punkgirl59 wrote:

I started ballet when I started walking, and continued for 16 years. When I started college, I laid off ballet for a while because I was concentrating on my prerequisites for medical school, and was told I wouldn't succeed without a biology major. BOR-ING. Last year I switched my major to ballet and now happily dance 10 hours of the day. So I did take a year off, but I don't consider myself a restarter because I've done it pretty much continually for my whole life.

~*~Punkgirl~*~

Long live punk rocK

Me, too. But not totally. Just taking less classes. I really don't want to stop!

Not true. You can major in anything you want. Anything at all! As long as you take the prerequisites and do well in them.

Cool!

Are you still going to med school? Keep dancing!!!

^ Yep, that's the plan. I'm finishing up my prereqs this year, taking the MCAT in the spring, and applying for schools next summer, if all goes as planned. Cross your fingers for me!

~*~Punkgirl~*~

Long live punk rocK

I was a student in a pre-pro school from 7-18, then opted for the college route, because I was informed that at 5'8" I was too tall for any serious company. I took classes in a more recreational studio through college and then spent four years in the Navy Nurse Corps from 22-27, only getting to open classes occasionally when I was Stateside. I returned to the recreational studio when I came home, but at 32 had serious shoulder surgery which pretty much took me out of anything physically active until I was 32. By the time I was healthy enough to get active again, I decided not to return to ballet, believing myself too old to bother. Last summer there was an article in the paper about returning adult students, and there is a local pre-pro studio that welcomes us. So I signed up for one class a week, which, within three weeks, turned into three classes a week, and later four to five. I got back en pointe within three months of restarting. So I'd consider myself an intermediate to advanced adult restarter.

By the way, the ballet classes have shaved eight strokes off my golf game!

I started just under three years ago. I got intereseted in ballet when I was in middle school. I had a crush on a girl who did ballet and then while I was training for football in high school, my intereset was cemented. It became a dream. We were very poor at the time so I knew no lessons were possible. It was also hard to tell people due to being a guy. The football angle was perfect though.

Any way, after years of wanting to take classes, I finally started about three years ago. I found a super teacher who went out of her way and above and beyond for me. I wish I could have started much earlier than I did. But, the point is I started.

HI. I am new at this and it is really exciting to find people like me who are so interested and involved in dance. I danced from age 4 to age 18 twice a week until I moved from Montreal to Israel. Then I started university, got married, had two kids...Now my boys are out of the house (both in the army) so I have a lot of time and I have gone back to dance. It has been 30 years!I found a wonderful studio that has classes for adults. I started with jazz and modern, which I had never done before, and then went to a beginners class in ballet. The class is quite easy for me in terms of remembering the exercises etc but upsetting in the way that I see how much I need to improve my technique-especially sickling with ankles (which I don't remember if I had problems with before). I wonder how other people who have restarted after a long time have found going back.

Mine is a much shorter ballet story as I only started a year ago

I saw my first ballet in January 2007 (Alice in Wonderland by the ENB) liked it so agreed to see another with my wife. The second one was Giselle and I was blown away with the beauty before me on the stage. But wanted a better appreciation of what the dancers did, so I looked round and after a bit of searching and building up a touch of courage took my first ballet lesson in May 2007. At the tender age of 38. Found I've loved the classes and been taking classes since

Hi Red,

You could describe me as a 'no longer dancing ex-adult beginner'. I did adult classes during 1990-95. I may have gone back to being a total non-dancer but I'll always love ballet and I love DDN because it enables me to still feel connected to the beautiful world of dance.

I am a re-starter and 19 years old. I danced from the ages of 2 to 12. I didn't leave dance willingly, my dad made the decision for me when we moved and he no longer wanted to "waste" money on it. I recently restarted 2 years ago when I was 17 and entering my senior year of high school. I finally got a car and began commuting to the city once a week for a ballet class. Because of school, I have only been able to take one ballet class a week, but I am now starting pointe work and taking two classes a week. Also, I am trying to find a job so that I can afford more classes.

I'm an adult re-starter and consider myself to be intermediate level. I'll be 48 in August and have been en pointe for 3 years and back to ballet for 5 years after more than 20 years away...

That is really amazing and so nice to hear from someone my own age. How many classes a weak do you take?

Phyl,
Where in Israel is your studio? I spend a lot of time in Israel, and it would be great to be able to take class while I am there!

I wasn't quite sure how to answer. I put adult intermediate. I took recreational dance as a child, and then restarted as a more serious student in my mid-twenties. I take between 2-3 classes a week, depending on my work and family schedule, and I began pointe work for the first time this year. I also have fun performing with the studio in The Nutcracker each year.

I live in a small town outside Jerusalem, and the dance studios are in the city. I dance at two different places: one is in Talpiot, it's called Studio 6; they have a website: studio6.co.il the other is called Kolben Dance it is in the center of the city their website is: kolbendance.com. Send me a message the next time you are planning to be in Israel.

i took ballet as a child and quit after 5 years or so. biggest mistake of my life. anyway fast forward 14 years, i'm 24 years old and i find a great beginner class. i've been dancing there since last november. in the fall, i'm moving to go to grad school and will hopefully continue dancing in my new city (and hopefully advance too).

I'm intermediate, but i've only had a few years off dance. Through the years, i found myself always dancing in the kitchen, pique-ing between the stove and fridge and then glissade-ing over to change a diaper, so after i had my last child who was born premature, i knew i needed the joy of ballet back in my life. I was able to rekindle my love for ballet, and now once again it's all i think about!

I started dance when I was 13 and did ballet, modern, pointe, hip hop, musical theater, and jazz all through high school. When I got to college, I did ballet and jazz my first year. I didn't really get along with the teacher, so I quit. I'm now 23 and I'll be restarting in the fall. I plan to take jazz, modern, ballet/pointe, pilates, and hip hop. I'll be dancing with teens, some almost 10 years younger than me, but I don't mind. I want to dance and it's a huge pain to find adult classes convenient to me.

I chose other. I was never technically a "restarter" unless you count preschool ballet. I consider myself an Intermediate-Advanced Late Starter. I started at 17 and I've been going strong ever since. My third year ballet anniversary was yesterday which means I'm just starting my 4th year in dance.

Hopefully, by end of this year, I will be fully classed as an intermediate student.

Ballet has been the most rewarding experience for me so far. I am a guy and I love it. I definitely want to work towards being an advanced student.

Well, I danced here and there as a kid, but I got serious about ballet when I was fifteen, and I've been at it hard for five years now! After taking classes with a great ballet teacher, she inspired me to become a teacher myself, so that's what I do. I love it, and I work hard at adding more classes to my schedule, but also try to take classes to improve. I'm advanced, but not amazing. I'm quite inflexible, and when I can only take a class a week I find I'm not overly strong. I just keep on truckin' though!

Ash

Hi pattyboots
that sucks you cant audition because I was already 30 .I would Love to go to the Ballet and see a lady that is over 30 in the ballet not all the 14 years...
maybe you can post back

I would say that I'm an advanced restarter.... I used to dance proessionally when I was younger...I took a 6-7 year break and started again about 2 years ago. I now dance professionally and as a college dance major, I got my AA in choreography, and now I'm working towards my BFA in performance.

Hello everyone, I'm forty and a mum of four children, one of them dances.
I started dancing when I was four and started my professional work when I was eleven, I danced in pantos and ballets, acted in plays and musicals on and off until I had my eldest son in the late eighties. I got my teaching qualifications, opened up my own school and continued doing the odd bit of pubs and clubs / cabaret work until I had my fourth child, then something had to give and it was my dancing .
I got back into teaching and doing a bit of semi pro work for a few more years until my knee's gave out, that was yet another forced retirement, that was when I discovered Irish Dance, I can still manage to do this even with bad knees as the turnout isn't sustained in the same way as it is in Ballet.
However I'm just about to re enter the world of ballet as I've been offered teaching positions at two of our local dance schools now that I've moved to Canada.
I ticked other as I don't think you did a button for someone with as many comebacks as I've had