was finally pointed out to me by my Favorite Ballet Teacher, and only because of her persistence I am slowly learning to snap my head around twice - spot ahead! Nowadays, on a good day, I manage maybe four out of 10 double turns neatly.. but finding my spot three times: impossible! Although the Triple Pirouettes do happen once in a while, that third revolution always seem accidental. Maybe it´s because I never really decide beforehand to turn thrice, and just go into the turn hoping for the best..

Now, I have worked a lot on my pirouettes. I try to learn from all the different corrections our teachers have given to us in class. I´ve read almost every 101/article/blog/thread there is on on improving your turns. Most have been helpful. I know that there have been many glitches in need of repair, and I´ve gotten a lot better. I have learned that beside spotting your turns, a strong core, deep plié and perfect timing of all elements are what make a great pirouette.

By the way, if you want to do the same, that is look for advice on the internet, this guide by Nichelle of Dance Advantage is one of the best:
http://danceadvantage.net/2010/11/16/pirouette-fairy-tips/ .

Still, something weird happens when I try to snap my head around more than twice. Suddenly my spot is all over the place. Last night, my substitute ballet teacher kindly told me in my native Finnish that "sun katse on avaruudessa", which roughly translated means that "I´m off and headed into space". Yeah, space.. and spotting.. my final frontier. It was funny, really, because aside from being a total ballet dork, I´m also a bit of scifi-nerd. For me, the best drama truly happens in space. But spacey pirouettes? Not so much.

So, I gotta figure out how to re-write my pirouette base-code. Remove that fail-safe in my brain which prevents my head from staring just straight ahead into space. Put theory into practice. Fail 19 times and succeed the twentieth (the definition of perseverance according to Julie Andrews). Turning multiple pirouettes (as in 4 or even 5) is a sweet dream indeed, right along there with flying spaceships. But unlike dreaming of traveling through Stargates, non-spacey-pirouettes could actually still become reality! And guys, when that happens and I nail my first clean quadruple, the tab´s on me!

Disclaimer: open tab only for first person to witness actual act of turning quadruple, and only applicable at my local pub. In this galaxy.