We all have more worries than we care to have. I'm hoping Mindful Mondays can help you in at least a minuscule way. Changing your focus can be more beneficial than you may think. I borrowed this meme from the Adult Ballet Hub over on IG. I just love my Ballet community.

I've said it before and I'm not sorry about saying it again, ANYONE can study ballet just like they do yoga. 

Dance and music has been part of humanity for thousands of years. No matter what your favorite genre of music is, it can have a huge positive effect on your wellbeing and therefore can be a natural outlet that can do a lot to make us feel good.

We all know that dance is a brilliant form of exercise. Using all of your range of motion with enthusiasm and control is great for our physical health.

It helps you learn a new language. I took Spanish in high school and I understand and speak WAY more French than Spanish. Thanks to Ballet.  

Research from the 80's has shown that dancing regularly can help...

I am sitting here on my kids’ first day of online school, with no power, and no internet (typing away on a document). 

One of my favorite quotes that I also love the crap out of is “Everything is Figureoutable”.  So I am figuring it out. It’s not ideal, but getting something done not ideally is better than not done at all.

I came across this meme and guess what?  I can do both of these without power and without internet!

My current book of choice is “Pirouette Surgery” and it’s fantastic in the first 3 pages so far. AND I can still dance with music when the power is out thanks to my hundreds of downloaded playlists.

What would you do on a day like mine today? (hint: you should say DANCE! ) Are you in hybrid school? Online school? How are your dance classes going? I’d love to hear how you are doing! Respond and let me know.

Take care and keep on dancing!

~Karie

I wanted to talk about what research has shown that you learn from being in the studio. 

I'm not talking about how you learn to nail a pirouette. Or how you learn all the body positions, head positions, feet positions, etc. 

I'm talking about LIFE skills that you learn.

Research has shown that ballet will help you with these 5 amazing life skills:

• Form a positive opinion of yourself
• Deepen your self worth
• Sharpen your listening skills
• Learn discipline
• Learn Self-Awareness

Don't we all need these things right now?? When we have the opportunity in class to practice skills, accomplish goals, receive encouragement & praise, we learn to think positively about ourselves which in turn deepens our self worth.

I can't think of a better place to sharpen my listening skills than when in a ballet class and the instructor says ok let's do a petit allegro, or a fast tendu, or a frappé!  You best believe I'm watching, hearing, and absorbing their every...

Week 2: À la seconde & Épaulé

À la seconde (ah- lah- suh-con) is very simple.  Obviously it means "to the second" so we tendu the foot in 2nd position.  Arms in 2nd position. Boom. Done. As always with tendu 2nd, make sure you're not directly to the side unless you have 180 degree turnout.  Your toe should pointe directly out from your 1st position.  Pointing directly side without the turnout in the hips will either make you lift the tendu hip or make you turn in the tendu leg. No bueno y'all. 

Now Épaulé is fun!  Pronounced (Ā-pull-ay). It literally means "shouldering", so it is referring to the position of the shoulders, head and neck. A good épaulement shows that you have style and carriage. 

The Position: Draw that square around your feet again. Now every method of ballet numbers the corners and sides of the room differently, so I'm just going to say turn your body to your left front corner....

Hey there! I'm going back to the basics and going to spend our first 4 Technique Tuesdays talking about the 8 Cecchetti Positions. This week: Croisé devant & À la quatrième devant.

Croisé devant (kw-ah-zay dē-vah-nt) translates into Crossed to the front.

In ballet class I often say "draw an imaginary square around your feet"; you always want to use that square in ballet, not the corners of the room.

Now, technically your leg is NOT crossed over the midline of your body, it is Crossed because you are facing the corner of your square, using your leg closest to the mirror or audience or front of the room (whichever you prefer to call it, lets say mirror today) and extending it into a tendu devant. Your body is straight from the waist down, hips square, toe on the floor directly in line with your hip joint, or it's also acceptable to have your toe in front of your standing heel or arch. It's ok to twist your shoulders to the mirror and the...

I have learned over the past few years the importance of mindset and the power of positivity, and I would love to share some of that with you and continue to bring you sunshine.  

Let’s talk about some ways that we can make the best out of our days at home.  Muscle memory!!!  I freaking LVE muscle memory!!  It gives me the ability to free up some mental energy, which allows me to work harder and focus on artistry and other forms of my movement. 

The good old dictionary defines it as “the ability to reproduce a particular movement without conscious thought, acquired as a result of frequent repetition of that movement.“

That also means that if we are doing things incorrectly then we are building muscle memory with bad form! Pump the brakes on that. 

One of my very favorite formats to teach is Progressing Ballet Technique. This format is ALL about building GOOD muscle memory. 

Take a look at professional...