Today I couldn’t remember which way round bravo, bravi and brava went in terms of saying it for guys, girls or groups (I’m currently doing #NaNoWriMo [National Novel Writing Month] in my spare time and my main character went to see a ballet…). I typed it into google and was searching results when I suddenly remembered that I had written about it in my guide to seeing a ballet! After finding the answer I started flicking through a few of my old blog posts.
I ended up on this post from last October. While reading through suddenly a huge smile crossed my face, specifically at this line:
And then, get this, I DID A PIROUETTE!
I took a moment and realised that I’ve come quite a way since then. That post was from just over a year ago and I can still remember that excitement I had when I first made it around a full 360˚. Sure, it weren’t pretty but it seemed like such a huge achievement, and at the time it was. I then reflected on how annoyed I had been yesterday when practicing in the studio and my double pirouettes were being decidedly inconsistent. Thinking of how excited I had been at a single pirouette (let’s be honest, it was a pretty ugly pirouette too!) put things in perspective.
The RAD Intermediate Syllabus that I'm working on
As much as I don’t like doing it (I guess my British modesty makes me feel uncomfortable 
) sometimes I think it is important for us adult beginners (and indeed all dancers) to look back and be proud of how far we’ve progressed. I’m doing stuff now that I would never have guess I would be able to do a year ago.
Mind you, I’m nowhere near where I want to be, and it frustrates me at times when I can’t do things (I’m looking at you tours en l’air…). But at the same time I’m proud of how far I’ve come. I’m currently working towards my RAD Intermediate exam which I will hopefully take some time next year. I may be sharing a classroom with kids from 14-18 years old but I’m still proud of just making it to a level where I can take the class. Who knows how I will do when the exam comes around, but put it this way – I love a challenge!
So I want all of you readers who dance to take a moment and think back on how far you’ve come, I think you’ll be surprised at just how much you’ve achieved. And next time you get frustrated in class think about that!
Until next time, keep on dancing!
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
That was a great post! Reading it made me remember my first couple of ballet lessons a year ago at the age of 17. I have been dancing for a couple of years before that, but only jazz and contemporary and not being able to tell where my head was suppose to be was extremely frustrating! The class was very basic, with two or three barre exercises and one center, but I was having a really hard time. Luckily I have come a long way since that and things feel a whole lot easier! Before I read this post, all I could think about when it came to my dancing was how far I still have to go to become as good as I want to be, but now I realized how far I actually have come already. Thank you for this post
I’m with Eirin. Right now, I’m coming back from an injury, and I spend a lot of time feeling frustrated because things don’t come back as quickly as I want them to. Then I realize how far I’ve come overall, both since the injury and since I started dancing–it’s really only been a few years! I can’t compare myself to people who have been dancing for 15 years, when I’ve been doing ballet for 5 and modern for less than 3.
It is something strange to me to look back. I started in the age of 16 1/2 with Ballet classes and i’m 19 now. And it’s strange to look back and to compare, because I don’t have ANYone around to compare myself with. So basically i do not really know how much I really achieved in the past 2,5 years. I mean yes, I jump, turn, balance way better. But I don’t know if it is something special at all, because I think that everyone who workes somehow hard at my age and situation maybe could have achieved the same. For me is is quite strange still… I avoid to look at videos or pictures from my beginner time….Now after nearly 3 years I can start to watch videos of myself dancing (I dance in a small group that belongs to our theatre) without being embarrased of myself… :/