My First Time Dancing Since May

On Wednesday, January 16, I took a dance class for the first time this semester. Last semester, I participated in multiple dance auditions, and I’ve visited my old studio a few times, but aside from that, I haven’t danced since last dance recital. That was May 5th, 2018. Obviously, given that it’s half a year later, I’m a little rusty.

So, this dance class was actually a placement class for a dance club on campus called Volé.

It was sort of like an audition, except no one gets cut. So, unlike the auditions I did at the beginning of last semester, I’m definitely getting a spot in this club. The placement class was merely to determine whether interested members placed as beginning, intermediate, or advanced dancers. This then determines what technique classes we’ll take throughout the semester and what numbers we’ll be cast in for performances.

The class started much like the auditions of last semester: I arrived on time, filled out a waiver, and was assigned a number.

When everyone was done filling out these forms, we began the class with barre. For anyone who is not a dancer, THIS is a ballet barre:

At a ballet barre, one does things like this:

Basically, barre is an opportunity to stretch before class and practice technique. To see a little bit more of what this looks like, watch this video.

So, we did the ballet barre. It wasn’t too stressful, nor was it too difficult. However, given that I haven’t danced in so long, it was a little rough on my ankles.

After barre, we moved on to do center work and across-the-floor steps (sorta like this). We practiced different turns and leaps. To my surprise, after we finished this, the placement class was over.

I left feeling more nervous than when I’d arrived. How had I done? Was it good enough to get me out of beginner classes? Would I be able to make it to advanced? I doubted that. In fact, I felt like I hadn’t performed nearly as well as I could have at the placement class. We were told to expect to hear about placements by Monday, so I had a whole four days to dwell before I knew anything.

On Sunday, I got an email which contained the cast list for the Spring 2019 showcase. I had been cast in dances, obviously, since Volé doesn’t cut people. Seeing which dances I’d been cast in made me less frightened– no matter where I placed, I’d be dancing again, and dancing at a lower level is a whole lot better than not dancing at all.

Finally, on Monday, I received an email about my placement. I’d been placed in the intermediate level. I’m pretty happy with that.