Broche Banter #2 -- Rheanna
Today on Broche Banter, we have Rheanna (26) — a ballet attire enthusiast who recently got her first pair of pointe shoes!
We talk about her journey to pointe, balancing ballet with work related stress, and “pirouette panic.”
Enjoy!
Why did you want to start ballet?
Julie (studio owner): So I know a lot about you from class, like that you did powerlifting and all kinds of things. Why did you want to start ballet? What got you into it?
Noabeth: I wanted to do something that was disciplined, difficult, didn’t need prior experience, not a team sport, and physically and mentally demanding, but not where I was going to be getting tackled like football and rugby.
J: So there’s like, 3 things that fit that description: Karate? Ballet? What else?
N: Skiing?
J: Yeah, there you go. You do go skiing a lot.
N: Yeah, I’m a skier, I did martial arts for years, powerlifting, rugby, football, and now my “retiring” sport is ballet.
J: Retiring young!
N: I’m probably older than you think.
J: I think you’re young.
N: I know I look like a bat-mitzvah boy, but I’m probably older than you think.
J: Age is a mindset!
N: Yeah, knees and backs are not a mindset. Shoulders are real. They’re like, I know you think you’re 32 but we’re 80!
J: Yeah, the struggle is real there. The second-day recovery gets harder and harder.
What do you do for work? How does that fit in with ballet?
J: So work was stressful. What kind of work do you do?
R: I am an accountant and office manager for an economics consulting firm.
J: All of those words sound stressful.
R: Yeah, it is.
J: I know you mentioned when we were trying to set this up that you had a super stressful week this last week.
R: Mhm.
J: So how do you take care of yourself when work is really stressful? Do you still prioritize exercise? That’s something that we all deal with as adults is, how do you take care of yourself when you’re stressed?
R: Yeah, definitely. I definitely prioritize exercise. I’m still doing my barre classes and I signed up for the Prima Pass this past October, so I try to take as many ballet classes as possible.
J: Dancing all the time.
R: Yeah. I love Kristen’s 6am class.
J: Really start the day off right! That’s good, it’s hard to remember to prioritize yourself when you’re stressed. Do you ever want to just not come to class and prefer to stay at home? How do you combat that kind of feeling?
R: Yeah. Somedays, I don’t want to and I just want to curl up on my couch with a movie and some really unhealthy food, but then I remind myself of how much better I’ll feel if I actually take care of myself and go to class.
J: Yeah, it works every time.
R: Plus I’m addicted to ballet now, so I have to go and get my fix.
J: Yeah, welcome to the club right? Everyone is so addicted to it.
What keeps you coming back to ballet?
J: What is it about ballet that keeps you wanting to come back? What do you enjoy the most about it?
R: I love how controlled and structured it is, but I also love that at Broche you can have fun and no one’s going to yell at you. Worst-case scenario is that people laugh not at you, but with you. I don’t know what it is about it, but it just gets inside of you and you can’t stop.
J: It really does. It’s also very pretty. It’s fun to watch and be a part of. When you’re dancing, ballet dancers love the control and the structure of it, but what is your biggest challenge when it comes to the things that aren’t as controlled and structured? When we talk about pirouettes or footwork, is that challenging?
R: It is, yeah. I’m still working on pirouettes. They’re hard. The “pirouette panic” is real, but I’m getting there.
J: So, we obviously know what the “pirouette panic” is here at Broche, but tell those of us who don’t know about it yet. What’s the “pirouette panic?”
R: For me at least, it’s when you try to do a pirouette, and with me, I just freeze and get stuck in a plié. I’m thinking, “okay, I’m going to do it,” and then I just get frozen because I get in my head.
J: And then sometimes, you forget which leg to pick up, you forget which direction you were supposed to go, which arm was supposed to be front.
R: Yes! You forget even where you were supposed to be looking or which way you were supposed to turn.
J: I had a dancer once in one of my classes who was a brain scientist, which was fascinating and I loved having her in class because she knew all of the science behind these things that we would talk about and come up with. She was saying that the “pirouette panic” actually is a real thing! Your brain actually has a fight or flight response to a pirouette the same way as if a bear was standing right in front of you. Your systems shut down, your brain actually goes into that mode where you can’t see anything, you can’t feel anything, and you can’t think straight. Does that sound accurate?
R: Yeah, it does.
J: I’ve known people who get that with footwork too. Do you get that with footwork as well? Like a balance, waltz turn, or that only with regular turns?
R: Mostly, just with regular turns.
J: They’re scary.
R: Yeah, but I need to just practice them more and they will get better!
Tell me about your journey with getting en pointe.
J: I want to talk a little bit about your journey with pointe shoes. I know it was a difficult one in the very beginning, and I think a lot of people who are listening or reading will resonate with your journey, so if you don’t mind talking a little bit about how you got your first pair and really struggled through it, and then overcoming that to where you are today having just finished pointe class with me.
R: Yeah, absolutely. First of all, I never thought I'd ever be able to go up en pointe. I thought that I was too old and that my legs were too big, and I just never thought it’d be possible so I’m very thankful to be able to do that with Broche. My first pair of pointe shoes were a disaster. They were the worst things ever. I thought it was just me and when I got them, I had a really bad fitting experience, but the person said that these were the shoes for me, so I just figured I’d get used to them because I didn’t know anything. I wore them to my first class and they were so stiff that I couldn’t even go up en pointe. They hurt just to stand there on flat. I thought I was going to have to quit pointe because these shoes were so awful. I went to a different place, Dancewear Xtreme down in Centennial. They are wonderful! They fitted me with a new pair of shoes and it changed everything. Now, I can do pretty much what I want to. It’s still hard and it’s still challenging, but it’s fun and I love it!
J: It’s so hard when you’re first starting-- and a lot of people have this experience-- you think it’s you and they don’t realize how important the shoe is in terms of your abilities. Especially in the beginning when you don’t know what to feel, it’s very hard to ask the right questions and to know if you agree with the result that the fitter has found for you. That’s very tricky. I’m really glad you pushed through it and kept going because that is the saddest when you feel like you want to quit, and sometimes we do end up quitting. As you mentioned, ballet always brings you back but that’s a hard thing to go through.
R: Yeah. I got so discouraged that I almost did quit. I got in my head and thought, “I can’t do this, I suck, and I can’t even do a pirouette,” but then I decided to stick with it, and I am so happy that I did.
J: Do you know why you stuck with it?
R: Because I love it.
J: It’s as simple as that.
R: I do think that the new shoes helped.
J: Yeah, I’m sure that helped. So have you ever wanted to quit for anything else?
R: Sometimes I’ll have a rough class and for a split second I’ll think that I’m horrible and I should just quit, but then I think about all of the other stuff in ballet that I’m good at and that I like and remind myself that it was just a hard day. You’ll learn and it’ll get better.
J: Yeah, that’s good advice. We all go through that. Sometimes you have a bad class that was too hard, or you had a bad day, or your body doesn’t feel right, and then for some reason your mind jumps to the conclusion that you should just end everything.
R: Yeah. I think that would be such a waste of all of the time I’ve spent on it and with how much I love it and how much I do enjoy it, I could never quit.
You always dress the part of a ballerina for class. Tell me about that.
J: So Rheanna, if anyone is listening to just audio or reading this, they won’t know that you are dressed like a wonderful ballerina right now with the 3-quarter sleeve velvet leotard with a keyhole in the front, and a beautiful ballet bun. You always dress to the nines. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you not in tights, a leotard, tutu, tiara, you know, the whole thing. Tell me about that. What’s your favorite outfit? What do you love about it the most?
R: I think the one I have on right now is my favorite. I have on a skirt that matches my leotard, it’s velvet. I actually got it from your store. There’s so many cute things, but this has to be one of my favorites. I just love feeling the part when I go to class.
J: Totally! It’s great. Especially if you have a hard day, it can help if you look the part.
R: Yeah. Even if I don’t know what I’m doing and I have horrible t-rex arms, at least I look like I know what I’m doing!
J: That’s right. You can at least feel like you feel the part. So have you ever come to class not in the ballet outfit? I haven’t seen it, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened.
R: I have a couple times, but it’s pretty rare.
J: A year and a half later, still every time. I love it.
R: I think the leotards multiply while I’m sleeping because it seems like every few weeks, another one shows up.
J: Well, hopefully it’s cute!
What are your goals?
J: Last question for you: What are your goals? What do you want to do with this and where do you want to go with it? Do you have any specific goals or are you just loving the process? Where are you at?
R: I’m definitely loving the process, but I would love to get pirouettes down. That’s definitely one of my goals this year. I want to keep working on my pointe work and just getting better with that, getting to where I’m not so dependent on the barre. Those are my main goals this year.
J: Getting a pirouette is a great one! When you’re working towards pirouettes, what is the biggest thing that you’re working on right now?
R: Just on little quarter and half turns.
J: Technically, are you working on staying balanced, spotting, all of it? What are you trying to learn?
R: I think the hardest part for me right now is actually getting-- I’m a little bit of a perfectionist so I want it to be perfect the first time I try it, which obviously it won’t be because if it was that easy, everyone would be a perfect ballerina-- but the biggest thing I’m working on is getting my legs where they’re supposed to be, staying balanced, and staying calm.
J: The pirouette panic is real! It’s no joke. I think that one of my favorite things to help the pirouette panic is to talk to someone while you’re practicing your pirouettes so that you’re forced to keep your brain coherent while you’re turning.
R: That’s a really good idea. I haven’t tried that before, but I think that it would help.
J: Look at something, read something, anything to keep your brain out in the world and not hiding in itself.
What advice do you have for someone who may be nervous to try ballet?
J: Do you have any advice for someone who is like you and doesn’t think that they’re going to be able to do it, but has always wanted to try it?
R: I would say that if you want to try it, at least give it a shot. If you decide it’s not for you, you don’t have to. You’re not signing up for the rest of your life. Just try it, and you might find out that you love it and you might get addicted like the rest of us. The community at Broche is so wonderful and so supportive. I have absolutely zero regrets.
