"I Want Your Bun To Touch Your Foot"

So Monday night was the first ballet classes back after the summer break. I have never felt every minute of my 41 years as much as I did then. I was exceptionally lazy and hadn't done anything for the 2 week break, so I knew it was going to be tough, but it felt as if every ligament and bit of hamstring had shrunk to half it's former size!

Our teacher for both barre & stretch and pointe class was a temp teacher but she was really good. A French ballet dancer, she was strict and thorough with corrections. Apparently, I tense my wrists and hands too much, which she said is tendency of British dancers in particular, so she got me to losen up my wrists and generally soften my hands and arms. My bingo wings did not approve of these new, soft arms!

In barre & stretch she focused primarily on the barre, which she kept simple as we had a few new people in who'd never done any ballet, but in pointe class she upped the difficulty level for us, seeing as we were more experienced. What I really liked is that she incorporated stretches at the barre in the pointe class too. We did an arabesque stretch at the barre, we then lifted the back leg off the barre into attitude, into passe and then chasse into the front splits.

Yup, no problems there.

From there we do a forward bend, so our body is flat against the front leg. Easy enough.

Then from there a back bend. Ok dokay.

Then she said, "Keep your back bend and I want you now to bend up the back leg so your foot touches your bun". Say what?

My foot has never met any part of my head and I don't think it's going to anytime soon! But I tried. She came over and pulled my back foot up, trying to get it as close to my head as possible. I have never been stretched like that my life! My bun didn't meet my foot, but it's a stretch I'm actually going to attempt myself, as it's really just about stretching out the front of the thighs more. It didn't help that there was a Scottish Ballet senior associate in class who's head actually went past her foot and onto her bum! Oh to be 16 again.

However, I'm glad to be back in class. If you find yourself in Glasgow looking for some fun, pressure-free ballet classes then why not pop along to Dance HQ? I have danced here for several years and it's a great place for beginners and intermediate dancers. I highly recommend pointe class on Mondays and Intermediate class on Wednesdays.

QMichelle