Back to Ballet - Best Class Ever!

I am literally grinning from ear to ear. Like a fool or a wacky cartoon character. If I could get you to picture it, I would look like this (minus the creepy):

I'm not happy, I'm ecstatic. The amount of happiness that my first class back has brought me still has me gushing. I wish I could have made this post the other day when I was bursting at the seams with joy and ready to unload it on anyone that would care to listen. Unfortunately, life got in the way and now that I've calmed down considerably I don't think I can quite channel the jittery, excitement filled me that I was after class. However, I'm going to try anyways for you, the reader's sake.

So if I were to say that 'It began just like any other day' I'd be lying. I got off of a 4 hour red-eye flight on a squashy budget airline bleary-eyed and exhausted. I got home, dropped my bags, collapsed into my already made bed (making a bed before you go away: best idea ever!) and had a short snooze for a few hours. I know these are minor details but I thought I'd build the suspense so you can understand the level of excitement I was at the other day. So after my short nap, I awoke and started looking for things to do for the rest of the day. I decided that sleeping was a lost cause and that going to bed earlier would be good for my body. I jumped onto my dance studio's website to see if any ballet was on (hint: It was) and when I spied the name attached to the teacher column I freaked out, in a good way.

So why did I freak out? Let me tell you why. THERE WAS A MALE TEACHER'S NAME THERE! Now some of you may think "Yeah, big deal!" but for me it was. I had semi-resigned myself to the idea that I would probably never have a male teacher simply because here in Brisbane (You now know where I hail from hooray!), there's not a crazily large scene for Ballet. This means very little access to male teachers as the only ones qualified enough would probably otherwise be occupied with full-time work at the Queensland Ballet.

So now that you know why I was so excited I'll gloss over the minor details and get to the stuff you want to know about, The class. The teacher's name was John Sandurski, he was back in Brisbane having been in Europe for the last 10 years dancing. This guy was amazing, He was every bit as technically skilled as my regular ex-company trained teachers (as flexible also) except he was also this outstanding role model for my development in the world of ballet. His class was an eye-opening experience for me, even though the speed and level was relatively high given that we had some advanced guests in our beginner class (a principal dancer with the Queensland Ballet on holiday) I learnt some nifty new things. During Plies we did temps leve (I think that's how you spell what he called them) with rond de jambe from fourth instead of 2 demi plies, a grande plie and a releve in the other position. We did some other nifty flourishes at the barre during the regular exercises including some pas de bouree's to soutenu to change sides (previously only just releve to soutenu) and an arabesque on demi point, falling forward into fondue on the front leg (which I liked the look of when he demonstrated because it belied an elegant strength).

Moving onto center work, we did tendus in the center from fifth moving from croise to efface with a pirouette from fifth to change direction. We did arabesque work with pas de bouree derriere (pique for the ladies, normal for the boys) as the directional transition. We moved onto pirouettes with a new exercise involving petit retire and quarter turns to both sides from fifth with a quick fourth prep into pirouette. We finished the center with a mix of saute and changement with a soubresaut to mix it up (I'd never done soubresauts before)
before finally finishing the class with a neat travelling chasse exercise going down the room.

Whilst I got lost quite a bit in the speed of the class, I was impressed by the great nuggets of wisdom he imparted as we worked through the class on what we should be concentrating on technique wise. It was entirely refreshing to have a male presence and I am now going to take every ballet class he is teaching whilst he is here. I walked out of the room positively gushing, so much so that I think I came across as some sort of crazy person to the teacher with my ridiculous enthusiasm. But it's like I said in my opening blog post. I am addicted to ballet. That is why I have this blog here, to relieve some of that excess enthusiasm so I don't explode at random at all my friends. So now I eagerly wait until Monday, when I can take class again with John. Now that the initial excitement has worn off I hope I don't come across as the freakishly enthusiastic and giddy person I was when I finished class the other day.

TTFN,

Leo

New Years Resolutions...

My dance studio is closed for the regular two weeks of holiday season. I've followed suit and decided to go home to spend time with family over Christmas and New Years. One thing I've noticed in the downtime however, is how much I miss doing Ballet. Something about being in a class in full kit with a teacher guiding your instructions that is ultimately more fun than trying to practice at home. I'm trying to keep active however, I'm trying to get myself to stretch and remain limber in the time off. It's proving to be a fruitless task however since I am unable to stop indulging in the little goodies that generally lurk around the house during this time of the year.

I think the main problem with me trying to stretch out at home is not yet being able to devise an appropriate routine that is efficient and effective. I am an absolute stickler for maximum efficiency since I am inherently lazy and hate doing anything that is superfluous. I find that it is also easy to make excuses not to do something when you don't have a clear focus or idea of what you are doing. Also, being quite large in size adds an extra logistic to account for and another excuse to add to the already full list. Not that I needed any extra excuses in the first place.

So before I get onto the task of setting my resolutions for 2011, I think I need to clarify my goals and what I aim to get out of Ballet. I mean of course there's the standard flexibility and strength that comes with doing ballet that I seek to gain. In addition to that however, there are some set moves and techniques I want to be able to master somewhat.

1.  Continuous a la seconde turns - In my mind, one of the most impressive feats of strength in a male danseur's repertoire. The amount of flexibility and strength required to maintain the leg straight at 90 degrees coupled with the skill required to spot with the head constantly and not get dizzy (something I struggle with) is something that utterly impresses me. I remember long before I started learning Ballet, watching Ethan Steifel perform seemingly endless a la second turns in his Nutcracker solo in the movie Centre Stage had me stunned in awe. If I could eventually do these myself, I could die the next day a happy man with no regrets. For those of you who aren't as nerdy as me with the french terms here's a neat video:

2. Tour en l'air - A technique that seems to be performed only by males in the Ballet world. The flexibility required to maintain a well turned out fifth position coupled with the strength to spring up from demi plie and complete 2+ full revolutions is impressive to say the least. I see this as the rite of passage into manhood of the ballet world; If I could one day do these, I will be a real ballet man. For those of you who don't know what these are, here's another neat video:

3. Grand Jete en Tournant - I've been told that these aren't particularly hard, however they are very cool to watch being done by a professional with excellent air and hangtime. Here's another video so you get an idea of what they are:

So this brings me quite nicely to my resolutions for the New Year. I feel that if I document them publicly I'll feel more obliged to try and achieve them.

1. Setup a stretch workout/routine to do in roughly 20 - 30 mins a day.

Ultimately I want to get better at ballet and to do so requires more flexibility for turnout. Whilst I have seen a marked improvement in flexibility over the last 10 months of doing ballet classes, I feel that this growth has stagnated a little only because of my body's downtime between classes. I currently have the New York Ballet Stretch Workout DVD on hold at the public library and when I return from holidays I will borrow it out and study it meticulously. With any luck, I will see greater improvements in my technique before long.

2. Do more ballet classes.

This is something that I already plan to do, however the only thing stopping me at this stage is time and money. I desperately want to increase my ballet classes from twice a week to 4 - 5 times however. The thought of sacrificing eating for ballet is beginning to cross my mind but for the sake of promoting healthy body images and all that positive rainbowy stuff I'll spurn that thought from my mind. So the aim of this resolution is to find the time and the money from somewhere to add to my existing ballet schedule.

3. Watch a live Ballet.


This is something that I've actually never done in my life. Instead of putting this on the backbench of 'something to do in my lifetime' I will push the priority forward to 'something I will do in 2011'. Whilst I would prefer it to be in my city, the idea of travelling just to see a ballet is somewhat attractive also. The aim of this resolution is to see more choreography and variations being done by real people in real time, to greater inspire the soul.

4. Start regular Pilates.

In my mind there is never such a thing as 'too much core strength'. Whilst my core strength isn't horrid as a result of my personal training sessions for the last 12 months, I could always use more core work. I had the pleasure of attending my first pilates class ever a couple of months ago and it was hard. If I could get better at Pilates I know that my flexibility will drastically improve as well as my ability to balance myself on releve through the increased core stability.

5. Continue this blog.

I seem to always have a bad run with blogs. I start them and then never continue them because I get overly self-conscious with what I write. This post alone has been about 4 hours in the making simply because I write and rewrite always unhappy with the way I phrase things. Sometimes I'm overly verbose and use ridiculous big words, Other times I will write plainly and be utterly frank. I think if I blog enough I'll get over this blogging 'self-esteem' issue. In any case I make the resolution here and now to continue blogging throughout 2011. In the past I've not had anything to focus my thoughts, but with ballet as a guiding light I hope I can continue to make this something special.

So I think I'll leave it there at 5 resolutions for 2011. They are all about ballet but with these goals set and published online I'll feel more motivated to see them through. At least that is the idea anyways.

Happy New Year and TTFN (Ta-Ta For Now)!

Leo

Welcome!

Hi all! My name is Leo and welcome to Putting the 'Leo' in Leotard.

Before I get into this blog and its contents, I need to first make a startling confession:

I am addicted to Ballet.

When I say addicted, I mean addicted. I spend most of my waking moments thinking about it, I count the days until my next class and I spend a lot my time on the internet reading about it or watching it. The joy I reap when I'm both doing and thinking about ballet is simply indescribable. That's why I decided to start this blog, to hopefully catch the overflow when I burst from the seams with passion.

So here I am, joining the ranks of the ballet bloggers. It would seem that 2010 is the year for burgeoning ballet bloggers (Tights and Tiaras, Dave Tries Ballet, Adult Beginner to shout out to my favourites). Having only started ballet 10 months ago and getting the courage now to blog about it, I think its better late than never.

As an adult beginner, I think its very important to document my progress as it unfolds. Being the consummate extrovert that I am, I feel that sharing these on the World Wide Web is much better than a journal or diary. Also being male, I think its doubly important to mete out my thoughts as there are times when being the vast minority can pick away at you. Overall, hopefully you the reader glean something from my failings and/or successes. Better still, some offerings of advice and/or support would also be happily accepted.

If I haven't already deterred you with my brutal verbosity (I'm sorry I tend to enjoy toying with the english language), I look forward to having you all read my blog in the future. I certainly look forward to expelling my mind on here when I am filled to the brim with ballet ready to explode.

TTFN (Ta-Ta For Now),

Leo