You're either a jumper or a turner...

You know how they say in ballet... "you're either a jumper or a turner, but not both.." Well what about neither?

I love pirouettes, LOVE THEM. And, even though they can be a huge pain in the ass, that feeling when you successfully land a complete 360 AND still manage to hold yourself up for just a couple seconds before you fall is amazing! Of course this only happens when you're alone in your kitchen.....never in class where someone might actually see it.

My teacher is great at correcting and describes the concepts behind using proper placement, as well as, how to use certain muscles to achieve whatever result very  well.....

( Placement + Muscles + Heads = Balance + Control  ) 

      Like rly, who knew the chemical equation of the pirouette-ballphabet would be so complicated, amiright?   Well, if you are like me and (hate chemistry ) then you'll totally glaze over this and skip ahead to the next paragraph completely ignoring the clever reactant = products analogy below...

Seriously........ I have none......... I mean..really? Did you miss the "I hate chemistry part? "

ANYWAYS......I have developed "very bad muscle-memory-habits"so much so,  that I am desperate to break it. Yet, every so often when I feel my body revert back to these errors I get very frustrated. It's as if  you have no control over your own body. Your mind says "DO THIS!" and the body goes...
" Sure let's do this! .... .....ah NOPE! HA HA FOOLED YOU!! SUCKER!"



Well just the other day my ballet class went something like this:

Teacher:  "use force in your releve!" ( her meaning  = push from the ground into strong-held position)
Me:  Prepares..... tries... fails... Tries again....lands good strong held practice-position.....attempts full turn and fail miserably.......  /sadface
Teacher:     "straighten out your spine, nice and tall..."
Me:     ( in a prep position ) gets confused and awkwardly maneuvers my spines in all kinds of strange poses...
Teacher:    " No.. no.. head to the ceiling.....look,,, you're leaning too far forward, ....straigthen up, back straight from your hips.....(watches me fumble more) "no.. not quite, arch your back more...."
Me:     ..fumbles then obeys... placing my spine in all kinds of positions, all feel so extremely crooked, almost as if my spine was curved into my stomach and my shoulders and head pulled back over my ass....just when I felt it was completely wrong...
Teacher: "THATS IT! LOOK! You have a straight spine now.....Go ahead!....now try!"
Me: Glance in the mirror and notice it does not look as overly arched/crooked as I thought... ready..set... pirouette.. NAILED IT!
Teacher: "SEE! I told you!! "

Honestly.. that "straight back" position felt insanely abnormal.. and awkward, and without my teacher pushing me to "find that position" ( and not letting up ) is what made me place my body into a position that felt unnatural, and yet to my surprise was correct! When I glanced in the mirror, it DID look normal, and straight.. But, why on earth was my body deceiving me???!!!

My body was taking the easy route. It had developed its own movement pattern and now prefers to fight me relentlessly.

I'm beginning to understand that even though my body and muscles "perceive" a position as being awkward or unnatural or physically incorrect, that this is just my body's reaction to the demands of behaving differently. My body doesn't want to behave....it's only understands how to be lazy. Much like a teenager, my body is rebelling against me, and,  this new strict discipline I'm assaulting it with can only react with hostility.

When will "turning" becomes easier then jumping? (did I mention yet how much jumping is just torture? If not stay tuned... )  -If I could chose... I would take pirouettes any day! :)






> To come : I need to go pointe shoe shopping ( again, sigh) and I will post my pointe shoe adventure!