Saturday, December 03, 2011

my first ballet performance

Five months ago, I set foot in my first ballet class! I decided to take ballet because a) I've always wanted to, b) I am a figure skater (fun fact I never talk about here), and c) I needed summer credit hours!

It turns out my school has a really fabulous dance department, so when it came time to register for fall classes, I signed up for ballet again...and I'm already signed up for winter quarter ballet too! It is a really good thing that I am doing this. I find it so much more fulfilling than going to the gym (if you just love going to the gym, that's cool too, but I don't really).

So anyhow, Thursday was my last day of class, and for the past two weeks my instructor had been teaching us two dances (one at the barre and one in the center) that we would perform for any friends we cared to invite for our "final performance." Corey came to watch, which was really sweet. My instructor even video taped it for us, so I am going to share it with all of you!

Just remember when watching, this is the beginning ballet class, so most of us had limited if any previous experience with ballet! So of course it's not perfect. But it was really fun! This starts on our barre dance, but if you want to skip ahead to the center dance, it starts at 4:08! You can see me starting on the far right side for both dances, wearing black pants and a black shirt! Check out the guy wearing a giant, white tutu as well...gotta love the comic relief.




My sponsor Sarah also enjoys ballet and has been posting a lot about dancing this week! Check out this awesome Christmas dance as well as this post!

p.s. I'm having such a busy end-of-the-quarter two weeks but I am ALMOST THERE! I have so many fun posts planned once the madness is over!

7 comments:

Sarah said...

Awww this is so great! You guys really learned a lot for a beginner class! I love the music, your teacher must be awesome. That's the biggest thing that I find missing as an adult taking classes on my own now- there's never any performance to work up to at the end! Looks like a really great class. And thanks for the shout out! Good luck with the last two weeks of your quarter!

Anonymous said...

Wow! That's awesome--looks like the sort of class I would enjoy--fun and with a sense of humor. Love the musical choices, too!

Tamara Camera said...

That is so, so awesome! I love how you did something just because you wanted to. As an adult I always talk myself out of these things - learning to dance, to high dive, to learn a new language, just because we don't pick up these things as well as children do. Well, we can still learn things! More power to you.

Kristen said...

Sarah, I didn't realize the performance would be as fun as it was! I always associate performing with something stressful, like giving a speech or figure skating competitions I did when I was younger, but this was entirely just for fun, no pressure, no competition. I only have two quarters of school left and have found some community dance classes to take after that, which I am excited for but like you mentioned there will likely be no performances to work up to. I feel like I have learned a lot in a short period of time! My teacher in this class and my summer class were both really awesome and yep, you are right, she really put thought into all the music we danced too! Each week of class had a different theme...one week we danced to Halloween music, another week the new Muppet album, etc. So fun!

Maeg, definitely, I always appreciate a little humor! This class was exactly what I need for regular exercise. I never felt burdened to go but always really wanted to be there.

Tamara, thanks so much! It does feel really empowering to start something brand new at an age where everyone agrees you are "too old" to start that and actually be any good at it! I love learning new things for my own personal enjoyment, and taking up ballet has been really satisfying. Most of my classmates in this course were freshmen in college and I was happy to be able to keep up with them...not that I am "old" but I don't feel 18, for sure.

Callie said...

So good! I wish I could have seen it in person. If I get to see you over Christmas, I hope you'll recreate some of it for me! =]

PS: I'm moving TOMORROW. Yikes.

Meredith said...

I loved the performance! I may have to look into some classes :)Great job!!

Kristen said...

Callie, Good luck again with your move today! I can't wait to finally catch up once you have some free time. I hope to see you over Christmas and I can't teach you the whole thing, haha! That would actually be kinda fun.

Meredith, thank you! You should! I bet you would be able to count the music a lot better than I can with your cheerleading background. :) I got your save-the-date yesterday!! Adorable. It's going up on my bulletin board. So excited for you guys!