Ballet Reflection #10

After another week of class in the beginner's level, I had a class to myself again. Sheena has asked me in the class previously if I were still interested in taking the intermediate class, which of course I said yes to, and I was the only one who showed up to class that week. We took the hour to practice the things the girls in the intermediate class had already learned, so I was introduced to several new steps: (excuse the spelling) double frappes, pat du cheval, and pirouette are a few of them. I was able to catch on pretty quickly to most of them, but they certainly don't look as polished as the things I learned at the easier level. The new steps are much more complex, and they are done quicker, so it requires extreme focus -- now I see the necessity of really tensing one's abdominal and thigh muscles to stay balanced while also focusing on arm movements and while actually doing the steps: without all of these factors, the moves don't work as well and it is hard to keep balanced. I really get the interconnectivity of all that now, which before I had been aware of but hadn't regarded. I know that I am naturally good at ballet, but it is going to require that I put a lot of concentration into the class to excel in the intermediate level.