Blog 23

One more week at Bayadère and then there will be a 2 months break. No ballet lessons during holidays. What shall I do, continue writing, or take some time off? I suppose I will take a summer recess too.

I already knew I would suffer from stiff joints and burning calves from the run last Sunday. Especially the Monday lesson was a lot more challenging to do with those stiff muscles. You can't have it all. 

But the run was terrific. It was a hot day last Sunday, and lots of people took part in the City Run. I had a nice time.

As I wrote in my last blog, I always thought that barefoot running would be helpful to my ballet aspiration. And I mentioned that I had doubts about that. 

But by mail, Lyda gave me a comment on my last blog. She said that running barefoot is not bad at all for ballet. On the contrary! 

"You use your foot muscles better on bare feet than in sneakers. Toes in athletic shoes are lazier than with barefoot. In shoes the foot works' en block' and on bare feet, every part of the foot has to come into action." Wow, that's logical.

"Pay attention to pushing your toes from the floor while running. That helps both to go faster / to take bigger steps and to strengthen your toe muscles.

Just do your running as usual and add now consciously pushing your toes off the ground. That's all." I walk your talk, Lyda.

After a tough day at the office, I had a relaxing lesson on Tuesday. I enjoyed the exercises and accompanying music. My muscles felt better, more supple. It resulted in no stress on my mind so I could easily remember the variations Lyda wanted us to do and carry them out.

I make sturdy progress in reading the book on Rudolf Nureyev from Julie Kavanagh; it is an impressive account of his life and offers a lot of knowledge, not only on the life of Rudolph but also about the history of the 20th century.

Dazzling amounts of facts and events on cultural life and artistic accomplishments are put on paper. 

Rudolph was so eager to learn new ballet techniques, he absorbed everything new. 

How beautiful to be young and have a sense of direction.