Coffee, then plié

MariBallerina
Sep 6, 2018 · 5 min read

The struggle of 2nd week huh?… No worries I feel ya. We’re all in this together and we WILL get through this semester!

TBH. All I can think today is “my body H U R T S”

#dancerproblems #welikeittho #nopainnogain #werkit #okenough #justwannabeinbed

— — Thought I share this photo that Sara Mearns (Principal dancer with New York City Ballet) posted on Instagram today as I was writing this blog post (funny enough, we were thinking the same thing!)

Yep. Even principal dancers have those days

If I’m being honest, I’ve been thinking for a couple of days about my second blog post… And, not gonna lie but, it’s a bit nerve-racking because now we’re supposed to write about our topics and perhaps dig deeper than the first post? Well not sure about you but I have no clue where to start… My go-to thought is to dig a bit more than my previous post about “a day in the life of a dance major” now that I’m back at USC Kaufman.

After a long day and hopefully a smooth and peaceful night sleep, I mostly wake up feeling great about what I’m supposed to do.. oh, of course, let me tell you what the MOST important event in my life before dancing is… My cup of coffee. Because I am NOT a morning person, coffee wakes me and my soul up. Actually, this might be a random fact, but this exact day last year I wrote on my Facebook status “coffee, then plie” (plie is the very first step you do in ballet class) and I think it’s funny that a year later I’m still talking about this… (must be extremely important to me I guess)

Anyways… this semester my technique class starts at 10:30 AM which means I can get up around 8:30ish (8:45, but more like 9:05 because I snooze…)(insert monkey emoji covering eyes) but even so, I get plenty of time to enjoy my cup of “Haynes Espresso Valley” coffee from Blue Bottle which I brew at home (btw if you haven’t tried Blue Bottle Coffee, go now… like please. They have the best almond milk, and lattes, and pastries… ok enough) (THIS IS PRETTY MUCH HOW MY MIND WORKS BTW, I FOCUS ON ONE THING, THEN A NEXT THOUGHT COMES AND I GET EXCITED AND THEN I HAVE TO THINK ABOUT THAT, THEN ANOTHER THING, OH THEN I REALIZE I SHOULD FOCUS and BACK ON TRACK) (also, I was not screaming at you, I just wanted to play with dynamics and have you switch your voice tone in your head)

So, coffee… is it heaven on earth or what? or maybe I’m just an addict and my coffee tastes like the best thing ever? If you can’t tell, this is pretty much the highlight of my morning, so things typically start amazingly well for me.

After I slowly enjoy this magic potion in my cup, I start to get myself and my things ready for a busy day. Normally days consist of dancing for the first half of the day, then regular classes afterward. Typically, my first class is a ballet class and we pretty much never know who will teach and in which studio, so every morning my classmates and I are all anxious to find out because, of course every teacher is different and there are days when you feel like taking “somebody’s” class more than that other “somebody,” or there are teachers you might just not like.

Luckily all the faculty at Kaufman are incredible and I deeply adore them all, but some of their classes, man… they’re hard, aaand if your body is not feeling it, or your calves are too tight or your hip just decides not to move, your day is pretty much ruined or off to a NOT SO great start.

So now think back and imagine my perfect morning, waking up to drink the highlight of my day making me all happy and bubbly, then I come to class and realize that “this person” is teaching (and imagine that I don’t necessarily dig this person’s class) now, suddenly I’m not bubbly and I’m trying to prepare myself mentally for this. Just think about how much of a roller coaster of emotions I experience in the lapse of just 2 hours… Well good news, I always survive! Class might be challenging or not that day, but luckily I always get through them physically. Mentally? Not always… aaand I tend to drag my thoughts and feelings during class with me the rest of my day.

As a dancer, you must look a certain way (especially in ballet), make things seem easy and the hardest one is “look pretty” oh man I hate that one, because some days you just don’t feel it! Oh and also, we need to be tough! Get through sometimes “shitty days” and then come back with a smile the next day. Some classes you might be lucky and get a lot of corrections, which is good because it means that the teacher likes you and wants the best for you, but can also mean: “Yeah I suck I know… tell me more.”

We go through these challenging combinations, listen to corrections, practice them, again and again till you get it right. Some days, you are just not on your leg (meaning your center and core strength are not finding the right balance and you can’t do anything about it) so imagine, not being on your leg and having to show your teacher you can still find your center during a pirouette combination (turning). I give this pirouette combination example because you CAN’T turn when you’re not on your leg. Period.

Anyhow, after ballet we have either hip-hop or contemporary classes, and those are a bit more chill but still physically hard on our bodies. So after a morning of dance, I luckily take a 2-hr. break where I can write this blog post, eat a burrito, have another cup of this magic potion I was talking about, or simply relax. Afterwards, I attend my other classes at USC and act like a “normal” person. Go home, cook dinner, shower, sleep, and hopefully start back again the next day.

This may or may not sound exhausting to you, but after a few weeks into the semester, things start to feel strange, you get more tired, but also stronger at the same time, so this life is always a roller coaster. I feel lucky that I get to move my body every single day, but what goes into my mind on a daily basis regarding my dance training, can get heavy after a while.

I promise I’ll get deeper into what goes in my mind next week.

Thanks for reading again, you are the best! :)

- M

Coach’s Carrots

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Just another complicated dancer mind.

Crunchy, fresh writing, served up weekly

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