The new first ballet class – update

I was the second person to get there (I got there 20 minutes early). I signed in and chatted with the only other person who was nervously waiting. She’d never done ballet before. More people started turning up and I continued chatting to her and this other woman. There were lots of people! And one man!

The teacher called us into the class and we put on our shoes. She checked the first timers’ shoes to make sure they were okay and there were no drawstring bows on show. I thought that was a great idea! Ballet shoes are foreign territory when you’ve never taken a class.

Then we took to the barre. There were only two barres in the centre and the rest were along the walls. Except on one side, the mirror was obstructed so you wouldn’t be able to see yourself… I don’t know why. I feel like being able to see yourself is imperative for beginners. Anyway, I was at a barre in the centre of the room. It was good!

The teacher was even better. She explained everything really thoroughly, including posture. She was quite funny, actually, she had everyone laughing! When she was explaining the posture she told us we should practice pulling our belly buttons to our spine and pulling our shoulders down in the car. She said we’d all look like right tossers but it’ll help the posture.

After barre came centre (obv) and we did balances and plié relevé jumps (what are they called?) and bounced around in a circle doing something that I forget the name of.

And then we did a little reverence.

I honestly sweated so much. What is it with a lot of dance classrooms lacking air conditioning? It’d be great in winter. I can’t wait for that. Queensland summers are brutal.

There were two little 5/6 year olds who were the daughters of a woman taking the class, I think. They joined in a bit during barre and during the bouncing-around-in-a-circle. They were so cute. I told them they were very good and asked how long they’d been dancing. Since they were four! They told me proudly. Adorable.

I can’t wait for next week!