Karen: Profile of a Dancer

There may be some potential dancers out there still wavering between looking for a dance class and thinking you’re too late to the dance party. So we thought we’d give you a little inspiration from one of Lyn’s former students.

I’d like to introduce you to Karen:

If you have a look in the ADC gallery, you’ll spot Karen in at least three of the photos. The reason is twofold: she loves to dance and she’s good at it.

Not long after Lyn started her dance school in Scotland, Karen went along to the ballet classes and soon found herself having a go at tap and jazz too. She approaches dance with a can-do attitude and, while ballet is still her favourite, she’s not averse to trying different styles.

But I’m skipping ahead somewhat.

The reason we wanted to introduce you to Karen is because she’s an adult dancer and we think she will inspire you.

When the passion started

Karen has been dancing since she was three years old. Apparently she danced around the kitchen and had so much energy her mother thought a dance class would be the best way to expend that energy.

Today Karen understands that that “energy” is a need to dance.

“I’ve got dance in me,” she explains.

She simply can’t stop moving. It’s just part of who she is, the sensation that something inside of her just wants to come out. It doesn’t matter what she’s doing, if music comes on the radio, she has to move, she has to express herself through dancing.

This feeling, this energy, kept her dancing dedicatedly until she was 16. Her focus was ballet and her talent and commitment were so strong that, at the age of 11, her school in Manchester encouraged her to audition for the Royal Ballet School. Her family, however, was about to move to Cardiff and the audition didn’t happen. Years later, Karen’s mother revealed that she had been afraid Karen would be too tall and, with rigorous body-type expectations placed on dancers, that ultimately Karen would be disappointed, so her mother had not pushed for the audition to happen.

Today Karen wonders if perhaps it also had something to do with the fact that she would have had to move away from home at a young age, an emotional wrench for both parents and child.

Whatever the reason, it was a 16-year-old Karen that was faced with a not uncommon choice of ‘dance or academics’ and she made the difficult decision to stop dancing.

Getting back to ballet

The intervening years were full. She married and had three children, the family moving several times within England. She went back to ballet briefly in her 30s before the arrival of her second child, but it was only when the family moved up to Scotland and when she found Lyn’s newly established ballet classes that Karen really got back into it.

It is here that I shift the narrative point of view somewhat and recount my first few classes with Lyn. I started there not that much longer after Karen had. As often happens in ballet classes, the less confident (and possibly the misfits) scurry to the back of the class during the centre work. That way we can try the steps without feeling like we might be seen, and that way we can follow the stronger dancers at the front. As a misfit at the back, I can say that Karen was one of the stronger dancers I was grateful for. Her technique is certainly something to be mirrored and she had the enviable ability to remember the choreography!

The journey back to pointe

Karen gave it a year at Lyn’s before she decided to try pointe work again. She says it’s very different now to when she was a teenager. There weren’t many choices of pointe shoes then.

“You expected pain. There were no ‘Ouch Pouches’ and you expected blisters after every class.”

Nowadays, the pointe shoe market is varied and pointe shoe-fitting is a skill in itself. Karen got her pointe shoes fitted at the dance shop in Covent Garden where she tried on several different brands and types, from Bloch to Grishko. In a weird sort of Cinderella moment, the Gaynor Mindens were the last ones she tried as, being so expensive, they weren’t usually offered.

“They were like putting slippers on and I just knew they were the right ones for me.”

Later she did having a fitting for the British-made Freeds just to be sure, but it just confirmed that the Gaynors were the shoes for her.

“It is about finding the right shoe for you,” Karen says.

Her only concern with Gaynors is that she’s never sure when they’ve got to the end of their life. Gaynors are ‘bendy’ (not the technical term!) right from the beginning, whereas other pointe shoes noticeably lose support. She wonders whether she got her second pair too early, but we mulled over that idea mid-interview and decided that it’s probably better safe than sorry when dancing on one’s toes!

Karen’s first performance on pointe was in Lyn’s show, in a piece that had beautiful Chinese umbrellas as props. I asked her how she felt before the performance.

“It was terrifying! It was the most scary going onto one leg. At the back of your mind you’re always thinking, ‘Will I make it?’”

Afterwards, it felt amazing to have done it.

“People in the audience, they look at the scene and they don’t think ‘Look at her, she’s awful’, they think ‘Look at her, at her age. She’s on pointe!’”

I would just like to add here, they certainly wouldn’t have thought ‘she’s awful’. Inwardly, she might have been terrified, but outwardly, as photographs from the performance prove, she looked confident and controlled.

Karen thinks that adults today are put off trying pointe as they think they might damage their feet, having seen photographs of dancers’ mangled toes, but pointe shoes are different today, better designed with greater support. And doing pointe work once or twice a week will not mangle your feet.

How important was it to choose a qualified teacher for pointe?

Karen does not hesitate in her answer:

“It’s essential.”

Whilst she would prefer an RAD teacher, she most definitely wants a properly certified teacher, whatever the school of qualification. And a teacher that is dedicated to Continued Professional Development is also hugely important.

Another aspect Karen relies on is how she feels about that teacher, if there is a trust there. A good teacher will see a weakness and give caution and correction, rather than encourage the student to keep going.

This is the photo that inspired us to profile Karen. And just look at those beautiful feet!

Trying different styles

Although called The Ballet Schools, Lyn’s dance classes included jazz and tap as well. So, after a confident return to ballet and with that dance energy needing to be expended, Karen decided to try the other two styles.

Rather unsurprisingly, it wasn’t long before she was taking part in the jazz and tap performances in the annual shows.

Today she still doing tap and has turned her hand (and feet!) to contemporary as well.

Getting through injury

Being injured and unable to dance is something we all worry about. Suddenly we find ourselves avoiding other activities that might lead to a sprained ankle or a strained back and being forced to miss a class.

“It’s the fear of not being able to dance,” Karen says.

And she had to confront that fear in the not-so-distant past when she started experiencing severe pain in her right ankle.

“I was miserable. Absolutely miserable.”

She was referred to a physiotherapist who advised her to rest her ankle, but when Karen said her main objective was to get back to dancing, she was told that that might never happen.

“I dissolved into tears when I heard that.”

Yet she was not defeated. She did as she was told, taking 18 months off, resting her ankle and only doing gentle exercise, such as walking and aquarobics. Not wanting to miss out on Lyn’s show one year, she graciously helped me out with a brief but much needed and appreciated walk-on part at the start of my ballet.

So she rested, but was certainly not idle, determined as she was to get back to class. And that determination paid off. She returned, with relief, to class and slowly started rebuilding the strength and confidence in her ankle.

But then the same pain appeared in her left ankle.

This time she did not hesitate and booked herself an appointment with a private physiotherapist. In all that time, Karen had assumed that the pain was something to do with her ankles, but this physiotherapist quickly, and correctly, found that the issue was in her peroneal muscles that run down the side of her calves, into her ankles and under her feet. With the right diagnosis, the help of a theraband and stretching exercises, she was back in the studio within six weeks.

Now Karen is disciplined about making stretching a part of her day. She stretches after her morning shower and again before she goes to bed, and, of course, before a class she makes sure she warms up properly.

The present

This is Karen today:

Doesn’t she look fabulous and strong and poised? She dances five days of the week: two ballet classes, one tap and two contemporary performance groups for the over 60s.

So for anyone hesitating whilst the dance in them is fighting to get out, let Karen inspire you to find a dance studio. Whether totally new or returning after a break, it is never too late.

And she has some words of wisdom for all dancers, be they new or experienced:

“Don’t try to be as good as the best dancers; be the best you can be.”