From beginning adult dance student to performing dancer

adult ballet story About 12 years ago, I attended a Spanish dance performance. I was stunned by what I saw on stage. It wasn't that I was impressed or touched by the dancers' performance. It was that I wanted to be them. If you're reading this page, you probably know exactly what I'm talking about.

I can do that, I thought. I have to do that. Besides, I thought, flamenco doesn't look that hard. Look, the dancers are adults. It's not something you're too old to do, like ballet. Little did I know that I'd soon be in daily ballet class in order to become a better dancer. That two years after that, I'd be on pointe. That, from there, I'd be auditioning and performing in a variety of dance forms. Even traveling in touring shows, and now teaching.

Learning to feel, learning to see
In the beginning of my training, one of my teachers gave me the stunning information that dancers feel the movement and form within their bodies, and therefore don't have to rely exclusively on the mirror to tell if they're doing it right. To get to this point, I believe, is the goal of every beginning adult ballet student.

First, there's the hurdle of learning to really see the fine distinctions as you visually copy what the teacher and advanced students demonstrate. Then, if you're lucky -- or if you subscribe to my newsletter ;-) -- you find ways to make the form (with all its subtleties), the technique, and the expression a part of your very being.

As an older student, there is a sense of urgency, a sense of time running out. When you start ballet in your 20s (or even later), awash in a sea of adult students who never improve year after year, you have to do something if you really have a dream to dance professionally!

If you've read enough of my story, and need more than you're getting in class, you may want to find out more about Blue Diamond, my bi-monthly newsletter specifically for adult ballet students. It's the crystallization of all that I've learned on the road to a dance career. Click here to learn more about it. Or keep reading for what I'm up to today.

How I learned what I'll be teaching you
I spent years abusing my body while trying to make up for lost time. Three or four classes a day, apprenticing with a flamenco artistic director who had us rehearsing on cement floors, pushing through sprained ankles and minor injuries. Performing daily in outdoor venues in over 90-degree heat. These were my first glamourous experiences as a performing dancer.

After sustaining a mild knee injury (that I couldn't "work through"), I began working with dance physical therapists who taught me more about correct movement and the real workings of the body than any dance teacher I've had. Then, I started studying anatomy, and picking up books on kinesiology. I became my own guinea pig.

As you already may have found out, adult students really have to do a great deal of the learning process on our own. And it has to be that way, since our bodies weren't molded for dance as children -- and as adults, each one of us has our unique structural quirks gained over a lifetime of using our bodies.

I've learned to work smart, and I've learned how to work with the adult body to get optimal results. The best ways to stretch. The best ways to safely work on turnout. How to recognize when you're overworking. How to get in peak condition, and how to avoid injury.

The biggest shock: Don't depend on your teachers to give you the best advice. Often, your teachers are kids in their 20s and haven't experienced what you're experiencing. Or, you may have seasoned teachers, but they began their ballet training at age 7. Again, they've never felt what your body is experiencing by beginning training as an adult.

Are you thinking, "It sounds like alot of work. Should I even begin?" Well, if you're a person who needs to move to feel alive, you know that it definitely is! All my best memories in life involve dancing: from tap dancing as part of restaurant floor shows as a teen to my current life of performing and teaching in flamenco and body conditioning for ballet.

Today
Most recently, I've formed my own flamenco booking agency, Flamenco Chicago Productions. So far, I've booked and performed in theatrical, festival, corporate, and private party venues, and we've only begun! The school associated with Flamenco Chicago was formed in 2003, and offers a full range of flamenco dance classes for adults as well as performance opportunities that range from twice-yearly recitals to apprenticeships with Flamenco Chicago. When you visit the website, you can also learn more about my classes.

One more exciting new development is the addition of private classes in ballet technique. Held at the Flamenco Chicago studio, this one-hour, one-on-one format lets you break through your most stubborn problems in ballet technique. Whether it's accessing turnout, extension, turns, or another area that's vexing you, we can get to the root of it and help you to move forward. If you're in the Chicago area, and would like to learn more about private coaching for adult ballet beginners/intermediates, please e-mail me.

Back story
Still reading? Here's a little more about some of the companies and productions I've been involved with.

From 1999 to 2002, I was a soloist and member of two flamenco groups, Alma Flamenca and Sueños de Fuego.

I had the opportunity to perform as guest artist for Chicago Ballet Arts, a pre-professional ballet school, and I choreographed our segment in the show (photos to come). I also performed as a can-can dancer in themed cabaret evenings, and worked as a folkloric dancer in a variety of folk idioms. One of these opportunities was a five-city tour with the Lira Ensemble Christmas Gala. A group of twelve dancers joined a much larger professional Polish ensemble of folk music, song and dance, including live orchestra.

It was a well-paid professional job, with a stunning array of gorgeous (very heavy) costumes. Added bonus: The show was set by a Broadway veteran who was also in a national tour of "Fiddler on the Roof" at the time.

finale Here we are in the show finale. (I'm in the front row, right.) Last photo: I'm the one in the air with the Christmas wreath. Tres chic!

And, in the late 1990s, I was a member of Soul y Duende Spanish Dance Theatre, led by flamenco legend Azucena Vega.

So, if you're a late-starter, I encourage you to get your ballet training and then look beyond it for training on other dance forms and for niches you can fit into. You may start by getting dance jobs that the professionals don't want to bother with. You may get some opportunities that you're not sure you want, but you'll do them anyway. You may work with artistic directors who are patently insane. Well, you get the idea! But, if you're ready to make some sacrifices of money, time, and energy, you just may get somewhere. Exactly where, who can say? Maybe you'll end up in regional musical theatre, a tap ensemble, belly dance, or in flamenco. But it will be a great adventure.

Blue Diamond Dance site and content ©Copyright 1997-2004 Rosetta Magdalen