#advancedbeginner

Firstly, I'm really not sure about arms, though. In competitive, solo-based Irish dance, we don't use our arms at all. They remain pinned to our sides, and are not to move. By contrast, in ballet, use of the arms is extensive. I spent most of the lesson forgetting the positioning and location of my arms in the air.

Secondly, and perhaps just as importantly, ballet requires visual attention on the part of the dancer - this is needed in a way that is unfamiliar to most Irish dancers. For example, in Irish, we don't spot, because spotting makes our already ridiculous spins look even more ridiculous. Yet, in ballet, you do spot; you look to a certain spot in the room, and after your movement you whip your head back around to stare at that same spot. It's ... mind-boggling. As another example, in ballet, you often look to the audience or to the direction in which your arm(s) is/are moving; this seems to be for dramatic effect (?). In Irish, this doesn't happen. As Irish dancers, we look in the same direction in which our body is facing.

It's all a learning curve. Most challenging of all is the feeling of being a beginner again. I have easily spent 10 years or more being an Irish dancer with ability and skill at an advanced level. To come to ballet, and to be challenged by its norms, its expectations, its values, and its principles, is difficult. But I feel like it will worth it in the end (so long as I can bloody afford the classes in addition to Irish).