Ballet At Last

Many of you know that I have been taking ballet classes for the last two years in Portland. Moving to Turkey has forced me to take a break from these classes. I had threatened to "Skype in" to classes, but that was not a reality the time shift could support.

Last weekend I went to the Turkish version of Oktoberfest. Don't let me get started on all of the things wrong with this statement. One good thing came from this hodge-podge of cultures. The Oktoberfest had some entertainment for the audience as we ate our dinner of sauerkraut and chicken sausages (one of the many wrong things about an Oktoberfest in a Muslim country: NO PORK!). This entertainment was a selection of dances from a local ballet studio. As the crowd watched a version of some Latin dances and the Jive (again, so many things wrong with this), I looked in the audience for someone who looked like a teacher.

She was easy to spot, if you've ever seen a ballet teacher at a recital you know what I mean.

I approached her and gave her my card. She, Fraa. Victoria, speaks some English, but she is from East Germany. I asked her to send me some information on adult classes over the weekend so that I could start taking classes again.

No dice on the e-mail. Little did I know that she is somehow related to Ayse (Eye-sh-ha) Hanim, who is in charge of finances here at TAC. Ayse Hanim has been very helpful in getting papers through the Turkish government and is really the go-to-girl if you want something done.

Ayse came to me on Monday and drew me a map to the studio, explained when the classes are, and told me she would be happy to help translate if needed, giving me her cell number just in case I got lost.

Adam and I took the train to Adana that day after school and found the studio with lots of time to spare. He went off on some mysterious errands and I got ready for the class. I know that everything takes ages to get done when you deal with a language gap, so I went to the secretary and worked with her to fill out some paperwork (in case of emergency stuff) and she showed me where to change.

Fraa. Victoria, also called Maggie, is a German. From EAST Germany. Her second language is Russian, her third is English (and it's her worst), and her fourth is Turkish. Ballet class is taught in Turkish with some French terms that all ballet classes use. Fraa. Victoria also teaches RAD. For you not in the know that is the Royal Academy of Dance and it is the strictest school of dance. It is not what Miss Sarah taught.

Ballet class was hard enough in the States where I knew the language. Here I am trying to deal with complicated ideas without having the language to ask questions very well. I spent most of the class following by watching the combinations and then trying my best. I don't think I was a total disaster, but it wasn't as good as I know I can be. That may also have something to do with missing four months of classes!

Was I given corrections? you betchya. Was it anything I could not do? not really, I know I need to work on pirouettes and get my hips open more.


The most important thing was I was in a class and I was dancing again. I'll be back on Monday and on every Friday that I am in town!

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