It’s not the same,

Posted on June 14, 2012 by

20120613-200747.jpg
But it’s a good way to sneak in some ballet-slipper-wearing and some toe-pointing.

About these ads

About adultbeginner

Had my first ballet class Ever at the advanced age of thirty-two. Yikes.
This entry was posted in whuuuut? and tagged , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

8 Responses to It’s not the same,

  1. rheumaticprincess says:
    June 14, 2012 at 4:04 am

    It’s pretty fun! I was actually looking for a new belly dancing class when I found my current ballet class.

    Reply
    • adultbeginner says:
      June 14, 2012 at 5:44 pm

      That’s funny! I took belly for a few years before finding ballet, my belly dance teacher had been looking for a ballet class when she found belly!
      There are a lot of things I like about bellydance: the music-especially the drum-, playing with chiffon veils, and the fact that my body, even in its current silly shape, is naturally closer to the belly dance ideal than the ballet ideal.
      But what I miss that I’ve only found in ballet is the sense of progression, of learning and building, I miss the constant mental puzzle even while I’m enjoying the physical workout.

      Reply
  2. Nicole says:
    June 14, 2012 at 8:07 am

    I’ve taken a little belly dance, and a friend recently convinced me to try ballet. I immediately searched the web for adult beginner blogs and landed here. This is the first post I’ve received since subscribing. Perfect!

    Reply
  3. Jenna says:
    June 15, 2012 at 12:46 am

    One of the ladies in my ballet class has actually promised all of us a belly dance party during the off season this summer. Apparently she also found a great belly class when looking for ballet!

    Reply
    • adultbeginner says:
      June 16, 2012 at 7:36 pm

      Funny that so many people found one while looking for the other. They’re not exactly similar dance styles.
      I mean, just as an example of how not similar they are:
      My sports massage therapist was jamming his fist into my hip one day complaining about how my hips were awfully tight, and he was like, “you should take some dance, loosen these things up.” and I was like, “I do! Ballet! I take class twice a week!” and he was like, “No, not ballet, ballet is too linear, you need something where you actually move your hips. Like belly dance.”
      And I was like What-evs! I’mma do ballet!

      Reply
  4. rosepourpre says:
    July 21, 2012 at 5:41 pm

    I’m still kind of confused that ballet is not OK but belly dance is. I do both, and I always feel like my abs get more work in belly dance class. Those ommis and camels are a killer. Of course I am asking out of pure selfishness as I am currently trying to get pregnant.

    Reply
    • adultbeginner says:
      July 22, 2012 at 7:06 pm

      Ok I’m not an expert or anything-
      But I think the difference is that in ballet, you zip up your whole core and kinda lock it in place, so that having a solid, strong core becomes second nature.
      In bellydance, every move requires that you use and Release all the different areas of your core.
      So like, hip circles require you to contract and tilt the pelvis forward, then release the front abs and contract and tilt toward the side-front, then release that and contract and tilt to the side, continuing smoothly around in a circle, and every time you contract and tilt to one direction, say, to the front, you are releasing the back, and vice versa.
      So bellydance emphasizes awareness of individual areas of your core, and builds your ability not just to isolate and control each area, but more importantly to release an area when you need to let go, whereas ballet asks you to use your core as one solid unit, like a corset, to support the work of your legs and upper body.
      That’s my guess.
      Pretty sure of this though: Doing either -or both- is way better that just laying around on the couch eating bonbons, for pregnant ladies and for everyone else.
      Good luck with your project!

      Reply

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out / Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out / Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out / Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s