Wow! I think I mentioned the other day that I had purchased a used copy of Deborah Vogel's Tune Up Your Turnout. It came in the mail today... and wow!
In the first chapter alone, I found out something very important- very, very important, because it affects everything I do (in learning ballet/dance, among other things): I have a swayback! And the book lists exactly why this is bad in ballet.
I also read how to test how much turnout I have. I took photos as best as I could using this method, and got into photoshop to put the photos together and layer a protractor over it. Ehhhh... it's not very good, especially on my left side. There is a big difference between the two.
NOTE: Vogel says that doing the frog position to help turnout is VERY BAD, especially on your stomach. And even on your back, no one should EVER put weight on your legs to push them out more. And if that position causes pain- you shouldn't do it at all. Not only is it bad for you- it does not do anything for turnout (and can even hurt it). To show, she had a photo of a lady who could do a perfect frog on her stomach, but her turnout was only average.
I was really wanting to do some ballet tonight, but reading this book is way more important: bad habits have already begun, and I need to know how to correct it (and this book is definitely showing me how!) This was a top recommendation for turnout, and it was only a few dollars. I am definitely going to have to purchase The Pointe Book, since it comes extremely recommended, as well (and even the lowest used copies are still nearly full price, so it must be good!)
In other news, I have gained 10 pounds in about three weeks. I used to have very little appetite, and I've never eaten so great. In my late teens and early 20s, I weighed 110-115. Up from then until now, I've always hovered between 115-119. Today, I weighed 126- the most I've ever weighed besides when I was pregnant (and then I only got to 135- a healthy weight for me when I was pregnant). I know I am filling out some (thanks, in part, to my recent bad Snickers peanut butter bars habit), but to me, I don't look ten pounds heavier. I've been at this going on a month, around 5 days a week, 2-3 hours mostly, so I am really hoping I'm gaining MUSCLE! (I've never been muscular, at all, so this is exciting.) I can even FEEL the strength gaining in my legs.
Edit: Also, I have learned a few other things, just within a few pages. My posture is awful. My pelvis tilts back towards the rear. I've been pretty much unconsciously ignoring my core- I keep listening to and hearing about focusing on my core... and I've seemed to tune this out. Not even that it wasn't important, more of a "yeah, yeah, I know I should but let's get to the more fun parts of technique", very blasé from hearing it and reading it so much that I barely notice it's said. And it IS perhaps the most fundamental aspect (and my core is lacking in the muscularity department).
Along with that, I checked out the Vaganova book from the library. It came in (the libraries all around here share so I can order from any of them) yesterday. And wow, again! I had no idea of the... foundation... upon which ballet is laid, that there are such specific reasons behind movement, the technicality of it. It's fascinating, and I would now like to say I am beginning to actually study ballet, something I think should be important to learning, especially especially especially if you are like me and this is something you do in your own home, without feedback, without someone there to tell you how, why, what. And books like that and the turnout book are proving to be vital to my learning this. Reading about bad habits learned by doing at home is another one of those things I'm a bit blase about, and these books are opening my eyes to how very little I know (and how easy it is to train oneself to make mistakes).
I'll end with a note and a video. I'm turning 35 in, wow, less than two months. Tonight I spent about ten minutes fruitlessly plucking the grays from my formerly-colored hair. I've been thinking a lot lately about getting older, especially as a woman. I've dyed my hair red since I was 15; I'm naturally brown. The women in my family gray early (my great-grandmother was fully gray at 20). I decided that I am not going to dye my hair anymore. I cannot remember what color my hair really is, how it looks natural and surrounding my face. I have a few photos of me as a very young teen, but besides that, and a brief reprieve here and there, I really have no clue what I look like with natural hair.
It's graying faster and faster, and once it's gray I will never be able to see my brown hair again. (That's kinda depressing to me!) I'm worried about the glinting the grays already make in the sun, the ones where my roots are growing out. I look younger than I am, and I am very worried that gray hair is going to age me... a lot. (I still get carded for cigarettes and alcohol, and frequently shock people when I tell them my age.) I'll have plenty of time to look old, but... this is my only chance to ever see my natural hair again. And, with all I have been through up until this point in my life, I don't think I'd want to relive it. I don't mean that in a negative way, just that I'm content with the way I am now and I'm especially happy with the wisdom that comes from my age. And so I am not going to color my hair again, not until I am fully gray and possibly decide to try it then. I'm going to embrace the grays as they come, a symbol of experience. I'm not in the grave yet; I hope to have quite a few years or decades ahead. And it's only going to get better from here. I'll leave you with this inspiration:
In the first chapter alone, I found out something very important- very, very important, because it affects everything I do (in learning ballet/dance, among other things): I have a swayback! And the book lists exactly why this is bad in ballet.
I also read how to test how much turnout I have. I took photos as best as I could using this method, and got into photoshop to put the photos together and layer a protractor over it. Ehhhh... it's not very good, especially on my left side. There is a big difference between the two.
NOTE: Vogel says that doing the frog position to help turnout is VERY BAD, especially on your stomach. And even on your back, no one should EVER put weight on your legs to push them out more. And if that position causes pain- you shouldn't do it at all. Not only is it bad for you- it does not do anything for turnout (and can even hurt it). To show, she had a photo of a lady who could do a perfect frog on her stomach, but her turnout was only average.
I was really wanting to do some ballet tonight, but reading this book is way more important: bad habits have already begun, and I need to know how to correct it (and this book is definitely showing me how!) This was a top recommendation for turnout, and it was only a few dollars. I am definitely going to have to purchase The Pointe Book, since it comes extremely recommended, as well (and even the lowest used copies are still nearly full price, so it must be good!)
In other news, I have gained 10 pounds in about three weeks. I used to have very little appetite, and I've never eaten so great. In my late teens and early 20s, I weighed 110-115. Up from then until now, I've always hovered between 115-119. Today, I weighed 126- the most I've ever weighed besides when I was pregnant (and then I only got to 135- a healthy weight for me when I was pregnant). I know I am filling out some (thanks, in part, to my recent bad Snickers peanut butter bars habit), but to me, I don't look ten pounds heavier. I've been at this going on a month, around 5 days a week, 2-3 hours mostly, so I am really hoping I'm gaining MUSCLE! (I've never been muscular, at all, so this is exciting.) I can even FEEL the strength gaining in my legs.
Edit: Also, I have learned a few other things, just within a few pages. My posture is awful. My pelvis tilts back towards the rear. I've been pretty much unconsciously ignoring my core- I keep listening to and hearing about focusing on my core... and I've seemed to tune this out. Not even that it wasn't important, more of a "yeah, yeah, I know I should but let's get to the more fun parts of technique", very blasé from hearing it and reading it so much that I barely notice it's said. And it IS perhaps the most fundamental aspect (and my core is lacking in the muscularity department).
Along with that, I checked out the Vaganova book from the library. It came in (the libraries all around here share so I can order from any of them) yesterday. And wow, again! I had no idea of the... foundation... upon which ballet is laid, that there are such specific reasons behind movement, the technicality of it. It's fascinating, and I would now like to say I am beginning to actually study ballet, something I think should be important to learning, especially especially especially if you are like me and this is something you do in your own home, without feedback, without someone there to tell you how, why, what. And books like that and the turnout book are proving to be vital to my learning this. Reading about bad habits learned by doing at home is another one of those things I'm a bit blase about, and these books are opening my eyes to how very little I know (and how easy it is to train oneself to make mistakes).
I'll end with a note and a video. I'm turning 35 in, wow, less than two months. Tonight I spent about ten minutes fruitlessly plucking the grays from my formerly-colored hair. I've been thinking a lot lately about getting older, especially as a woman. I've dyed my hair red since I was 15; I'm naturally brown. The women in my family gray early (my great-grandmother was fully gray at 20). I decided that I am not going to dye my hair anymore. I cannot remember what color my hair really is, how it looks natural and surrounding my face. I have a few photos of me as a very young teen, but besides that, and a brief reprieve here and there, I really have no clue what I look like with natural hair.
It's graying faster and faster, and once it's gray I will never be able to see my brown hair again. (That's kinda depressing to me!) I'm worried about the glinting the grays already make in the sun, the ones where my roots are growing out. I look younger than I am, and I am very worried that gray hair is going to age me... a lot. (I still get carded for cigarettes and alcohol, and frequently shock people when I tell them my age.) I'll have plenty of time to look old, but... this is my only chance to ever see my natural hair again. And, with all I have been through up until this point in my life, I don't think I'd want to relive it. I don't mean that in a negative way, just that I'm content with the way I am now and I'm especially happy with the wisdom that comes from my age. And so I am not going to color my hair again, not until I am fully gray and possibly decide to try it then. I'm going to embrace the grays as they come, a symbol of experience. I'm not in the grave yet; I hope to have quite a few years or decades ahead. And it's only going to get better from here. I'll leave you with this inspiration:
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