Showing all posts in Dance

March 24, 2020

Isabella Boylston and James Whiteside aka The Cindies
from American Ballet Theater was on Live with Kelly & Ryan this morning

Weird times. The dance world is now online only. Ballet, Modern, kids dance, Yoga and Pilates classes are streaming online both on paid sites and live on instagram. It’s a great opportunity for all of us to stay active and you should check it out.
But now, lets talk about the artists for a second.

Many businesses are struggling right now, some will probably have to close down, many people will lose their jobs and it will be tough during and after all this. Artists like dancers that was already struggling, maybe juggling 3-4 jobs to get around will get hit hard by this.
Being a dancer is tough, always.
Not only do you not get paid for a lot of the work you do – I have been paid in things like promised exposure (they always say this and you never ever get it), bags of chips or checks with discounts for eye wear which you can not pay your rent with – you now also have to compete with everyone on social media. These days, everyone is a dancer, everyone is a yogi, everyone is a photographer etc. The better you are at marketing yourself online the higher paid jobs. It doesn’t matter if you really know what you are doing or not, if you have a large following then companies will pay you to continue and those who have dedicated their entire lives to for example the art of dance who does not have a following or who does not fake it to make it will continue to struggle to pay rent. Sad but true. And now with the coronavirus and everyone staying at home you’d hope that the artists could get space to shine and earn some extra cash through online classes, but…
I have seen so many ‘influencers’ who has posted fitness videos, yoga sequences, pilates workouts, ballet inspired moves at home or danced on tiktok to get their followers to move while at home. Hear me right now, Yes, it is great that they get others to move, but, instead of all these who does not have fitness as their main income should, in my opinion, stay away from offering free fitness videos and instead stick to what they are good at and then mention their personal trainers, yoga teachers, ballet teachers, pilates instructors or the studios they normally take class at, send all their followers to those who actually taught them how to do it and then those people can show how to do things.
Not only do teachers and PTs get to show their hard work and maybe earn some cash (or at least get that exposure so they can have a chance after all this is done), they can also show the proper way of doing things so that everyone doesn’t have to get injured while they are at home, cause unfortunately I have seen way too many influencers and such over the years showing things that isn’t correct or they don’t explain how to do the exercises they are showing and if you are perhaps a teenager who look up to all these fashionistas, funny youtubers and what not, then you believe whatever they say.
* I want to be clear, I have nothing against influencers, youtubers and people working online, they work really hard and are obviously talented in something and have gained a following for whatever they are good at which is awesome. What I’m saying is that if they have a studio they go to and teachers they learn from, they should give a shout-out to them instead of taking the credit themselves. 

This is the time to appreciate the artists. While we stay at home we watch movies, we listen to music, we look at the paintings on our walls, we get inspired by cool images online and we enjoy dance whether it’s on instagram, youtube or in movies and tv-shows or by dancing on our own. In times of crisis, everyone turns to art, always. Please show your favorite artist some extra love. 

I’ve checked out The Cindies Ballet Class in the kitchen a few times, above is screenshot from March 18
They are great, go check them out
I don’t know how it is in other countries, but here in America
they now log in from home to host programs since we are ordered to keep a safe distance from each other.
I read that the police in NYC is now giving out fines if they see any gatherings happening,
parks are open but everyone need to keep a distance of 6 feet apart
(unless of course it’s like husband and wife or parent and kid)

January 17, 2020

On  Wednesday night I went to a Horton Technique class. There aren’t really any dance classes for adults in Stamford (or even around in CT) and if there are it’s ballet, but in October I saw that the ballet school here added a modern dance class to the adult schedule. I haven’t been able to go before but on Wednesday I decided to walk over there. Took me about 35 minutes to walk. In NYC, that walk is nothing, you walk everywhere there, but for people living basically anywhere else in the country it sounds weird that someone would walk. People are shocked that I don’t drive, but I’m so used to it and I gladly walk, a perfect warm-up. However, some parts of my walk was slightly questionable in the dark so I ended up asking my husband to come pick me up after class.

Anyway.. The school was very small and intimate. Everyone came up to me and wanted me to introduce myself, how cute. I talked to the owners and they introduced me to the modern teacher and I felt very welcome. They also had a cat walking around. I was told this cat is a bit shy and most students have never seen him, but when I was there he came out a lot and meowed nonstop. Very cute, but I just kept thinking “please don’t come over and say hi to me” (I’ve become very allergic the past few years and I didn’t wanna sneeze the whole class). Apparently their previous cat was very friendly and curious, she used to join the ballet classes haha.

The class was only an hour long which is way to short in my opinion, but I understand, people are busy, an hour is better than nothing. It was a nice group of people in class and the teacher was good. I haven’t taken many horton classes before actually that I can remember, but the technique and movements has been incorporated into my teachings, like all modern dance styles. I could follow along, no problem.

Before I got there it felt like I was on my way to a date, a date I had been on before but still exciting, you know. Kinda like when I was going to see Jim after a few months of not seeing each other back in 2011. Jim and I wasn’t dating before I left NYC that summer, but we had got to know each other, and when I came back it felt very comfortable in a way but still a bit nervous cause I didn’t know if we were gonna pick up where we had left off or if we would end up not having anything to say to each other, I had no expectations but I was excited to see him. Same feeling on Wednesday. I was excited to meet modern dance again, saying hi to an old friend, an old flame even, it felt familiar but I didn’t know how I would end up feeling once I was there.

It’s interesting how body and mind works. I have been active in studios and at gyms this whole time, I have been dancing on my own, I’ve taken yoga classes, done countless hours of pilates, I have also been teaching a little here and there both privately and groups, but not been part of the dance world. As you know, I made a decision to take a break from dance. I thought it would be for a couple of months but that turned into years. I am going to spare you the whole story around this, but long story short, I’ve been questioning but also missing dance this whole time. And as years has gone by the more I’ve forgot. Not only loss of dance muscle memory, but I’ve lost actual memory. I’ve been a dancer my entire life, worked professionally for many years and somehow my brain just forgot all about it. This has been very hard for me to deal with, still is. How can the brain forget something that it has been living and breathing every single day for most of it’s existence? This is very strange but interesting to me. 

Walking into the studio on Wednesday I saw my old self in the mirror, a different, changed appearance of my body and an older version but still me. Once we started moving I suddenly didn’t recognize myself anymore. It all felt so familiar and the memory came back, but oh boy, let me tell you, it’s tough to come back having an idea of what once was and it’s not at all the same. The body knew what to do but me, the dancer I once was, she wasn’t there. It’s a strange feeling. An older lady who took the class actually started talking about this after class, how she expects the body to do what it did back when she was a dancer but body feels so different and is not cooperating. Hard to explain to someone who has never experienced this, but I think you get what I mean. 

It was a good class to start with for me. I need to build my body back the right way to avoid injuries and to help my brain the best possible way to remember. I will get back to it quicker than I think, cause that’s what so interesting with how our brains work. If you once learned to ride a bike, even if it’s 20 years later, you’ll still always know how, maybe wobbly in the beginning but before you know it you are biking down the street. It’s for sure overwhelming to think of the amount of work I need to put into this and I’m not gonna lie, I’m a little scared. Not scared of failure but scared of what I will find along the way. I’m scared of that maybe I don’t want to do this. I’ve been thinking about and passionately loved dance my whole life, I’m scared that I will work my ass off now and end up feeling that nah, this is not for me anymore. But, if I don’t dive right in head first, I’ll never know. 

Ok, that was a long post about an hour long Horton class, hahah. But I had lots of thoughts and feelings after this and I have become very interested and curious about how our bodies and brain work over the past few years. I’ve learned so much about myself and others.