Movement & Dance I- September 16 (Or How I Became A Velociraptor in Jazz Shoes)

Me in ballet class.

When I was in high school, my best friend Spencer and I had this running joke that we wanted to get degrees in performing arts, then run a Performing Arts school for dinosaurs. I don't remember how it got started but for months, whenever we got bored or ran out of things to talk about, we'd just start talking about our dinosaur school.

I bring this up, because on Wednesday, we started on ballet fundamentals. (Note: Most of the class has dance training, and about a 1/3 of the class has been trained in ballet.) I feel like the only way to accurately describe the experience would be a velociraptor in jazz shoes. I could get my arms into second position just fine, it was more of a matter of keeping them there, that presented the challenge. This was a problem that a lot of the class had, actually. Caitlyn says that the struggle with arms comes from continually focusing on your feet so intensely that your arms start to sink, and your elbows form into chicken wings. (I think I look like a velociraptor when my elbows drop, because my fingers start to splay open, like claws.) 

Second position arms.

I wasn't fairing the greatest with my tendus either. Going forward and to the side was okay, extending to the back was where I'd start to screw up. I'd tendu to the side, but then instead of tenduing behind me, I'd pretty much just go back out to the side again, so tomorrow I need to really focus on stretching farther back.

Reflecting on it now, it could have been a lot worse, and for how hard it is, I'm excited for more.