I'm new to this: Boxing, half marathon have nothing on challenge of ballet

Mike Tweed attempts the third position of the feet. Photo / Bevan Conley

For last year's Whanganui Chronicle 'I'm new to this' series, I jumped at the chance to try boxing. Was I new to it? Well, not entirely. I'm a boxing fanatic, but one who is usually too cowardly to step into the ring. As for ballet, that is a completely different story.

During a recent interview with some top local students I threw the word "ballerina" around willy-nilly, only to be politely informed by the director of Whanganui Ballet and Dance Academy Anna Chandulal that I was using the incorrect term for the situation.

There you have it. Up until that point, the word "ballerina" was pretty much all I knew about the art form. That and tutus.

It was time to get educated, and Chandulal was the teacher for the job.

I had recently completed a half marathon so I was fairly confident my fitness levels would suffice for the 45-minute lesson.

As it turned out, fitness was the least of my worries.

We began with posture.

Mike Tweed attempts the third position of the feet. Photo / Bevan Conley

"I want you to imagine there's a black dot under the ball of your big toe and under the ball of your little toe," Chandulal said.

"There's also a black dot under your heel. You want to keep three-quarters of your weight forward, on the balls of those toes.

"Your heels are just skimming the floor."

That was a lot of black dots; I was already confused.

I wondered how children young enough to be my grandchildren seemed to manage this so easily.

Opening the chest while keeping the shoulder blades separate was next but, again, even this basic movement proved to be beyond me.

These early bumblings didn't bode well, but I tried my best to follow Chandulal's patient instructions.

The entry-level ballet positions are first, second, third, fourth and fifth, each slightly more difficult (a lot more difficult for me) than the next.

What set ballet apart from any other dance style was turnout, Chandulal said.

That involves the rotation of the leg at the hips, which causes the feet (and knees) to turn outward.

For the feet, first position is a triangular pose with the heels touching and the toes facing equally out to either side.

To get to second, the legs are moved apart.

As for third, the heel is against the instep (the arched part of the top of the foot between the toes and the ankle) of the other foot.

Grimacing while performing is usually not an option. Photo / Bevan Conley

"At the moment your bottom is going out," Chandulal said as we began first position.

"We need to stay straight and neutral, and the tail bone just drops down."

For a rotund journalist with questionable flexibility, that was easier said than done.

"Sorry, I pushed my butt out again," I said.

Chandulal agreed: "But that's okay."

All the manoeuvres proved torturous, but combining them with circles of the feet, a few little springs (Sauté) and the odd knee raise was beyond me.

Throughout my (her) ordeal, Chandulal remained calm, friendly and beaming, although internally she may well have wondered why she let this idiot in her studio to begin with.

While I'm never going to be an advertisement for ballet students, I was blown away by the levels of discipline and dedication required to advance in the dance.

Then came another cold truth. Ballet dancers must keep a straight, calm face for their entire performance. No smiling, no frowning and certainly no grimacing.

Grimacing made up 90 per cent of my boxing effort last year.

Chandulal said it took around 10 years of full-time training to make a ballet dancer.

"That could mean a few days a week until you're 13 or 14, and then you're dancing daily."

My sense of dread only worsened when I was required to do a few of the moves to music.

"Right, maybe we should use a slightly slower track," Chandulal said after I pointed my toes and almost spun myself off my feet.

A doom metal song would still have been too fast for me at that point.

"Ballet is actually pretty mathematical, and everything has to be stacked one on top of the other," Chandulal said.

"If something is slightly off that central point of balance, then it's going to throw you off whatever you're doing.

"At a senior level, they are working their body to an absolute maximum, but they have still got to express the music."

Mike Tweed and Anna Chandulal perform a Sauté. Photo / Bevan Conley

Ballet classes usually begin when a student is around five or six years of age.

Chandulal said while she had a handful of males on her books, the vast majority of students were female.

"Out of a school of 130, there are four boys.

"As you can see though, a boy will gain just as much from doing it as a girl will. There's artistry, physicality and musicality.

"Male dancers are absolutely needed. I think there is more acceptance now, especially in other dance styles like hip hop and contemporary."

Adult beginner class would be starting up at Whanganui Ballet and Dance Academy in February 2022, Chandulal said.

"I'm not sure I'm going to be able to make it," I said.

"Is there one below beginner?"

So, when it is applicable to use the term ballerina?

"Ballerina is really a name that's given to a professional dancer within a company," Chandulal said.

"It might be colloquial thing that people say, but it's actually a term that's used when you reach a certain status."

Needless to say, it's unlikely I will ever reach that status.