Football and Ballet ARE Related and Other Exercises

I was speaking with a friend last week during classes, and I brought up how I wanted to go en pointe. And she said (real polite, mind you, as to not crush/shatter my dreams), that she heard it could do permanent damage to my ankles and toes. When she said that, I remembered my ballet teacher saying a long time ago that if I wanted to go en pointe, I would have to see the doctor to see if I was ready for it. Now that's a big turn off. The permanent damage, not the doctor trip.

BUT...and this is a big BUT... I immediately thought about football players and hockey players. Lots of them have had spine damage, head damage, maybe lost a couple teeth here and there--yet they continue to play. Why is that? Because they don't care. They love what they do so much that it doesn't matter anymore, and that's how I feel. I just want to dance. I'm not going to have this body for much longer anyway, and my body will probably benefit from the muscular endurance, flexibility, cardio more so that it will counter-balance any toe damage.

Anyway, enough about me. Here are some fabulous videos I found while scrounging around on Youtube:

Stretches for Home

This first video is an exercise video. This stretch is used to improve many things from kicks to splits.

Learn How to Pirouette

This is another excellent video for an introduction to pirouettes. Damn these things are hard! I can get two if I'm lucky, but hey, I'm just starting so I'll take it easy on myself.

Phew... I'm tired. Went to see Rocky Horror late last night, but I still want to get at least 50 minutes of exercise in so I don't drop any muscle for next dance class in a couple weeks.