I went for my first ever ballet class in my life today. An absolute beginner’s class at Central School of Ballet. It was a surprisingly large class, with more than 30 students (I counted 33), including 4 boys. I guess the class is likely to get a little bit bigger – as people come back from the holiday season and resolve to exercise or try a new dance class, before it gets a little bit or a lot smaller – as people drop out.

It was all new for me – new postures, new movements, new vocabulary: bras bas, first position, second position, fifth position, demi-plié, plié, tendu, glissé, port de bras, rond de jambe.

It was quite difficult to keep the tailbone down, posture straight, shoulders down, hips facing forward, while doing demi-pliés, pliés, and tendus. But it was a good challenge to try to do everything properly.

I’m not quite sure yet if I will end up sticking with ballet in the longer term, but for now, I think I’d like to continue this little journey of exploration. I hope it will bring my (almost) as much joy and sense of accomplishment as pole has done – but not too much, since I have finite amount of time and resources, and will struggle to pursue both dance forms equally energetically. I think they will complement each other though: pole to strengthen, ballet to lengthen (the muscles) and to strengthen the core.

In the evening, J came over to do some stretching (we did the Felix Cane flexibility workout) and did splits. I took the splits measurements that I would be using as reference for my new year’s dance resolutions at the end of the year.

The measurements are as follows:

1) Box splits
Distance from right heel to the horizontal: 46.2cm
Distance from left heel to the horizontal: 47.4cm

2) Front / back splits (right leg front):
Distance to floor: 7.5cm

3) Front / back splits (left leg front):
Distance to floor: 6cm