What's YOUR class like?

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We're all from different areas, what are your classes like where you are?

I live in southern California, so it's always hot here. I love a warm studio, but when I'm sweating putting my purse away...My studio is VERY laid back. I scored big: it's close to home, cheap and everyone is super nice. The class started with about 4 students and now there are about 10-12! I love every minute. From the moment I swing open that door between the coffee shop and the gay bar and trek up the stairs (ugh) to the second we finish Reverence. If only it was more than once a week...

I've started taking private lessons (start the 15th) but at 50 bucks a pop, it's looking like once or twice a month is it for now.

Let's talk clothes!! I know y'all are excited to shop for class right? Well I'll tell you, I am a Queen at Amazon.com. LOL. Due to the chill-ness of my studio, I get to wear a shorty short unitard with either a cute shirt or a tank top, ballet pink convertible tights and canvas ballet. With winter coming up, legwarmers, scarves and sweaters are sure to make an appearance.

isabelle
:D

Replies

  • alpine1994
    alpine1994 Posts: 1,915 Member
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    I like this post!

    I live in the suburbs north of Boston, Massachusetts and I go to two different small studios. One is in my town, and the other is the next town over. Each studio only offers adult ballet once a week and I wanted to do it twice so that's why I go to both. There is also another (unfriendly) girl who does the same thing.

    My Tuesday class is at a school that specializes in ballet (but offers other types of dance classes) and is my favorite. There's usually about 4-6 of us. The teacher is amazing and since there are so few of us, she can take time for each of us to help with our technique. She was a dance major at my college so we reminisce about our UMass days too :)

    My Thursday class is at a very popular general dance school. I don't like it as much. The teacher is EXTREMELY Russian and it's really hard to understand her. She's kind "mean" whereas the Tuesday teacher is a sweetheart. It's good though because it kind of feels like ballet boot camp, haha. She has moved my head to the right spot using my bun and pushed my foot into a tight fifth position if it pokes out a little bit. There are about 8-10 people in this class, and most are above my level but it makes it a challenge to improve so I can catch up to them.

    This is my first year back to ballet after 12 years and I started in the beginning of September so I'm slowwwwwwly getting into the swing of things. Muscle memory has kicked in and it's easier to remember combos. Flexibility is getting a little better but still pretty awful. I can definitely feel an improvement though, and in balancing on releve too.

    Next year I'm hoping to add a jazz class because they perform in the recital! I miss performing so much. I just have to talk my boss into letting me do it. I travel a lot for work so I'm not sure if it would work out.

    I didn't think of shopping for dance clothes on Amazon! I've used discount dance supply and a local dance store. I will check it out! At both studios the teachers prefer that we wear pink tights and any color leotard but we can wear a skirt or shorts over it.
  • TheSpicyMermaid
    TheSpicyMermaid Posts: 279 Member
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    How sad for the mean teacher! I mean, we're adults. We respond to corrections differently now. We won't fight you! LOL!

    Did you find yourself having problems "getting" the combos? I used to have like a learning ESP. I was doing it before my teacher was! Oh well. I'm getting it now so I guess they can just get easier from here on out.

    Hey! It looks like we both started in early September! :D
  • alpine1994
    alpine1994 Posts: 1,915 Member
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    YES it's hard getting them! I'm usually in the back fumbling around while everyone else caught on immediately. I think a big part of it is I forgot (or just never learned/bothered to learn) a lot of the terminology. When the teacher is going through it she says the names of all of the moves but most of it means nothing. I feel like it would be easier to remember the combos if I know the names of everything. I keep meaning to pick up a book or something and learn them.
  • Weebs628
    Weebs628 Posts: 574 Member
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    I take ballet and modern at a little dance studio in my town. The ballet class I'm in is a teen/adult ballet class. My teacher is really nice and sometimes goofy. When I first saw her, I thought she was going to be mean, but I was so wrong! Her criticism is very constructive and to the point and she also has given me quite a few compliments on my placement. I'm beginning to learn some of the ballet lingo now which is nice. In my summer class, I didn't know what anything was except for the basic moves. Anyway, I don't have a lot of "cute" dance clothes. I just ordered a cami capri unitard to start wearing because my tights are tight on my waist and they give me a muffin top which is uncomfortable, plus I hate having so many layers on so hopefully I can just wear the unitard with a shirt and call it a day! I try to buy my dance stuff at allaboutdance.com. They have free shipping which is awesome!
  • QueenoftheWillis
    QueenoftheWillis Posts: 16 Member
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    I have too many dance clothes haha. It's ridiculous. I'm about to switch to a new studio and the classes there are intense. The only issue is I don't have the right skirt for the historical class. I have to fix that. The two ballet teachers are wonderful. I don't know the Jazz/Contemp teacher yet. I'm not really looking forward to Jazz, to be honest. Contempt is okay. I'd rather do ballet
  • TheSpicyMermaid
    TheSpicyMermaid Posts: 279 Member
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    I take ballet and modern at a little dance studio in my town. The ballet class I'm in is a teen/adult ballet class. My teacher is really nice and sometimes goofy. When I first saw her, I thought she was going to be mean, but I was so wrong! Her criticism is very constructive and to the point and she also has given me quite a few compliments on my placement. I'm beginning to learn some of the ballet lingo now which is nice. In my summer class, I didn't know what anything was except for the basic moves. Anyway, I don't have a lot of "cute" dance clothes. I just ordered a cami capri unitard to start wearing because my tights are tight on my waist and they give me a muffin top which is uncomfortable, plus I hate having so many layers on so hopefully I can just wear the unitard with a shirt and call it a day! I try to buy my dance stuff at allaboutdance.com. They have free shipping which is awesome!

    I wear convertible body tights due to my muffin top. I wanted to get the Capri unitard for winter though. :)
  • QueenoftheWillis
    QueenoftheWillis Posts: 16 Member
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    Oh! A little tip on tights. Sometimes they can make a little bulge around the waist, it happens to most everyone, and I know a way to help with that!! Cut into the elastic (JUST the elastic, not the tights part) in the back of the tights and it will make a little v and it will be loser and there will be no more bulge!
  • TheSpicyMermaid
    TheSpicyMermaid Posts: 279 Member
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    C'mon girls. There are 10 in this group and only 4 responses!
  • nath_coco
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    hi everyone! I'm new. I'm from cali in colombia and I have to say that ballet is my passion, it's one of the things that always make me happy! well now I'm going to tell you about my academy. the studio where I take my ballet lessons is very classic, the name of the academy is allegro, is one of the first ballet academies in my town, is nice and familiar...mmm is more like a big house, when we started the semester we were just 3 and now we're more than 20. my ballet mates are nice, they are between 10 and 25 years old , I love it because I'm 22 and I feel like a teen again, we are a very unique group and we like to share and celebrate the holidays together. our teacher looks pretty mean sometimes but she is actualy pretty nice, she is hard with us but it's ok for me, it make me push myself to be better! we have a demostration on sunday 25 and I'm pretty excited about it, I will give the best of my in the stage.

    p.s: sorry for my poor english :blushing:
  • TheSpicyMermaid
    TheSpicyMermaid Posts: 279 Member
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    hi everyone! I'm new. I'm from cali in colombia and I have to say that ballet is my passion, it's one of the things that always make me happy! well now I'm going to tell you about my academy. the studio where I take my ballet lessons is very classic, the name of the academy is allegro, is one of the first ballet academies in my town, is nice and familiar...mmm is more like a big house, when we started the semester we were just 3 and now we're more than 20. my ballet mates are nice, they are between 10 and 25 years old , I love it because I'm 22 and I feel like a teen again, we are a very unique group and we like to share and celebrate the holidays together. our teacher looks pretty mean sometimes but she is actualy pretty nice, she is hard with us but it's ok for me, it make me push myself to be better! we have a demostration on sunday 25 and I'm pretty excited about it, I will give the best of my in the stage.

    p.s: sorry for my poor english :blushing:

    Haha, your english is perfectly fine. That sounds like a very fancy place!
  • everain
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    I'm from the upstate NY area and my classes are satisfactory for my current needs. I miss my studio in Pennsylvania though. They were far more focused on proper technique/terminology. They really pushed me. As an adult beginning my choice of studios are fairly limited. I'm currently in class with girls that are easily half my age but I don't mind. I just wish they were a tad more focused and dedicated. Its frustrating when the instructor has to spend precious class time telling the girls to focus or to stop chatting, etc. They offer corrections but its never person specific so I never really know if i'm doing something good or bad. I take all corrections but I'd really like to know when there is something I need to work on personaly. I take modern/contemporary(2 classes), ballet of course (2 classes), pointe (2 classes), and adult conditioning. I tried a jazz class but it was a bit advanced and not really my cup of tea as far as style is concerned. I had lost a lot of weight before I started dancing so sometimes I struggle in my new and changing body. I've currently put on a few pounds that I'm desperate to get rid of. I want to get back down to the weight I was at when I danced in PA. Of course I was taking 13 hrs a week of all sorts of dance - its just possible at my current studio in NY. Lack of offerings or team only classes which I'm too old for.
  • TheSpicyMermaid
    TheSpicyMermaid Posts: 279 Member
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    I'm from the upstate NY area and my classes are satisfactory for my current needs. I miss my studio in Pennsylvania though. They were far more focused on proper technique/terminology. They really pushed me. As an adult beginning my choice of studios are fairly limited. I'm currently in class with girls that are easily half my age but I don't mind. I just wish they were a tad more focused and dedicated. Its frustrating when the instructor has to spend precious class time telling the girls to focus or to stop chatting, etc. They offer corrections but its never person specific so I never really know if i'm doing something good or bad. I take all corrections but I'd really like to know when there is something I need to work on personaly. I take modern/contemporary(2 classes), ballet of course (2 classes), pointe (2 classes), and adult conditioning. I tried a jazz class but it was a bit advanced and not really my cup of tea as far as style is concerned. I had lost a lot of weight before I started dancing so sometimes I struggle in my new and changing body. I've currently put on a few pounds that I'm desperate to get rid of. I want to get back down to the weight I was at when I danced in PA. Of course I was taking 13 hrs a week of all sorts of dance - its just possible at my current studio in NY. Lack of offerings or team only classes which I'm too old for.

    I was lucky enough to find an adult studio very close to me, but due to a teachers hiatus, I've been searching for another studio that at least lets adults in the door! So sad and frustrating. I just want to learn!

    Welcome to the group and thanks for adding me. :D