Risk taking

For my dance classes at UW-Madison I had to sign my life away.  You know, disclaimer, dancing is inherently dangerous and you risk serious injury, etc., etc., don't sue us when you're whisked away on a stretcher, etc.  I never really think about dance as a dangerous activity, but obviously it is--how else would professionals get so seriously injured on the job?  Things can break or snap or strain in all kinds of ways.  Just look at this slow motion!

Anyway, there's nothing quite like pointework to make you realize that this stuff is scary.  You know that part in Black Swan where she's doing the fouettés in front of the mirror, and they have that slow motion bit, and then her toenail cracks?  Yeah, I think of that every time I go en pointe now.  Thanks a lot, Black Swan.

But sometimes you have to take the risk.  Today I went to a ballet class with a different teacher, who didn't know how long (short!) I've been doing pointe.  Which is, of course, two months, if we're being generous--six weeks if you count the number of classes I've taken. 

I don't do an actual pointe class; I just do the last part of barre and the first part of center.  Initially I was putting them on after stretching because we always did relevés and elevés between barre and center.  But every class I've been adding a little bit more, like the corner waltz or corner turns.  Today our corner turns were two piqué turns en dedans, then one en dehors, tombé onto the working foot, and then turn on that foot, en dedans.

My initial reaction to this combination was "Hm, I wonder if I can even do this en pointe..."  But I tried it.  And I didn't break anything, but then I found out that it was actually a fouetté, and not a one-footed pirouette.  So I tried it that way, and it worked, and then the teacher says:

"You can do a double, you know.  The fouetté will whip you around for it."
Me:  "Er... not en pointe, I don't think!"
Her:  "Yes, you can!"  
Me:  "Well... I guess I can try..."

So I did, to the left, and I actually managed a double, which is amazing because not only was I turning on my weaker left leg, but also turning in the left direction, which is my weaker direction.  It only worked once; the second time I was slightly off and didn't make it around twice.  But now my biggest pointe accomplishment is a double fouetté en dedans to the left.  All because I managed to block out that image of bones shattering.  :D