The Ballet Week - Tuesday Memory

Okay, my trip down the memory lane continues. Time for those first years of my Real Ballet epoch, starting at the age of 6,5... And I want to remind everyone - Ballet Week is an idea I got from Hannah's Blog.

I'm sharing a memory or two every day, for one week. It's actually quite fun! :)

I remember certain things very clearly. As we did routines with one hand on the barre, the other wasn't on second position. Or it was half way there. The elbow was up, but fingers gently on our shoulders. I think it was a very good way of learning how to keep that elbow there, up I mean. (Later on the hand on the side was of course on second.) 

Another thing was ballet polka. It was one of our favorites! We did it en diagonale, not facing the corner but our side that way. And variation 1 (the easier) was to polka our way to the other corner without changing from side  to the other. Variation 2: change sides, but not a whole turn. Later on, var. 3: change sides with a whole turn. 

Also we liked the small jumps. Don't remember how many of us there were in our class, but we stood in 2 rows. Then it was 8 jumps 1st row, 8 jumps 2nd row. FUN!!!

My very first "leotard" was like this, but I used it only in the children's dance classes. (Photo from Piruetti webstore)

The first shows I was in, we had usually 1 coreography. I remember some of them, but not all. And unfortunately not the exact order... But here are some details:

• The Chinese Dance - Who can guess our music? ;D Well yes, it was from the Nutcracker. I've actually done it twice. First time round I was part of a huge dragon! Not the head luckily, it was a really heavy thing... Second time we didn't have the dragon, only the small Chinese folks. I remember we once performed it (the 2nd version) in the town library. Pinkish kind of satin jacket and capri length pants, bordered with black-yellow-green ribbons. And the white shoes.
• The Elephants - of course from Saint-Saëns's "Carnival of the Animals". Big grey ears, loooooong grey legwarmers (all the way from ankle - up to the groins. And a tail. But no trunk :D There are photos also from this, just need to be scanned. Oh I forgot! White shoes! White leo!
• Pizzicato - music by Strauss (one of them...), a Pizzicato Polka or something. Have to dig it from youtube. White leo, white tights, white ankle socks with lace, white soft shoes.
• Morning Mood - yeeeeees, music from Grieg's "Peer Gynt". I have couple photos from it somewhere. We had our hair open, with small curls in it, small fabric roses attached. White leo, No shoes, a lovely white chiffon tunic with some satin ribbons on other shoulder. And a chiffon scarf to swish around with!
• Some kind of doll dance??? - don't remember the music nor the moves, but the costume! We still had the white leo, white tights, but a light blue long-sleeved "jacket" with white decorations. And a white "pill shaped" hat! ...aaaand the white shoes. I think. (At this point I think we had already started with the pointe shoes, but didn't perform with them.)

My second leo was like this. Except the color (white). And in the first version there was a piece of fabric/ribbon over the pinch in front. Later on (as we bought bigger version) it was like here. But NO skirts ever...  (Photo from Piruetti webstore)

My first ballet shoes (the softies) were white. We all had white, until in teen years some had black. But it was Rare... In the beginning we had one elastic ribbon sewn over the foot, later it was cotton ribbons (like the satins we had in pointes). These days almost no-one has ribbons in their soft shoes. Last Autumn I put ribbons in the Black Shoes I got, but after the first pair I've sticked with double elastics crossed over the foot. Nice and firm. Also I used to have full sole shoes, we all did. Always. These days - no-one. I do like the split sole more, have to agree. But back in the 80's and 90's we Did Not Know there was such thing as split sole! Our town had ballet shoes in 2 places, then only in 1. And not much in either one of those shops. 

Almost like this. But the sole wasn't stiched like that under the toes... Have to check from that one Old Pair I've still got :) (Photo from planetdancedirect.co.uk)

What kind of tights? Well. Just white ones from any shop or store. No ballet-brand needed. Except that once we needed pink And white ones, and were recommended to order them from Piruetti. But they were almost the same as our old ones, just pricier. Also during my teen years I think I always had white tights. I'm not absolutely sure. Some had black ones, but not many. These days, you just name the color and we have it. (And I like it ;))

Could have been our class :) ...though we didn't have a piano in the corner (or at all). (Photo from weheartit.com)

More reminiscing coming up tomorrow! :)