Hey all!<BR>I just found out that, if your skill in ballet, you flexibility, your talent, and blah,blah,blah is very good you CAN be taken to the National Ballet Academy in Amsterdam till you 19th! Well yiiiiihaaaaaaa this is just what I wanted to hear you know cause this means I can finish my high school (I'll be 17 then), take more ballet lessons, go to a workshop, camp or other things as often as I can and voilà I still have a chance. Isn't it great? It is.<BR>Ok now let's look at the beginning part of this message once again. IF IF IF you have blah blah blah...............!!!<BR>So, guess i have to GET blah blah! Ok talent is something you can't get, you have it or not, I hope i do, flexibility is perfect, balance is nothing, turnout is mwah, and the most important thing i do wrong is that when i jump (temps levé) in for example 2nd, I turn IN my knees a bit in plié. Well this is very very very bad, not only for ballet but mostly for my knees. So I have to learn NOT to do that because i know I can not-do-it, if I give it a bit extra attention everything is ok. Now, the balance. Is that something I can learn? Or is it like talent, have it or not? HOW can I learn it? You know this is really really embarrasing and awful, after more than 8 years ballet I still can't turn a single pirouette! Just the plain, old, ordinary pirouette! And I, the one who wants to have a very high skill when she's 19, is not able to do it! But ok ok i have to admit again, when i really WANT it, use my back and stomach muscles just like i should use them, spot, don't lower my relevé, close my arms into a big beach ball and keep it on the height where it should be, well if i do all this things very properly I can do even a double one. <BR>So, I'm just too laisy or something, or I can't keep my concentration where it should be. Can I improve it? How?<BR>And another thing I'm really interested in, let's say you finished you ballet academy, what happens then? Do you have to search for some work, or does you school promote you a bit? Do most schools have a 'student corps', i don't know how to call it else? And what do you have to do if you can't find something to dance and run out of money? Ok i know all those questions do sound weird because i'm only 13 but I've been really thinking about this quite a lot.<BR>Next question: (has nothing to do with the previous ones) does anyone know a site where you can order very big ballet posters? i really want to have a few for my room, but I can't find anything I like <BR>Oh, and before I forget one more question: how was this site/forum started? Are the moderators and administartors all friens/email-friends? How did you guys came together? <BR> <p>[This message has been edited by Anastasia (edited May 22, 2001).]

Hi Anastasia! I can't answer any of your questions except the last one.<P>criticaldance was formed about 18 months ago as there seemed to be a gap for a dance site that gave attention to all forms of performance dance and was dance and dancer friendly. I think that this friendly ethos has helped us to pull in one by one the team you see around you here. Out of the 12 current Moderators/Admins, I've only met 1 face to face, but I feel as if I know these folks very well indeed.<P>Someone the other day said that it was like a club and and I'm delighted that you're part of it. <p>[This message has been edited by Stuart Sweeney (edited May 22, 2001).]

Anastasia - let me try to answer the rest of your questions - or at least to the best of my ability.<P>You started out by saying that you "can't" do a single pirouette. However, you then said that if you obey all the rules - spotting, pulling up, using your arms correctly - you CAN do a double. So, my adivce is to NEVER SAY AGAIN THAT YOU CAN'T DO A PIROUETTE. Because obviously you can do them. Everyone has to obey the rules for pirouette - even the greatest dancers. Or the pirouette won't work.<P>As for balance - it is true that some people have better natural balance than others - just like everything else. However, everyone can work on it - and in my experience it does get better. We also usually balance better on one side than the other. And balance changes from day to day, especially for women. And it can change from the morning to the evening. I have also found it changes if I am getting a cold a couple of days later.<P>Usually when you are done with any kind of dance school or academy, you then have to look for work as a dancer. Even if you graduated from a school attached to a major company, it is not automatic that the company will accept the students from the school. This could be a good reason to pursue your dance studies in college and get a degree. That will open many more doors for you.<P>

Oh yes - about landing your jumps with turned in knees in plié - you are right that is bad for your knees. You might want to check the position of your feet - they might be turned out too much as compared to your knees. <P>The fact that you are aware of this, is half the battle. Keep being aware of it - and you will win this battle, I am sure.

ok - sorry I have so many posts in a row here but.....<P>Here is a site I found on Google about ballet posters. I don't know anything about these sites - but you can check them out:<P><BR><A HREF="http://www.google.com/search?q=%22ballet+posters%22&btnG=Google+Search" TARGET=_blank><B>BALLET POSTERS</B></A><P>There are 12 pages of stuff.<BR>

Thanx for your answers, Stuart and Basheva!

Hi Anastasia, I just have one advice left for your balance. I´m going to say this in Dutch because I don´t know else how to say it. Everyone who can´t read it, I am very sorry!<P>Ik heb een plankje, gewoon een plat plankje, rechthoekig, en iets groter als je voet, zodat je er met je voet op kan staan.<BR>En dan daaronder zit een halve cirkel zeg maar, een soort buis maar dan doormidden gesneden over de lange kant van het plankje in het midden. Ik hoop dat je me kunt volgen.<BR>Als je er dan op gaat staan, wankel je dus, maar de bedoeling is dat als je vaak oefent, het steeds beter gaat en uiteindelijk hoef je niet meer zoveel te wiebelen.<BR>Het wordt vooral gebruikt door fysiotherapeuten, dat is om te zorgen dat je je enkel minder snel verstuikt en meer kracht krijgt in je enkel.<BR>Ik heb het ook, en na lang oefenen werkt het wel.<BR>Je kunt het misschien je vader vragen om te maken, mijn vader heeft het ook voor mij gemaakt, het is helemaal niet moeilijk om te maken.<BR>Als je het niet precies begrijpt moet je het maar zeggen, dan zalik proberen het beter uit te leggen van dat plankje.

I'm very curious about balance, too. Anastasia or Elleke, do you think you could translate what Elleke said? I'm very curious! Thanks,<P>Katie

Ok here you are:<P>=============================<BR>Take a right-angled board, as big as your foot, maybe a bit larger, so that you can stand on it. Under it you have to put a, let’s say, sawed trough lengthwise, big tube. So, put the tube under the board, and balance on it, on one foot. With lots of practicing you’ll be able to do it, and it will improve your balance, too.<BR>This metod is used quite a lot by physiotherapists, to strengthen the ankle and feet muscles.<BR>==============================<P>That was it <P><p>[This message has been edited by Anastasia (edited May 22, 2001).]

I use a piece of equipment just like that. I have 2 actually. One as described, and a round platform attached to a piece of round wood like a ball cut in half. They are very useful to help with centering and to use with people who have hyper-extended legs. It is also used for rehabilitating people who have sprained their ankles once they have recovered from the injury sufficiently.

Thank you Anastasia. That is very interesting.

The physical therapy department in our hospital uses that device also. When I tore my calf muscles last year, I had to use that to "re-educate" the nerve cells in the injured muscles that are important in balance. The therapist explained it to me this way; when you injure a muscle, more than just the muscle fibers are injured. There are also many nerves that sustain damage as well, and these are the cells that tell your brain where your balance is, and whether or not you are moving. This is why balance can be so hard to attain even after the tear is healed. Those nerves must relearn the signals. The "rolling board thingy" (I'm sure it has some sort of complicated technical name) is a great help in teaching the nerves to fire correctly.

Here tis.... I think I found it:<P>It's called a wobble board and here is a link to some information:<P><A HREF="http://www.google.com/search?q=%22wobble+board%22&btnG=Google+Search" TARGET=_blank><B>WOBBLE BOARD</B></A><BR>

Let's see if I can put up a picture of it:<P> <P>

Oh, Elise, that was so well put. I'm glad you mentioned the part about rehabilitating the nerves in addition to the muscles, etc. It is interesting to note that often when a dancer has recovered physically, as it were, from the injury, she often can feel unsure about her foot/ankle. Not in the sense that it is numb, but the proprioceptive aspects of using it have suffered from the injury.<P><BR>Basheva proves herself the internet goddess again with finding the wobble board. I find it interesting that they show it being used by someone with shoes on. I would never have my clients work on it with shoes on their feet. The shoes offer too much support for the purposes of using the board, and can cover up what the foot inside the shoe should actually be doing.