I am just on my way home from a great evening at the first Rhythm Tap class of the year. It was great to be back, and I was very excited to learn the ‘closed third’. Yes, three sounds in one go and you will never walk the same way again!
I am continuing to take levels 1 & 2 so that I get a good hour and a half and to continue to improve my foundation. It was great to see friends from last term and to meet some new people too.
I wore my new Bloch Sync Tap shoes tonight and they felt like a much better fit, but I get so hot that I felt like my feet had spread out a bit by class 2 and could start to feel my left little toe rubbing (usual culprit!) so I will try to remember compression socks next week and maybe some plasters.
I always seem to burn myself out, so today I made the decision to focus on one thing this Autumn and stick with Rhythm Tap classes. I am working in Human Resources in London 4 days a week (1.4 hr commute door-to-door), I run my own small craft business from home, which I concentrate on on Fridays (sometimes this leeches into Saturday or Sunday), I have recently started doing some HR qualifications, self-study, which I have 18 months to complete, and then I am trying to fit in 2 dance classes a week!
I went to Rhythm Tap on this sweltering Wednesday evening and I enjoyed it so much! As I said I would, I spoke to my teacher afterwards about my dilemma of level 2 being too late for getting home at a decent hour mid-week, and asked if it was worth continuing with the daytime level 1 class for practice, to which she replied ‘definitely’ and that with that one being a much smaller class, she can adapt to my ability and give me more challenging things to do (which she does)!
I also went to the second of 5 Floor Barre summer classes last night at City Lit and I found it pretty tough going, as though I’d never done any exercise or dance in my life; as though I was completely core-less! A girl behind me summed it up perfectly “It’s too much after a day at work. I’m so shattered”.LOL. Then I remembered how shattered I was last term doing Wednesday night and Thursday lunchtime classes, so that kind of sealed it for me. I feel kind of sad not to be returning to the Barre in September, but it gives me a chance to perhaps do my Ballet DVDs (not the same, I know) and have recovery time in-between.
Another thing, I recently subscribed to Pointe Magazine and then this week the distributor contacted me to say the magazine has ceased print! Boo! I think they will continue digitally, but I don’t have an iPad. So, I got £30 back in my bank account! At least I can continue to read all their articles online, as well as Dance and Dance Spirit.
Jason Samuels Smith Tap Shoes by Bloch
Anyway, the positive of these two refunds is that I have the money to purchase those AMAZING Jason Samuels Smith White Tap Shoes that I have been drooling over for months! I actually tried them on in the Bloch Covent Garden shop while I was waiting to go to my Floor Barre class, and oh wow they are so comfy! (I also saw Interior Design LEGEND Kelly Hoppen walking by with her team!) Anyway…the shoes were a perfect fit, so I ordered them this afternoon!
I was back at Ballet at the Barre last week after a week away in amazing Tenerife! Anyway, missing a week really didn’t help because I felt like I was a bit behind on everything, but it was ok. This week the class was a bit smaller as quite a few people were absent, so I was on a barre…on my own! Everyone else was at the mirror or at the wall, where as I prefer to be by the window as I’m always hot in dance classes!
Anyway, my points for improvement this week are to keep my legs straight and press my feet into the floor when I bring them back from a tendu. For some reason I arch my foot, or want to stick my toes in the air! Although this is probably due to the fact I had a silent DVT some years back following a looooong coach trip home from Germany and my right foot tends to swell slightly (especially after a day at a desk, and in warm weather) and gets easily tired. Towards the end of the class, I could hardly feel my feet! I tend to wear compression socks before and after on dance day, but didn’t have a clean pair this week. (I have since added 2 new pairs to my collection!) Anyway, I think I’ll have a go at some band stretching exercises to increase my foot and toe flexibility. I realise I rely heavily on my big toes as they are my longest toes, so the big toe joint tends to suffer at times.
On a fashion note, I decided to treat myself in the sales and ordered Capezio’s LIMITED EDITION floral ballet leggings (although these weren’t on sale) and a pink ballet wrap cardigan with thumb loops from Revolution, via Dance Direct.
I never thought I’d want to wear a leotard to ballet, as nice as they look. I think for many adult beginners, the thought of clingy, revealing clothing is a little unsettling, especially if you are just going to wear it with tights.
But after enrolling on Ballet again this Spring, I decided to order a basic navy one from Move Dancewear and try it out. Well, I am truly converted! The best thing about them, I think, is that they stay in place, so you don’t have to keep pulling your top down when your arms are in the air and so on. However, I haven’t worn mine with tights just yet…I wear capri style LA Gear sweat pants over mine, plus a black wrap cardigan, unless it’s hot.
You would be used to wearing them in formal classes with tights because it enables the teacher to see your lines properly. But in adult beginner classes, teachers tend to be flexible about clothing.
My most recent purchase was another leotard in pink!
