The wooden picture (картина) mantle has tombéd off the wall (стена); what should hang in its place?

(a) a fat mirror (зеркало)
(b) a Snellen chart
(c) knitting pattern that reads "Inside Shoulder!"
(d) the skeleton in Kip's closet

A class full of attitude. A super-reversible class. можно? да, можно.

-present, present, rond present
-a relatively calm exterior belies the inward frenetic pace
-melting rond de jambe
-flying pas de basque; aka, 'the dance-y move'
-adagio turn; turns can be fast or slow
-turns: spot up, not down; (not too high); let it grow, let it grow
-first arabesque is meant to be held and "quote un-quote 'revered'"
-давай водка let's go, vodka!; aka 'flic-flic' (à la Tsar Peter; not to be confused with the ballet move 'flic-flac')
-wasted brain cells. Too much vodka. Not enough reversing. Croisé/effacé are the constants in most reversal problems (ie: they do not change). Use them as reference points.* What is reversed is front/back & inside/outside turns.
-молодец pat on the head; hearty slap on the back; you go girl!; atta boy!; well done
-конечно of course! (not an Eastern European/Yiddish dumpling pastry stuffed with mashed potatoes and sold at hot dog stands around NYC)

*an interesting point: a reference point (ie: a constant, an anchor) is necessary in any kind of reversal, not just in a balletic one-- or else with respect to what is it reversed? "Reversed" is a relative notion, not an inherent characteristic of the reversed object.

Ballet Rosetta Stone:

-Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6 (Патетическая; Pathétique) (translation: welcome back)
-adin, dva, tree, cheteeree (translation: pliE, pliE with half port de bras)
-kalena witnee, durak! (transl: Such a beautiful language...)
-и снова? (transl: encore? do it again?); not a question; upward inflection was accidental
-turns a la seconde en dedans: like arabesque turn; bring leg quickly to second/deepen pliE; high arm
-pas de ножницы (transl: pas de ciseaux)
-reverance: 360 degree turn with leg held in proximity to the ear (ideally)
-спасибо (translation: thank you for putting the lustre back into my days)
-на здоровье (translation: you're welcome; lit: to your health); indeed, ballet is for my health
-Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6 (reprise): it's title, Патетическая, translates as 'pathetic' in French, English, etc., but what the composer actually meant to evoke was the meaning of 'passionate'; in both senses, a fitting word to describe just how pathetically passionate I am about ballet
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Absolute beginner class:

-concept of balancing on one foot introduced at barre
-concepts explored at Center: conception of space (strangely counted walls; charmingly counted corners); weight transfer; turning
-as dancers, we value communication

-a traveler from the Far East comes to pliE and pointe with us; she comes bearing gifts: black raiment graced with symbols of esoteric meaning...possibly 'peace'
-parking ticket trash talk
-ecartE beat assemble: pivot, then ecartE & beat; hit ecartE and beat positions in the air
-once in a blue moon, a solid triple pirouette (en dedans) comes out; a desire to trap it in a box, then release it at will
-3rd port-de-bras on relevE
-en pointe: compensate for the enlarged foot; aim to stand on the toes, no longer on demi-toe; pliE pliE soutenu, blah blah blah...talk is waste; developpEd on pointe for the first time!

-3 adagios
-unwind the shoulder after multi-pirouettes 
-the sun breaks through the clouds just before we repeat the pirouettes; what nourishment!
-cabriole: meeting of the inner thighs; upper leg kicks high to 90; lower thigh kicks up to meet upper thigh; they kiss; the upper thigh bounces higher still
-what is the height of not good? About 9 feet up the wall at the new studio; On the VCR at the old studio
-what time is it? 11:05. Plenty of time to allegro
-the count: 7 allegros (still only 7!) in the 1.5 hour class; how to fit in 20 allegros in the same time frame? time dilation comes to mind, though would require traveling at a significant fraction of the speed of light. Plan B: combination condensation
-stories about Nureyev and his lover Eric Bruhn; cabrioles across a huge floor; cigs and the bottle as weights; AIDS

"These are not the counts. They are like the counts."

-shoulders over hips in grand pliEs at center
-("two groups?") x3
-can-can, chug-chug pass to Esmeralda
-jetE pass defined by arms: look, look, don't look, high arm, high arm
-failli order: hips pass through; tendu; turn
-(admirable glissade) x8
-gasp! groan...a close encounter with the mirror
-spot in the mirror; tape on the mirror
-en pointe: in piquE-piquE, raise body onto a place slightly beyond/higher than the toes

A beat-filled class. Beat assemblE. Beat ballonE. Entrechat-six.

Review of how to derive the number of beats in an entrechat:
-for even-numbered entrechats, halving the number gives the number of beats (land on both legs); eg: entrechat-quatre contains 4/2 = 2 beats (land on both legs); in general, for any entrechat-n, where n∈N, the number of beats is given by the formula n/2 (land on both legs)
-for odd-numbered entrechats, subtracting one from the number then using the above rule for even-numbered entrechats gives the number of beats (land on one leg, w/ working leg in coupE); eg: entrechat-cinq contains (5-1)/2 = 4/2 = 2 beats (land in coupE); in general, for any entrechat-n, where n∈N, the number of beats is given by the formula (n-1)/2 (land in coupE)
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-"Do something better than what you just did."
-for all morning classes, working our way up to 20 petit allegros in this upcoming season of sunshine, flowers, and allergies; ie: aiming to become superhuman springers this spring
-if Kip could split himself in two to count and cue each group, he would; time to build a carbon duplidifier; N.B.: nurture shapes as much as nature, so his clone may not turnout exactly identical; he might have a less than perfect turnout
-why do we look up? functionally speaking, we look up to target before we jump
-a random moment of admiration for K's philosophical approach to ballet education; through his explanations of the reasons, mechanisms, and causes/effects behind movements, I feel...that I am learning to be a philosopher of ballet rather than just a dancer with muscles trained to react


Define "ballet"

The debate about whether ballet is dying or evolving is based upon a fundamental difference in how the debaters define ballet. In genetics, it is slightly clearer when a new species arises. But how to define the point of speciation in the dance world? Does the term "ballet" evolve with the dance, or does it remain lodged in the Classical Era, the Neoclassical Era, or whatever other Era that is not now, while the dance itself continues to morph with the times?

-first 3 (out of 6) port de bras covered in the set pliE; this is Russian method
-the width of 4th position: where the heel is in tendu is where the turned out foot should be
-piquE rhythm: slow down, quick up
-why do we point our toes? To lengthen the line of our leg.
-Kip is the teacher (only he gets to tell you when your leg wants to come down)
-echapper: to escape (from 2nd to 5th to 2nd to 5th to...)
-gaze is important in ballet, therefore, refrain from watching self in mirror too directly; then again,
-watch carriage of upper torso while jumping; adjust if necessary
-unless you suffer from tunnel vision, use peripheral vision to watch feet in the mirror; looking down will not help
-why start learning turns from 5th? Because it's harder
-purple Mardi Gras beads have appeared as lamp hangings alongside the dying roses; someone's been partying!

Bournonville arms: 
-of the Danish school
-same as pirouette arms (ohhhhhh...an Argentine expression of epiphany)
-held in front of the torso, not too wide open
-in order to contain-- rather than push through and dissipate-- energy
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-flic-flac becomes adagio
-pas de bourrEe becomes choreographic
-coupE ballonE becomes grand allegro
-glittery backs
-en pointe: pitch forward; imagine top of legs (iliac crest) to be higher than they really are; push floor away; ribbons join the ankle to the shoe; ballet is a total re-imagining of the structure of the body and how it ought to be carried; going en pointe, even more so

-a day graced by a beautiful adagio
-allow leg to lift into attitude upon deepening of the pliE; timing is key; leg lifts body
-feed the birds; tale as old as time
-momentary jam to a jammed CD
-we've exhausted the music; syncopate the grand allegro
-one of our own has been joined in holy matrimony; the ceremony did not take place in an ancient Egyptian pyramid, much to my dismay

-the crybaby waltz; a request for more syrup; an exercise in theatrics
-who cares? do not allow thoughts of quality to detract from the turns; in preparation, knit belly button to rib cage upon pliE
-the Little Puppet dance

-academic pas de vals w/ a lingering spot; accelerando; on turning count, torso keeps traveling backward as foot kicks out
-scoop the sous-sus
-project upper torso forward 
-a newborn babe lies sleeping inside a mug

No class for 9 days now, yikes! It's always difficult when K disappears from the face of the earth. One wants to reach out, and one wants to let alone. Then also, an unsettling fear resides in me that it was all a dream, or a thing of the past.

On the other hand, each time this happens is a necessary reminder of my ultimate goal in this whole ballet journey, which is to gain complete independence from K. To not need him to do ballet, to carry it within myself-- "it" being the knowledge, the physical ability, and the wherewithal to bring myself to the barre every day and give myself class instead of having to go to K for these things. To that end, this latest disappearance has been healthy-- a healthy reminder. Still...

Timeline: A re-working of a doodle I made for K last August 2010

Ballet En Solitude

Turns through first:
-impetus for turn comes from upper back; keep it solid, upright
-relax turnout of supporting foot if it is impeding feeling of groundedness & pull-up
-keep ribs "floating"
-avoid turning so much in initial preparatory close; carry this idea to chainE turns
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-step-turns at the barre: oppositional twisting action of way inner thigh muscles (pelvic floor muscles?); lift from ribs
-turns: ground the ribs; float the ribs
-back cambrE: pull up from back/scapula, not from shoulders; depress shoulders in fact
-back attitude: pull up the U-shape formed by upper body and upper leg
-at all times, look out past myself; the theatrical gaze

-a space at the barre in honor of the fallen hero of ballet
-extreme effacE pose: avoid 'hanging head' & hanging on for dear life; do emphasize deep curve by reaching head back toward toe
-step turn en dehors, step turn en dedans at barre: relax (check!), beginning and ending steps step slightly forward (check!), stop turn with a firm foot (check!), keep frisbee in check (...oops...)
-there goes another pipe
-who keeps dropping the pipe?
-en dedans turns through 1st at barre: push supporting heel forward, keep following foot in 1st (ie: keep hips open); prepare immediately for side degagEs by squeezing gluts and consolidating rib cage
-piquE arabesque: think of as (temps lie) elancE
-evolution of the arabesque: form vs. gaze; inverted heavens vs. reaching; the we vs. the I

Balancing aides, past, present, and fictional: 
-the barre
-straps and pulleys
-K's hand
-an imaginary prince

You mistake me...for Denise Austin! C'mon guys! And pliE! PliE! PliE! Burn that butter! And one! Two! Three! Four! Five!...after five comes six...Six! Seven! Eight! That's right! Just 8 more to go! Ready? If you rest, you rust! And one! Two! Three! Four! Five!...after five comes six...Six! Seven! Eight!...I'll put on my little microphone...You're worth it!...We are thinking human beings. The spin class is across the hall...

~Ballet-Aerobics fantasy class

Do you remember what we did last week?

temps liE effacE: tilt the head back & look toward the audience to accentuate line created by tendu leg; arms closed toward the audience; close front, front, back, back in order to begin w/ effacE each time

Do you remember what you did yesterday?

-karaoke
-came home to a bloody kitchen
-celebrated survival with coconut layered cake
-a discussion on happiness that carried on until 4 in the morning
-temps liE elancE w/ cambrE

-an adagio that really was an adagio (not an allegro adagio)
-there goes the pipe
-piquE arabesque (1st, 3rd, 2nd, 4th): to balance, relax the back to keep going up and avoid collapsing; step farther out; rib cage hangs over leg; strong piquE; visualize final image
-5th port de bras! Scooping down into 4th port de bras. Nice.
-as a rule, one cannot hold on to a noun forever; examples of nouns: barres, ballet, beloveds
-en pointe: the elastic band is more important than the ribbons; an adventurous, precarious beginning to the study of pointe

List of things to do today:

-ballet warm-up
-sew ribbons on toe shoes
-draw a unicorn
-read
-play outside
-Symmetry note
-ballet class

plier, etendre, jeter, glisser, relever, elancer, tourner, sauter, plier, etendre, jeter, glisser, relever, elancer, tourner, sauter plier etendre jeter glisser relever elancer tourner sauter plier etendre jeter glisser relever elancer tourner sauter plie etendre jeter glisser relever elancer tourner sauter plieretendrejeter glisserreleverelancertournersauterplieretendrejeter glisserreleverelancer
tournersauter
plier...

-8 essential movements of classical dance: Deborah, Ellen, Margaret, Megan, Jeannie, Mary, Angie, and Sarah (note: the last two are interchangeable...for obvious reasons)
-ballet did not spring out of a cave fully formed and immutable; that was Athena of ancient Greek fame
-dance is music without sound; bodies are the instruments of expression, and eyes are the receivers of the music; that said,
-in music, notes without rhythmic structure is about as meaningful as an alphabet without an associated language; that is to say, it is utterly meaningless; thus, we must learn to associate rhythmic structure with the actual steps; the hills are alive with soundless music
-in pirouettes, internalize grounding site in torso, not arm
-turns w/ jetE: good ballet posture leads to stability
-good ballet posture: tuck under, zip up, rib cage, sternum, lean forward, arms forward

What is the significance of the number sequence 2, 3, 5?
(a) first three prime numbers
(b) 699th, 700th, and 701st digits of pi
(c) head position for high arm
(d) bank pin number of the ex-dictator of Egypt

non-answer: (d)

ChainEs: ie: the Russian ruble game
-step 1 is not the first turn; thus
-do not overcross step 1; let following leg follow with less energy
-hip out at step 1 like ice skater coming to a quick stop; this is the launch

Ballon:
-means "balloon" in French
-in ballet, refers to the ability of the dancer to sustain a jump in the air
-every jump, no matter how small, must be carried out with this quality of ballon; functionally speaking, the longer a jump is held, the more time the audience has to receive the image
-eg: in ballotE (a move that is like as pas de chat b/c feet cross in air), the quality of ballon gives the illusion of floating
-in general, changing the configuration of the body while in flight masks the descending portion of a jump's trajectory, thus creating the illusion of floating