formerdancer.com

Category: Ballet

  • The Ideal Ballet Body

    What is the ideal ballet body? Let’s consider what the desirable attributes of a female ballet dancer’s body are. One must have legs that are straight but not hyperextended. This is for elegant lines. One must have the right types of muscles, tendons and sinews for both explosive jumps and extended, slow adagio work. Backs…

  • Stillness that is Not Death

    It was a Christmas family gathering and I was complaining to the people who shared my end of the table about no longer being able to sleep through the night. “When I wake at 3 am and can’t go back to sleep, that is the worst,” I said. My Uncle Phil, my senior by about…

  • Holding On and Letting Go

    When I was a child, one of the many things that I loved about ballet class was standing in place at the barre. Each student stood a respectful distance away from one another, occupying their own panel of mirror. The barre was so smooth and solid under my fingers. It supported my full weight –…

  • Auditions

    A life in training to be a professional ballet dancer requires numerous auditions. As I child I auditioned for the School of American Ballet, a square with a black number on a white background safety pinned to the front of my leotard. The judges studied our bodies individually, one by one, and tested our flexibility…

  • What’s the Point of Pointe Shoes?

    This weekend my 12-year-old niece came to visit me. She is taking ballet classes, among other kinds of activities, and she has not yet begun classes on pointe. Often pointe training begins with 15-20 minutes of work at the end of a ballet class so that your muscles are warm. She hopes that she’ll be…

  • Old Pointe Shoes

    My 12-year-old niece is coming for a visit soon. She’s a recreational ballet student so it’s not clear whether pointe shoes are in her future. And yet she is fascinated by them. She asked whether I might have an old pair she could try on when she is here. I don’t have such a pair,…

  • Dreams of Greatness

    My son recently told me that he loved that I still had hopes and dreams. I could take this as a sign that he thinks I’m impossibly old (he is 25) but instead I am choosing to take it at face value. Is it true? I wondered when he said that. It is true. One…

  • Dance As Language

    There are performance standards that dancers must live up to in order to dance in a way that falls within the boundaries of a certain dance genre or practice. One is not “doing ballet”, for example, if one does not make use the steps, positions, and movements that are part of what counts a ballet,…

  • Senses in Ballet Class

    Sight: I see myself in the mirror and my extended body in space. I see the other dancers moving around me in lines, planes and circles. Smell: I smell the dusty, powdery air of rosin and old buildings with sooty window frames. When changing for class, I smell hair spray, the hot smell of blood…

  • Getting Out of the Race

    I once had a near-meltdown because my favorite coffee mug was broken. Worse, it was broken outside of my range of control by someone else. I haven’t had enough therapy in my life to quite unpack why this event was so triggering for me. But I do think that in some way this desire to…