Lolita Charm: Danse de Lolita

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Danse de Lolita

In my last post about September style tips, I mentioned that it wasn't too late to fulfill a few goals - one being to finally take a ballet class. By unique twist of fate, I'm now happily signed up for two classes a week on my college campus!

I took ballet as a child, along with tap and jazz. My earliest memories of class were the small changing room where we would tie our ballet shoes, and the one-room studio with a polished wooden barre and winter sunlight. And of course, afterwards, as I tried to sit in my favorite chair with the tutu sticking out in crazy angles like so many stiff pink feathers. But I wasn't that dedicated a five-year-old - or, some years down the road, a very dedicated twelve-year-old. I've always been wistful about my would-have-been ballet career - even as I picked up belly dancing at fifteen, there was always ballet in the corner, looking at me reproachfully. Whenever I heard my favorite songs by Tchaikovsky, even when I went to see the Nutcracker last Christmas at the Palace Theatre - I wished I had been more dedicated with my ballet study. So when I finally got the the chance - basic ballet study twice a week with an extra half hour of en pointe - I couldn't wait.

Ballet is a perfect area of study for a budding lifestyle lolita of any subgenre. The exercise and training of muscles will leave you toned and healthy. The first two classes I took were what the old finishing schools would call 'deportment' - how to carry one's self with grace whether walking or standing. Ballet emphasizes good posture and correct carriage, so you don't strain the wrong muscles and you work the right ones. My ballet teacher watches the way we walk, even how we breathe and feel the energy compelling us to move. The ladies of court at Versailles learned to 'glide' on the balls of their feet so they appeared to be floating, and it from this practice that we learn movement in ballet. It may seem like a simple thing, but standing up straight is important not only for how you look and feel but for your attitude. Standing upright shows off your clothes to your best advantage and adds to your confidence. Slouching sends the message that you don't want others to look at you, which is a silly idea when you've put so much effort into your appearance. For those lolitas who like to model for photographs and for runway, ballet will put you in touch with your body and how your body appears in space.

Ballet's rich history in classical music and its productions are also the whimsical, fairytale stuff that is perfect to romance the imagination. From the glittering sounds of The Aquarium by Camille Saints-Saens as part of her Carnival of Animals to the proud trumpeting of Tchaikosky's The Waltz of the Flowers, you'll become familiar with popular classical composers. And for ballet productions, there's the heartbreaking Swan Lake and joyful Christmas favorite the Nutcracker.

I've always believed in the traditional 'accomplishments' of girls as good skills to have - a knowledge of art, music, dance, classical literature and mythology, with a few handcrafts thrown in like embroidery or crochet. Perhaps they're not like today's modern accomplishments, such as a promotion or a killer math sense - but they encourage the arts in a way we forget to today. I've often sung the praises of embroidery and its meditative quality. There is a stillness of the mind in concentrating on embroidering a single rose, and with each stitch forming one more tiny segment of a petal, putting all of your focus onto its tiny self until somehow, step by step, a beautiful work of art is finished, a dress covered with gardens of ribbon flowers and pearls. And in these accomplishments are the same focus. Watching a bird to draw the wing just right, or listening only for the next note of a song so that the steps are exactly right. Somehow lolita, with its nonsensical frills and inefficient petticoats is born into this multi-tasking, left-brain Information Age. Just like dancing ballet, sketching like the Victorian schoolgirls would, or playing the piano, lolita allows us to flex and strengthen senses we often don't get to use - a sense of color, or light, or detail. It is a welcome escape from a world of schedules, accounting books and ones and zeroes. Mindfulness, whether it is of your clothes, your footsteps, or your dance steps, frees you from the restrictions of our time. It is the gift of dance, the gift of music or art, and the gift of lolita.

If you want to get a feel for ballet with a fairytale flavor without having to invest in pointe shoes, I'd recommend watching the cute, little-known anime of Princess Tutu (I know I rave about it often, but it's really one of my favorites!). It shows most of the characters dancing ballet quite realistically, and the soundtrack is full of beautiful classical ballet music. And if you're in a class, you'll empathize with the main character, Ahiru - an 'ugly duckling' who always comes up short - until she transforms into the swan-like ballerina Princess Tutu! Whenever I worry I'm a clumsier dancer than my classmates I always think of Ahiru :)

By December, I'm supposed to have put together a one-minute ballet dance to music for the class. I can't even imagine dancing so freely - but somehow, by the year's end, I'll be able to dance ballet! I can't wait to learn more :)

Labels: inspirational, lifestyle

17 Comments:

At September 4, 2010 at 10:26 PM , Yajaira said...: Perhaps you could dress in Loli for your performance. I am so happy that you get to fulfil this qish. I too want to start taking ballet classes. Break a Leg!
At September 4, 2010 at 10:28 PM , Charlie said...: Lucky! I can't do ballet because my muscles are too weak. Same with my friend, she got kicked out. XD. Ballet is so beautiful, though...
At September 5, 2010 at 12:49 AM , Munich and Berlin said...: Ballet is beautiful, there are many ballet trained dancers in my ballroom club. I agree on dance being so helpful in many other areas of life!
At September 5, 2010 at 2:17 AM , Mykki said...: Ballet is beautiful, but I have a mild foot deformity so I would never be able to squeeze into those shoes. >_< oh well!
At September 5, 2010 at 2:43 AM , Anonymous said...: How heart warming that you could get your old dream back to life! Good luck with it, and may your ankles always be strong.
At September 5, 2010 at 3:21 AM , Rosalynn said...: I have the exact same thing as you whenever I go see a Balletperformance: I wish I wouldn't have stopped. I always wanted to stand on pointe shoes someday.
Unfortunately, I don't have the time or figure to start ballet again.

I really hope you'll enjoy it (although I have no doubts) and that you post some pictures sometimes!
At September 5, 2010 at 5:24 AM , PinkJucie said...: i could never do that i have a hump in my back around the time when i started to develop a chest (am naturally busty)my grandma would say why are you sticking you chest out like that you whore (she thought i was doing it on prosperous)but thats the way my chest grew and i has good poster but i had to slump over to avoid my grandmas remarks so now i have a hump
At September 5, 2010 at 8:07 AM , Hello Naka said...: ballet seems wonderful :3 but my hand eye coordination and posture are extremerly bad XD
At September 5, 2010 at 8:27 AM , Melody said...: I took ballet when I was 5-6 for quite a time, and even though I don't remember very much of it at all (running crossways across the room in my little slippers being my most specific memory), I believe that there was tremendous benefit to taking these classes so young, even though I did not stay with them.

I believe they taught my young self how to fall, stand and move properly. I grew up to be a fat kid, and then a fat adult, and I can still drop from standing to a perfect seated position instantly and with grace. I can generally stand with just as much ease. I've never had any back problems, my posture has always been excellent.

Ballet trained my muscles, at just the right time, into knowing how to move properly in my body as to ease transitions in daily life.
At September 5, 2010 at 11:41 AM , Izzy said...: I'm so glad I never stopped ballet, even though there were times when I hated it I'm now thankful for my pushy parents. I've never thought of it as a career although I've stuck with it for about 15 years (that makes me feel old ;_;), but it's such great exercise and the feeling of dancing well is amazing ^_^ Good luck with your ballet, keep us posted on how it goes =)
At September 5, 2010 at 2:47 PM , Anonymous said...: I took up ballet last year and am going to go twice a week this year, I love it <3 I love how graceful it is, and the dancers I know are always so elegant ^^

But my therapist (I have a breathing disorder) would rather I do modern dance as she says that ballet is actually not being 'in your body' and not good for your breathing. Due to always having all muscles tensed and focusing on being floating off the ground >_<

I still want to pick up bellydancing though, I did it once and it was awesome (but I was in Lolita and it was kinda hard to focus on my hips xD)
At September 5, 2010 at 7:17 PM , La'Lorena said...: I took bellydance when I was fifteen too but Oh ballet has always been my first love! Congrats on beginning classes again. I look forward to 'restarting' back into ballet sometime next year if im lucky. (I wanna be en pointe someday). It really is a beautiful art form. The love for ballet has me extra excited for BABY'S new print with Swan Lake ballerinas twirling about! If you haven't checked it out (you've probably have) here's a link:
http://baby-aatp.blogspot.com/
Have fun in ballet class!!! ^_^
At September 6, 2010 at 12:01 AM , Anonymous said...: I'm so happy for you that you're able to follow your passion once again! Personally, as a kid I always secretly wished I could take any kind of dance, specifically ballet, but other than that I was a wicked tomboy so I never pursued that wish, due to fear of my family/friends mocking me (and I do regret it, especially since now I realize they wouldn't have done anything of the sort!). Now, I still wish to take ballet classes, but money is tight for my family so I don't want to ask them! I don't have the time for a job, either, so I'll probably have to wait until I go to college or I'm on my own to actually take lessons. ):
At September 6, 2010 at 12:57 AM , dreamydemon said...: i want to take ballet class but my mom say its too late cua im way old for it now [ wtf? im only 14 ]
i always wanted to learn ballet...do u think 14 is way old to learn it? i heard that ballet lesson only takes like kids uder 12 or sumthin? or maybe i get my facts wrong..? help??
At September 7, 2010 at 2:58 PM , Anonymous said...: I wish I'd kept up with ballet too.
I did ballet and tap for a couple of years when I was 6 or 7. My mum sent me so I would learn to carry myself properly and walk elegantly. I gave it up though when my mum explained to me that I was going to grow up to be too tall for a career in ballet.

But yay another Princess Tutu fan, I adore that show! This is going to sound childish but I recommend some of the Barbie movies for good ballet too. Barbie in the Nutcracker, Barbie Swan Lake and Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses all have amazing ballet sequences all filmed using motion-capture so they are pretty realistic
At September 8, 2010 at 7:50 PM , Anonymous said...: I wish my parents had sent me to ballet when I was young <.<
But I enjoy watching others while dancing :)
At December 1, 2010 at 2:42 AM , Kizzy said...: \(^_^) I feel like saying thank you Victoria Suzanne, because this blog entry gave me the courage to look for, and then attend ballet lessons. It took me months, but I eventually found a local dance school, in an old victorian building. I had never taken ballet before in my life(I heard so many negative stereotypes over the years, yet always secretly admired ballet dancers), but three lessons in and I'm being told that I'm good. I thought I was either too old or past it completely XD I never thought at 23 I'd be in pastel blue & white at a barre being mildly baffled by french words. Though, looks as if the fourth lesson may be a no go due to the snow. Anyways, thank you again, as your post helped me find the courage to realise a dream d(^^)

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Lolita Charm

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Danse de Lolita

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