Weight Loss Overview - Keeping A Perspective

If you want to lose a little weight, I recommend that you cut back on all the empty carbs you may be eating. Bread, pastas, crackers, buns, cereals and potatoes. However, you must not go hungry, and you must eat enough proteins, vegetables, salads, fruits, and healthy fats.

You don't want to lose any muscle mass, or visceral fat - the fat that protects your organs. Some dancers weigh too little - oh yes.

Here are some tips to keep this all in a healthy perspective:

How To Lose Some Weight and Keep It Off this article has a link to protein calculator;

What Ballet Dancers Need To Understand About Weight Loss and Calories

What Is Your Protein Requirement

Learning To Develop Lean Muscles

Healthy Fats For Ballet Dancers

A Quote That Deserves Its Own Post re Ballet Turnout

From page 279 of Gretchen Ward Warren's book "The Art of Teaching Ballet":

"Turn-out is something a dancer does, not necessarily something he has." - Anne Woolliams

Haven't many of us said it ourselves, perhaps in a different way.....

Understanding and being able to hold the turnout that you have, is more important than the turnout that you have!

A Word of Encouragement For Late Ballet Starters

I get many queries from young dancers as to what are their chances for becoming professional. This is a general answer to dancers whom I cannot see -

While I cannot see you dance and give any opinion as to whether you could make the professional grade or not, I will try to help you see it for yourself. Here are some professionally trained 14-17 yr old dance students, who will be able to get a job in a world class ballet company:

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=National
+Ballet+School+of+Canada

This play list includes other schools as well. Compare the ability and technique to the students at your school/company and you will see how your abilities match. Bear in mind that these students have had 6-10 classes a week with world class teachers since they were 9-10 yrs old - so don't get self-critical! (I know, dancers specialize in that!).

While it may not be possible for you to train well enough to get into the top world ballet companies, perhaps you would qualify for a smaller/regional company. Look at as many as you can on line.

Consider a summer intensive next year at a major school, to work in a professional training schedule.

Consider a BFA program where you will train and perform through your college years, and be able to go on to dance history, criticism or teaching when you can no longer perform. Or, you could enter a B.Sc. program in dance that will proceed to dance medicine/physical therapy as a specialty for after you stop dancing. In the meantime, you will be dancing!

So you see, even if you cannot have the career that a dancer with 8-10 years of intense training can have, there is much to do in the world of ballet! Since you are so drawn to ballet, you must believe that you have a special gift to offer the dance world, in one way or another. Keep your personal vision alert and wide, and your adventures in dance may be amazing!

Posts on Knee Injuries

I just had a request for information on knee injuries. Here are the posts I've written about that.

http://balletshoesandpointeshoes.blogspot.com/2009/07/how-to-understand-overpronation-and.html

http://balletshoesandpointeshoes.blogspot.com/2008/12/how-to-prevent-knee-injuries-in-ballet.html

http://balletshoesandpointeshoes.blogspot.com/2008/08/highly-effective-tips-for-understanding.html

http://balletshoesandpointeshoes.blogspot.com/2008/03/ballet-turnout-prevents-knee-injuries.html

Posts about turnout refer to preventing knee injuries as well - listed down on the left.