Work in Ballet? Whodathunk?

Work and Ballet go as hand-in-hand as peanut butter and jelly. You really can't have one without the other. When I step up to the barre to start class I am already working. Work in ballet is as much physical as it is mental. Mentally you are trying to process and focus on all the things you have learned about alignment and technique up until that class; while physically you are trying to make it happen. For example, when you prepare for the first plie combination you should already be thinking about your body alignment. Is my pelvis tucked under? Are my abdominals engaged? Is my rib-cage closed? Am I in my personal turn-out with my rotaters working and tracking my knees over my toes? Is my weight in the center or my feet and not too far in my heels or toes? Etcetera Etcetera! For the first combination of the class this may seem like a lot, but you haven't even moved yet! These questions are not just for one combination, but the entire class. I find that I am constantly asking myself these question all throughout class and asking more as the combinations increase in difficulty. On the other hand you are not just thinking about these questions but also applying them physically to your body. Finding the correct muscles to use is sometimes much easier said than done. When you tendu front, there are a lot more things going on physically than one would think. You first start by shifting your weight over to your standing leg while not only pushing into the ground but also lifting up. At the same time you have to rotate the working leg from your inner thighs while presenting your heel and keeping a lift underneath your arms. With this amount of work needed for a simple tendu, just imagine the physical work load needed for much more complicated steps. As you can plainly see ballet is just as much mental work as it is physical. It may sound tedious and not worth it, but on the contrary it is one of the most rewarding and worthwhile practices a dancer can take part of. Without ballet, other styles of dance are near impossible and cannot truly be perfected without ballet technique. Personally, the work required for ballet is not only entirely worth it but also an amazing challenge. Being a style that is almost impossible to perfect, I know I can always walk into a ballet class and know that no matter what the difficulty or level of the class I will always leave having improved my technique and with numerous things I still need to work on. While some people call this work, I call it a crucial and necessary step to furthering my dance career.