I saw a dancer from the Eifman Ballet before my ballet class today and I just floated through the class conducted by a guest dancer, like I had wings. Just seeing her and how tall and proud she looked elevated me to another level and made me respect the artform even more. During barre I thought of standing tall and loose and having the ballerina stature I saw in her. She was so tall and slim and had beautiful feet. She had just taken off her pointe shoes to go home. Tonight I saw a star, I commented to the teacher as I walked into the studio.
The teacher said to really hold the arms, showing us how to hold the arms in second position and not let them droop. I tend to do this and since this was a beginning adult class, I worked on correcting all these fine points that say so much about you as a dancer. Also, extending the feet in pointe in center, spotting the head, moving the torso sideways in balances, keeping the shoulders and hips down, and so on.
I had been walking with Yasir earlier and I took him along on some errands with me also, stopping to mail a letter and so on. Everyone always stops me when they see him, commenting on how beautiful he is. Tonight, after class, I took him out again, just to walk around the block to the side street I had discovered while walking from ballet class that had a flowering tree and smelled fragrant from new spring flowers. It was a clear night and a welcome relief from the soggy, rainy day yesterday.
So my puppy is playing with his toys and I am winding down, still thinking of this amazing dancer and how discliplined she looked and how proud she was to be a dancer...
Class:
Do pushups before barre:
1. Plies with port de bras, emphasis on staying with the music.
2. Tendus from 1st with plies and port de bras.
3. Tendus en croix, really cross the 5th, hold arms out, relax (the teacher was standing tall but relaxed looking); in fifths, tendus 1st, 5th, to the side.
4. Degages front, back, side. Then face barre and do degages sideways.
5. Degages en croix front and back, circular port de bras, balance in coupe.
6. Ronde jambes with preparation and fondus around, balancoire with extension through passe and into arabesque.
7. Battu and frappes from a pointed foot which has to flex when reaching the ground (there are many different ways of doing frappes, which means to strike the foot, the teacher said).
8. Developpes en croix.
9. Grand battements front, back, side with tendu to side. Balance in passe.
Center:
1. Tendus sideways with tendus croise and derrierre, pirouettes from 5th and then from 4th. Use the arm to turn, go out and around.
2. Adagio: developpes with arabesque promenade, pas de bourre. Use the torso with developpes, bending back while going forward, using head when going sideways.
3. Balance, balance, using obliques, soutenu, chasse forward with port de bras, pirouettes, lunge.
4. Jumps 1st, 2nd, echappes with echappes in 4th, 2nd, 4th, quatres. To learn quatres, we lay on the floor and moved our feet in beating motions.
5. Temps leve arabesque, temps leve, glissade assemble, waltz in line (how to do this: move leg forward, back, like walking, arms extended going forward, gesturing back hand going backwards, so we can tell Megan we learned this and quatres...), run, run, run, releve arabesque.
For cool down we did superman banana again: do teaser from lying on back, roll around to stomach and do the swan, roll to back and pulse. I will miss this guest teacher's class because it really made me feel like I was extending my entire body. I will look for him in his future performances for sure and I thanked him for teaching me and helping me learn about how to move and no matter how you look, it's beautiful...
there will be another guest teacher Friday morning. I love taking class from such wonderful teachers!
The teacher said to really hold the arms, showing us how to hold the arms in second position and not let them droop. I tend to do this and since this was a beginning adult class, I worked on correcting all these fine points that say so much about you as a dancer. Also, extending the feet in pointe in center, spotting the head, moving the torso sideways in balances, keeping the shoulders and hips down, and so on.
I had been walking with Yasir earlier and I took him along on some errands with me also, stopping to mail a letter and so on. Everyone always stops me when they see him, commenting on how beautiful he is. Tonight, after class, I took him out again, just to walk around the block to the side street I had discovered while walking from ballet class that had a flowering tree and smelled fragrant from new spring flowers. It was a clear night and a welcome relief from the soggy, rainy day yesterday.
So my puppy is playing with his toys and I am winding down, still thinking of this amazing dancer and how discliplined she looked and how proud she was to be a dancer...
Class:
Do pushups before barre:
1. Plies with port de bras, emphasis on staying with the music.
2. Tendus from 1st with plies and port de bras.
3. Tendus en croix, really cross the 5th, hold arms out, relax (the teacher was standing tall but relaxed looking); in fifths, tendus 1st, 5th, to the side.
4. Degages front, back, side. Then face barre and do degages sideways.
5. Degages en croix front and back, circular port de bras, balance in coupe.
6. Ronde jambes with preparation and fondus around, balancoire with extension through passe and into arabesque.
7. Battu and frappes from a pointed foot which has to flex when reaching the ground (there are many different ways of doing frappes, which means to strike the foot, the teacher said).
8. Developpes en croix.
9. Grand battements front, back, side with tendu to side. Balance in passe.
Center:
1. Tendus sideways with tendus croise and derrierre, pirouettes from 5th and then from 4th. Use the arm to turn, go out and around.
2. Adagio: developpes with arabesque promenade, pas de bourre. Use the torso with developpes, bending back while going forward, using head when going sideways.
3. Balance, balance, using obliques, soutenu, chasse forward with port de bras, pirouettes, lunge.
4. Jumps 1st, 2nd, echappes with echappes in 4th, 2nd, 4th, quatres. To learn quatres, we lay on the floor and moved our feet in beating motions.
5. Temps leve arabesque, temps leve, glissade assemble, waltz in line (how to do this: move leg forward, back, like walking, arms extended going forward, gesturing back hand going backwards, so we can tell Megan we learned this and quatres...), run, run, run, releve arabesque.
For cool down we did superman banana again: do teaser from lying on back, roll around to stomach and do the swan, roll to back and pulse. I will miss this guest teacher's class because it really made me feel like I was extending my entire body. I will look for him in his future performances for sure and I thanked him for teaching me and helping me learn about how to move and no matter how you look, it's beautiful...
there will be another guest teacher Friday morning. I love taking class from such wonderful teachers!
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