What's it like in Adult Ballet Class?

So I believe I'm a late bloomer, but starting ballet at 23 years old is super duper late, don't you think? Then again, I don't. I've had countless people telling me, "You want to learn ballet? Don't waste your money.", "Starting ballet now will get you nowhere.", "How old do you think you are? 5?". Guess what? I started adult ballet class about 5 months ago!

I do have one regret though, that is - not starting earlier. I was so engrossed in those short ballet clips that I would spend most of my time in the toilet (Yes, I bring my phone in when I'm doing the number 3-1.) watching videos from Bolshoi Ballet and the Royal Ballet. Another regret, I should have gone to a ballet when I was in London! Oh well, guess that's going to have to wait.

Attire

Photo by Repetto via https://www.instagram.com/p/CRZNvg4AvJi/

The best part about ballet is the clothes. An optimist would say, "You get to dress like a princess or a fairy!". A pessimist would say, "You get to dress like meatloaf!". My first few classes were via Zoom so I wasn't that self-conscious about my body. But recently, we got to go back to the studio and that's when I started to feel a wee bit insecure. Honest thoughts: "Do people wear nipple stickers? My leotards don't come with pads, what if my nips are out? Oh God there's a girl with nips. What am I saying everyone has nips right? What's so wrong about that? I hate how these leggings look under my leotard. I look like the caterpillar from Alice in Wonderland. I wish I had the body of those Vaganova girls."

But of course, Inez calmly wore her leggings and leotard with pads to class, even though she looked like the aquamarine caterpillar from Alice in Wonderland. She began to notice that no one was looking at her because everyone was too busy looking at themselves. You are in a room with 4 floor-to-ceiling mirrors, of course you would be looking at yourself no? And ballet is all about control and looking like that fairy which pops up when you open your music box in every pose you make.

Friends

Photo by Royal Opera House via https://www.instagram.com/p/CW_V9IHsglR/

I'm not a very confident person or an extrovert, but I am polite. When I open up to someone, I can be the funniest person you know, but I'm not the type of person who will start a conversation or small talk with any random stranger. So I'm not the best at socialising. Honestly, I wasn't dreading to talk to anyone before I reached the studio, if someone talks to me, I will too! So upon arriving, my classmate whom I've seen during Zoom classes approached me and believe me, he was the friendliest person you'd ever see on Earth. "How are you! Are you nervous? Don't be! Oh don't worry if you are not as good, if you were you wouldn't be attending this class!", and I felt warm and welcomed. There were about 10 people in my class including me, among of them was a 50-yr-old surgeon which did ballet as a pastime. Major respect for the dude!

Teacher

Photo by Royal Opera House via https://www.instagram.com/p/CV7pOHrsnsh/

Honestly, my teacher was the best. She was accommodating and really tried to understand every single thing we felt. She was assuring all the way as well and constantly motivating us. I think she was in her late 20s or early 30s, small and muscular figure with a projective voice. I felt like the class was almost a private 1-to-1 session! She gave us all the attention we needed and more.

Off-duty

Photo by lizzkaavs via https://www.instagram.com/p/CTepn1SI4Jd/

I'm going to talk about what it's like outside the studio in this section. You see, Inez is a person who goes all out when she's passionate in something. Right now, that's ballet for me! In the first few months, I practiced an hour and a half everyday. I felt so weak because I was never sporty nor an athlete before this, in fact I hated exercising. But this was a blessing in disguise. I was so fit and healthy, physically and mentally. I had a goal, quite ludicrous actually, to go en pointe in 6 months (Crazy I know). It's already the 5th month now and I haven't even achieved a good and strong releve. Don't worry about me guys, I'm the type of person who will give myself crazy goals, but I won't beat myself up if I don't achieve it. I'll work towards it because the crazier it is, the more motivated I am. (I haven't even gotten my full side or centre splits yet by the way, hehe.) So when I had a tonne of work in office, I would end up coming home at 8pm, too tired to do anything and that's when I don't practice. Around the 3rd month, I didn't have enough time to practice at all, so I ended up just doing stretching and strength and balancing exercises which took only 15 minutes each session (better than nothing right?). Believe it or not, this actually made me improve like mad. So if you're taking ballet and you have never been sporty before in your entire life, my advice would be to strengthen up your body and balancing first, because chances are, your muscles are too weak to help you with most moves.

If you're still having second thoughts on whether you want to start ballet as an adult, please stop. You only have one life (No matter what you believe in, it's not worth to take a risk), if you're not going to start now, then when? All you need is determination and passion. You can have the weakest muscles or the worst posture, but nothing is impossible. You just need to have a goal. Also, it helps to imagine yourself in glitter and a tiara as a sugar plum fairy.