Blog 8

As I promised in my previous blog last week, I will write about my first lesson. 

It was a trial adult lesson to be exact.

I remember standing at that door in November 2017, Wednesday, at 7.15 PM. It was dark outside. Bayadere seemed to be part of a school building, the entrance door was closed, I rang the bell and looked into the corridor. I felt excited, and at the same time, I was nervous.

I knew exactly why I was standing there, and yet I asked myself: what am I doing, I’m almost 60, I have no particular background in music, ballet nor aptitude for this beautiful form of art. This is an entirely new world I’m stepping into right now, what will be left of my ideas and concepts, only based on persons (Nureyev), books and strong feelings about the Russian ballet tradition, how will this reality check payout? I knew I was now putting all my expectations to the test: is this really what I want? Is this my place to be? Or am I fooling myself?

Well, I can only explore the unknown by making that first step. This is what I wanted. The magic right then was in the doing.

I remember a woman of middle age entering the corridor after I rang the doorbell, she welcomed me and guided me to the dressing room. I heard piano music coming out of a place next door. 

I expected a mixed group of adults in the dressing room, but it turned out that I was the only male student. Oh yes, the group was mixed in other ways, by age! Some of the students in their twenties and thirties, the oldest 50. Some of the adults sitting in the dressing room turned out to be the parent of the young ballerina’s, training.

And at 7.30 PM a door swung open and about 8 girls came chit chatting through the door, followed by Lyda. Young ballerina’s, laughing and talking, dressed in black leotards, white tights, and white ballet shoes.

As Lyda showed up, she welcomed me, showed me the place where I could change. There was a separate section in the dressing room for the male dancer.

After changing my clothes, we went to the dance floor. Me on my socks.

In entering the classroom I saw the adult students, standing at the barre, each of them doing warming up exercises.

I suddenly felt immersed in a new world and was very keen on taking the next step. 

In this first lesson, I learned a few things about the correct placement and how to hold the barre. Ballet techniques I remember most of the first lesson are the complexities of the posture, being aware and able to move your muscles separately, in contraction and extension. Shoulders down, rib cage up. And of course the positioning of the feet. In ballet, all movements are performed with the legs turned out. 

My fellow students were completing their exercises with such ease! And look at me, I was just a beginner.

At the end of the lesson one of the students clapped her hands and told me that my life would never be the same again now I had performed my first ballet exercises. Well, how true this is!

I felt blessed with my teacher Lyda, she really seems to know what she is doing! And she is a terrific coach!

I realize that much of what I am writing about deals with emotion, my emotion. I feel ballet is a way in which I can handle my feelings in a positive and uplifting manner, and combined with my deep urge to move I can use every inch of my body: ballet is truly an art of expression. 

And maybe that’s the deepest of all my desires: to express myself entirely.

I found the next sentence on de site of the Heritage School of Classical Ballet from Hope Miller in Dallas USA; it covers perfectly what I just said:

“We teach Russian technique which develops emotional expressiveness, strictness of form, and an energetic manner of performance.”

See you next week!

Blog 7

Next week Dutch children have a week off, enjoying Spring Vacation. So next week Bayadere is closed. Usually, Lyda invites parents of the children to join the last class before a vacation. And reversedly in the adult classes, the parents can introduce one of their children in the class. 

I asked my daughter. She is a young woman, busy running her own life but in these cases, she is eager to join a lesson. Last time she came to Bayadere with me was in August, in an extra open class during Holiday season.

After class, she told me that I am progressing! I was astonished. And she wasn’t joking. Yeah, sure, my placement is improving. And in a way ballet and its peculiarities are seeping more and more in my mind, body, and life. But me progressing? Unbelievable, because at times it really doesn’t feel that way, it can be tough. And of course, I know I’m a beginner. I think there is a long road ahead of me. But all my hard work is paying off! 

So next week there are no classes. But I will stick to my daily flexibility exercises. And in the next upcoming blog, I intend to write about my first ballet class in November 2017. After a set back in January 2018 due to a rupture in one of my calves, I took exams in Classical Ballet at Grade level 2 in April 2018 with the Association of Russian Ballet and Theatre Arts. I was awarded a Highly Commended. Something I could have never dreamed of. But more of that in one of the upcoming blogs.

Yesterday I celebrated my 60th birthday. My wife, 2 sons, and daughter organized a dinner for me in a Persian restaurant in Amsterdam. Our seats were decorated with garlands and balloons. I enjoyed my dinner and at one point the owner of the restaurant put on a Persian Birthday song and all the visitors started clapping their hands for me. We had a wonderful time. 

I appreciate it when you share your feedback on my blog with me. When you instead prefer to email me I invite you to mail me at my email address: bert.jonker@movetoballet.com.

Have a good week!

Blog 6 

Only 4 of the 12 students of the beginner's group showed up in class last Monday. It turned out that some were on vacation; others had the flu. 

In the picture, you see me in the ballet studio of La Bayadère. I made this photo after the lesson. Standing there in black tights with a white tucked in T-shirt, a dance belt and black ballet shoes (dress code), trying to capture the scene with my iPhone.

As you can see, a variety of exercises was prepared by Lyda. On the floor, against the mirror, you look at the signs with the names of the activities that we have done this lesson. 

A typical ballet class starts at the barre by default, with the demi plié as the first exercise. After that, the tendu, followed by the jeté, and the rond de jambe.
The second part of the lesson is in the center, the third part on the diagonal. I’ll discuss that in one of my next blogs.

In ballet, the mentioned ingredients can be varied endlessly. This lesson Lyda gave extra attention to a so-called sauté (leap) from the demi plié. After 3 jumps in the first position from demi plié we jumped to the 2nd position, 3 jumps, then to the 5th with right foot in front, 3 jumps and the 5th with left foot in front, also 3 jumps. Then followed by another variation, 1 jump from the 5th position, right foot front, to the 5th left foot front, 1 jump en so on, called changement des pieds. 

The tempo at which you jump is determined by the music. Usually, men have a more powerful and higher jump than women, but then the pace of the music should be somewhat lower. Women have less strength and jump at a higher speed. The depth of the demi plié determines in part how high you can jump.

This lesson Lyda varied the pace of piano music, so I could also jump in a man's pace. In my case, there is still some progress to be made. I feel like a heap of raw material; a lot of tuning has to be done. Same counts for my placement. But I love jumping!

In my previous blog, I talked about the importance of warming up. A warming up is more than just making your muscles supple; it is also a way of focusing on the activity you want to perform, in this particular case ballet. I cannot just make the transition in my mindset from work to choreography, as if this could be done in a split second. In general, it is a fact that with a pleasant warming up I can concentrate better and also have a better learning ability. And my lesson is even better if I can take a short nap (half an hour) beforehand. It bothers me if I can’t show up with a prepared mind and body.

Blog 5

This week I have been busy with my work. And that was at the expense of ballet. 

There was no opportunity this week to do my warming up. So I was unprepared for the first lesson of the week. Which meant that I had to hold myself back while doing the exercises. That way I prevent a possible injury, especially of my calves. That kind of injury strikes you back, and recovery requires a lot of time and patience. So better prevent than cure. 

When I exercise at the barre, I usually have the most control over my body. I can hold on to myself and stay in balance when I get on the tips of my feet. To be in balance, you use almost all your muscles. And that is indeed the case when you perform your exercises au milieu

Therefore ballet is quite another way of training than fitness.

With ballet, you use various muscles instead of using one or two isolated ones, as is the custom in fitness or bodybuilding. You use everything, your arms, head, back, stomach and feet. And you rediscover some muscles you may have forgotten.

Ballet is about training and tuning your body, making it your instrument. That's the journey ahead of me.

I could not participate in my second class, due to my work. By exception, Lyda allowed me to join a lesson for advanced students. It was a lesson at an intermediate level. 

And that was very special! It gave me an outlook on how I could develop myself in ballet. 

I even practiced the grand jeté, a long horizontal jump, starting from one leg and landing on the other. Known as a front split in the air. The front leg brushes straight into the air in a grand battement, the back leg follows doing the splits in the air. One of those spectacular jumps Nureyev seemingly made so easy.

Really above my league, but so inspiring. No split in the air for me! And I console myself that even Nureyev was once a beginner!

And as Lyda points out after the lesson: with the variety of exercises and dances in ballet you can quickly fill up a lifetime. 

Well, let’s do it!