Thursday afternoon

I just finished an energizing swim.  I hadn't swum in 2 days due to the cold weather and it felt reassuring to know that I could still churn vigorously through the water.  Now I am ready for more laps...

And, I went to ballet class this morning with the professionals.  It was nice to see familiar faces and everybody was kind of surprised to see me since I am not a regular in this class.  I thought of what the yoga teacher said about experiencing the movements and so I began to actually move through space with my torso and, surprisingly, I had even better balance after taking chances with my body.  The only problem I had was the step attitude en dehors turns extending into fondu arabesque...

Dance moves today:
1. Press foot, foot, 1st, 1st, fondu soutenu to seconde, tendus.
2. Double fondus en croix to developpes, fondu passe arabesque.
3. Frappes with small ronde jambes en l'air.
4. Grande battements with balancoire.
5. Chasse tendu front, tendu back, pas de basque, developpe front to arabesque, promenade, pirouettes en dedans, detourne, pirouettes en dehors.
6. Pique, pique, soutenus, chainnes.
7. Glissade assemble assemble assemble, reverse assembles, glissade with brises.
8. Plie releve developpe, chasse pas de bourre grand jete, glissade assemble, soutenu passes with pirouettes.

So, now I am done!  Still thinking about the whole idea of ballet and turning into ethereal creatures.  Darwin believed in the survival of the fittest, but are the fittest necessarily the strongest?  Perhaps physically, but mentally we are not there yet.  I know I am not supposed to think, but I can't help thinking about it all...I mean, all those science fiction movies about the frail future beings who exist in glass bubbles, like Michael Rennie from "The Day the Earth Stood Still," superior mentally but requiring a robot to do his brute work.  And then the gods of ancient Greece, like Apollo, who had it all...

So where are we going?  I would like to believe in a future of art and artists and that is why, even though others may prefer to have their nose to the grindstone, I continue to dance, and think, too!

Then I went to my favorite teacher's class tonight and, as usual, lost it at the end of class when we did:  pas de bourre plie coupe assemble, contretemps developpe pique arabesque assemble, bourres developpe a la seconde, coupe jete assemble, changements at a fast tempo.  Just did not get the mechanics of where to place my feet.  Petit allegro eludes me that way sometimes and I am thinking there must be a rule, such as change feet, like when you are walking, duh...

But, I must say that I felt almost on my legs while doing pirouettes and other moves and if I could just focus and spot a little, they might actually look pretty.  There was one pretty dancer in class, a professional, who always did all the combinations nicely, not perfectly, but doing the class as a working dancer.  A teacher of mine always used to say that class is for working on your dancing, it is not a performance that should look perfect.  Still, after the yoga class yesterday, I felt freer in class, which is what I need to continue to do.  I told the teacher about what the yoga teacher said about feeling the energy, and he commented that he could not feel any energy anymore, ha, ha.  His class  is hard, but always fun, and very, very good technically as well, and you really feel like you are dancing, too.  The best!

Some dance moves tonight:
1. Slow battements en croix, balance in arabesque and come in to passe.
2. Frappes en croix, on demi-toe doubles, beats.
3. Developpe a la seconde, tombe pas de bourre arabesque to barre, balance in attitude; pique arabesque balance to other side, fouette.
4. 3x degages en croix, passe balance, pirouettes.
5. Ronde jambes with grand ronde jambe.
6. Tendu croise front, back, side, side, plie seconde, passe balance, repeat to other side; tendus again with pirouettes.
7. Plie seconde, port de bras with right arm in, around, up and chasse to arabesque balance, plie pas de bourre, pirouettes.
8. Chasse pas de bourre 2x grand jete, pique arabesque, tour jete, chasse arabesque, step pose, pique turns to pique turn en dehors.
9. Developpe a la seconde, ronde jambes, plie pas de bourre, chasse arabesque, attitude turn, present arms.