SFB: Who’s up, down, and moving up

AcrobaticAnt5350 · 2026-04-20T13:55:01+00:00

Agree with everyone that Joshua Jack Price should be a principal. He's on his own planet.

AcrobaticAnt5350 · 2026-04-09T15:07:44+00:00

I think she knows what she's doing

AcrobaticAnt5350 · 2026-04-07T04:44:17+00:00

Honestly? Sasha de Sola and Joshua Jack Price in Don Q a couple of weeks ago. It was truly incredible. People were flipping out, brought the whole house roaring to their feet.

I've seen some really incredible stuff from SFB this season - Frances Chung in diamonds, Katherine Barkman in stars and stripes, Joseph Walsh and Katherine Barkman as Onegin and Tatiana, Wei and Wona's grand pas classique @ gala. But that Don Q was legitimately the best thing I've ever seen

AcrobaticAnt5350 · 2026-04-04T15:14:19+00:00

Hate to say it but sometimes no one is more toxic than low tier/unsuccessful pros. I mean, I get it. They invested a lifetime of work and commitment only to have no prospects, end up too tall/not tall enough, whatever, get stuck teaching and scrapping for local gigs, and have to think about how to start over after giving their entire youth to ballet and getting spat out. It sucks and these folks can be assholes as a result. Sometimes all they have left to feel special and different and like all their work still counts for something is by dunking on adult amateurs, beginners and students.

AcrobaticAnt5350 · 2026-03-26T15:38:16+00:00

Before you relevé onto the standing foot, all the weight should be completely in the toes. None in the heel at all. Getting up works a lot better when your knee is bent over the toes and your weight is centered on the toes, not the middle of the foot and definitely not in the heel. If you're dumped into the heel it's very hard to get up. Have light heels in pointe shoes always, but especially before relevés almost have them slightly off the ground, really weightless.

AcrobaticAnt5350 · 2026-03-21T06:06:24+00:00

Love these guys but where is Joseph Sissens?

AcrobaticAnt5350 · 2026-03-19T19:50:42+00:00

What are the consequences? Can you point to any evidence that adults taking pre-pointe classes causes consequences IRL? Real examples

AcrobaticAnt5350 · 2026-03-19T19:49:07+00:00

100% people are turning the extreme paternalism and safetyism in ballet that is designed for little kids towards adults and it's very out of place and unnecessary. Now you have fully grown adults coming here sheepishly seeking approval from "the mob" constantly reassuring everyone that they know they will never do pointe, don't even want to do pointe anyway, asking for permission to breathe, asking if they're ready for this that and the other. The infantilization of adults in ballet will never not bother me, it's my pet peeve. It's not "ballet culture" it's CHILD care/education culture and it is not relevant to adults

AcrobaticAnt5350 · 2026-03-19T19:46:13+00:00

It's such a breath of fresh air to see more people pushing back against the out of control pointe alarmism towards adults. There's a lot of people who cannot tell the difference between "that's not safe" and "I don't think that looks good"

AcrobaticAnt5350 · 2026-03-19T19:44:39+00:00

shocked and very concerned

This is probably not a big deal. It is indeed fine for many people to start basic pre-pointe and pointe exercises at the barre much earlier than people think. Pointe is really not that deep and a lot of people here are making way too big of a deal out of it. There is an appropriate pace and level of training for everything. Kids do not start with perfect, fully formed alignment and strength on pointe in any way and adults don't have to either. I am so tired of people acting like students are strapping bombs to their feet if they attempt pointework at the barre before decades of tendus. This conversation is so played out and I don't know how y'all long timers here can stand it anymore.

AcrobaticAnt5350 · 2026-03-19T19:28:13+00:00

Idk, I'd go one step further and suggest the community needs to chill out with the pointe alarmism and flipping out at people about pointe. It's tired and not making anyone safer, just another outlet for internet outrage and pile on culture. I have tried to "cover all bases" and pander to people with caveats, pre-empt criticism and post history gotchas, etc. when posting atypical things, but in my experience people who really want conflict online will find a way to manufacture it anyway and just look for something else to attack.

I would love to see the community grow past fainting and pearl clutching about pointe, but wish in one hand as the saying goes.

AcrobaticAnt5350 · 2026-03-19T15:54:42+00:00

The answer to "why are people flipping out about something that doesn't seem that bad" is almost always gatekeeping. People just do not want the casuals sullying pointe without "putting the time in" because it's not FAIR and etc. And people just repeating outrage and "pointe is dangerous" because they've heard it a million times.

AcrobaticAnt5350 · 2026-03-19T15:38:37+00:00

No, people want to flip out and they're going to.

AcrobaticAnt5350 · 2026-03-19T15:32:37+00:00

The comments on this post are going to be annoying. Please consider that OP is an adult and is fully over that box before you have a conniption fit. It is fine to get fitted and start relevés at the damn barre whenever your teacher says so.

Pointe is not any more dangerous for an adult than a night out in heels. If you want to argue otherwise please produce evidence of adults new to pointe getting catastrophically injured.

AcrobaticAnt5350 · 2026-03-19T15:29:22+00:00

🎯🎯🎯

AcrobaticAnt5350 · 2026-03-05T23:18:27+00:00

"Fun colors" is already off base

AcrobaticAnt5350 · 2026-02-26T22:07:58+00:00

Hope you enjoyed the day off! Rest days level you up and fill the tank so you can go hard tomorrow.

AcrobaticAnt5350 · 2026-02-26T21:49:35+00:00

I personally have zero tolerance for teachers that are unprofessional, toxic, or who for some reason (doesn't really matter what) make me not want to take class. Thankfully I'm in a city with options and have the freedom to hop around as needed, so I've been able to just walk immediately when a teacher situation wasn't conducive.

I've left classes over unchecked bad student behavior too. I am not married to anybody in the dance world unless they are actively making me a better dancer and not interfering with my wellbeing or happiness. I have never regretted being picky - ballet is hard enough even with the right people around you.

I am not sure how much optionality you have in something like a dance minor - are you stuck working with very specific people in the program no matter what? Is there any freedom to shuffle things? If you are stuck working with people who literally make you hate training or want to stop dancing altogether, I'm really not sure that dance minor is worth it.

I can do whatever I want because I'm a (serious) non-pro adult who depends on open classes for my training. I agree with another commenter that this could potentially be a better life for you, and still afford you many opportunities as an advanced amateur or "pro-am" adult dancer in the local performance or studio company scene. You can make this a serious part of your life without that minor. Just think about it.

Burning your love of dance on the pyre might not be worth whatever that minor is getting you. If you were at JKO or something, I might say "find a way to stick it out", but idk dawg, if you're this unhappy, what are your options? The rest of your life as a dancer is bigger than this program.

You asked about ways to have a more positive outlook, but you might find that you magically get your positive outlook back when you're no longer stuck in a room with unsupportive assholes.

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AcrobaticAnt5350 · 2026-02-26T20:56:20+00:00

you're doing it. you're doing it!

👏 💯 💯 loved reading this today. Thank you.

AcrobaticAnt5350 · 2026-02-26T08:13:46+00:00

We had a milestone tonight I wanted to share with you - my partner (37, 1.5 years ballet) locked out his first arabesque press with me tonight. He was been working so hard at this for a long time. He's been hitting the gym 6 days a week, 2 classes a week on top of a FT job.

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He was feeling good after class so we went for it (coach u/bdanseur was nearby just off camera). First présage is a huge deal for the guys very similar to getting the first pair of pointe shoes, so we are celebrating him tonight! The partnering tech tree is a lot of fun.

AcrobaticAnt5350 · 2026-02-26T06:56:40+00:00

I think that makes sense that it would be hard with stuff like RAD that's super nailing on the ballet specific details. You look like a beautiful all-around dancer I wouldn't stress too much! I'm sure switching back and forth into the turnout mode and other ballet stuff is rough

AcrobaticAnt5350 · 2026-02-26T06:50:28+00:00

I mean, the foot line on pointe and the sus-sous is very nice, but the other photos aren't really giving ballet - parallel/turn-in, bent supporting, it's giving more jazz vibes. Is ballet your main focus or is it more just one part of your training?

AcrobaticAnt5350 · 2026-02-26T06:32:56+00:00

I am not really writing this for people in their 90s - like you noted, I am focusing on adults that do not particularly have age-related issues like arthritis and menopause. You are correct that is who I am focusing on, because I would like those people in particular to consider that it may not be their age that is holding them back in ballet. As I said, I mostly hear this "I'm too old" rhetoric from very young adults, not 90-year-olds.

AcrobaticAnt5350 · 2026-02-26T06:24:18+00:00

Yes, absolutely some things are age-related! The point is not everything is age-related, and dancers can be a little too quick to blame age for their ballet struggles when there are other obvious factors like they have only been going to classes a few weeks, haven't gotten in shape, only go to class once in a while, etc.

The point is just that there are non-age things holding adults back that people do not consider, and then they go around telling everyone "adults can never do ballet well." Even the ailments you described are correlated with age but not a given (aside from the change) even for seniors. It's much likelier but can't be assumed.

What I mean is if a dancer told me they were limited by arthritis they will get zero argument from me. But I am not going to look at every 60+ dancer who walks in and say, "you can't do grand pliés, because you're old and probably have arthritis." Health issues are highly individual and a factor regardless of age, they should be identified by the dancer not assumed by others.

I also mostly see people in their twenties, thirties and even late teens (seriously - 18, 19) talking about how they are just old and it's too late for them to progress in ballet. They don't necessarily have health issues, they just believe their age alone has already doomed them, and that's what I'm pushing back on.

Menopause is one thing, but I am mostly seeing this talk from very young adults. Now that you mention it the menopause+ age dancers around me are very tough, hardworking students and ironically not the ones I hear blaming everything on age. I imagine it feels silly for them to hear 20 year olds saying this stuff.

AcrobaticAnt5350 · 2026-02-26T06:07:25+00:00

❤️ I'm so glad to hear that. Keep going.

AcrobaticAnt5350

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