Hello and welcome to the first meeting of our brand new stretching club!

I'm sure some of you have no idea whats going on so I'll explain: I posted a little while ago looking for a stretching buddy, because stretching on my own I get no-where and give up. Loads of people replied so we've started a stretching club to all stretch together.

How is it going to work?

Well I see it being a little like Weight Watchers except instead of getting thin we're getting flexible.

- I you've not heard of weight watchers it's kinda like fat fighters on little britian (uk.youtube.com . . .) except nice.

So basically whats going to happen is once a week (On a Sunday) I post a thread titled Stretching club with the date. You then post what stetches you've been doing this week what was good what was bad, how your progressing that sort of thing and we all encourage each other to improve.
You canpost pictures if you wat just in the pictures board then link them in the stretching club.

Anyone can join and at any time doesn't have to be now.

For this first meeting of the stretching club we're going to have a little getting to know you session so please reply, let us know who you are, what you do and why your joining the club. And what your stretching goals are.

I'll go first:

Hi I'm Ballet_Baibe, I'm a Biology student from the UK but I have just decided once I've finished this degree I want to go into dance instead.
At the moment I mainly to ballet, I've just taken my grade 8(RAD) and am now doing majors but I'm also taking up tap and jazz again after a two and a half year break. I do pole dance too but just for fun and as a form of excercise.
I'm joining the club so I can get more flexible before restarting jazz and I have a few performances coming up too.
My stretching goals are to get all three splits -I have left but I want to get right and middle.
At the moment I try to stretch for about half a hour a day.

Okay whose next?

This is a great idea. I just gave you Karma. I'll be back later with an intro. (Haven't even posted a bio yet on my membership page. Guess it's time to get around to it.)

Okay I'll go next.

Hi I'm GumbyGirl1990. I'm a senior in high school and hoping to apply to the UC Irvine Dance Program in the Spring. Right now I take Hip-Hop, Lyrical, Modern, and Contemporary/Jazz classes and dance on a competitive hip-hop team and a jazz team. My goals right now are to get the middle splits (with a relatively decent turn-out) and to be able to do a scorpion without tilting my head back.

Hi guys! Ill go next

My name is Kelly and I am an Irish dancer who has recently started doing other forms such as ballet, jazz, hip hop, modern and acro. I started these when I began attending an arts high school. I am one of the least flexible, and I aim to get my left and middle splits. Right now I stretch for about a half hour a day 5 days a week and I would like to bring that to an hour if I want to achieve my goals

Oh this is just what I need!

My name is Mirrim, and I am 31 years old and started ballet about 6 months ago. My goal is to get my right and left splits and improve my centre ones as much as I can. I also want to improve my ankle flexibility. I want to stretch for 30 minutes 5 days a week to acheive this. I have no routine right now, so this should help me start one!

Im adore_dance, and im a 15 year old ballet dancer working towards a career in dance. Ive lost track when it comes to stretching regularly so a stretching club sounds good!

Ooh, I should join in on this!

Hi, I'm Merfi, I'm 16 and I do ballet, with a little bit of contemporary too. I'm currently working towards my RAD Advanced 2 (hoping to sit maybe in August next year, or maybe the May of the next year). I've been super-slack on my stretching recently because I'm in the middle of my school exams... I know, excuses, excuses! I want to get my middle splits and just generally be a bit more flexible by the end of the summmer (February)

Hi! I'm dance4ballet, and i've gotten really slack on my stretching lately too. I have holidays coming up so that means lots of stretching ! I have my right splits, but want to get further on my left and middle! I also want to get my left leg hold better - actually, pretty much anything to do with my left leg... so thats my goal. dont work so much on my right leg, and work a bit harder so that im not a righty (one sided dancer) anymore

Hi, I'm 17 and I'm an Irish dancer. My reason for joining the Stretching Club is that I want to improve my flexibility (oh, surprise!) but I'm a bit lazy sometimes... I've been stretching for about half an hour a day during the last 3 weeks and I want to keep it up! My goal is to get my legs up to my nose until March and I also want to improve my turnout.

I'll be 69 in December and have always been extremely un-limber; however I am now more flexible than I've ever been and plan to continue to progress. At age 8 I could not bend over and touch my toes. At 68 I can. My long-term objective is to be able to cut my own toenails until the day I die. Believe it or not, this is the one thing my elderly relatvies complained about not being able to do even though they walked, drove, etc. almost until the day they died (at an advanced age). My shorter-term objective is to gain more flexibility and strength all over but especially in my feet and ankles (see bio on profile page, which I've finally posted, if you want to know more).

Hey! I'm Jodi. I'm 16, in high school. I am currently taking jazz and tap classes at a local studio. I have been dancing for 11 years and hope to dance in college. I really want to get my middle split before the new year.

Hey, I'm Charlotte, and I'm studying dance at college. I do some stretching in my classes but I need to find the energy to do at least half an hour every night when I get home! My goal is to get flat into right and left splits, and make some progress on box splits (I'm about a foot away, currently). This thread is a really good idea!

hi i am wishful(tammy) i am 22 years old i want to start ballroom and latin this year as of right now i dont do anything

but i wanted to start a ballet class a few months ago but it clashed with another course that i am doing so i couldnt do it *sighs* anyhoo hopefully next year i can start it.

tammy

I'm not going to participate as I said in my other post. Um I don't feel comfortable doing this publicly and I don't feel comfortable now that I have just decided to not ever return to dance any longer.

Keep up the great work everyone. I hope that you have tons of success.

I will still be here to inspire people, however, I'm not going to participate in this beautiful group myself. *HUGS* to you all.

Sincerely,

Rainbws_Watrflls

Ah, what a great idea!! Thanks for starting this.

I'm 22 and started dancing 1 year and 2 months ago. I was the most unflexible person in the world, didn't touch my toes in my whole life before, but I'm working hard so I have my first splits (front splits right) now! I'm eager to stretch and see progress, and I love getting advice so I can improve even more. I'd love to take a few stretching photos at the end of every week (or every two weeks) and show them because that motivates me even more!! I hope there will me many other pictures too, because I love stretching photos.

Good luck everyone!!

Hiya all,

I'm Salomé. I'm 15 years old and live in Switzerland where I attend a Kantonsschule (kinda high school).
I really love languages. Since Switzerland has four national languages I learn French and Italian in school. And English of course (I'm in a bilingual programme, so my maths and history lessons are in English). My newest passion is learning Russian, a beautiful language!

Anyway. I have the ultimative anti dancer body: I have terrible feet, bad turnout and I'm not naturally flexible...
I have my oversplits at circa 15 cm, roughly a 170° leg extension, and my backcatch is pretty acceptable by now, but I had to fight for every cm.

My main goals are to get further down, when touching my toes (right now I'm on the floor with flat hands, when my arms are a bit bent), improving my back flexibility and getting further down into the oversplits.

In the last few weeks I had some sort of winter "depression" and didn't do anything outside of the usual training (3/week) and I hope that this club will help me to get off my lazy butt and start working...:)

Hey I'm ballet_babe_1! Great idea!!

Ok, I've been dancing since I was 5 and I'm now 14. This year I'm mainly focusing on ballet. I'm an incredibly un-flexible person, so this should be good for me I used to be a little bit more flexible, but over the past couple years I kind of lost some of it. I never used to stretch much, but suddenly I have some motivation and the past week or so I've been stretching every day, especially over this Thanksgiving break. I really want to keep it up! I want to join the stretching club to get my left and center splits (I have my right ), gain some back flexibility- I have very little, and loosen up my hamstirings- they're always really tight.

This is exactly what I need. I'm starting today.

I'm Sarah, I'm a junior in college and i've lost all flexibility after going away to school. I'm trying to get it back so I can compete again soon.

Just what I need, great idea!

I'm Isabella (Bella or Sweetheart) and I'm 13.
I used to do disco and irish dancing, but unfortunately quit both. I recently joined a cheerleading squad however, I left last week due to the routines being a bit too simple for me :\
I really need to get myself back into dancing, but I also need to work on my flexibility since I haven't danced in so long!
I would really like to get all three of my splits, (I used to have my right leg, but have lost flexibility), and a straight backcatch..

Love,B
X

Hi, I'm xox_Julia_xox and I'm 14, going to high school. I don't dance, but enjoy doing contortion at home. I stretch for an hour most nights, but I need a little motivation to make it more regular. My goal is to be able to do a bridge, then go down onto elbows, then chest, and be able to hold onto my ankles.
Thank you

Since, in your recent "Stretching Club 1/12/08" (Dec.1) thread you announced the stretching club was moving over to the "vis" part of the website I've signed up over there. So should I post the past week's results in that thread, this thread, or wait until everyone is over at "VIS"?

Well I'll be posting the VIS thread probabl on suday possibly on satuday depends if I get boed so you choose, wherever you fancy.

Ballet_Baibe