Does it really work?
While not the most obvious source of accessing the mind-body benefits of mindfulness, ballet and other forms of dance could help to focus your mind on the present, as one former dancer discovers
THE GUINEA PIG
Isabel McMahon, WH contributor
Weekends often find me hitting the dance floor with my friends, but each time I battle the same old demons: embarrassment and lack of coordination. Lately, my dancing has turned into a series of jumps, points and unexplainable facial expressions. At a recent wedding, my fears got so bad that even the DJ playing my song (Usher, Yeah!) couldn’t get me on to the dance floor.
As a child, I took ballet on and off but I never stuck with it. By my teenage years, I was keeping my ballet hidden, fearing judgment from the cool kids. Sneaking off to ballet class felt like my deepest secret, and I quit shortly after a big performance. So, when I decided to rekindle my ballet journey after a decade-plus hiatus, I feared the return of that all-too-familiar embarrassment.
The studio I signed up to is dedicated to ex-dancers like me – people who are looking to get their groove back. The minutes leading up to my ‘Rusty Ballet’ class – its aim is to ‘oil up the joints’ in out-of-practice bodies – were stomach-churning. But we kicked off with a warm-up relevé – rising on to the balls of your feet – at the barre. Familiar classical piano music played, too, keeping me company as I repeated the steps, feeling at ease.
Then came the section known as ‘centre practice’, where I faced the same pliés and relevés, this time, without the barre. We moved on to pirouettes – turns, usually performed on pointe – and finally, adage, which means ‘slowly’ or ‘
