THE 109th BEAD

I’ve been a very bad blogger. It’s not that I’ve had a lack of things to talk about but that I’ve had trouble putting things into words that I’ve wanted to share lately. This is extraordinarily strange for me because words are my thing. I guess that I’ve had to sort some things out for myself first.

Over the years – yes, I have a bad habit of holding onto things for YEARS – I’ve had many a discussion about this whole ballet thing and sometimes feeling rather like a nutter. Taking ballet at my age – nutter; crossing the world to watch ballet and take beginning ballet classes – nutter; waiting at the stage door like some starry-eyed teenager – nutter; throwing work suits into a storage drawer to make more room for my ballet stuff – nutter! The argument against nutter is fairly simple, why is it nuts to do something that you love? But let’s face it, lots of people do things that are a huge waste of time and energy (and money) just because they enjoy doing it… take curling for an example, what’s up with that?!

So I’m sitting in a coffee shop with Carboy talking about a ballet performance that I’d really like to see but of course it’s around the world and we just got off an international flight and I’m trying to work my teaching and lecturing schedule around taking ballet class and going to ballet performances and the words that are coming out of my mouth are sounding really ridiculous even to my own ears. And I shake my head and state what I think is the obvious… “I shouldn’t keep doing this, it’s ridiculous.”

And then Carboy says this…

“Embrace the ridiculous. You should keep doing crazy things. You were doing crazy when I met you and you haven’t stopped yet. It’s a good trait. You make crazy work for us. If it weren’t for your willingness to be ridiculous we wouldn’t be where we are now. We need to do more ridiculous things, not less.”

First of all, you can’t have him, I’m keeping him. Second, yes, there is no denying the ridiculous. It is ridiculous and I am a nutter. It’s okay, I’m making it look cute. Why shouldn’t we embrace ridiculous things, crazy ideas, and eccentric notions? Isn’t that what creativity and innovation are all about?! The balance to the ridiculous is that it is often that which is also brilliant, beautiful, and amazing. I have had so many AMAZING, INCREDIBLE, INSANE experiences because of ballet. I have made so many WONDERFUL, FABULOUS, NUTTER new friends because of ballet. Ballet has been the most brilliantly ridiculous choice that I’ve made in my adult life!

So watch out! If you see a short American nutter embracing the ridiculous, that’ll be me! Things are about to get all kinds of crazy up in here!

Let’s dance. All will be well. Even the ridiculous.

Every now and again, I get a little discouraged and let myself run to being uninspired. It’s my own fault of course. I start to get distracted by grown up person things and start skipping class and focus on the problems of class schedules, costs, distances, new teachers, parking, and on and on and on. And for a variety of reasons that I won’t go into, I’ve been feeling a little bit worse for wear on the ballet front and then I read a blog post by the delightful Bush Ballerina. If you are not aware of BB, she is a lovely adult ballet student who lives out in the bush of Australia. Now I’ve never been to Australia, I’ve only seen movies about the outback and enjoy Russell Crowe’s accent – although technically, I think he is from New Zealand. In addition to being in the serious middle of nowhere both BB and baby-BB have a pretty complicated medical condition. But somewhere in all this, the sweet BB found ballet. Isn’t dance wonderful! Most people will advise you not to study ballet on your own and for some valid reasons. But when you are in the bush, well, I ask you, what exactly might be a budding ballerina’s options? Fly to Sydney. Yes. Fly. to. Sydney. I cry about having an hour commute in traffic to cross town. And I need to shut up about that. I’ve been known to get on a plane to attend the ballet and when I’m on my travels, I’ve been known to take a class or two… but I’ve never flown anywhere just to take class. That, my ballet friends, is dedication, love, and passion. And right now I’m more than a little bit humbled and definitely put in my place for any and all complaints that I might have been thinking over the past couple of months. But enough about me… please check out Bush Ballerina’s blog and help her get to Sydney for her lessons. She is now selling really great BB products to help fund her ballet lessons. Of the many things that I have learned from taking ballet class as an adult, one very important thing is that your ballet friends are your best allies. Adult dancers are some of the most interesting, amazing, crazy people on the planet! And when you have a ballet posse, even one that only exists virtually, you have a wonderful and totally fabulous force on your side. Let’s all support Bush Ballerina who is out there in the wilds of Australia, maybe far away but not alone!

http://bushballerina.com/2014/02/17/the-reluctant-self-promoter/

and you can also follow her on twitter at @BushBallerina