Tag: Dance Lessons

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What Is the Point of Building a World Trade Center Memorial…

if it, along with all of lower Manhattan, San Francisco, and about three-quarters of Florida in this country alone, are soon going to be underwater, if Greenland and western Antartica continue to melt at their current rate? A favorite dance blogger of mine first recommended this film, then a fellow alum, director Davis Guggenheim, sent around a heartfelt email discussing his motivations for making it, and I just had to go. I had no idea how urgent the threat of global warming was until I saw An Inconvenient Truth this weekend. Al Gore presents the issue in a very clear way with lots of pictorials and graphics, and even a little humor, to make it interesting. Everyone should see it regardless of political affiliation. So compelling — really, terrorism is far from the only thing we have to fear…

I just finished transferring to video the tape I made on my camcorder last Monday of Luis and me dancing the choreography he’s done so far for our routine. Video recorders are an absolute must-have for dance students wishing to perform. Professional dancers can easily remember their choreography, but for a beginner, there is no other way to memorize than to videotape it. I tried writing it all down with my first teacher, Kelvin, and, when I showed him my notebook, he burst out laughing, “these are damn lawyer notes; I have no idea what they mean!” I had no dance vocabulary and just described in excruciating, and hence meaningless, detail every single movement. So found out the hard way writing is absolutely no use to a dancer, who is by trade visually- not verbally-oriented. A camcorder is the only way to go. And even at that it’s so hard for me to memorize. I wish so much I’d never quit dance as a child!!!!!

I normally don’t see the same ballet twice during the same season, but Friday I saw ABT‘s Cinderella again to see David Hallberg dance the role of Prince Charming, so I could compare him to his dressing-room roommate, Marcelo! (whose name I must follow with an !) My favorites are Jose, Alessandra, and Marcelo!, and I normally try to get tickets when one of them is performing, but David‘s contributions to my favorite dancer blog made me interested in seeing him too. And I’m very glad I did: he made a very dashing prince — and it’s interesting to see two different dancers interpret the same role. David‘s slightly smaller so kind of gets around the stage more quickly and does really amazing jumps, and his lifts with Gillian looked completely effortless. But Marcelo! is so big and it’s so romantic to see him envelope little Julie in his arms… And he has such a wonderful appreciation for women (as he expresses in many a good interview) — it really shows in his beautiful partnering 🙂
Tony’s are on, gotta go…

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Cadbury-Induced Tummy Pudge

After my two lessons this week I now realize how horrendously out of practice I am. Two weeks away from the studio for a beginning dancer is a serious recipe for failure. Before doing any lifts, I warned Pasha that all the Cadbury bars and black pudding I’d consumed in Blackpool had put serious pounds on me and when he frowned I pointed to my stomach, which has now developed a round little mass of pudge. Pasha is Russian (obviously) and thus given to brutal honesty, and he basically responded, oh that, that’s always been there… yes, everything is the same. Argh! I knew I didn’t have a completely flat stomach, but didn’t know it was that obvious… am beginning to think your dance partner knows your body better than anyone, including boyfriend… I also told Pasha about my toe, he asked if it was serious, I said no, just another stupid injury requiring yet more ice and Advil, and he shrugged his shoulders and said, we all live in pain; if it’s not falling off or cancer, you ignore it. Okay, am slowly learning the dancer way of life…

I’m really nervous about the upcoming performance though, because I seem to have forgotten: where my center is, how to spot, how to move my hips properly (without disconnecting them from my upper back and jutting them out too much) , can’t do a simple spin without wobbling all over myself . . . everything. And, I need to cancel my lesson next Wednesday with the immensely popular and hence impossible to re-book Pasha because I must go to ABT. Vladimir Malakhov is performing for practically the only time this season, and as I think he’s one of the two greatest male dancers in the world right now (the other being Jose Carreno, who is performing a splendid many times with ABT!), I must not miss it. I’ll just have to kill myself with ballet classes until October because, though it’s not Latin, ballet is ESSENTIAL to training in any kind of dance.

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Big Fat Ugly Toe

Embarrasingly, I broke down and went to the podiatrist yesterday for stupid toe pain and swelling. Two weeks ago when I was in the studio with Pasha I suddenly felt this horrible surge of pain surge through my right big toe and, after the severe pain went away, it kept hurting. I thought I may have a splinter from the hardwood floor, but when I got home I looked and looked and couldn’t find anything in my toe or shoe. It continued to hurt off an on all the way through Blackpool. So the doctor took an x-ray and verified there’s no splinter or glass. But what I do have is a bone spur, an inflammation surrounding the bone, caused by pressing down too hard on the bone. So, how am I supposed to point or go up on high releve, onto the tips of my toes??? Doc says I’ll need to ice it regularly and take Ibuprofin when pain gets bad, and possible Cortizone injections may be in my future.

So, I have only been dancing two years now and this is my injury list thus far: tendonitis in both hips, bursitis in both hips, partially torn meniscus in right knee, strained left adductor muscle, partially torn ligament in left wrist, tendonitis in right thumb (latter two are due, I kid not, to guys in class holding me too hard — and my hand surgeon made me promise I would either learn to be more assertive and tell my classmates not to manhandle me so roughly or else I’d have to stop with the group classes and only take private lessons with pros), and now this bone spur in my big toe. I don’t know how professional dancers do it. I only dance a couple of hours a day!

Yesterday on my way home, I ran into an old friend from my former studio, Brittania, who told me she’s competing for the first time with her teacher at the upcoming Manhattan Dancesport Championships, which brightened my day because I was starting to get depressed from Blackpool being over and getting back into my daily grind, when she reminded me of this fabulous competition coming up over 4th of July weekend. This was one of the first I attended and is what made me really fall in love with the idea of competing. All of the best pro dancers in the country are there, as it’s the most prestigious comp in the mid-Atlantic region. It’s at the Marriott in Brooklyn Heights (despite the competiton’s name…) and much more will be posted closer in time!

While talking with Brittania, I saw Doug Liman (director of Swingers, Go, and Bourne Identity movies), which excited me because, before dance overtook my life and I was a big movie-goer, I used to have a crush on him — partly because he went to my alma mater and his father was a big bleeding-heart do-gooder attorney. My friends make fun of me because I have been known to practically bump right into, without recognizing, people like Gwynneth Paltrow and Wesley Snipes (Gwynneth was incognito and my friend only recognized her by her sunglasses, which she saw her wearing in Vogue, but Wesley was actually filming and thus surrounded by cameras and crew!), but then I’ll recognize a behind-the-scenes director walking down the street, or a ballet dancer like Herman Cornejo on the subway…

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So Afraid to Go Over the Guy's Head!

Very happy that Pasha is now back in the studio after spending the last three weeks traveling around the country with his students doing Pro/Am competitions. So, we discussed how to not look like a spaghetti by: exerting more control over my body; finding my center and keeping it solid; being grounded (instead of thinking about dancing as akin to flying — it only looks that way and humans really can’t fly); thinking about the lines I’m trying to create; and deciding the character of the piece — ie: I am a girl in love, not a swan, so no flapping arm-wings… He also made me feel much better about not being able to developee my leg all the way up near my head yet, telling me it’s one of the hardest things to do in ballet because it requires great strength and control, and not just flexibility, like it looks.

On the other hand, Luis showed me this crazy overhead lift he wants me to do with him that looks similar to the Bird from Dirty Dancing, but is supposedly easier since I’m pressing down on his shoulders from above and he’s supporting my hips. We tried it but I’m just so scared to go over his head! So, I only went halfway up. He assured me he was strong and told me he wouldn’t do anything with me that he didn’t know I could do and the only thing holding me back was my fear. How do female dancers get rid of those fears?!!! He also wants me to do this cartwheel over his head and land in this Firebird-looking position on his back. Yikes — I’ve been dancing barely two years now and have no gymnastics background! So, anyway, my task over the next week and a half while I’m out of the studio and in Blackpool is to try hard to overcome my fears.

I want to try one of those hand-free fishes, where the girl is in a fish dive and the guy lets go and she holds onto him with her leg wrapped around his back — don’t know exactly what they’re called. No one seems to know what I’m talking about and the way I describe it, they say it sounds physically impossible, which it probably is for me now… But it can’t possibly be as hard as flying over the guy’s head! I’ll have to bring to the studio the picture of Marcelo Gomes and Gillian Murphy doing it in The Ballet Book.

Speaking of which, Monday night is ABT’s opening gala! And next Friday begins Blackpool!! So many exciting things…

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Physical Therapist is Pissed About Pot-Stir

Just got back from physical therapy. When I limped in, my therapist had this bewildered look. “Oh no, what happened?” she said.

“No, nothing to my injury,” I said (I have a partially torn meniscus in my right knee likely caused by unconsiously forcing turnout from the knees in ballet since I’ve developed both tendonitis and bursitis in both hips, making it hard to turn out from the proper place — the hip joints). “My thigh is just a little sore from a new thingy I was doing in my Latin lesson last night.”

“Show me,” she said, frowning.

When I illustrated how I was sitting butt half an inch from the floor, balancing on the ball of my left foot, right foot off floor and pointed, while Luis whipped me around repeatedly, she screamed, “What? That’s totally hard on your knees. Hello, you have a knee injury!”

After lecturing me about dancing at all until I healed, then about ever dancing more often then every other day even after the meniscus healed because of my ongoing tendonitis and perpetually tight IT band (still not completely sure what that is), she finally said I could do the spin if I promised to do it only on the left leg and even then be very very careful and not practice it for half an hour at a time.

But if I limit my dancing to every couple of days, only an hour or two a day and then don’t practice difficult things, obviously I’ll never improve. And I can’t wait for an injury to heal if it’s tendonitis, which never heals and can cause other problems. It really makes me feel for people like Kristin Sloan (from NYCBallet) and other professional dancers who have ongoing or recurring injuries because how are they supposed to limit their dancing time? How can anyone limit their dancing time!!

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Dancers are Really Smart

Oof. Had my second lesson last night with Luis. I learned this flying fish thing where I grab my left foot over his shoulder and extend my right leg out into splits as far as possible and he whirls me around and around and around. Almost threw up. Also almost kicked a lady in the chest with foot of extended leg. Actually, I am becoming known for kicking ladies in the chest. A couple of weeks ago, with Pasha, I was doing a lift and when I jumped and he picked me up and I extended my front leg out, it hit a female student right smack in the chest. Fortunately I was only wearing ballet slippers and not evil latin stilettos. And fortunately she wasn’t hurt and we were able to kind of laugh about it afterward because the lift happened right as Jessica Simpson bellowed over the speaker, “Take my breath awayyyy”, which I guess I kind of did to her.
Anyway, I also learned a “pot stir” last night, which is where Luis is standing above me spinning me, looking indeed like he’s stirring a thick concoction in a big ole pot, and I play the pot, or the gunk in the pot I guess, spinning on one foot. His professional partner, Anya, did like 50 spins in a row with him during the last performance. After half an hour of practicing it, I managed to do 4 rotations without falling flat on my nonexistant butt.

Dancing is so hard!

Luis told me I’d be sore today because the pot stir tends to do that to women, and suggested a hot bath and ibuprofin. But I didn’t feel a thing last night and swore I was strong, he was wrong. Of course I could hardly make it down the stairs from my loft this morning, and it’s only gotten worse throughout the day. Can hardly lift my left thigh up at this point, which means major limping. Guess listening to the teacher is not a bad idea.

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Stand Over Me, Spread Your Legs, and Squat

With directions like this I know I am not in ballet-class anymore…

I have put my frustrations at seeing myself on video aside and am now hard at work on my next showcase, set for October. Am doing another Rhumba with Pasha (similar routine, hopefully A LOT more polished this time). And, I’ve decided to do a Salsa with another teacher, Luis, as well. Actually, since I’ve chosen “Oye” by Gloria Estefan as my music (which, having no sense of rhythm, I didn’t realize was way too fast for salsa — we tried but looked a bit like gerbils), so we’re doing a Latin combo and putting everything into the mix — cha cha, merengue, samba, salsa/mambo (for slower parts), and even paso — which I think is going to be a lot of fun. I think. Luis is all excited — says he’s going to show people a different side of me, that I really can let loose.

Oh.
He’s already having me practice these huge hair flips and crazy body rolls that begin up at the shoulders and quickly inch their way down the torso to end in a kind of Samba-y butt-sticking-way-out squat (apparently he doesn’t think my lack of butt will hinder my ability to perform this). And the trick that’s mentioned in the title above is actually a lot more enticing than it sounds. I stand, back arched over him while he does this sexy Latin lunge. I have to splay my legs, because it they’re daintily together, I’ll never maintain my balance. Thing is — you have to love male dancer / choreographers: — I can barely do this without losing balance in flat jazz shoes; he apparently thinks I’m going to be able to do it as well it in the insane 3-inch Latin stilettos the evil powers that be who originated ladies Latin shoes force us to wear.

Well, I am game… nothing can be worse than last time!!

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I Can Never Be a Ballerina Because…

… not because they can do about 3,645 fouettés in a row or chaîné all the way across a football field-sized floor or balance their entire weight on a point about the width of a dime on their big toe. I can never be a real ballet dancer because I can’t sew. Seriously and sadly. Not that I could ever do the other abovementioned things of course, but you’d think sewing would be pretty basic. Not for me. The clerks at Bloch’s honestly laughed at me when they sold me the shoes and sewing kit and elastics and I insisted I’m a lawyer and will never be able to do it myself and please just tell me where I can find a good ballet shoe sewer, assuring me it would be no problem, they had faith, everyone can do it, children can do it for gods’ sakes… I was up all last night with the damn things. The supposedly handy dandy little Bunheads kit did not explain how to thread the needle, make knots, make the closure, and stitch through the tough tough TOUGH leather. It took me hours, and though I did it, I don’t at all trust my work. I’m sure tonight in class my elastics will go shooting and hit some poor student or teacher in the eye or something.

When I called my mom to enlist her help, I could hear her eyes rolling. She’s long given up telling me that my lack of traditional female skills are at least partly responsible for you know what. Nope, I have none and never have. For the past six months Con Ed has been sending me warning notices that my meter may not be properly connected since it shows no gas usage whatsoever. And I remember in grad school my boyfriend was always expressing disgust with the sloppy apartments maintained by both me and my best friend and fellow female grad student. Many of my current female friends – most of whom are lawyers or other professionals – are just as hideously lacking. Yet, the single men I know, not so much. Not at all really. Do we just not have the time for such trifles, or are subconsciously acting out against a stereotype that’s really pretty much defunct now anyway.

And, now that I think of it, at one ballet studio I go to, most of whose patrons I think I can assume are professional women, I regularly see shoes with only one side of the elastic sewn, the other dangling, causing the foot to lift out of the shoe and the student obviously to lose balance, or one side of the elastic sewn horrendously crookedly, one end attached mid-foot, the other at, like, the heel, etc. You definitely don’t see such things at, for example, Broadway Dance Center. And, one of the reasons I like the first studio is that the students are like me – i.e.: not professional dancers, unlike those who, for example, take Ballet for Absolute Beginners at Steps, either for practice, or to freak out people like me. But, as I’ve always been told from the time I first began applying to college, it’s largely your fellow students who will make your education.

Ugh, so I guess if well-sewn shoe equates with real dancer, I will have to overcome my probable subconscious-reaction-against-a-now-defunct-stereotype. There’s a time for learning everything…

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My Duty to Perform

Okay, just received about the biggest back-handed compliment ever. Last night at my studio, we had a party, and my Cha Cha teacher wanted the class to perform the routine we’ve been working on. There are several “students” in the class who are professional jazz and ballet dancers who are learning ballroom so that they can eventually teach it. I was really nervous, especially given that I’m the worst in the class, but figured it would be good experience for my upcoming theater showcase in March, and there didn’t seem to be that many people there, so I thought I’d try. But, while I was resting in the lounge between class and party, another student apparently thought I was trying to calm my nerves, and sat down next to me. “Hey,” she said, “you must be really nervous. I know, we’re the only non-professionals in the class. But, really, I think it’s very good for other students to see someone who’s obviously not a professional trying hard and yet not giving up. Shows them how hard it is to be a real dancer…” Ugh. Can’t wait to get on that stage in Long Island now!

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Jonathan Roberts stole my song!

Ugh, the nerve of him. Just kidding:) I’m set to perform my very first student / teacher showcase on March 11th and I worked so hard to find the perfect Rhumba song and help my coach and teacher to choreograph a very cool routine, only to turn on Dancing With the Stars last night and see Jonathan and Giselle have already had their way with Jessica Simpson’s remake of Take My Breath Away! Which is a problem for me of course because anyone who will be in my audience likely will be a ballroom fan and thus have religiously watched DWTS, and because Giselle is so gorgeous and such a wonderful dancer – especially for having studied it for like, two days… ugh, they will know how it’s really supposed to look! This is my first time performing on a real stage (albeit a small one) before a real audience (albeit a very small one) since I was about 9 years old and was in a school production of Swan Lake at Phoenix Symphony Hall. My adult stage fright seems to be about 300 times what it was then.

Oh well. Our routine will be different, to be sure, because, in my quest to fulfill my goofy dream of pretending to be ballet goddess Alessandra Ferri, I managed to coax the studio-owner coach (who does the choreography) and my poor teacher (who does the dancing) into putting several pretty lifts into ours – which the DWTS contestants were forbidden from doing. Why was that? Because they’re significantly harder for the male amateurs than the females, or because of age differences in the contestants? That’s my favorite part, man.

Anyway, I have to laugh at myself because over the past several months that I’ve been so immersed in the world of dance, I’ve heard ad nauseam complainants like, so and so stole my costume design, so and so stole my choreography… And, I’m always like, jeez, calm down. At work, we have a brief bank and continuing legal education meetings; we constantly borrow argumentative strategies and ideas from each other. And now, my first reaction upon seeing J & G’s routine is to have a nervous breakdown over the song!