Just keep swimming!

There were no classes last week because the studio takes a week off from classes to prepare for the new Academic Year (which starts today!). So, I haven't really been ballet-ing last week and have been focusing instead on skating my Bronze Free Skate Test (which I passed, but barely). The new academic year comes with a new start time for the class. Instead of a 7:00pm start, we now start at 7:15pm. Not much of a difference but it allows me a bit more time to get down to Littleton from Longmont in afternoon rush hour traffic. There were a couple of new students this week, an older lady and a younger miss who looked to be in her 20s. The younger of the two mentioned she was new to ballet but when we started at the barre it became clear that she knew more than she was letting on and the older lady was dancing as though she's been doing this her whole life (which she probably has). I'm really sick of being the only "absolutely new to ballet" student in the class. I feel like I'm holding everyone back.

Barrez - My lack of practice during the past week reared its ugly head at the barre this evening. I started off okay but got lost a couple of times and Bobbie gave me a "look."

Centerz - My glissades were meh because my plié wasn't very strong prior to the glissade. Again, I was out of sorts. But, my pirouettes were slightly better. Bobbie told me not to wrap my passé in the pirouette because it could lead to a wrap when I do my jumps in skating and she doesn't want my ballet training to have a negative effect on my skate technique. Very thoughtful of her! So, she's okay with me doing my passé to the side rather than having my foot in front of my knee as I should for proper ballet technique.

Across the Floorz - We did the same combo that we've been working on: waltz-balancé-pas de bourreé-pirouette and, once I got the pas de bourreé sussed out with the correct foot placement, I did okay on this.

So yeah, I'm still the beginneriest beginner in the class even though we have some new students but I'm trying my best to keep up. Since starting ballet I have seen some noticeable changes in my physique! I have not one but TWO abs developing and my pants are fitting a bit looser. Not that I was fat to begin with but I can tell I'm becoming a bit more lean. When I put my free skate dress on for my test this past Friday, I noticed it was slightly loose around the bust. One month of ballet has done more for me physically than two years of skating! Crazy! I have abs now! 😀