Dance 3.0

[Prudence Warner]

Prudence Warner walked into the dance studio carrying her dance bag. Walking over to where the barre met in the front corner of the room and sat down. Opening her bag, she took out her pointe shoes. She's had these slippers for the past few years and so far they had done her well.

As she put the shoes on, she hoped that the students had got the note she had sent to each of them before the academy broke up for winter break. The note had told the students that for this year each of the female students needed to wear a black leotard and pink tights and the boys were to be dressed in tights and a fitting black t-shirt. She had pretty much given them a uniform to come to class in. She had asked that they only arrived in bare feet or flat slippers though as they would only be doing very basic work that wouldn't require them to dance en pointe. Not only that, but she only knew of a couple a the girls who were advanced enough to dance en pointe (which as far as I know is only Cara and Kate as no one else has ever mentioned extensive ballet training before).

Standing up, she flexed her ankles and then rose up onto full pointe and went through a simple warm up, which stopped as soon as the first student arrived, and she exchanged her pointe shoes with her ballet slippers.

Once the majority of the class had arrived she clapped her hands to draw attention to her. She hated shouting, so just didn't do it. "Right, welcome back and happy new year to you all." She smiled around at each of the students. "Today we are going to do a warm up, so please spread out (it's on the video down below) and then you are going to find a space on the barre and we'll go through each of the five steps - just to make sure you haven't forgotten anything over the break - then we'll have a look at things like arabesques and begin on pirouettes if we have enough time."

She took her place in the centre front of the room and pushed play on the CD player before taking a step forward, when the music started, she counted the students in. "Ok, and five, six, seven, eight." She then talked then through the warm up.

@aspyn
Cara-Jean Kitchi
Cortney Smit
@lifesgood
@harley
@kate
@samanthal
Monique Chambers

[Cara-Jean Kitchi]

Cara stood in her bathroom, just putting the finishing touches on the bun that sat high on the back of her head, and covered the bun with a shimmery black crocheted bun net, using black hair pins to make sure it stayed in place. She then pulled on her pink tights and black leotard. Rather than pulling her tracksuit over the top of the ballet clothes, she just pulled on a pair of black knitted thigh-high leg warmers, and pushed her feet into her tennis shoes. She slipped her arms into a black cardigan and then put a yellow microfibre towel into her dance bag along with a water bottle. Her bag already held all of her dance accessories. Into the bag she also placed the bag that held her ballet slippers, rather than her pointe shoes.

Exiting the room, she left the House and hurried across campus to and into the dance studio. She shook off the cold as she slipped out of the cardigan and sat down on the floor by the benches that lined the wall that the door was on. She then pulled off her shoes and leg warmers. Taking the towel, slipper bag and water bottle out of the black dance bag, she folded up the clothes she had taken off and slipped them into the bag, which she then placed neatly onto the bench with the bottle beside the bag and the towel on top, next she pushed the discarded shoes under the bench.

She carefully put on her slippers and tied the ribbons, making note that she needed to replace the ribbon on her left slipper as it was beginning to fray. She then rose to her feet and moving one foot and then the other into demi-pointe and back again. It felt strange not having her pointe shoes on, but she also knew that she needed to follow the same rules as everyone else.

It was this stage that she realised that the studio had filled up and she could feel her cheeks heating as she pressed her lips together and turned her attention to Ms Warner.

Finding a space for herself on the floor, she followed the teacher through the warm up. She liked the fact that it seemed to work every muscle that a ballerina used, and then some. And once the warm-up was finished, she found a spot for herself at the middle of the barre, a place where she felt comfortable - she could easily blend in with the rest of the students. And a place where she could easily watch Ms Warner.

Outfit

[Deleted]

Kate finished smoothing down her hair with gel into the perfect ballerina bun she wore to dance that never had a hair out of place. Washing the slippery excess gel of of her hands and then drying, she considered her appearance quickly. She'd gotten the note from Ms. Warner about what they wear to wear to class, and she'd been quite grateful. Kate would never have considered wearing anything but this uniform, and she was glad that the rest of her peers would now have to wear the same. Anything else would be simply unprofessional. Her leotard today was one of her favorites, and it was very classical, dipping lower in the back with a wide neckline. She inspected her pink tights each time she put them on for any runs, to be sure that she never showed up to a class with runs in her tights. Such a mistake would be incredibly embarrassing, and her old dance teacher would have chastised her for weeks about it.

Once satisfied with her appearance, she gathered her things to bring to class. Leaving her pointe shoes out of her dance bag, she collected her water bottle and towel, as well as extra hairpins in case her bun came loose, as unlikely as that was. Kate was disappointed that she wouldn't be dancing en pointe in class, but she supposed that it was only fair. It just meant that she would have to visit the studio even more often to practice en pointe on her own. Happy, she pulled on a pair of wool knit leggings over her tights as well as a heavier sweater and made her way down to the dance studio, bag in hand.

She found that she was the second one there, and pulled off her shoes, leggings and sweater, folding them and putting them neatly onto the bench next to her bag. She greeted Ms. Warner with a nod and continued to but on her soft ballet slippers. They certainly felt a lot different, and Kate thought back to remember when she'd only felt comfortable in these, and pointe shoes had felt like some sort of strange torture device.

Once the rest of the students had arrived, she found her own spot on the floor and listened to Ms. Warner's explanation of the class to come. She almost giggled as the teacher spoke of forgetting over the break, but held it back, keeping her composure strong.

When the warm up started, Kate got into it quickly, enjoying it much more than the last warm up. It was definitely a lot different than any of the warm ups Madame had used, but Kate would certainly learn to enjoy them. It certainly served its purpose, and by the time she had finished, Kate was feeling ready to work. She found a spot at the barre beside a girl she knew as Cara, leaving a good amount of space for both of them. Watching Ms. Warner carefully, she stood in first position, waiting for her teacher to begin going through the positions.

[Monique Chambers]

Aurora stood in front of the mirror in her mother's bedroom. Her hair was up in a tidy ballet bun and she was dressed in pink tights and a black leotard. "Do I look alright, Mom?" She asked as she looked over her shoulder to where her mother sat, marking some papers.

Monique looked up from her paper and smiled at her daughter. "You look stunning." She said softly. She knew that as her daughter neared puberty, she was also reaching that stage where body image was important and she didn't want the preteen to fall into that trap of obsessing over her weight.

Rory grinned at her mother as she pushed her feet into her sports shoes and grabbed her dance bag - a birthday present from her grandparents - and then headed toward the gym. Once she had changed out of her street-shoes and into her pink elastic ballet slippers and then got up to join the other girls in the class.

When Ms Warner spoke she listened and quickly found herself a spot in the studio and joined in with the warm-up. She struggled to keep up at times, but she tried her best to follow the woman at the front of the room.

As soon as the warm-up was over, she hurriedly found herself a spot on the barre, somewhere near the front so that she wouldn't miss a thing that the woman showed them - even though she knew from previous classes that Ms Warner wouldn't leave her out if she needed held with something.

[Cortney Smit]

Cortney had her brown hair up in twin ballet buns, a new style she was going for today. She brushed down her black leotard to remove any lint that may have been stuck to it, making a mental note to get herself a lintbrush so that she could make sure she was neat and tidy for each class. She pulled a pair of black leg warmers on over her pink tights and pushed her feet into a pair of bright pink sports shoes. She picked up the dance bag that was on her bed and pulled on a trackduit top before she headed out of her dorm room.

Heading toward the gym, she walked into the dance studio. As funny as it seemed, for being at an equestrian school, when she walked into the studio it was like coming home. When her sister had died, she had retreated into the dance studio that the girls had begged for at home. Walking over to one of the benches, she sat down and took off her shoes and replaced them for her elastic pink ballet slippers.

Finding a spot in the studio, she followed the instructions of their the woman at the front of the room. The warm-up was different than normal, but she enjoyed it and it sure got her heart moving. When the warm-up was over, she hurried over to the barre and waited in first position for their first instruction, the fingers of her right hand resting lightly on the barre.

[Prudence Warner]

Prudence clapped her hands once everyone had finished the warm-up, to applaud her students - and scuttled over to find a space at the barre. "I know I don't do the norm for a ballet instructor, but I teach dance, as opposed to just ballet. And I'm worried that those of you here who aren't professionally trained ballerinas would find the class a little stiff - shall we say? - if we do a traditional ballet warm-up. I will prepare one for next class though if that is what you would all prefer." She smiled warmly at her students. "You are here to have fun, not sweat yourselves to death and end up hating your lessons in this studio."

Once the girls were settled at the barre, she was pleased to see that most of them were waiting in first position. "Ok, let's start. Remember that in first position, the balls of the feet are turned out completely. The heels touch each other and the feet face outward, trying to form a straight line. Making sure that you are turning out through the hips, not the thigh." She demonstrated as she spoke and then walked down the line of girls. "Look here, just like Kate. Do you see how she has a nice turn-out?" She walked back to the front of the room and stood in first position. "Second position, with your feet as they are now, I would like you to adjust your centre of gravity and slide your right foot over so that you have a foot's space between your heels." She moved her left foot across, as she was working to the opposite as the students facing her. The term seconde generally means to or at the side."

After she had walked down the line of dancers, correcting postures here and there and commending those who were pretty much spot-on, and walked back to her spot, her feet in second. "Now slide your foot back to touch the other, but instead of touching heels together as in first position, this time bring one foot further across the other. The heel of your front foot should be touching the area of the arch of your back foot."

Again, she walked down to assist the girls before returning to the front and back into third. "From her, slide your front foot directly out in front of you. Stop when the distance between your feet is equal to about one foot's length."

"Slide your front foot directly back towards you. Bring your front foot slightly further across your back foot than in third position. So when your feet are touching, your front toe should be roughly in front of your back heel. The 'ideal' of this position is to get your front foot so far across your back foot, that you can't see the one at the back. You are so turned out that you are standing front toe to back heel, and back toe to front heel. But to execute this perfectly takes years of training, so right now I'm not looking for perfection, I just want you to get the gist of it."

For beginners at ballet
the below picture is
acceptable for fifth

@aspyn
Cara-Jean Kitchi
Cortney Smit
@lifesgood
@harley
@kate
@samanthal
Monique Chambers

[Cara-Jean Kitchi]

Cara was already waiting in first before Ms Warner began speaking. She knew that the woman's choice of warm-ups were a little eccentric as far as ballet went, but wasn't not enjoying them. She'd spent too many years in a stuffy ballet studio warming up the traditional way. However, the traditional did tend to make or break ballerinas, which is why they were used by the elder ballet madame.

The small girl moved from one position to the next, trying to make herself invisible as Ms Warner began to use the students as examples for good posture and nice turn-out. The one thing she liked about ballet was that it was all about the single dancer, not the whole class, but she didn't want to be used as an example. She was used to be a pebble in someone's shoe, not the person to look up too, let them use Kate for that.

She flowed through each of the five positions as the woman called them out, carefully moving her feet from one to the next, making sure that the turn-out came from her hips, not just simple turning out her thighs. Though she would never confess it out loud, she found fifth position to be the easiest - next to first - as there was no thinking about it other than having one foot right in front of the other. There again, when she was wearing her pointe shoes, she was in fifth position more than any other.

[Deleted]

Henri felt rather embarrassed as she ran through the hallways of the school. It wasn’t as if she was a new student or something of the sort, she simply had been daydreaming too long with Hutch and had managed to get actually very, very late for her dance class. The girl huffed a bit in show of her effort, her soles still pounding the ground as she finally pulled into the gym. Feeling a blush sneak attack her from her neck, she made an apologetic look. Certainly, no teacher liked a late student, and Henri was rather sure she’d be getting some sort of punishment for her idling behavior. 

At the thought of her father shouting at her, Henri cringed. The brunette threw on a somewhat brave face as she tiptoed through the door and felt the music pounding against her soles. Silently, she sat on the wooden bench and quickly traded in her sneakers for her ballet shoes. She was most certainly not as practiced as some other girls, though she did own her own pair of normal dance shoes. They were a soft peach color too, which she liked in comparison to the pink most usually used. 

Trying to look inconspicuous, but failing completely, Henri joined her fellow classmates at the barre. If she knew teachers, then she also knew they disliked to be interrupted during a lesson. She intently zoned in on what the woman was explaining and made a move to follow the step. She’d learned all of the positions at one point in her life, but Henri winced slightly as she moved in fifth position. She certainly wasn’t as flexible as she was before. 

[Deleted]

Sam tailed the girl in front of her as she ran through the halls. She was late, very, very late and she knew it too. She took way too long to get her dance stuff around and ready so she really had no viable explanation for it all. Her sneakers squeaked on the floor as she ran down the hall. As she was running she recognized who the runner in front of her was, Henri. They had a few classes together so she could put a name to the face pretty easily. Oh thank god, she thought with a bit of a grin. Sam was glad to know that she wasn't the only one who was running late.

She slipped into the dance studio quietly, not wanting to draw attention to herself and hoping the other girl hadn't to herself either. The music pulsed through her as she took a seat on the bench to change her footwear. Off slipped her sneakers and on went her ballet slippers. After she was in her proper attire Sam made her way to the back of the barre silently, following the woman's instructions.

The positions came easily to the gymnast, even the fifth position, though she felt the pull in her muscles get tighter. Never before had Sam really done much ballet, only doing what was necessary for her floor routines. She inhaled and exhaled softly, wondering what the rest of the class would turn out to be.

[Deleted]

Kate finished the warm up, sort of happy to be done, but not entirely displeased. She liked trying new things, and though it wasn't what she was used to, she guessed that she could grow to find it fun. Nevertheless, she was relieved when her instructor found her own place at the barre and began to go through the positions. Her promise of a traditional warm-up for next class was appreciated, and Kate would certainly look forward to that more. She could guess that more of these unconventional ones would come after though, so she'd definitely consider looking up some videos later so she could try similar styles and be more comfortable for next time. Being unprepared for something was certainly something Kate hated, even if it was for a simple warm-up.

When Ms. Warner began to walk them through each position, she focused on not zoning out. She wouldn't be caught off guard, and even if she knew all of these positions like the back of her hand, she could always learn more, especially with a new teacher. At least, that's what Peter would tell her, and for once she tried to take his words to heart, even if it meant her getting bored. First position was practically second nature to her, since she spent most of her time that way when she was standing. As the teacher made her way down the line of girls, Kate kept it perfect and was still, smiling only slightly. Her smile widened, however, when Ms. Warner stopped before her and made an example of her first position. She gave a respectful nod and smile in thanks, just mouthing the words, and lifted her chin, gaze still fixed ahead of her.

She continued through the rest of the positions with the rest of the class, putting her focus into each of them to try and prevent her mind from wandering. Soon, she told herself, they would move on to the promised arabesques and possible pirouettes. These positions would help keep her sharp and she wouldn't allow herself to lose focus.

[Monique Chambers]

Rory chewed on her lower lip as she watched Ms Warner talk about each of the five feet positions again. She had promised herself that she wasn't going to cry as she tried to force her legs to obey. Turn out from the hips, not the thighs She silently told herself over and over again, she clenched her teeth as she felt a pain down her hamstrings, but she forced herself to keep trying.

AS she went through each position, the pain got worse and the harder she felt it was to do anything. She just couldn't get her hips to open up the way the other girls seemed to be able to. Maybe she should be asking for private tuition... or maybe she should ask her mom to ask the coach if she could do some gymnastics training.

She left out a relieved sigh as she thought that she managed to get fourth position, but she didn't dare look at any of the other girls in the class, as there was no doubt that their feet would look so much better than hers. She made a decision there and then, that she would come and spend at least an hour in the dance studio each day and work on getting her feet to do what they were supposed to do.

[Cortney Smit]

As the proper part of the class started, Cortney glanced at the mirror to make sure that her position was perfect, as she knew that looking down would ruin her straight line. She turned her toes out a little more and make sure that her legs were straight yet relaxed and that her shoulders were down and back and back straight so that she had a good line staring at the top of her head and going all the way down to her turned out toes.

She turned to look at Kate, the girl the instructor was standing beside, and shrugged her shoulders. The girl's form looked no better than how she felt hers looked - after all, she was sure that Ms Warner would correct her if need be. She looked forward again and watched the young girl in front of her struggling to get a good turn out. "Stop trying to force it." She whispered as she leaned forward from the hips. "You need to relax your whole body, and just let it happen." If they had been alone, she would talk the girl through relaxing each part of her body, but she couldn't do that right now. "It will take time, but you will get there." She finished in a rush as Ms Warner walked back to the front of the room and asked them to move into second.

She returned her attention to what she was doing as she went through the other four positions. She had stopped training in ballet right before the class moved onto pointe, but she knew that she had a really good turnout for all of the five positions and she didn't feel the need to look at what the others were doing

[Prudence Warner]

Prudence walked back to the front of the room, smiling at her students. "Rory." She said softly as she crouched down beside the girl. "Please stop forcing your legs to do what they aren't quite ready for." She whispered, her words for the girl's ears alone. "What you can do at the moment is great, and each week you are progressing lots. You may not think so, but you are. I'll take photos of your feet each class if you would like. However, if you push your legs to do what they aren't ready for, you are going to hurt yourself." She straightened up and walked back to her place at the front. "Ok, now that we've covered the boring stuff, let's look at the arabesque." She waited while there were a few cheers before she turned side on to the girls.

"An arabesque is a long, graceful pose made by balancing on the supporting leg while extending the free leg behind." She moved to stand in fifth. "With your right hand resting on the barre, stand in fifth position, with your right foot in front. With your left foot, do a battement tendu to the back - for those who don't speak ballet, that just means move your foot backward. Now, balancing on your right leg, slowly lift your left leg off the floor, maintaining the turnout of your left hip. Make sure you straighten your left knee and point your toes." She stopped speaking as she allowed the girls who weren't trained dancers get used to the feel of the new position.

"Now, here are a few things to keep in your mind. Keep your back strong and arched at all times. In order to allow the leg to rise, let your shoulders move forward with the chest lifted. Allow your pelvis to tip forward as well. Try to resist opening the working hip as you raise the working leg behind you, which takes practice. And lastly, make sure your shoulders don't hunch forward or twist." She lowered her working leg back to the ground and walked down the line of girls, impressed with how they were standing.

She walked back to the front of the room. "As much as I'd love to take you lovely ladies through a pirouette, it's actually time for me to turn the music up and let you shake it loose." She always had a habit of allowing them some freestyle at the end of their dance sessions so that the lesson side of things didn't get boring.

She walked over to the stereo and pushed play.

Forgive me, it was this or Higherground

[Cara-Jean Kitchi]

Cara smiled when Ms Warner mentioned that they were going to do an arabesque. She waited for the woman to finish explaining how to do the move, not that Cara needed the explanation, it just would have been rude to flow into the move while the woman was explaining it to the young dancers.

When the teacher went silent again, Cara turned herself to that she was now facing the barre and easily went into the arabesque. Doing this move, along with the pirouette, were like second nature for Cara as she used both in gymnastics and both movements had to be spot on each time. Keeping her supporting leg strong, she moved her working leg back and up so that it was straight out behind her, she could have moved it so that her legs were grand écart (in the splits), but she didn't want to do anything that might push the more inexperienced dancers into doing something they weren't ready for.

She returned her working leg to the ground and did the arabesque on the other leg, stretching the working leg out to almost the point of pain, so that her foot was as flat as she could get it, pointing the toes toward the opposite wall.

When it was announced that they were at the end of the lesson, Cara couldn't help but curl her nose slightly. She didn't enjoy the freestyle dancing as much as she should. However, it wasn't hard to get lost in the music once it started.

[Deleted]

Kate was happy to hear that they would be working on the arabesque next. Listening to Ms. Warner explain it to her students, she smiled. It was sort of interesting to hear ballet positions explained through words, rather than visuals. It now came naturally to her when she did it, so breaking it apart like Ms. Warner did made her think about it a bit more. She waited until Ms. Warner was finished to do it herself, going through it along with the rest of the girls.

Turning to face the barre, she placed her hand on it lightly and flowed into the arabesque, holding it for a little while before she switched legs and also did it on the other one, holding it. She raised her leg a bit higher than straight out behind her. The move would have been a bit more natural to her at this point if she were en pointe, which she found to be a bit funny since she'd found it to be so weird when she was first learning pointe. The transition to pointe for her hadn't been as difficult as some of her peers had found it, but as it was for most ballet dancers, it had been very odd at first. It was weird to think that now dancing without her pointe shoes was odd.

She lowered her leg when it was announced that their lesson portion of the class was over, and that they would be free dancing. The words "shake it loose" worried her a bit, and the music worried her more, but she decided that she'd make the best of it and try to have fun. It was more difficult to incorporate her beloved ballet into this music, but she did anyways, pirouetting more quickly that she normally would have. Moving away from her ballet training seemed a waste of time for her, and it would certainly move out of her comfort zone. She focused more on the undertones of the music and was able to move to it in a way that she was happy with.