Although I love dancing there are things that can really, really annoy me sometimes...
1. Normal shoes on Marley Floors. Manhattan Youth Ballet is in an arts center that sort of rents out studios to any and everyone. One Saturday there was a birthday party in one of our ballet studios. Of course no one took off their shoes...so the Marley was super-sticky the next day during rehearsal. Imagine the sound of someone taking Velcro apart repeatedly for one and a half hours. Now imagine 20 people doing that. Yeah, the sound was pretty annoying.
2. People who pull their leotards up all the way to their armpits. OK, so I understand you think it makes your legs look longer. It doesn't. I'm sorry. You can be the tiniest little thing with the most beautiful, thin, amazing legs in the world, but all that does is magnify your thighs until they look 1000000000x bigger. And then it tightens around your butt, which starts bulging out of your leotard. The weird thing is if a leo is bought with the legs cut high, it doesn't look bad. If you pull it up, and fold it over, then stuff starts getting weird. Your legs aren't short, OK? Leave the leotard alone.
3. Teachers who teach classes that barely warm you up. Pretty self-explanatory.
4. Tights that always get holes in them. I've recently been plagued by this. I have a pair of tights that got a hole maybe just because it was worn out. And then I got another pair. Not two days after buying it, I ripped a hole in it with the zipper of my jeans (they were weird ones with the zipper in the back), since I usually just pull my street clothes on over my ballet stuff after class. And then I got a new pair of tights that had the same encounter with the same pair of pants. And now I have another pair of tights with a hole in the toe.
5. Tights with super-tight waistbands. Why? Why? Why must Capezio sell tights with such a tight waistband that the logo is always etched into my skin when I take them off? It's terrible. It makes my skin bulge over the waistband in weird places. I never know where to place the waistband of those tights. At the hips makes me look like I have a muffin top. At the top of the ribs just shimmies down during class at settles at The Middle. At The Middle, I look like i'm wearing a corset. Thank you Gaynor Minden. Thank you Grishko. Thank you for making tights I can wear like a normal person.
6. Tights that aren't pink enough. Since I have a deep skin tone, when i put on my pink tights, they look like white tights. Or dirty dishwater. Again, Grishko and Gaynor Minden are good. Capezio? Not so much.
7. Sewing pointe shoes. OK, OK, it's a good excuse to watch TV. But I'm just too lazy to look for my mom's thimbles, so I'm always poking myself with the needle or hurting my finger from pushing through the elastic with the giant Bunheads needle I use.
8. Girls who say mean things about each other. Well, yeah, maybe gossiping is something that females do in general. But don't criticize someone's dancing just because they got cast in a certain part, especially if you didn't get that part because you were messing around in rehearsal, or repeatedly missing rehearsals for stupid reasons.
9. People who jump into barre spots rudely. This is simple etiquette. If you are at an open class, so not squeeze yourself in front of the guy who happens to be a principal dancer with City Ballet, ABT, etc. If you are taking a higher level class (as a make-up class or something), do not shove yourself in the front of a barre. Ask if there are barre spot preferences, and then choose your spot.
10. Blisters. Oh my, God. I hate these.
1. Normal shoes on Marley Floors. Manhattan Youth Ballet is in an arts center that sort of rents out studios to any and everyone. One Saturday there was a birthday party in one of our ballet studios. Of course no one took off their shoes...so the Marley was super-sticky the next day during rehearsal. Imagine the sound of someone taking Velcro apart repeatedly for one and a half hours. Now imagine 20 people doing that. Yeah, the sound was pretty annoying.
2. People who pull their leotards up all the way to their armpits. OK, so I understand you think it makes your legs look longer. It doesn't. I'm sorry. You can be the tiniest little thing with the most beautiful, thin, amazing legs in the world, but all that does is magnify your thighs until they look 1000000000x bigger. And then it tightens around your butt, which starts bulging out of your leotard. The weird thing is if a leo is bought with the legs cut high, it doesn't look bad. If you pull it up, and fold it over, then stuff starts getting weird. Your legs aren't short, OK? Leave the leotard alone.
3. Teachers who teach classes that barely warm you up. Pretty self-explanatory.
4. Tights that always get holes in them. I've recently been plagued by this. I have a pair of tights that got a hole maybe just because it was worn out. And then I got another pair. Not two days after buying it, I ripped a hole in it with the zipper of my jeans (they were weird ones with the zipper in the back), since I usually just pull my street clothes on over my ballet stuff after class. And then I got a new pair of tights that had the same encounter with the same pair of pants. And now I have another pair of tights with a hole in the toe.
5. Tights with super-tight waistbands. Why? Why? Why must Capezio sell tights with such a tight waistband that the logo is always etched into my skin when I take them off? It's terrible. It makes my skin bulge over the waistband in weird places. I never know where to place the waistband of those tights. At the hips makes me look like I have a muffin top. At the top of the ribs just shimmies down during class at settles at The Middle. At The Middle, I look like i'm wearing a corset. Thank you Gaynor Minden. Thank you Grishko. Thank you for making tights I can wear like a normal person.
6. Tights that aren't pink enough. Since I have a deep skin tone, when i put on my pink tights, they look like white tights. Or dirty dishwater. Again, Grishko and Gaynor Minden are good. Capezio? Not so much.
7. Sewing pointe shoes. OK, OK, it's a good excuse to watch TV. But I'm just too lazy to look for my mom's thimbles, so I'm always poking myself with the needle or hurting my finger from pushing through the elastic with the giant Bunheads needle I use.
8. Girls who say mean things about each other. Well, yeah, maybe gossiping is something that females do in general. But don't criticize someone's dancing just because they got cast in a certain part, especially if you didn't get that part because you were messing around in rehearsal, or repeatedly missing rehearsals for stupid reasons.
9. People who jump into barre spots rudely. This is simple etiquette. If you are at an open class, so not squeeze yourself in front of the guy who happens to be a principal dancer with City Ballet, ABT, etc. If you are taking a higher level class (as a make-up class or something), do not shove yourself in the front of a barre. Ask if there are barre spot preferences, and then choose your spot.
10. Blisters. Oh my, God. I hate these.
