When I was younger I wanted to be a ballerina. I wanted to wear a tutu and dance the nutcracker, and my favourite books were the tales of Angelina Ballerina. I took ballet lessons for about four years, and had to sit through the indignity of watching my friends move on into the advance classes, while I remained in beginners!  | | Stella explains the basics of the jumps |
So I hung up my ballet shoes and moved on into other dance styles such as the maceranna and Saturday Night Fever. But I never forgot my first attempt at ballet. Now older and supposedly wiser I went along to an adult ballet lesson in Southsea to see if I could tap into my inner tutu. Stella and the DancersStella leads an adult ballet dance class in Southsea Portsmouth and agree to take the challenge of trying to teach me ballet. I chose not to take a teenage class as I did not feel confident enough to take a lesson with girls of my age who have been dancing for years. Stella's class is for mature ladies who want to learn ballet, for the pure enjoyment of the dance. They do not take grades and rarely arrange performances, this created a great atmosphere for me, which was accepting of my lack of co-ordination or grace. Bar Work and Pirouettes The first thing we did was work on the bar, starting with your feet at right angles to each other and leaning on the bar you extend your right foot out in front of you.  | | The ladies spin and land perfectly |
Pointing your toes, then you draw a semi circle on the floor with it until it is extended gracefully behind you. Hold that position for about ten minutes and then bring your foot slowly back to the first position. Well I could manage that easily enough and thought that if this was the standard that the lesson would progress at then I might have some hope of becoming a great ballet dancer by the end of it. Of course this was a completely uneducated and optimistic view, as we moved on to pirouettes. I did pirouettes in my modern classes when I was younger so had some basic grasp of what I was supposed to do. However the difference with ballet pirouettes is that you need to learn how to 'spot' properly. Stella kindly outlined what I was supposed to be doing, wear to place my arms and how the get my legs in the right order. But despite all this assistance my graceful turns did not arrive. Gradually getting harderThe class progressed, with us going through a variety of different ballet exercises. The other dancers managed to perform all of these pieces with dignity and style. I had enough trouble keeping up with the different foot work. Most of the instructions were given in French, terms which the other dancers had evidentially come to understand. However despite doing a AS level in French I was completely in the dark about most things for this lesson. Overall I really enjoyed myself. Once I had come to terms with the fact that I was never going to turn into the next Darcy Bussell, I started doing ok. I will never have enough strength to do bloc work but I can jump pretty gracefully. Ballet is a wonderful dance that in practice is not limited to the stereotypical tall, the skinny , flat breasted individuals. Anyone can dance ballet if they are willing to put in the effort that it demands. | 
