Shelter-in-place means dancing at home

One minute we were in the studio, rehearsing for our spring fundraiser, enjoying our pointe variation workshops and taking class together and the next...

Lockdown. Shelter-in-place. Safer-at-home. By now, most of us are working from home (or trying to!), navigating the new waters of being indoors most hours of the day (or trying to!). Those of you who typically drive to an office have had to set up a home office, including computer and videoconferencing and everything else necessary to communicate with your co-workers. Kids are home from school and parents are spending more time helping them do their coursework online.

To say this is unprecedented is truly an understatement. We were not prepared.

As dancers, we are not equipped to be immobile. We need to move.

Ballet is in our blood and our souls and our brains. 

We need to express ourselves creatively and in ways that are not simply aerobics or running (nothing wrong with either of those things but they fulfill different needs).

Some students who have been dancing for a while likely have a dedicated space at home that allows them to do some small exercises. Others need to move things around to give them the space for this so it takes a bit of work.

But there are others who are still very new to dance, or simply never thought to have a studio at home because they go to a beautiful one every day, who are standing by their kitchen sinks or grabbing onto a dining room chair. These are not bad options for the short-term but let's face facts: we are looking at long-term. As I write this on March 26, I expect that California will not go back to work for at least 2 months. That's another 7 or 8 weeks inside. No studio. No group classes. No teachers (like me!) to tell you what to do!

Home studio with furniture and Blossom

The past week has seen the dance community come together like never before, with all kinds of classes and workshops being offered across a multitude of platforms: from livestreamed barres on YouTube, Instagram and Facebook Live to Zoom classes in contemporary and hip-hop and modern to videos created by teachers in their empty studios; dancers and teachers have been reaching out to support one another and connect with their desperate and detached students.

In some ways, this is all awesome, isn't it? You can't get to your classes so your classes come to YOU. But...what do you do in your own home? You can't hold onto the counter for 2 months!

Build your own studio!

(When I say "build" I mean that as loosely or as literally as you want it to be.)

First choose the area you want to dance in.

**The best place is obviously one without carpeting, preferably a wooden floor with some give to it, rather than concrete.
**If you can find a space that doesn't have a slippery surface, that would be ideal.
**Make sure there isn't any furniture around or if there is, it can easily be moved out of the way.
**If you only have carpet or concrete, you can purchase a mat online that gives you a smoother surface with a bit of give. Here is a mat from Harlequin. But there are others!
**You may also need a table top on which to place your computer/laptop/tablet with an outlet nearby if you need one.
**If you can find a quiet space, one with a door that can close, that is also ideal. You will want to be able to hear the teacher and the music and it's more conducive to setting aside this area as "home studio."

You might want to leave some room for your pet to dance too!

Next the barre:

1. Order one online - either free-standing or wall-mounted. Keep in mind you will have to put the parts together. Be sure to measure your space properly so you can order the right size for your dance area and check your walls before you get a wall-mount.

Here is a free-standing one -

The Beam Store

And wall-mounted - 

VitaVibe

Both of the above businesses are independently owned but you can also order from Amazon if you prefer.

2. DIY - again free-standing or wall-mounted

YouTube metal barre free standing tutorial

Wall mounted barre DIY

There are LOTS of different options out there. Check Pinterest or search YouTube for videos. Some pieces you can have your local hardware store cut for you (in California they are essential businesses so you could call ahead and have them cut pipe for you if you need it and then pick it up for minimal contact).

Finally, set up an area for your computer/laptop/tablet.

**Place it at a height that can be easily adjusted as you move from one side to the other.
**If the class is interactive (i.e. your teacher can see you), put it somewhere that the camera will see you properly. Sometimes this is a low angle and far away so the teacher can see your feet.
**Always practice with your computer's webcam before your lesson so you don't waste time adjusting or missing a combination.

A guard pup is helpful while you're busy dancing.

A few reminders about taking class at home:
DO try to keep to a routine, whether it's the same day or time as your in-studio class or a new routine that fits with your new schedule; this will make it more likely you will continue your technique classes. 
DO use class to help your mental health and connect to others.
DON'T stress if you can't follow online easily: it takes a few tries to figure out how to follow someone on the screen.
DO take class at your current level and
DO watch more challenging classes prior to participating so you know what's coming next
DON'T jump unless your floor is sprung or raised
DON'T be tempted to do more pointe work than you are ready for without a teacher's guidance
DO take the opportunity to try new teachers and new dance styles!

Whatever you do, just keep moving!  Happy dancing and stay healthy!

Questions from students: Plateaus and proprioception

Plateaus

"I can't seem to get any better with these jumps/turns/choreography. Is this the best I'm going to be?"

My snarky reply: If you think you're done, you're done.

My teacherly reply: No. You aren't done until I say you're done and you'll never be done as long as you work hard.

The realistic reply is somewhere in between the two. Let's be honest about dancing: it's hard. And ballet is well, it's really hard. Whether you started as a kid and have danced for fifty years (ahem, milestone achieved!) or you started as an adult and have been studying for less than five years; whether you are or have been a professional at some point, or if you've never performed on stage ever in your life...we all ask ourselves the question: Is this the best I will be?

dance by antonella morrone, cc license

We all plateau at some point, whether it's in our personal life or our dance technique. Sometimes we won't even realize we're stuck until we've been there for a while.

That's when we need to make the extra push to get out of the rut. And a great way to do that is to consult your instructor or coach. But don't just come to them with a whiny complaint (oops, that was the snarky reply!), come armed with a specific issue so they can help you tackle it.

How to do that? Easy-peasy. With your phone's camera. Just set it up to record you doing something you're not happy with (it's not for public consumption and you can always delete it later) and make an appointment to talk to your instructor or coach. Show them the video of your turn or your jump or your port de bras and together you can figure out what is wrong.

Maybe you're not getting high enough in your releve and no matter how many times you try to apply a correction, you still aren't getting it.

Maybe you're not traveling far enough in your grand jete and you thinking you're using all the right muscles but you still barely move.

Maybe your arms look weak or stiff and you can't seem to find the fluidity in them.

There is always an answer. But you may not know what it is. You may have to, get ready for it, push harder.

Build more strength in your calves to hold your releve; build more core strength to jump higher; take more care and time in your port de bras.

You may need to add an extra class or two to push your technique or you might need a private session to tackle a very specific issue that can't be addressed in class. You might have to take a more challenging class - or conversely, a more basic class.

I don't believe you're done. I don't believe anyone is ever done. There is always a way around a problem if it can't be fixed head-on.

Proprioception

"Why is it so much harder to balance in the center but I can balance forever next to a barre?"

The phenomenon is called proprioception. (And don't bother to look up the Wikipedia definition; they call it a sixth sense when it's no such thing.)

Proprioception is the awareness of your body in space and in relation to other objects, fixed or moving. It is as important in dance class as it is when driving a car or walking down the sidewalk. Just as you find awareness of other people or objects without actually looking at them, so too do you "feel" other bodies in class. This awareness prevents us from crashing into other people (or cars!).

When you're in a ballet class, you are first aware of the presence of the barre next to you. You rarely look at it; you just feel it under your hand. You move your body forward and back, to and away from it; and you slide your hand down the barre as you work.

What you also do is find your balance. The barre is your invisible partner. This is why we try not to grab at the barre or grip it too tightly. You want to keep a nice loose grasp on it, as if you were holding onto another person for support. Think too about personal space with your barre: you don't want to crowd up against it or stand too far away from it.

Awareness of the barre beside you also gives you an object to balance against. Because it's not moving, it's easier to gauge your alignment to it, to maintain a parallel or perpendicular support. We feel it beside us and we can adjust accordingly.

Yay, balancing forever!

balance Yaletown Illuminate by m sew, cc license

But what happens when we get to center? We don't have the same stationary object to align ourselves against and thus it's harder to find our balance. We can still use our proprioceptors, though - we just need to find another object. That can be a mirror or another body (although be aware that they may be moving too) or, for the more advanced dancer, our own bodies. Find the center of your body and use your proprioception to notice the alignment of your arms and legs and head in relation to that center.

Generally speaking, we simply need to practice. When you're at the barre, close your eyes or take your hand off the barre. In the center, practice a balance on one foot flat before rising to demi-pointe.

Got a burning question? Shoot me an email. Happy dancing!

Be Big!

My beautiful dancers, it's not easy looking in the mirror when you're in the studio. I mean, let's face it, when most people go to work out, they aren't surrounded by their reflections. Sure, they might catch a glimpse of themselves sweating behind a weight machine or in the locker room after a shower but if you go to yoga or out for a jog, you're not going to see your body reflected back a million times and from all angles.

I'm with you. Believe me. Fortunately I have perfected the art of looking in a mirror without actually seeing myself. I see you and I see movement but that's it. I focus on the ballet not the bodies.

Which is why it sometimes makes it hard to dance bigger. If we are feeling self-conscious for some reason (our hair looks bad, we forgot makeup, the shirt clings too much), we make ourselves physically smaller. We pull our arms in, often by the elbows, and our centers collapse. Chins droop to the chest, shoulders round forward and pretty soon there are no lines or shapes moving in the space but messy blobs.

It's actually harder to dance when you make yourself inconspicuous!

When you avoid the mirror, you also have a tendency to put your body in the wrong alignment for poses and turns, etc. By not looking at yourself (or that direction), you cut off the correct epaulement. You are not truly croise or efface; you skip ecarte and peer over with your eyes rather than your head. And when you turn, you don't spot because you are afraid to look.

The cumulative effect of dancing inside the box for yourself is that you never truly dance. You never fully move and express yourself. The lovely lines we work so hard at the barre are lost when you come to center and that's a shame. The center is the time to put all of that work to good use! Show it off!

"For whom?" you ask.

Well, me! Show it off to me!

And to yourselves. Don't be afraid to put yourself out there in a combination. You may not have a goal of performing on stage but that doesn't mean you can't perform in class.

My TL:DR advice?

1. Stand up straight; pull up through your spine and all the way to the top of your head and bottom of your feet.
2. When arms are en haut, make sure they are truly over your head and not merely in front of your eyes.
3. Look in the mirror at the audience, not yourself. If that's frightening, think of it as "downstage."
4. Take up more room. Don't worry, you won't hit anyone else. Be bold and as tall as you can.
5. Dance fully. When it's your turn, don't mark it or hobble off stage if you make a mistake. Own it.
6. Smile to yourself. Enjoy the music and the movement and know that you're creating art with every step you take. No one else can dance exactly the way you do.

Happy dancing!

Space: Private vs. Public

How do we talk about space in a dance class?

Usually, we discuss personal space: the area immediately around us at the barre or in the center, when traveling across the floor or simply stretching. Certain studios allow for less personal space than others because of the culture (whether people know each other well and don't mind standing close to them) or the environment (small studios or very crowded ones simply don't allow dancers to be precious or protective about their spots at the barre). In classes that cater to beginners, students tend to want to be close to each other, the "safety in numbers" sort of thing, while in more advanced classes, dancers spread out.

But the space I want to talk about is the space on our bodies: between our limbs, under our arms, behind our backs, under our chins and derrieres, and so on. We make a very important distinction between the "public" space on our bodies, like a forearm or calf, and "private," such as between the legs or at the top of the chest.

As a teacher, I consider all bodies to be both public and private. Naturally, this is your body to do with as you wish. You are the one to decide who touches what, how much of it to expose in front of others. I try to be as respectful as possible with every single person who enters my class. If I need to make a correction, I still start first by showing it to you on my body. If it helps to use another student, I will choose one whom I know will not mind me touching them. And if I simply have to correct you by actually moving your body, then I will first tell you I'm going to do that and then tell you where and why. (I'm speaking primarily about beginner students who have never been in a class before, but even with my advanced dancers, I will often start with corrections on my body first.)

I came of age as a teacher in the early 90s when everyone knew someone who had been called on the carpet - or worse - by a parent who was worried about inappropriate touching. That's when teachers began prefacing new classes with a version of what I just described above. Gone were the days of teachers physically moving a student's arm or leg or shoulder or head. You couldn't simply push or prod a dancer into place or say, "Do it like this."

This was, in the end, a great thing for all teachers. We had to learn to use our words, to use kinetic language or metaphors, to describe an action in terms of bones and muscles and tendons. Where was the impetus for a turn? How do you developpe a leg through attitude? What will make allegro faster?

Using language rather than physical movement can have a lasting impression on students who have cognitive skills (i.e. more mature teens and adults, rather than little kids). When people ask why I don't teach the teeny tinies, I usually tell them that I need to be able to have a conversation with a student. I need to be able to describe a part of their body so they know how to move it.

Which brings me to the public part of our bodies and why I believe - in a dance class, not anywhere else - our bodies must be public. I'm going to be frank: I need to talk to you about the space between your legs. This is where our turnout is. This is where we stabilize our pelvises. And I need to use the word "pelvis" with you. I need you to know it can't tilt when you plie or jump.

I need you to think about things like the space between your legs when you're doing a turn or a promenade in attitude. When I want you to move faster during allegro, I'm going to need to talk about the muscles in the inner thighs.

When you need to be higher in releve, I'm going to talk about your butts - I'll say "derriere" but you know what I mean. And when I think you're collapsing in on yourself, I'll refer to your chest. I'll probably also ask you to connect your ribs to your hip bones when I think your spine is hyperextended and I'll want you to drop your tailbone too.

I won't be crass or vulgar about your body but I want you to know it. I want you to be able to use every single part of it. I know adults have body issues (heck, I have a ton of them too) but in a dance class, your body is your tool. Every part of it is going to help - or hurt - your technique. I don't want an arm in the wrong place or a hip lifted to the side to affect how you turn or jump.

I want you to be comfortable in class. I want you to be confident. I want you to not be afraid of your body, of thinking of it or using it in ways you never have before. Ballet has an awful reputation for being hard on your body and soul. I'm not going to lie: like any other physical activity, it can be painful. But it should not hurt your mental health. Treating your body like it's a tool will help you take in corrections and apply them and not feel like you're failing. If something's wrong, you can tackle it with the resources you're learning.

Happy dancing~

The Art of the Tendu

Pet peeve time...

When a dancer, during a fast battement tendu combination at barre, allows her toes to lift off the floor and instead performs a battement degage.

Keep. The. Toes. On. The. Floor.

It's lazy.

It's sloppy.

But most of all, it defeats the purpose of the exercise. I've blogged about the various elements of a barre in this post and what each is intended to do prior to coming to center, so I will just focus here on tendu.

The battement tendu, when performed slowly in either 1st or 5th position, helps warm up our feet and ankles and allows us time for proper articulation. We then take that articulation and apply it to a slightly faster combination with a new emphasis on stretch - we're still articulating the whole foot, ankle, and toes, however. Regardless of the speed, we still need to point the foot and engage all the muscles from ankle to toes. As the exercises get faster, it's even more crucial that we keep the toes on the floor because if we don't, we discard the work we just did.

Additionally, when you work really hard to keep the faster tendus on the floor, you will be engaging the inner thigh muscles, the external rotators and the glutes - all of which we need to help maintain our turnout in the center and perform fast allegro work. If you don't use those muscles but instead let the toes leave the floor, you end up using the quads.

And finally, it's simply not a clean line. When we perform degage, we are actively engaging our muscles to get the foot off the floor but when we do it during tendu, it's by accident. We are not training our legs and feet to complete the line so when we come to the center, the foot looks like a floppy fish on the end of a line.

Don't be a floppy fish.

Articulation. Strength. Line. Keep the toes on the floor.

Happy dancing~

5 Friday Faves - Barrework

5 Things I Love at Barre:

1. Demi-plie.
From the very beginning of class, a demi-plie combination in all positions really makes me engage all of my muscles and sets the tone for the class. If I can feel my deep external rotators firing up and turning out my legs from my hips, I will feel more solid and stable in everything that follows. And they just feel good, especially when a simple very open port de bras is added.

2. Very slow tendus.
I prefer to wear socks for the first couple of tendu exercises so I can really work the soles of my feet and articulate my toes. From teaching in dance sneakers, my arches can become very tight and knotted and they tend to cramp a lot so using the floor to massage my foot is extremely helpful. And they just feel good, especially in fifth where I can feel my legs "fit" together from top to bottom.
 

Me teaching tendu, not in socks

 3. Degage assemble.

As my legs and hips begin to warm up, I really like the feel of degage assemble with fondu. Both feet coming together in fifth position is solid and contained and the fondu action makes me feel lifted. Here I like how the feet and legs "assemble" as one, with the weight transferring from one foot to two. I like making the pelvic adjustment here because it reminds me to use my abdominals which is crucial for center work when we jump off the floor. And yes, they just feel good.

4. Retire balance en releve.
The one thing I have always been able to count on since I was a kid has been balance, particularly on one leg. Finding a center line has never been a problem for me and when I'm asked to releve in any position, I can usually feel confident that I can do it - and confidence in ballet is very important! Ha! Seriously, though, I love how retire fits in the hip socket, how the turned-out leg is flush from thigh to knee and I like fitting my big toe into the notch just above the knee to "lock" it in place - a good feeling! 

5. Developpe a la seconde.
Another thing I can count on is my developpe to the side. This is another one of those natural things for me but note, it wasn't always this way. As I often tell my students, I didn't find this extension until well into my 20s. Until I was an adult I kept using my quads to get my leg up and hold it. Now, I can feel the rotation in both hips as well as the straight line from head to toe through my spine. At barre, I love how it makes me feel taller to extend my leg to the side. Yeah, this feels good too.

Me teaching an adagio at barre

My main takeaway from barre? It feels good. That is why I love it. Yes, there are the practical reasons I wrote about previously, but the fact is, exercises at the barre simply feel good to me. I love warming up my spine and neck and feet and hips.

There is a natural endorphin rush with any exercise but there is also the relief that you are still alive, you still can dance, you still can move, you still can express yourself.

Happy dancing~

What is the purpose of barre?

Yesterday during a class I was taking, a student asked a technique question of the teacher. Even though I knew the answer to the question, it was not my class so I kept my mouth shut.

(Note: this is exactly the right thing to do when someone else asks a question. Nothing. Say nothing. Even if you have the answer or think you do, stay quiet and let the teacher answer it. Jumping in with your response only invites others to do the same and soon, all hell has broken loose and the teacher has to get things back on track which is, frankly, a pain.)

Back to the class and the question...

Yes, I teach at this barre.

 Since this was an advanced class, many of us were wondering why this question was asked. Shouldn't advanced dancers understand technique, especially at barre? This led me and another student, a professional ballerina who also teaches, into a discussion about barre and its relationship to the rest of class and to performance. As we talked, we realized the student had asked a question that, regardless of its appropriateness or timing within the class itself, didn't make sense. We concluded that the person who asked it likely didn't understand the purpose of the movement she was asking about as it related to the greater picture.

It's important to understand why we do barre and what purposes it serves for later classwork and performance.

1. There is a sequence to barrework that warms us up, beginning with gentle plie exercises that warm up our hips for proper turnout, followed by slow battements tendus that help us articulate our feet and toes, all the way through core conditioning with grands battements and ankle strengthening with petit battements.

(This sequence is repeated in the center: from small to large, slow to fast, etc.)

So number one, barre is to warm up all our muscles and ligaments to reduce the occurrence of injury.

2. Muscle has memory. While ballet barre may seem repetitious, with arms and heads often held in the same positions all the time and most exercises performed en croix, we are teaching our brains to make connections - and later corrections - automatically, thus freeing us from having to think all the time. We don't need to think how to sousous, we simply do it. We don't think how to do grand rond de jambe. We just do it.

(Similarly, in the center, we often repeat sequences of steps such as tombe pas de bourree or glissade jete so they become part of our body's vocabulary and we don't need to break down each component.)

So number two, barre is to imprint vocabulary on our brains and bodies.

3. Preparation for center. This is, perhaps, the most important purpose of barre: to get us ready to do things unassisted. As I like to tell my students, dance is shifting your weight from side to side, forward and back, up and down. If all we did on a stage was work one leg at a time, the dance would be quite boring. So we use our time at the barre to get ready to change direction quickly, to shift our weight from one foot to another, to align our bodies properly so they don't fall when we don't have anything to hold onto.

For an advanced class, I might focus barre on very fast tendus or degages that have intricate patterns so the dancers are constantly shifting weight, which they can then apply to the quick footwork of petit allegro.

For a beginner class, I might ask them to hold balances en releve in different positions to strengthen their cores, feet and ankles, which will help them when they do an adagio combination or jumps.

Often when I take class for myself, I ask myself what the purpose of a particular movement is and where in the rest of the class can I apply it. Knowing the answer gives me renewed focus on the step so I get the most out of it.

I love barre.

Bottom line: don't just go through the motions at barre, assuming you know what a tendu is or how to execute a rond de jambe. Use it to establish your lines and find and strengthen your center so you can dance with confidence. Take the time to make mind-body connections so you can perform unfettered, so you can free your mind to express itself and explore choreography.

Happy dancing~

First Year Pointe Student asks...#4

"Why is it so hard to stand flat en pointe?"

First of all, when a student asks me this question, she usually means that, when she comes to center and has no barre to hold onto, she starts to wobble on her leg, especially when she shifts from two feet to one, as in a developpe.

To be sure, pointe shoes are not slippers. They are not as pliable, not as supple, not as form-fitting. They do not cover your feet the way flat slippers do. There is a thin strip of leather against the floor and thick cardboard under your foot. It only makes sense that it's harder to balance on one leg when you are wearing them. If they are broken in a bit, they are somewhat softer and a little easier to wear and stand in.

But the bigger issue has nothing to do with the actual shoes. I recommend tackling wobbly legs in the following ways:

1. Start with your core. Hold your abdominal muscles and your back muscles, pulling them up on both sides of your spine, front and back. Do not hold your breath but be sure to stay lifted, as if you have a partner holding your ribcage up and out of your pelvis.

2. Engage your upper back muscles. Always consider your port de bras, the carriage of your arms.  By feeding energy from your spine out to your shoulders, biceps, triceps, forearms and fingers, you will balance out the lower torso and feel more suspended.

3. Keep the pelvic bones tilted up. If your hip bones are the base of your tray of snacks, don't tip the snacks into someone's lap!

4. Engage both your quads and hamstrings. In much the same way as your core muscles are being used, pull up both sides of your femur, which will in turn keep your kneecap lifted and stable as well.

5. Lift your arches. There are 3 arches: medial (the inner arch and the biggest), the lateral (the outside of the foot) and the metatarsal (the top of the foot and what most people mean when they say you have "high" arches). When you are wearing pointe shoes, it's especially important to keep the medial arch lifted and the lateral arch pressed down against the floor in opposition. This will prevent pronation which is where the wobble ultimately comes from. You can strengthen this arch by using a Theraband or towel and pointing and flexing your foot against it. But always - always - concentrate on lifting your arches when you are at the barre so you can count on them being there for you in the center.

By starting from the top and working your way down to your feet, you can minimize that feeling of wobble and maximize your control when you are in the center. Happy dancing!

Opposites Attract - using the power of opposing forces

Left/right.  Up/down.  Good/evil.

"For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction." Newton's Third Law of Motion

In dance, we apply Newton's Third Law all the time.  For instance, when we push our feet against the floor in fifth position, we are able to use that force to jump up for a changement.  The more we push, the higher we go. We apply it when we use our arms to help keep us lifted and straight during a turn.  And certainly  we apply it when we spring our toes off the floor and into a retire position to start the momentum for a pirouette.

But there are all sorts of ways to approach opposition and to use it to our advantage.  Here are a few to think about:

1.  From the very first exercise at the barre (typically a first position demi-plie), consider the opposition of contraction and release.  You must release your gluteus muscles as you lower into bent knees and then contract the inner thigh muscles as you recover to standing. If you have pain in your lower back, you might want to examine whether you are gripping as you try to bend - this could mean you are in a constant state of contraction which actually works against your attempts to get a deeper plie.

2. Also at the barre, every time you move your leg from a closed position to an open one (for instance, a tendu from the fifth position to a la seconde), you need to think about the opposition of standing leg and working leg. It helps me to think of the hip bone of my standing leg pushing back in opposition to the knee of the working leg.  You should also be thinking about turning out the top of the standing leg as well as the working leg.  This is especially important as you lift the leg off the floor or circle it, as in rond de jambe.  Whenever the working leg is moving, you need to think about the standing leg stabilizing you.

3. During grands battements, there is the opposition of inhale and exhale. This works hand-in-hand with contraction and release.  In order to maximize the lift of the battement, you want to exhale and think of the leg moving down and away from you, rather than inhaling and gripping the top of the thigh to get it off the floor.  The exhalation of breath is calming and reduces anxiety in pirouettes. Next time you turn, try to inhale on the plie and exhale on the releve.

Happy dancing~

What's new? Why, it's Elementary (ballet)!

Coming in February...

A four week course in Just the Basics - for adults only - on 4 Saturdays at Le Studio.

--Got a friend who'd love to take class with you but she's a little anxious about stepping on her toes? Or other people's toes?
--Have you been frustrated with a drop-in class that can't slow down to address the Super Basics, like "What's first position?"
--Need a crash course before you tackle a full class?

Try Elementary Ballet!  It's designed to give you the very basics you need to feel more confident in a drop-in class.  I will help you with terminology, classroom etiquette, basic barre and floor exercises, and class progression. You absolutely do not need to know anything about ballet in order to take this short course.  But you will finish with an understanding of a ballet class before you try a drop-in class.

What: Elementary Ballet
When: February 16 & 23, March 2 & 9 (4 Saturdays)
Time: 1:30-2:30PM
Cost: $75
Where: Le Studio Dance, 57 Palmetto Dr, Pasadena 91105

Happy dancing!

'Tis the Sneeze-on!

This is a public service message directly from one of my adult students who happens to a doctor of infectious diseases (no, she hasn't contracted anything like the plague from any of her patients - I asked!).

WASH YOUR HANDS AFTER YOU TOUCH THE BARRE!

She also suggested people get their annual flu shot but that is a personal choice so I leave that as an option but let's get real about that barre.  It's gross.  And if you're in a studio where someone is sick (always!), you will inevitably come into contact with their sick germs.  So do yourself and your body a favor and stay healthy by washing your hands between barre and center, and after class.

Happy healthy dancing~

(photo found on zenartsla.com)