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One suggestion I got from my physical therapist was to look into a different dance form since Ballet is tough on my body. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not giving up Ballet, but it may be better to take my time with my Ballet training and take it easier.

In the past, I tried out Salsa for fun, so I’m thinking to try and explore latin dances some more. Tonight is the Seattle Star Ball. My friend is competing in it.

Seattle Star Ball Poster

I’ll be watching the International Latin dance competitions. I don’t know much about Latin dances except from Dancing with the Stars!

Time to educate myself a bit… with wikipedia and youtube. I <3 free information. There's a ton of latin dances like cha-cha-cha, paso doble, etc. That's too much for one sitting to go over.

Starting with Rumba... I'm surprised this style was formed only recently - in the 1950s. I expect this to be my least favorite style because it's supposed to be the slowest. After watching some videos, overall Rumba appears to be very slow and sensual, but there are parts - like turns for example - where it's fast and precise.

Here's a Rumba video I saw on youtube:
Rumba Competition 2005 Grand Slam Final

I wonder how injury prone are Latin Ballroom dancers and how much time it takes to train in these styles.

I rewatched my videos from the Ballet Class Videos After Knee Injury post today so I can see what I’m doing wrong. Here’s what I think:

Tendu Exercise Observations

• My arms are too high.
• When I tendu to the back, my right hip tilts back a tad instead of staying even with my left hip.
• My tendu to the side doesn’t have enough rotation. I need to focus on the rotation at the top even before I move my leg out

Pirouette Practice

I’d have to say I did better than I thought! I don’t have the ankle strength to keep myself up, but I’m pretty happy with it. I moved my feet into retire position fairly quickly. It would be better if my leg stayed turned out more. Overall I think I really only need strength. What do you guys think?

Center Exercise

Not bad not great here. I’m not too happy with my arms for the waltz especially when I transition from the 1st part of the waltz to the 2nd. I’m not sure if my arms are correct.

A sampling of my ballet class videos. I’m 90% to full recovery. I suspect this last 10% is going to be more like a marathon than a sprint to the end at least I’m dancing again.

Starting from the basics again… A simple Tendu Exercise

Some Pirouette Practicing

Exercise in the Center

Don’t have the same level of strength and coordination as I used to, but on the bright side I feel I can start from scratch and do it right this time around.

A few good tips I got:

1. Pirouette – End the Pirouette Up instead of Down to help with moving on to multiple turns
2. Keep shoulders over the top of your hip – for myself, I need to keep my shoulders in front more
3. Pointing – Be sure to keep pressure on the first and 2nd toe so that the point is lining up straight with your ankle

I have a few more videos that I’ll try to upload later! Good night for now.

Long time no talk! Been a long time since I last posted.

Where did that girl disappear to? I’ve been working hard on my recovery. I’m happy to say I’m still making progress. Slow but real progress.

In fact I’ve been to a few ballet classes. I participated in half the class. It was both fun and depressing at the same time. I couldn’t do most of the exercises I used to be able to do. No grand plies for me. Petit battements on flats only. No releves! I modified most of the exercises so I did it on flat or with regular plies.

Has anyone else gone back to ballet from injury? What was it like for you?