My ballet teacher wants to put me in a recital!

A RECITAL.  You know, where you perform in front of people.  The recital isn't until June but you have to understand that I am the queen beginner of all beginners.  If there was ever an inexperienced adult ballet student, it would be me.  I have zero dance experience.  I never danced when I was younger and knew absolutely nothing about ballet before I started taking classes in Sept.  But here I am, thinking about performing in a recital!  (Albeit a tiny recital probably at a libra

So I have no idea what my teacher has in store for me as far as choreography but she knows my limitations so I know it will be a nice simple (and hopefully short) piece, but I'm still incredibly nervous. 

The first thing she asked me to do was to pick the music or performance I liked, so I finally found this one:

Nutcracker- pas de deux



It's at the end of the Nutcracker.  Yes I know it's a piece for a couple to perform but she said she can alter it to be just for me.  I LOVE the music and I always have and it's nice and SLOW so I figured it would be easy to choreograph.  So, we'll see! I'll keep you guys posted!

I know my weak points are my lack of flexibility (relatively speaking) and my inability to execute nice pirouettes so we'll see what she thinks of for me.

In the meantime I will continue working on my technique!

Being an athlete

It's funny that no matter how many years have passed since I played sports in high school and college, that I still consider myself to be an athlete.  Nowadays, a mediocre athlete, but I still put on my shiny new gym shoes and work out clothes and when I look in the mirror, I think I still might pass as an athlete.

Look, shiny new gym shoes, appropriately in 5th position

I know it's all relative since our accomplishments are so very personal and really shouldn't be compared to other people's, but I still find myself trying to compete and keep up with other people in ballet and other sports I still play. 

Ballet by the way, is totally new to me.  I started in September 2013 and I'm very much a beginner.  In fact, it's funny because I'm not even a beginner, I'm lower than a beginner.  There is a "basic" ballet class and a "beginning" ballet class offered at this one studio I attend and I wouldn't even dream of attending the beginning class.  I'm happy in my VERY difficult basic class. 

These three steps are our preparation for turns- which I can't do at all.  Maybe one day?

Anyway back to being an athlete.  I played softball and volleyball in high school and I was pretty good.  I was better at softball (I was captain of the team my senior year) than volleyball but I enjoyed playing both about the same.  By the time I got to college I had a bad shoulder injury that required surgery so there went any dreams of playing sports at a D1 school.  Instead I played club volleyball after my surgery which was actually really fun.  We got to travel to other D1 schools and played in tournaments all day on Saturdays without the pressure of maintaining a scholarship.

And anyway I could never have played D1 volleyball at Northwestern.  First of all I'm between 5'5 and 5'6 depending who measures me, so I could have maybe been a libero, but I wouldn't have fared very well in the front row against girls who were over 6 ft tall.  I've also never been a very good setter and even the setters in D1 schools are probably over 5'10.

At my Monday night league warming up, that's my butt in the picture and my Hello Kitty socks.

After college I continued playing softball and volleyball in fun but competitive leagues around the city.  After I had kids I had to majorly scale back my sports and I'm down to one day of volleyball a week and two of ballet.  Maybe this summer I'll do one softball league too.

sometime after college, still in my 20s

Ballet has really been a challenge for me.  I'm still challenged and have fun in volleyball on Monday nights, but since my 3 year old daughter is taking ballet now I thought it would be great if I tried it too.  The problem with adults taking beginning ballet (or rather "basic" ballet) is that it's FREAKING hard and the learning curve in the beginning is impossibly hard.  Not to mention, it's addicting, especially for former athletes like myself.  I don't want to just be able to do plies and tendues at the bar, I want to do pirouttes and fouettes! I want to increase my flexibility and eventually be able to do the splits! I want my kicks to be high and my feet to be pointed!

I didn't really know what to expect when I started taking a basic ballet class, but I quickly toned down my expectations.  I realized that just remembering to point my toes was going to be hard, not to mention knowing what in god's name to do with your arms while frantically trying to follow the choreography in class. 

I immediately learned that my turnout needed work, and that just standing in first or fifth position was brutal. Everything a ballet dancer or ballerina does, she's doing while completely turned out.  This makes a seemingly simple task of balancing yourself on one foot very hard.  My standing foot is constantly slipping out of it's turned out position to help support myself. 

same preparation for turns as above, but this time on releve

I can hold my positions on releve for exactly 1/10th of a second. And my right leg needs to be shoved back like 2 more feet.

But I still continued with ballet on Sundays and even added a new more personalized class on Tuesdays.  Our teacher on Tuesdays is a former Russian ballerina and she really focuses on technique and precision, while on Sundays the class is a large drop-in class so we do more complicated moves, but don't do them very well.

I was talking to my dad recently about being an athlete and he recalled his glory days as a semi-pro soccer player in Mexico.  He first played for a local team in Uruapan called the Aguacateros, then moved up to a semi-pro league playing for Morelia.  He then said that he almost made it big and tried out for a big national team from Mexico City called Nexaca, (in the first division back then) but at the last minute didn't make it on the team due to some kind of drama they had with the coaches.  Still, he remembers his semi-pro days fondly and even remembers certain games like they were yesterday. 


I think this is the right logo for the Aguacateros de Uruapan

 

Here's my dad in the middle with the green shirt and khaki pants with some of this former teammates in Mexico

Which brings me back full circle to what it means to be an athlete.  We never stop being athletes, despite how many years it's been since we played competitively.  And we continue being athletes when we take up new sports or endeavors like ballet at age 33!  I have toned down my expectations of what I will ever be able to perform in ballet, but I'm sticking with it and I know I'll improve.

What sports did you play in your prime days? What sports have you picked up since?



There are no Latina disney princesses

We went to Disney on ice yesterday and I just noticed that there are no Latina Disney princesses.  I really thought there would be one by now.  C'mon Disney get with it! How about an Aztec princess or a Mayan princess warrior?  Or an Amazon warrior princess from the jungles of Brazil or Colombia?  Or a Spanish princess like from Queen Isabella times?  

I normally wouldn't care but I got to thinking about it and a Latina princess is long overdue given how many Latinos there are in America.  And I heard that Sophia the first was supposed to be Latina but Disney actually said she's not, in case you actually thought she was.




 I guess we'll have to settle for Dora. 

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I'm taking a NEW ballet class!

my new leg warmers

After taking an open adult basic ballet class since Sept. at a fancy ballet studio downtown, I decided I needed more ballet in my life.  I love my Sunday class, but I feel like I've hit a plateau of what I'm learning in class.  The class is pretty big (15-20 people on average) and there is no personalized attention in the class.  I don't get corrected and the entire time I'm pretty much in a frenzy to copy whatever the teacher is doing.  I can't possibly be doing things correctly when I'm frazzled and trying to stick with the choreography.

So, I found a small ballet studio closer to my house and I've taken 2 classes so far and I LOVE IT.  My friend is doing it with me too and we are learning SO much.  I think I've learned more in the 2 classes I've taken than the entire 6 months of open classes I've attended.

The studio is run by a Russian family and my instructor is a former Russian ballerina named Anastasia.  Seriously.  She is kind but firm and really wants to make sure we are doing things correctly.  So far there have only been 3 students in each class on Tue. nights: me, my friend who is a beginner too, and another Russian girl who is way more advanced than we are.  But our teacher is patient and makes sure to correct our poor technique every time.

Here is my new ballet teacher Anastasia.

So far I've learned that I stick my butt out too much and don't suck my stomach in enough during class, that I am gripping the ballet barre for dear life instead of lightly holding it, that my toes are never pointed enough, but that my turnout isn't all that bad.

The class is only for one hour but we really do learn so much in that short hour.  In the last class our teacher asked us if we were interested in participating in a short performance that the studio holds in June! Can you IMAGINE that?  Of course I said yes, but I'm SCARED SHITLESS. 

So of course, the next logical thing to do would be to order a ballet barre so I can practice at home.  It should be arriving in 2 days!

Until then I'm making sure to stretch every night.  I leave you with some of the things we do in class:

We start with simple plies in 1st position, 4th and 5th positions.  Then we move on to tendus in 1st position to the front, side and back.  Then we do grand battements, some work on releve, then we do what the teacher calls "adagio" which is simply lifting our legs slowly to the front, side and back.  We continue practicing our cou de pies (aka really hard work), then we stretch, practice running and finally jumping and stretching.

I'm very excited about finally getting better but I think it's going take a LONG time to notice some real improvement.  Ballet is freaking hard.

My favorite things

 

Well I've been a mother for about 3 1/2 years now and our family has purchased a LOT of unnecessary garbage for our kids.  So, I thought I would make a list of some of my favorite baby or child related items.

Disclaimer: (because I'm a lawyer): These are MY favorite items, they may not be your favorite items.  Here goes.

1. Nuby Spoons and Forks

We tried about 10 different brands of forks and spoons and most of them sucked.  These are hands down the best.  Most of the other brands of spoons especially, don't hold enough food.

Also, we went to Menchie's Frozen Yogurt  once in Park Ridge and they have great long spoons that I love.  I may or may not have taken a handful home.

Here are the spoons.  They are REALLY good spoons.  I am not condoning going to Menchie's and stealing their spoons.

2. Small elastic hair bands

This is a weird one, but both of my girls have pretty fine hair and normal hair bands wouldn't stay in their hair. One day our nanny brought home a giant bag of these tiny hair rubber bands and they rock.  Also, there are so many of them that they can be single use bands.  We throw them out after one use, but that's ok because there are like 3,000 more in the bag!

Disclaimer: These are totally a choking hazard I'm sure, so don't let your baby eat them. Also, they're a little hard to pull out without causing an anxiety attack in a toddler, but you're on your own on that one. 

3. Sleeping bags.

Yup. A regular sleeping bag.  I had no idea kids loved them so much.  We got one as a present and my girls love hanging out in them.  Pretty simple. 

4. A Pirate Ship- or other indoor play house

If you have the space, those big plastic playhouses are pretty great.  We have a few outside but obviously our kids can't play in those during the winter, so we decided to buy a nice clean used one for indoor use.  They LOVE it.  

5. Double stroller-if you have 2 kids.  Duh.

This one I wasn't so sure of at first.  But a good double stroller can be a life saver for long excursions.  There are much fancier and more expensive ones than ours, but we're pretty satisfied with our Joovy side by side double stroller. 

6. A teething necklace.  You wear it, and your baby can chew on it. They are "safe" for babies to chew on and keeps them entertained while nursing. 

7. A GOOD baby carrier. Don't get a bjorn. Those suck.  Get something good like an ergo.  They rock. 

8. Long sleeved bathing suit shirts.  Because sunburned babies are not cute.

9. A big wagon with a canopy.  We use this ALL the time in the summer.  Really worth the $. 

10. A toy doctor's kit.  Because everyone wants their kid to become a dr. 

 

For now that's all I can think of. 

9 classes into Beginning Ballet- update

I just checked.  Classes began Sunday September 8th.  This means I have taken exactly 9 "Basic" ballet classes.  Oh, and I've really been lying this whole time.  I keep saying I'm in "Beginning Ballet" but actually that's a way more advanced class than the "Basic" ballet class I'm in.  I wouldn't dream of joining the Beginning Ballet class next door.  Sounds terrifying.

So, I am 9 classes in and today I'm more frustrated than when I started.  After the first few classes I felt some improvement.  But now, 9 classes in I feel like I'm getting worse.  I've been reassured that many beginners feel this way sometimes, but I'm not so sure.  I just cannot follow some of the combinations that we perform in the center without holding on to my barre for dear life.  The barre keeps me upright and keeps me from falling.  When we do floor work and attempt something as simple as a passé developpe or an arabesque I pretty much just topple over.


Passe developpe

These girls below know how to do an arabesque without holding on to the barre for dear life.

We also do this one combination where you start in 5th, plié, tendu to 2nd, plié, fifth, releve, passé and a 1/2 turn? I can do it at home but for some reason I can't do it right in class. I also probably said that all wrong. 

Today we also did some battement frappes which were much harder than you think.  My grand battemenets were ok I think but I wasn't looking in a mirror.  Anyway I need more practice.  But for today I'm frustrated. 

Here is a picture of my daughter and I today, stretching at the bar today before class.



In happier news I've been playing more volleyball lately and that makes me happy because I don't SUCK AT IT.

Ballet update

Since I know you're all DYING to know how my ballet classes are going, right?  I believe I have now taken 5 classes total.  I'm SUCH a beginner.

Well so far I've learned that I can ALMOST do the splits on one side and that I may never have great turnout due to the arches in my feet? (According to yoga lady in my class).

There is a girl in my class who can stand in 1st position perfectly with no trouble at all.  For me just standing in "perfect" first position makes my knees hurt.  I know, it's not supposed to hurt your knees.  Turnout should come from your hips and thighs but I just don't know how else to improve other than trying it over and over again- which hurts my knees.

I am getting better and I can at least follow the sequences in class a bit better, but I have like a million more classes before I will feel good about ballet, but that's ok.

I still have a lot of trouble balancing on my toes due to poor foot strength and my terrible ankles.  I've sprained each ankle many times in my life from playing sports and you really need strong feet and ankles for ballet.  (Insert big DUH here.)



Look- not me.

Anyway that's all I really have to say about ballet so far.  I'm really loving the class but I hate that it has a steep learning curve.  I'm used to being GOOD at things like sports and it's humbling to struggle so much in class. 

Oh and I die of laughter in my head when someone asks me if I'm doing ballet on my toes in those hard shoes? YOU MEAN POINTE SHOES? Dear god no I'm not on pointe shoes.  Wouldn't that be funny? A beginning ballet class where they put you straight into pointe shoes.  HA.  I will never be on pointe, or at least I can't imagine I could ever be.  I have been reading a wonderful blog called The Legal Ballerina and this woman actually went on pointe after about a year after starting ballet as an ADULT.  She is a magical unicorn though.  Read her blog here. I want to be like her.

Anyway, I leave you with a recent picture of me and my beautiful toddler in class this past Sunday.  Happy dancing to all my beginning ballerinas out there!

little monkey ballerina

Beginning Ballet

Look, that's NOT me nor will it ever be.  But that's ok.

Ok ladies and gentlemen, or whoever reads this blog, (Anyone?) I enrolled my 3 year old in "creative dance" classes aka- beginning ballet classes and I decided it would be fun to try it myself!
She's at the fancy pants Joffrey Ballet in Chicago.  I actually searched and compared pricing and their classes weren't too much more than other classes.  Plus they offer an open drop-in adult beginning ballet class at the same time as hers!  So it was a perfect fit.

This is my adorable toddler in her ballet outfit. 

My toddler is probably learning how to point her toes and follow directions.  I'm learning freaking impossible things in my class.  Let me tell you, the Basic ballet class at the Joffrey Ballet is NO JOKE.  It's taught by a kick-ass ballerina who makes it all look so easy, oh and you're pretty much expected to know some basic ballet before you get there.  Thankfully I took out a book from the library and learned all my feet positions before the first class! Arm positions, not so much.  Also I can't really move my arms while I try to move my feet- way too hard. 

"First position" or as good as it's going to get for me.

So, the class is a drop-in class and has no commitment but I really want to stick with it for a few months.  I've taken 4 classes so far and I feel myself improving! Not much, in fact very little, but it's something.

A few things about beginning ballet in case you know nothing about ballet (like I did).

1 It's really freaking hard.  I mean I KNEW it was hard, but geez I get out of class and my feet hurt for days.  You are doing things with your feet that really a human body shouldn't do.  I've been an athlete my whole life mostly playing volleyball and softball, but ballet takes the human body to a whole other level. 

2. TURN OUT TURN OUT TURN OUT.

Does that look easy to you? GO TRY IT.

It's all about turn out.  TURN OUT. I cannot emphasize this enough.  In other words, if you don't know how to do the splits then you automatically suck at ballet.  Good luck getting your feet to ever be in a proper fifth position.  Thanks mom for not enrolling me in gymnastics or ballet at age 3.  I will never have good turnout, but I can at least improve my turn out.  Hopefully.

3. BALANCE: Yeah that's an obvious one right? But really.  I didn't think it was so hard to balance my body weight on my toes.  I thought I could do it!  But no.  I can hardly stand on demi pointe on one leg for more than a tenth of a second before toppling over.  Why? Well your feet have to be completely turned out whenever you stand on one foot, which is pretty much impossible for a beginner. We try to do these passé releves but on demi point and I can hold it like 1/10th of a second. Look how pretty she looks below. That is not me.

Passe releve- aka like impossible to balance yourself

4. Flexibility.  I used to think I was fairly flexible.  I can "almost" do the splits at first base when catching a low ball!  Yeah that doesn't count for anything in ballet.  Look at least I can stretch at the bar!  And actually, I can stretch way better than that, but I was too busy posing for a picture.

Unless you can stand on one leg and grab your leg and kiss your knee, then you have no flexibility.  My arabesques are pitiful.  My leg feels like it's barely getting off the floor. 

Not me.

5. Grace.  I have none.  Right now I'm just trying to follow the basic routines in class. 

So.  To sum it up.  Ballet is hard.  But it's really fun to attempt to learn something new at age 32, with 2 kids and despite my whining in this blog post, it's really fun.  Also it's damn good exercise and we're really not doing much aerobic exercises in class, it's more like yoga.  In fact there are a few women in the class who are obviously well versed in yoga and it really helps them.  There's also a guy in the class who is an Irish dancer, so he's a big cheater.

In the very least I get to wear tights and ballet slippers to class, and if I catch myself in the mirror at the perfect angle I sometimes feel like a ballerina.  Then I snap back to reality and realize I'm not even pointing my toes.

And this is me.  Standing around in class trying to just keep up, wondering if I'm in over my head!

Look my pitiful attempt at 5th position.

Finally, let's review our feet positions:

I was interviewed for the Huffington Post!

So, a few months ago I came across an opportunity to be interviewed by a Huffington Post writer for their "Breastfeeding Chronicles" series.  I think the first week of August is world breastfeeding week.  I love breastfeeding so I was really excited for my interview.

I was interviewed by a really nice woman named Catherine Pearson and rambled on and on for about an hour, and my interview was published!  She did a great job of condensing everything I said and she fit it into a really nice article.   I do not take any credit for the format of the article that was all her.  I could never be a true writer or editor.  Way too complicated.

I pasted the article below and provided a link.  I think I'm allowed to do that legally as long as I clearly state this article is from the Huffington Post? You would think I would know since I'm a lawyer and all.  Anyway, Enjoy!

article below, courtesy of The Huffington Post, written by:
 

Catherine PearsonBecome a fan

Catherine.Pearson@huffingtonpost.com .

Link to article here.  

The Breastfeeding Chronicles: 'I Wish People Could Just Say It Was Awesome'

Claudia, 32, a Chicago-based bankruptcy attorney, has a 3-year-old daughter she nursed for more than 10 months, until she got pregnant with her second baby, another girl, who is still breastfeeding 18 months out. The experience, she says, can be summed up in one word: easy. In our next installment of The Breastfeeding Chronicles, Claudia describes what it's like to want to celebrate a near-perfect breastfeeding experience, while being mindful that so many women, including her close friends, struggle.

THE PLAN
When I got pregnant with my first, I just knew I was going to breastfeed. I never thought it wouldn't work. I figured: I have breasts, I will breastfeed.

But it was definitely difficult in the beginning. I realized it's not as easy as, you put the baby on the breast, you make milk, you breastfeed. I had a very strong let-down, so there was milk everywhere, and my nipples were sore and scabbed. I would cry and the baby would cry -- it was kind of disaster in the first week. I'd turn to my husband and say, "This is why women stop breastfeeding. Right here, right now." But I was lucky to have him supporting me, and my aunt, from Colombia, who was staying with us and who helped with everything, so we stuck with it.

With my second, I knew I was going to breastfeed again. I'm not sure how or why, but I just kind of knew I wasn't going to have any problems.

THE PERFECT FIT
To be honest, this breastfeeding experience with my second child has been probably one of the easiest things I've ever done.

I had a natural birth with a midwife (in a hospital) -- there were no interventions, no epidural, no Pitocin -- and she was handed to me immediately, still on the umbilical cord. I think that was the start of it: having a midwife who helped her immediatelylatch, within seconds. She sort of crawled up to my breasts, which was pretty cool. That didn't happen with my first child. Even though I had a good birth, they immediately took her away, weighed her and cleaned her up. I'm not sure, but in my mind, having a really good, easy, natural birth just helped, because I wasn't focused on healing. I didn't have pain, I didn't have stitches, so I could focus all my energy on breastfeeding.

My second baby was also just a better eater. She would eat while asleep [laughs], and she never had weight gain issues, so I never felt that self-doubt. And I was just more experienced. I put the baby to the breast whenever she was hungry. That was my breastfeeding strategy: Baby's hungry, feed her. That's it.

IDEAL WORK CONDITIONS
With my second, I had a longer maternity leave -- 12 weeks, versus 6 weeks. When my first daughter was born, I was so worried about having to start pumping right away because I had to go back to work. I started within two days. With my second baby, I didn't start until eight weeks. I was kind of like, "Oh! I should probably start pumping, because I'm going back soon [laughs]."

I've been at the same law firm with both children. It's very small -- basically me and my boss -- and he's very family friendly. I have friends who've asked, "How did you pump at work? Weren't you embarrassed?" And I'm like, "Embarrassed? Why would I be embarrassed?" I'm the type of loud, open person who leaves the pump parts in the kitchen. People are like, "Um, Claudia, your boob stuff. Go wash it."

I do have my own office, and I know that's not the case for many women. I have friends who are teachers who can barely find a janitor's closet to pump in, whereas I have a flexible schedule, I have my own office and a very supportive boss. That's huge. I have the ideal work conditions for breastfeeding. I do have to go to court, although my boss picked up a lot of that work for me. When I went, I would just ask to use the empty jury prep room.

COMING CLEAN
I know that my experience is very different from what a lot of women go through, and I've been privileged to have so much support. I have friends and I see women on message boards, Facebook and Twitter, who have so many problems with breastfeeding. I feel like when women say they succeeded, they're bragging. And I hate that. I wish people could just say it was awesome.

I donated some breast milk, and when the woman who was using it came over to get it, she was crying the whole time, and then she kept apologizing for crying. I didn't say much, honestly. I just kind of said, "I'm very sorry it didn't work out for you, and I'm happy I could help." I didn't know what else to say. This is a woman who struggled and tried, who took herbs and medicines, and pumped 100 times a day -- a woman who did everything in her power, and she couldn't breastfeed. So I'm very careful about what I say, because I don't want to boast.

GOING FORWARD
My baby is 18 months old and I'm still breastfeeding in the morning and at nights, although I'm not pumping at work any more. I didn't expect to be breastfeeding for this long, but it's going well, so we're just going to keep going for as long as we both want to. Nighttime feedings are getting a little bit tough; she wants to breastfeed 100 times before she goes to sleep [laughs]. But the bonding, with both my babies ... it's incredible.

You know, you never really hear good, happy breastfeeding stories, but I think it would help. My friend put together a contest where women wrote blogs about breastfeeding, and I think mine was the only positive one. She was kind of like, "Here's the sacred unicorn post about positive breastfeeding!" Maybe women who have positive breastfeeding experiences don't write about it or talk about it, because everything's going so well. You don't hear about the 500 planes that don't crash, you only hear about the one that does.

This account has been edited and condensed.

In celebration of World Breastfeeding Week (Aug. 1-7), HuffPost Parents participated in "I Support You," an initiative to collect photos and messages from mothers to each other that say we might lead different lives but we share wanting the best for our children. Find out more here.

Link to article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/22/breastfeeding-success-story_n_3743966.html