A Russian Constant: Dance

When I was planning my move to Moscow, one of the things I stumbled upon on the Moscow Expats Facebook group was this Ballet and Stretching class.  I was looking for some new exercise, something in a group, something like yoga but not as boring, and this seemed to fit.  It started as a fun way to get out of the house, with a class that is in English, with people that I don’t work with.  Three months later, here I am.

This one isn't great form. From the very beginning.

I’m sure some of the photos have popped up on my Facebook feed, and you may be curious.  Dance ballet class is becoming an ever-larger portion of my nights and weekends, and I’m seeing fitness levels my body has never encountered before.

A Plie, I suppose.

I attend two classes with Katya, usually on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. 

The first is Stretching class, which I’ll admit doesn’t quite explain the types of things that we are doing.  There are elements of yoga, like the downward dog pose, a few elements of ballet, like pointing the toes, some pilates, particularly in the core work, and a lot of pushing your body beyond what you thought was possible.  In fact, in the stretching class, I think we are asked to do the splits 6 different times, in a variety of ways.  I like to call it yoga on acid, because I usually leave stretching with rubbery legs.

Considerable progress has been made since this photo.

The second is Body Ballet, which also doesn’t quite encompass the experience.  This is much more ballet-based, with a bar, and positions, and plies, and recently, jumps.  I don’t really want to go into how ridiculous and ungraceful I look when I jump and plie.  But, it is quite a cardio and endurance event.  There are stretching elements as well, but it is mostly movement and working on endurance.  On Tuesdays, I do both classes and end up a rubbery mess.

The split is a little bit deeper.

It is quite possibly the best exercise I’ve ever had, with the strength and endurance coupled with the flexibility and the challenge.  Katya challenges us to do our very best, and gives us new tasks when we have accomplished one of the moves.  I always feel particularly accomplished when she walks past and doesn’t correct my posture in some sort of way.  I’m also about two inches away from the complete splits (at least on one side), which has not been without difficulty.

The bar makes the split a little bit easier.

The class is wonderful, though.  There are a bunch of Russian gals that I am getting to know, in a large variety of professions.  Many of them are about my age, a few younger or older.  At times, we catch each other’s eyes in the mirror and commiserate at the wandering teacher, who could at any moment greatly intensify one of our stretches by pushing us lower or pulling our leg up higher.  Many of the girls speak a little or a lot of English, and my Russian for the ballet is getting slightly better.  Although, in my opinion, the word for “more,” and the word for “enough” sound a bit too similar, particularly when I’m trying to communicate whether or not my partner should push my leg higher up to my face.

Progress. Much more progress.

And our teacher is amazing.  I will be able to do the splits this year, comfortably (?) because of her.  She calls me Kayla, because I introduced myself as K, and I quite like it.  The “la” on the end of names reminds me a bit of Thailand, so I feel some thrill from both my homes.  You can see a video of her here.

She also has a certain set of phrases that I found incredibly challenging to figure out when I first began.  In fact, I saw a new girl this week and was reflecting back to that moment when I had begun, and how amazingly awkward I was.  Katya says things like, “stretch your knees,” which made absolutely no sense to me in my first few lessons (it means to straighten and elongate your leg).  She says “neck and shoulders” or some variation thereof also quite commonly.  Shoulders go down (no clue what this meant at the beginning either) and neck gets elongated.  She tells me to smooth my face frequently as well.  Apparently, I have a pained expression whenever she stretches me a bit far, and we laugh about it often, moreso now that things are getting easier for me. 

The most recent photo. Also evident of K faces.

My favorite expression of hers, though, is at the end of class.  She darkens the room like in yoga, and has us lay down and relax our bodies.  She says to breathe deep, and to thank ourselves for trying our best and for doing very challenging work.  It’s always such a nice thing to hear, the reminder to give gratitude for the work that I do for myself.

With this class and some of the other things I’ve been working on, I’m feeling healthier than ever before, more fit and more in tune with my body.  It is a great feeling, and I feel like I’m doing 30 right.