Dancing Through Life

Hello everyone!

It's Sam again, and I'm very happy to say that I'm on my Christmas holidays- finally! It feels like I've had no time for ballet with studying and exams and whatnot, but I've made sure to fit in some practice every day at some point, even just working on basic positions. I've decided to post a few tips for practicing dance over the holidays and all the ways dance can help you through everything in life.

1) Find twenty minutes to practice barre.
I find that twenty minutes is just enough time to do fit in a quick barre session. If you're a bit confused about how to lay out a barre session at home, it should go something like this (grab a chair to stand in as your barre, and make sure it's sturdy!): Pliés, battement tendus, ronds de jambes (à terre and en l'air), adagio (excellent videos on YouTube!), and grands battements. Throw in some developpés and arabesques wherever you see fit and get going! As I've mentioned, the Royal Ballet has an excellent class video and I find that their barre is enough to get the muscles and the brain working- everything you need in 25 minutes!

2) Work on your positions in your spare time
I've found myself doing this by accident out of sheer habit, and it isn't a bad one to form- practice your positions whenever possible. Waiting in line at shops or standing at the bus stop? Go from first position through to fifth and make sure that you're placing your weight properly over your toes. If you find yourself alone in the room, move through your arm positions too. One of my favourite things to do to liven up boring chores is to try to turn it into a ballet- it helps to work on your improvisational skills and your technique!

3) Mark your centre practice
If you study a syllabus like I do, you may have to learn off set pieces of centre work to perform on the day of the exam. If you don't have time to do a full class, which many people don't over the busy holidays, just walking through your movements may be enough to help you learn them. I've been really struggling with Allegro 3 in class, but marking it slowly has helped to imprint it in my mind and now I can dance it without thinking- I just need to improve it, rather than learn it all at the same time!

4) Relax!
Ballet is tough on the body, so take time to rest and recover from your practice. Stretch, do some yoga, and take a break for a few days. You've earned it! It's easy to get carried away with ballet and dance a full class every day, but your muscles need time to heal if they are to develop and get stronger- otherwise, they'll just tear and you'll get injured. Don't worry too much about food- the holidays are a time to chill out and relax, not stress over what you're eating! Everything in moderation and you'll be okay.

Ballet has helped me to get through so many struggles- as a teenager, I deal with my weight in drama, and ballet has become something I can do to take these worries off my mind. Dancers always say that you should leave everything outside the studio and at first I didn't understand, but now I do- when you dance, your whole heart should be in the music and the movement, nowhere else. Dance at home, dance at school, dance at work and dance in the studio- fend off the bad with ballet. Welcome the emotions into your dancing and let them move you freely. Ballet is an art all about expression- feel free!

Happy holidays everyone, and have a lovely ballet-filled week!

-Sam

Second Class: Allegro and Pirouettes

Welcome back!

I had my second ballet class just last night and I am exhausted! My legs are a little bit sore too- thankfully that just means I worked hard! Last week I think I was too focused on what direction I was moving in to actually work hard on the movements, but this week I was able to keep up with the basics. Arms are still absolutely befuddling to me though! I can do arms when we're at the barre, but as soon as we move into center I have no idea what's going on.

This week I earned some valuable corrections focusing on pirouettes and the RAD Intermediate Foundation Allegro 3. There are some rather complicated changing-of-legs parts in this dance, and while it may be easy to get in a slow practice, it's very difficult when you're combining it with your other movements! I'll be practicing this one at home and learning it off over my holidays. Port de Bras is also getting me but I think I'm picking it up now. Syllabus work is very strange because we do almost the same thing every week, whereas if I were in a company or a vocational school we would have to learn combinations in a matter of minutes. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing!

We also did a lot of pirouette practice, working on bringing our legs up to a nice relevé and moving from fourth position into turns. I'm having trouble with balancing and pulling upwards and I keep falling forwards- does anyone have any tips? We were told that we should practice standing in a relevé on one leg, as the longer you can balance and the stronger you are, the more turns you'll be able to manage. It makes a lot of sense but I never really thought about it until now!

 I'm also struggling with arms in a high fifth position- some girls in my class have their arms tipped forward, some have them straight above their heads. I'm somewhere in the middle! If anyone knows how the high fifth arms should be, it would be really helpful. I definitely did a lot better in class today than I did last week. My Adage is a lot better than it was and I'm finding it easier to hold my leg in one position. I've also been working on arabesques over the past few days and I'm finding that my leg is already higher and straighter than it was! It's amazing what a week can do in ballet- you may not be able to do one turn one week, and the next you're spinning like a top!

It's disappointing that it's the Christmas break and we won't be back until January, but that gives me plenty of time to learn my syllabus and practice everything. I can see a lot of ballet in my future to help me de-stress during exams! If anybody knows of any useful methods for learning the RAD Intermediate Foundation work, please feel free to leave a comment below. I'd love to hear from you about your ballet story, so feel free to share in the comment section.

Good luck and happy dancing,

-Sam

UPDATE: I was working on some of the pirouette tips our teacher gave us and I managed to perform a double pirouette with a nice landing from fourth position! Practice really does help an incredible amount.

Starting Ballet as a Late Beginner

Starting ballet late is always hard. You have to walk into a room full of people you've never met and execute lots of movements you've never heard of... All while trying not to fall behind and look like an idiot. At least, that's what many of us think will happen. In reality, ballet is something you can prepare for before your first class. I have a few tips for the beginning danseur who isn't sure about where to start- I hope they come in useful!

-Learning the terminology can be a little bit tricky, but if you try to practice movements at home and pair them with the terminology you pick up the basics very quickly. Once you have some basics such as pliés and tendus down, you can move onto the more difficult things. I would recommend only doing barre work at home, as you're less likely to injure yourself or to develop bad technique. It allows you to focus on getting your movements perfect and working the correct muscles rather than trying to figure out what your legs, arms and head are supposed to be doing at the same time!

-I also have to advise you to begin ballet for the right reasons. Lots of late starters do ballet because they, quite simply, want to dance. These are exactly the kinds of people who should go ahead and jump right in. However, if you're thinking about starting ballet to get that 'ballet body', I'm afraid you're in the wrong place. Join a floor barre or barre fitness class, or do some pilates. Ballet classes are for dancers, not fitness fanatics!

-Finally, I will warn you: Walking into a class full of experienced dancers is intimidating. Of course it is- walking into anything new is scary! But once you're standing at that barre and you're plié-ing like a pro, you won't regret a thing. Nobody is watching you. Everyone just wants to focus on themselves and getting those muscles working right. Relax, enjoy yourself, and most of all smile! Ballet is an adventure, and it's one you should never, ever regret.

To help you on your journey to ballet class, I've found a few of my favourite resources and put them together for you.

The Royal Opera House's YouTube Channel has lots of amazing videos to help you really understand the art of ballet. There are performance and rehearsal clips, and even a few full-length class videos!

Kathryn Morgan is a former soloist at the New York City Ballet and she shares some amazing insider tips on her channel for every level of dancer. Her barre classes and basic tutorials are particularly useful for beginners.

I've also found yoga helpful for strengthening and relaxing muscles, and Yoga with Adriene has the best yoga videos on the internet (as far as I'm concerned!)

Thanks again for reading and I really hope you find these little tips useful.

Until next time,
-Sam

First Class and Summer Intensives

Hello again! As I said in my last post, I attended my first ever ballet class last night and I've decided that, because it was such a good experience, I'll share it with you all! I thought my first class would be nerve-wracking, embarrassing, and a total mess but it turned out to be one of the best experiences of my life.

My classes were held about twenty-five minutes away, so I left a good forty-five minutes in advance- and I was still just on time! Classes were held in this strange little church/parish center and it wasn't ideal for ballet. They had no barres so we used stacked-up chairs and the room was curved, making things a little bit difficult.  The floor was also hard tile, which I don't think is good for the joints but we have to make do. I wandered into this class and was instantly worried- it was full of ten and eleven year olds, all wearing their little pink ballet slippers and tights with navy blue leotards and I was there in black running leggings and a faded black t-shirt. They all looked so perfect and ready to dance with their bags slung over their shoulders and their stacks of chairs already claimed- I felt incredibly out of place! Thankfully, a few girls my age turned up and made me feel very welcome and allowed to to stand between them in line and follow along with them.

As I'm only sixteen, my mother had to come with me to sign me up and we looked very out of place among these practiced ballet girls! After I'd been introduced to the ballet teacher (as a girl by my mother, who still thinks I'm questioning rather than trans), we started barre and I was, surprisingly, able to keep up! I've been practicing ballet at home with the Royal Ballet's daily class from the 2014 World Ballet Day- somehow, I'd picked up the techniques necessary to survive in an Intermediate RAD class! I'll put the link at the bottom of the post.

 Centre was odd, to say the least. I was able to keep up leg-wise but when it came to my arms... they were in all the wrong places. I know all of the arm positions, but there's a difference between knowing where to put them and actually putting them there! In the end I did alright and allegro wasn't as difficult as I had expected. All we were doing were very small jumps and changements, very simple. I felt a little bit odd doing my jumps as I was already the tallest person there by far- I just hopped far higher than the others! Luckily enough, I went to talk to the teacher after class about doing the boy's exam and learning the boy's movements, and she was able to tell me that jumps will need to be higher for me anyway- so no worries there!

I felt really welcomed and at home at the class and I honestly can't wait to go back again next week- I'm already thinking about taking another weekly class as soon as I can afford it! I'm going to keep working the the Royal Ballet's class alongside the corrections my teacher has given me and I hope that will be enough to see me progress to a reasonable standard for Summer Intensive auditions. Does anyone know what the best Summer Intensives for inexperienced dancers are, or some that would be happy to take me? I'm really looking for something in Ireland or the UK, but I could do California, USA or New York also, depending on the kindness of family.

 Again, tips are appreciated and motivation is adored- I would love to hear from you guys! Tell me your ballet story and we can help each other out!

-Sam

Royal Ballet Class (2014 World Ballet Day): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNQWyWuvz_U

This Trans Boy Dances: An Introduction

Welcome to Trans Boys Can Dance!

I'm Sam, a newly-out transgender boy and let me tell you something about me- I love ballet. I'm obsessed! For the past few months I've been pirouetting around my living room, arabesque-ing as I fill the dishwasher, and practicing my pliés as I study. Somehow, my entire life has started to revolve around ballet and just yesterday, after six months of begging and nagging and searching around, I attended my first ever ballet class. It was amazing. After that, I've decided that my silly little dreams could become very real.

I desperately want to become a professional dancer. A late-starter, transgender ballet dancer with a cause- sounds impossible, doesn't it? It did to me at first (when I was still sane!) but now I've embraced the idea. Who cares if it turns out to be impossible? There are plenty of people who've been dancing since the age of three, perfect bodies practically made for ballet, who give up due to the pressure. I'm going to try my hardest and nobody is going to get in my way! Gender non-conforming people of the world- watch out, because I'm here to represent!

As far as I know (correct me if I'm wrong) there has never been a professional classical ballet dancer who is transgender at the time of dancing. Maybe there are a few who've transitioned afterwards, but I've never heard of a performing trans classical ballet dancer who doesn't dance for humour like some kind of zoo animal for cis people to laugh at. I want to be the first serious trans ballet dancer in the world.

Now for some background information about me. I'm sixteen years old in a relatively low-income family in Ireland, basically meaning: I'm too late to be a dancer, I can't afford to be a dancer, and there's nowhere to get good ballet classes! That's what I thought it meant, at least. I found a class about half an hour away from me which was willing to take an older beginner into the Intermediate class (RAD syllabus). Classes are pretty cheap, about ten euro per week, and the teachers are fantastic. I'm on my way!

There will be a post up later about my first class and also some tips on starting ballet as a late beginner. If anyone is in a similar dance situation as me or even just has some tips for a boy who dances, please feel free to pass them along in the comments! While I've been looking for tips over the past few months, one of the things that really got me through were the fantastic comments from the ballet community on all sorts of posts. Please share what you can with the community!

Thank you all so much for reading my silly little bog post- it means a lot!

-Sam