Thank you so much for this important reminder as an older dancer starting out it’s common to see others progress ahead of me even with less ballet practice. I love listening to your great advice & to remember that my ballet journey is uniquely mine hugs 🤗♥️
First of all, thank you for this validation. I’m 53, returned to ballet a year ago after taking studying for 6 years in HS and college. …I was in class today and found that I had absolutely no balance! I was leaning to one side even while I was standing on 2 feet. 😳 I felt completely frustrated with my body. (Granted, I’ve been sick for months… so today was a day to be gentle with myself and be proud that I even made the effort to go to class!) SECONDLY… THANK YOU for making reference to ages 50s, 60s, plus. Most people who talk about “ballet for adults” are in truth, referring to 24-year-olds. A 40, 50, or 60-year-old has a completely different situation than a young person who has is trying to get back into ballet after six years because they aged out of their traditional childhood ballet school and stopped dancing for a while. How about some of us who are getting back into ballet after 30 years??? Our bodies can’t do what they used to do. For example, I can’t do fifth position anymore… I have to use third position because I have arthritis in my hips. But you know what? I can do an awful lot of things that I didn’t think I could! In a class of 30 students today, I did the best pirouettes of anyone! Including the 24-year-olds! Who knew? We all returned to Ballet with our individual bodies’ physical needs, emotional needs, injuries, health issues, and also- strengths. Maybe you’ve been doing yoga and Pilates f for most of your adult life. Does that 24-year-have the body strengths you have after training all those tears? Maybe not. Maybe you have a core like nobody’s business! Let us celebrate each time we learn something new…. and have compassion and a sense of humor for those things we’re still working on. ❤ Love y’all! Thank you Julie!
Thank you so much for this important reminder as an older dancer starting out it’s common to see others progress ahead of me even with less ballet practice. I love listening to your great advice & to remember that my ballet journey is uniquely mine hugs 🤗♥️
First of all, thank you for this validation. I’m 53, returned to ballet a year ago after taking studying for 6 years in HS and college. …I was in class today and found that I had absolutely no balance! I was leaning to one side even while I was standing on 2 feet. 😳
I felt completely frustrated with my body.
(Granted, I’ve been sick for months… so today was a day to be gentle with myself and be proud that I even made the effort to go to class!)
SECONDLY…
THANK YOU for making reference to ages 50s, 60s, plus. Most people who talk about “ballet for adults” are in truth, referring to 24-year-olds. A 40, 50, or 60-year-old has a completely different situation than a young person who has is trying to get back into ballet after six years because they aged out of their traditional childhood ballet school and stopped dancing for a while.
How about some of us who are getting back into ballet after 30 years???
Our bodies can’t do what they used to do. For example, I can’t do fifth position anymore… I have to use third position because I have arthritis in my hips. But you know what? I can do an awful lot of things that I didn’t think I could! In a class of 30 students today, I did the best pirouettes of anyone! Including the 24-year-olds! Who knew?
We all returned to Ballet with our individual bodies’ physical needs, emotional needs, injuries, health issues, and also- strengths. Maybe you’ve been doing yoga and Pilates f for most of your adult life. Does that 24-year-have the body strengths you have after training all those tears? Maybe not. Maybe you have a core like nobody’s business!
Let us celebrate each time we learn something new…. and have compassion and a sense of humor for those things we’re still working on.
❤
Love y’all!
Thank you Julie!
Very wise words!