Baby's first ballet class

So how did my first ballet class go?

Overall, from a scale of nicht sehr gut to sehr gut I would say it was medium gut!*

I was really nervous when I first got to the studio, and despite its high ceilings, large windows and charming New York decrepitude I was getting the urge to bolt. Everyone was chatting with each other, presumably about ballet, saying things like "I'm so sore from my auditions today!" and doing fancy warm-ups. And, as I mentioned previously, there was a girl in pointe shoes. Flipping heck! Keep in mind this was listed as a fundamentals class, so I was hoping for more newbies like me.

Why ballet?

First classes are always scary. They are particularly scary when it's a ballet class and you are an individual who has bad kinesthesia and an inability to tell left from right sometimes. That individual would be me.

So why would such an individual choose to take ballet? Well, for me, my interest in ballet had been piqued at a young age because of this book: Masquerade at the Ballet. It's a story that's like It Takes Two except with ponies and ballet! It's set in Northumberland! Which I thought was in Canada until I found out there is one in England too-- the book is set in the English one. It talks about Harrods and Covent Garden and realizing your dreams. And childhood crushes on men who are kind of sketchy. What more could a young girl want in a book? Did I mention the PONIES!?

Anyway, fast forward fifteen years or so to an adult me. Twenty-five year old me is in the midst of a stint of unemployment. I do yoga three to five times a week, and applied for yoga teacher training, but otherwise sleep a lot and watch television from the 90s. I had been thinking about adding another movement based activity to my repertoire for a while now, but wasn't sure what. Something circusy like tight-rope? Something martial arty like kick boxing? While I was debating the merits of acrofitness boot camp blast versus core fusion body sculpt, I reread Masquerade and suddenly I'm on the internet buying ballet slippers and researching adult ballet in New York.

I had my first class tonight and I love it. Stay tuned for my post tomorrow about the nitty gritty of being new in a ballet class that's supposed to be fundamentals but OMG there's a girl in pointe shoes over there. I also went to a restorative yoga class afterwards so I'll also be posting some thoughts about yoga and ballet. Let's just say my yoga teacher was yelling at me about things I was doing with my arms.

P.S. dear sister of mine, if you are reading this, I still believe you stole my original first edition with dust jacket Masquerade at the Ballet, and I will never forgive you because I now own another first edition but it doesn't have a dust jacket.