Class Video Thoughts

Video taping the class was a great idea, for it allowed me to see more clearly the many things I need to work on. The class is relatively quick compared to what I am used to, but it helps me because it forces me to tune in immediately. Sometimes my mind floats if the instruction is slow anyway. I try to battle this with eating lean before Ballet and Modern. I am super introverted by nature (Scorpio Sun, Moon, Mercury), so having awareness of my outside world could always use work. 

At the barre, the first thing that anybody can notice is that not everybody is synchronized. This, I realize, should be a goal for the class because if everyone is together, then that means everyone is having an expanded awareness of the entire room. This, as Christina says, is very important for Ensamble work. As for technique at the barre, I saw that my pelvis could have been more stable with certain combinations. To do this, more emphasis will have to be put on engaging the abdomen, especially the lower abdomen, to hold the pelvis in place. This, I know, also makes anything else, especially fondus, much easier to do.

At the center, I noticed that my posture could be better. I need to hold myself up straighter it appears, and not to lean into the moves. I am still, of course, trying to get comfortable with the use of arms such as ecarte and efface. I actually cannot wait for the day that I use all the arms naturally without thinking. I am starting to incorporate them more and more as the days go on. I also noticed that there are transition of arms, in the across the floor, that would make it much easier to do. 

Ballet is a refined discipline, of which, I am obviously fond of. I took four years of Tae Kwon Do in my youth, so there may have been habits that carried on from there, I am sure. Visualization of a rock-hard pelvis down, to satin pelvis up, is very helpful with constant use of breath. Ballet done correctly, I see as a nearly surrendering of the self to pure universal energy, being put into a trance state. In a sense, to allow the Greek muse of dance Terpsichore (maybe even Shiva too--the cosmic dancer) to do a number on you.