Friday, October 27, 2017

the anatomy of a pointe class


  1. you start with your basic ups and overs at the barre. these warm up your toes, feet, and ankles. start in parallel and then move to first.
  2. after ups and overs, move straight into relevés in first and then into elevés. they continue to warm up your feet and ankles. they also numb your toes so nothing hurts them during the actual class. 10/10 would recommend.
  3. if your teacher is feeling evil, she may have you go down to demi and then back up over your box. multiple times. it strengthens the toes. also hurts like heck.
  4. echappes. not particularly painful, but often awkward if the floor or your shoes are sticky with rosin or humidity. 
  5. move to center. usually eight passés coming back and eight coming forward. gets you over your center for turns. make sure to use your arms or the teacher may yell.
  6. echappes in the center. often croise to en fasse to croise on the other side, into a plié and pirouette.
  7. from the corner. typically piques to start off, occasionally some soutenus, chaines, or stepovers thrown in. go on both sides and suffer on the left. if your classmates are mean they will force you to go in front. don't make eye contact with the teacher.
  8. more from the corner. sometimes a pique arabesque combination, sometime fouettés, sometimes a manege. i'm sorry.
  9. for the end of class, you could do many things. these often include grande battements in the center, en pointe. or a zig zag. the latter is fun, the former is hard. good luck.
  10. no matter how badly you think you did, curtsey to the teacher and thank her.
  11. always remember that you will have good days and bad days. do not beat yourself up over a failed class, there is always next week. keep your chin up.



a note:
i use a good amount of sarcasm and dry humor in this. it may sound like i hate ballet or pointe. i do not. i enjoy them and my teacher and classmates a lot, this post is a humorous way for me to look at the basic structure of a pointe class at my studio. debs, if you read this, please do not hate me i love your class and how hard it is.



"you have to run with passion, and if you fall,
you fall. get up and keep dancing."
-my ballet teacher

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