Well it happened! After much waiting and impatience on my part, the much-anticipated ballet intensive arrived! I was beyond excited for it. At work the day before while listening to a mixture of ballet music, I kept breaking out in grins and would have to try and calm down and focus on work. It was very difficult though-my mind kept wandering away from my work and imagining the sorts of things I would be learning. To make things more agonising I then was too excited to sleep! Eventually I dozed off, only to awaken early to do some barre work and stretch a bit.
The intensive was to start at 10 at The McDonald College in North Strathfield. I caught the train from Artarmon at 8:45am to give myself ample time to arrive and warm up, stretch and well..to soak up the atmosphere :) When I arrived, I met up with a few people from my Sunday morning class and we found the studio to warm up and stretch a bit. The first thing that surprised me was the number of people that showed up. There were about 8 people in the majority of the day's classes with the exception of the warm-down class at the day's end. I expected there to be a lot more; however, this being the first year an intensive of it's kind was offered, I'd heard rumours that there had been some "organisational/logistical errors" made. Mind you, this didn't bother me because it meant lots of room at the barre and also a lot more individualised attention.
The intensive was split into 2 streams. Absolute beginner/beginner & elementary/intermediate. I chose the elementary/intermediate stream as I am at an elementary level. Initially I was very nervous about the intermediate aspect but was reassured by my ballet teacher (who was one of the 3 teachers at the intensive) that I could handle it. Anyway, the first ballet class began at 10 and finished at 12. It consisted of lots of barre work followed by some centre work. Most of the barre work went well..even if it was quite fast. Also, I was still thinking of what had taken place at my private lesson just a few days prior and so was being very mindful of how my feet were positioned, my centre and trying to incorporate as much of my newfound knowledge into my work as possible. There were a fair few things done at the barre which I wasn't used to doing-I managed however my left hamstring, which I pulled back in June and is still being irksome, was bothering me a good deal and at one point, when doing a forward bend on rise, shook so much that I fell off my centre. Drat that hamstring!
Barre lasted over an hour and then we did some centre work- a couple of adages and a tendu. Again, a few new steps (or rather, ways of executing those steps) and a faster pace proved a bit of a challenge which I relished as all the new steps are new things to work towards in my next private lesson :)
After ballet, there was a scheduled pointe class for some..and a pirouette class for others. I was very tempted to skive off the pointe class for the pirouettes when I saw people heading to the other studio as I love pirouettes..but I really wanted to partake in a pointe class again and break in my new shoes.
The pointe class was a mixture of "interesting", "not too bad" and "okay" feelings. First thing is that while I have done pointe before, it was a very small amount and for a short-time, not to mention, several years ago! Aside from the pointe I did then, all I've done point-wise in recent years (i.e. the last 2-3) is pointe work for the barre based on DVD's I borrowed from the library. Useful yes, but of course, not the same as having a qualified teacher watching you execute steps and ensuring that the proper technique is used and such. Anyway, according to the timetable, the pointe class was at the absolute beginner/beginner level which sounded perfect for someone with my limited pointe experience. I asked around and the consensus was that the pointe class generally took place at the barre with a small amount of centre (aka just right)..the dancers I spoke with about it, had a similar pointe background as I did so I felt reassured.
First thing I noticed upon stepping into the pointe class, was that it had 2 girls from my previous ballet class..the 2 girls that had obviously been dancing since they were 5 and who had obviously done a good amount of pointe work before..this did not exactly help lessen the nerves. The class began at the barre with rises in first, second and fifth then moved to releves, echappes and poses-very similar to what I'd done before both in a class as well as from the DVD's. I felt fine about the exercises but admit that I was a tad disappointed that I didn't receive more feedback on how I was doing. A few general comments were made, but were said to the 7 backs at the barre-no names mentioned or anything so I never knew if what I was doing was correct technically-I listened to the comments and tried to see if they applied to me, but I found it difficult when I didn't know if even the basics were being executed properly. Nevertheless I enjoyed the barre work and breaking in my shoes which were surprisingly comfortable..
After some time at the barre, we moved into centre and this is where things suddenly took a leap ability-wise. At first we just did simple sautes in first second and fifth and some echappes but then the jumps got very quick. The exercises themselves I could have done easily in my slippers but it's a whole different thing to doing something on pointe..and especially when you no longer have the reassuring presence of the barre. Had the pace been more relaxed I could have taken my time-that was not the case though..we were going so quickly that I felt rushed to keep up but could feel that my technique was sloppy..it didn't help that I was already nervous about doing so much quick pointe work away from the barre. When the next exercise was demonstrated with pirouettes and pose turns, I knew I couldn't continue. While I love pirouettes I was not about to attempt them on pointe out of the blue. The class was already too fast-paced and advanced for someone with my limited pointe experience..and I knew that attempting those quick turns and pirouettes would be buying myself a one-way ticket to a sprained ankle or worse. A couple of the other people with limited pointe work (I'm sure they still had more than I did) told me to just "try it" but that would have been really dumb on my part..there's a time to throw caution to the winds and there's another time to follow common sense...so I moved to the side of the room and watched the last 20 min of the class and trying not to feel or show how annoyed I felt. On the one hand, I got what I wanted..in that I got to break in my shoes a bit and get back into pointe work. On the other hand, the timetable clearly said "absolute beginner/beginner" pointe and there were 3 girls in that pointe class that were clearly above that level..and I felt that the class ended up being tailored to them not only technically, but also in pace.- no "absolute beginner" on pointe would be expected to just perform a pirouette out of the blue or whip out pose turns..hello ankle injuries..I coudl tell I wasn't the only person uncomfortable..one girl kept saying how scared she was feeling about tyring the pirouettes and she looked it too..it made me nervous just watching! Anyway, after a few minutes on the floor, I was joined by others struggling with the class until the lone girl left was one who had danced for years and years and done lots of pointe before. At least it was only 45 minutes though and I got at least 20min of pointe work in..I left the studio feeling dispirited though, while still annoyed and sought the teacher out. I told him of my background and asked what I could work on. He started telling me a few things to work on (many of which I would have found very useful to have known while still at the barre (which didn't exactly help with the annoyance I was feeling) and then proceeded to tell me that I should come to his Thursday night class at a studio in St. Leonard's..he said it was elem/int but that they did some beginner pointe work at the end that would be more suited to my level..
After this, it was 1pm and we had about an hour's lunch break. I found though (must have been from adrenaline?) that I wasn't hungry..just incredibly thirsty..and so I just walked to the shops with a girl from the classes- we talked about the intensive and I asked her about the Thursday night class at St.Leonard's (something I am considering)..she got some lunch and I nibbled on a mandarin and then we returned to the studios for the afternoon session :)
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