A common response to why adults seek ballet as an exercise to reduce stress, anxiety, or feeling spaced out, is "to get a sense of my body". Ballet is ethereal, yet taking adult ballet classes is a great way to get grounded.
If you take the big step and find a dance studio that provides adult ballet classes, how do you prepare yourself?
First, go and visit the ballet school, and observe the dance instruction in the adult ballet section. Before you buy any ballet wear, you can find out the dress code, and the the type of ballet leotards and tights most frequently worn. Check out the ballet shoes that are either required, or free for you to choose. Black or pink, black or white for men in ballet, and so on.
Whether you have a huge performing arts school, or a small neighborhood ballet studio, visit, watch a couple of classes and get a feel for the place. Ballet wear includes your hairstyle, clothes you might want to wear over your leotards and tights, if allowed. Even if you want to hide a less than wraith-like figure under a sweater, filmy skirt, or dance pants, always wear a leotard and pink tights, for women.
This classic ballet wear allows the ballet teacher to see what your muscles are doing, if she/he wants. This is only to your benefit, since especially in the beginner adult ballet classes, you want to know that you are learning correct ballet technique and getting into correct ballet positions.
Some adult ballet classes use Pilates to help warm up. This is excellent for developing the core muscles. Feeling your core muscles gives a good sense of the body. It is grounding. Feeling the core muscles and having correct posture in the low back/pelvic area will help you develop your turnout muscles without needless tension.
Feeling the soles of the feet flat on the floor, not slanting in (pronation) or out (supination) is essential. That in itself is a grounding effort. If you have been advised to exercise for stress or anxiety control, I think ballet is excellent. Ballet gives you control over something which you can indeed control. Your own body.
You cannot be spacey in ballet class. The music, the sound of the teacher's voice, and the sense of your body working, enhances your presence. You cannot be somewhere else. While getting grounded, you are learning an elegant and ethereal style of dancing. The best of both ideas.
By the way, presence is IT. If you ever wonder why professional ballet dancers work so hard for little money and lots of aches and pains, for so long, maybe because it creates more of their own presence so often. Because presence is Presence. You know what I mean.
So if you have always wanted to take adult ballet classes, go. Get the best teacher you can, and benefit from all the wonderful ballet manuals available now that will tell you all the finer details of ballet technique. That extra understanding will get you even more grounded in adult ballet technique.
The Ballet Store site provides a free ballet glossary so you can learn the French words for ballet quickly.
The Perfect Pointe Book gives practice routines you can do safely at home, after a few months of beginner adult ballet classes. Even if you never dance ballet in pointe shoes, the exact details of this manual will answer many questions you may have and never get to ask in ballet class.
Showing posts with label stress. Show all posts
Showing posts with label stress. Show all posts
Better Self Care in Ballet Training
The virtue of patience sounds like one of the many spiritual gifts we may have, or an element of character education, or just one of those things our parents and teachers like to bother us about. If the quest for art drives you toward toward seeking perfection, being the best, or unreasonable weight loss, I hope the following body image tips and self-education tips help you improve and modify your self care in your ballet training.
All of this applies to young athletes as well. The individual's achievement orientation of athletics in high school, or ballet schools is supplemented by the dance team competitions, and the competition to get on a team, cast in a ballet performance or included in an exam class. This is an exciting, positive thing. It will, however, inevitably complicate your life,
Body image, diet, time planning, sounds like you need a staff of ten. But your self care is all up to you.
Avoiding or overcoming depression, or striving for weight loss is also a positive thing. The healthier dancer will communicate with parents, get medical advice if needed, and also do their own research.
For instance, it may seem that a growing teen dancer has a sugar addiction. This is not uncommon in our culture, but also can show up as a temporary condition if a growth spurt coincides with extra classes, rehearsals, and final exams. More lean protein, omega 3 fats, vitamins and minerals are needed, every day, to accommodate growth.
Sugar addiction can also result from an attempt at overcoming depression - sugar is a drug and changes the way we feel. All too temporarily. It leads to adrenal exhaustion which leads to more sugar or carbohydrate craving, and goes round and round until a different behavior interrupts the process.
Also, factor in the respect needed for your own process of growing up. Your body will continue to change and develop shape and bone mass according to how you feed it, rest it, and work it. Your growth stage will not always fulfill your body image ideas, but have faith, it will change and it will be okay.
Fast food will deprive you in so many ways it would take a book to describe it, and many have been written already.
"Fast life", like fast food, will also deprive you of growth and health. While attending to your ambition at ballet school, or in sports training, create simplicity. The aspects of our culture that govern viewpoints on social standing, sexiness, body image, being cool, having the best toys, car, clothes, are not created for your benefit.
So who DO these social pressures benefit? Think about that.
Think about the time you put into it.
It may be a struggle to deal with the whole issue, but in standing a little detached from all those issues for a few minutes every morning, could be a great survival strategy for you. Give to your priorities as much as you can, without neglecting family or other obligations.
This might sound like a crash course in becoming an immediate social outcast, but my experience is that teens that practice some detachment from following the crowd and pursuing reasonable self care often end up being followed themselves. Ironic, life is.
Being independent this way may bring you more support and respect for your ambitions. Again, it may not, but hopefully there are some smart and loving people in your life.
Save your stress for things that matter. Decide what matters. Decide what the best self care is for you, in your ballet training, art training and sports training. Or academic training, any training. The virtue of courageous patience will grow with you, regardless of what you call it.
All of this applies to young athletes as well. The individual's achievement orientation of athletics in high school, or ballet schools is supplemented by the dance team competitions, and the competition to get on a team, cast in a ballet performance or included in an exam class. This is an exciting, positive thing. It will, however, inevitably complicate your life,
Body image, diet, time planning, sounds like you need a staff of ten. But your self care is all up to you.
Avoiding or overcoming depression, or striving for weight loss is also a positive thing. The healthier dancer will communicate with parents, get medical advice if needed, and also do their own research.
For instance, it may seem that a growing teen dancer has a sugar addiction. This is not uncommon in our culture, but also can show up as a temporary condition if a growth spurt coincides with extra classes, rehearsals, and final exams. More lean protein, omega 3 fats, vitamins and minerals are needed, every day, to accommodate growth.
Sugar addiction can also result from an attempt at overcoming depression - sugar is a drug and changes the way we feel. All too temporarily. It leads to adrenal exhaustion which leads to more sugar or carbohydrate craving, and goes round and round until a different behavior interrupts the process.
Also, factor in the respect needed for your own process of growing up. Your body will continue to change and develop shape and bone mass according to how you feed it, rest it, and work it. Your growth stage will not always fulfill your body image ideas, but have faith, it will change and it will be okay.
Fast food will deprive you in so many ways it would take a book to describe it, and many have been written already.
"Fast life", like fast food, will also deprive you of growth and health. While attending to your ambition at ballet school, or in sports training, create simplicity. The aspects of our culture that govern viewpoints on social standing, sexiness, body image, being cool, having the best toys, car, clothes, are not created for your benefit.
So who DO these social pressures benefit? Think about that.
Think about the time you put into it.
It may be a struggle to deal with the whole issue, but in standing a little detached from all those issues for a few minutes every morning, could be a great survival strategy for you. Give to your priorities as much as you can, without neglecting family or other obligations.
This might sound like a crash course in becoming an immediate social outcast, but my experience is that teens that practice some detachment from following the crowd and pursuing reasonable self care often end up being followed themselves. Ironic, life is.
Being independent this way may bring you more support and respect for your ambitions. Again, it may not, but hopefully there are some smart and loving people in your life.
Save your stress for things that matter. Decide what matters. Decide what the best self care is for you, in your ballet training, art training and sports training. Or academic training, any training. The virtue of courageous patience will grow with you, regardless of what you call it.
I'm sorry...
I haven't forgotten about you oh dear blog of mine... You are always on my mind. It's just that this week at work is insane and so super hectic that I can barely think. I am so stressed right now!! On top of that, I'm starting to feel sick. You know- that achy feverish burning hot eyes, sore throat kind of sick. Yuck is right.
I've got a big week and an even bigger weekend. Our LAMB designer is flying in with samples Thursday. As soon as he gets there it will be a mad rush to get all the samples photographed, and put onto linesheets to go out to salesmen in time for the shoe show. Then, he and I have to go shop LA all day Friday to find inspiration for our meeting with Andrea Lieberman that will take place all day Saturday and Sunday!!
Andrea is AMAZING. If you know who she is you'll understand why every time we work with her it's super intimidating!! (here's a little bio) She's awesome to work with, but no matter how cool she is, it's hard not to feel like you don't know shit about shit when you're around her! So anyway, needless to say, I'm a bit stressed. Oh, did I forget to mention that's not even my full time job? Oh yea!
So I help out with LAMB (lucky for me) but my main focus is JLO footwear. As I am typing this I am in the middle of sending emails to China describing colors and materials for the upcoming Spring '09 collection. Yes... 2009. I just finished sketching the 35 shoes that were needed to make the collection. Now it's on to detailing and checking prototypes and blah blah blah.
Wow. No wonder my body is shutting down. Anyway- back to work. I just wanted to check in on you. ;)
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