When I started intermediate ballet in February, I felt in way over my head. For example, during our barre stretch, we end with what the teacher calls “the power move”.
In the barre stretch, you are standing on one leg, facing the barre with the other leg up on the barre. You do the stretch routine, yada yada yada, and at the end, you’re supposed to bend your standing leg, lift the leg off of the barre, hold it up and slowly lower it down while straightening the standing leg. See Figure 2.
Usually, I grip the barre (which is a no-no in ballet), lean over (also a no-no) and plop my leg down on the ground. It is ugly. In Figure 1, notice the bent leg on the barre and the red clenching for life arms.
However, today, after taking 5 hours of ballet a week for 14 weeks, I did it. I held my straight leg suspended above the barre and slowly lowered it down to the ground. Booyah! See Figure 2 again.
No power here
The power move
Yes, I really am this skinny.
