What am I enjoying about this class? What is frustrating?
I am definitely enjoying the consistency of always having a class and always having some consistency in our combinations and barre work. (Im never gonna have a class without a tendu, without a plie, etc). It creates a great stability and regularity within my crazy and often unpredictable life. To always be able to come back to the barre is great within a life of countless hours of work, class, homework, papers, friends, a boyfriend, working out, etc etc etc.
I am also really enjoying the challenge of it. Because of my spotty training, I try not to take anything, even a tendu or a plie that I know I'm pretty good at, for granted. I try to absorb everything, trying to fill in the holes of my dance education.
The frustrating things I'm finding is how far I have to go to reach some of my goals. As much as I do love and am challenged by this class, I want to feel like a good dancer, I want to be able to say "I am a dancer" and not have people question it. I feel that I have the passion but lack a lot of the training. I also have a dream of being en pointe. While I realize that pointe is by no means the be-all, end-all of ballet, I realize that beautiful dancing is also done in flat shoes, it is nevertheless a dream of mine. I know that I have the determination to do it, but I get so worried when I get sore feet or can't hold my releve in a certain position of a very long time. I worry that if I can't even perfect these basic things, I won't even get on pointe.
More to come :)
Yes - good to consider both sides of things in order to have a balanced perspective on your training. I definitely think that continuing to tap into the discipline that is required in ballet will ultimately result in a strengthening not only of your body (feet, legs, back, etc.) But also your technique in general. It takes mental conditioning and PATIENCE to work through the challenges that present themselves in ballet. And that mental stuff is just as important as the physical stuff.
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