(how long have I been dancing? let's put it this way, that's me on the far right before tendus)
[Let me preview this post with a bit of background...it's my last undergraduate semester, I'm taking 2 graduate level courses in Publishing, taking an overload course schedule in general, and doing a zillion other things dance-wise, etc. So one break I gave myself in my schedule is that I'm taking "Intro to Dance" at Marymount for credit.
Below, you'll see my reasoning and also various annoyances with the college/dance relationship. I apologize in advance for the rather venting-like tone. Bear with me: the past 2 weeks getting into the fall schedule have been hectic!]
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In intro to dance class tonight, people asked me this question about 10 times: How long have you been dancing?
(me as a Polichinelle in Boston Ballet's Nutcracker 1998)
For our second class session, tonight we had an actual full hour and a half ballet class. It was really simple, of course, but I found ways to work the easy stuff for myself. The teacher came up during plies and told me not to force my turnout (hah) so, I didn't. But then I realized I had to. Because it's a bad habit. Nevermind about that...
The amusing part was that she had this one girl who I think is a jazz dancer demonstrate a whole bunch of combinations at barre and stuff...then in center she asked if others wanted to volunteer and I kept quiet because it appears slightly ridiculous that I'm in that class (although I beg to differ)...then finally we get to grande allegro (big jumps across the floor...my favorite, but also a pain after not being totally warm from the rest of class) and she kind of made eye contact with me when she asked for a demonstrator so I stepped forward.
I did the combination (basically an even easier form of the "favorite leap" tombe pas de bourree glissade jete) and the whole class literally just stared at me when I got to the other side of the studio. She said, "and come back" so I did it going back to the side where I came from with the class...it was just an amusing little moment. She complimented me and they all kind of just laughed. I made it a point not to draw any more attention to myself (isn't that the essence of my personality - the good, and the bad? What annoys me most?).
Anyways after "class" finished we had a little break before the rest of "class class" meaning the "school" part of it (getting a list of ballet vocab words) and many of the girls came over and asked "how long have you been dancing?" I said forever and briefly gave details to a few, but more important to me was the actual question...instead of asking "where do you dance?" or something like that, it was "how long?" Very interesting, no? Time is such a key element in a dancer's life, and it seems to be the part that rules other aspects of my life as well (hello graduation in 3 months?)
They were also surprised that I'm not a dance major. Not getting into Marymount's dance program was the best thing (well, one of the best) that ever happened. Though now if people ask why I'm not a dance major, obviously I don't play up the fact that I didn't get in (though now, by writing this, everyone knows...). Depending on who I'm talking to, my reasons vary:
-wanted to focus on ballet and not modern
-wanted to be able to audition for things
-wanted to pursue other interests (writing)
-my personal biggest reason: I personally can't find a reason to justify a degree in dance. The only thing it's really necessary for is to teach things like "intro to dance" in colleges. Ironic.
Anyways just found that a bit amusing. Apologies for my bluntness...
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Below is what I wrote after the first intro to dance class last week.
DOES EVERYONE KNOW WHAT A LEOTARD IS?
9/6/07
Just thought I'd share my experience in Marymount's 'intro to dance' class tonight.
She literally asked the question in the subject line: "Does everyone know what a leotard is?"
Easy as it was, I approached it from 2 perspectives (neither of which are the intention of the course, obviously). First, I was going to focus on what the actual "basics" are when TEACHING beginners because some day I might have to do that and it's good to see the way in which they take their first dance class. Second, working that slowly physically forces me to work super super small muscles that I haven't used in years because, although they are the correct ones to use, I have to force everything with my body when working faster.
So I went into the class with a positive open mind. It actually was enjoyable, and I made it a point not to appear too "bunhead"-ish and seem like I'm a professional dancer or anything. There was one girl who must be a jazz dancer...she sat in a full split and tried to use big dance words, like "I saw a glissade in the video. I don't know if everyone here knows that word." hah.
Anyways the point of all this leads somewhere....when she was introducing the course she said we have a paper at the end and gave a list of topics like history of ballet, etc....fluff topics that I could write a book on (and might do just that someday) but she said if we have another topic in mind that she is "very open minded about what interests the students" so speak to her afterwards.
So at the end I went up and asked if I could do it on dance criticism (I already did a 12 pg paper on it for dance history last spring and will be incorporating it into my 'senior thesis' for one of my communications classes....and have a bit of experience?) and in a rather condescending tone she goes, "Well what are you going to do with that?" and I explained very quickly how I've written some criticism myself and interned at Pointe and blah blah blah and she goes "well do you think you can write 5 pages on it?"
I was slightly frustrated. I don't really want to go into more detail on here, because I'm over it now....so perhaps this vent was pointless. She did, however, agree to let me do my topic, and as remembered above, this week's class was much better.
(yes, I was a jazz-erina at one point as well :)
