So I was looking into ballet for my daughter and I came across a class at one of the studios in town called, “conditioning.” It was for ages 12 and up and it sounded like an exercise class that I might be interested in. I thought I might get a little intro to dance without taking an actual dance class.
Except, oh no! Step on the brakes. Dress code required for all classes which involved pink tights, slippers and a black leotard. No way was this fat mama going anywhere in a leotard in a room with mirrors on 3 sides and other people in the room.
Time passed. I signed up my daughter for 12 week session after 12 week session and the conditioning class was still looming large on the website and on the registration form. I really wanted to know more, but was afraid to ask the teacher because I didn’t want her to know of any potential interest on my part. After reading other blogs by others who started ballet as adults, I have discovered that I am not alone with this sentiment.
I finally tacked my question onto the end of an e-mail about other stuff. I asked my daughter’s ballet teacher if she could tell me more about the conditioning class sometime before 2013. I got an immediate, lengthy response from her and it sounded exactly what I wanted. I decided to take the class, despite the dresscode. There was no way I was going into the local dance store to buy my digs. I mean seriously, would they even carry a leotard in my size? And there was no way I was going to try on ballet shoes as if I was actually a ballerina.
So I went online and ordered a black leotard, skirt, and ballet slippers; I founds tights on clearance when I was getting tights for my little miss. phew. I was committed to trying it out and I wanted to follow the rules and dress the part. That was about 9 months ago.
ballet, you say? 