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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be quite disgruntled that it seems I haven't grown up to be a ballerina.

148 replies

Slubberdegullion · 28/01/2014 20:25

I just think it's quite unfair really.

I did ballet for like 4 or 5 years when I was quite small. Good toes, naughty toes etc etc.

I really REALLY wanted hard to be a ballerina, and I still do, so imagine my shock and dismay when I realise last night that some lovely, bendy, pointy-toes Russian lady is dancing Giselle partnered by Carlos Acosta at the Royal Opera House and I'm just WATCHING her do it at the cinema in Ellesmere Port.

Who can I complain to about this please? There's just no ballet justice in this world Sad

OP posts:
dawntigga · 29/01/2014 12:12

I never wanted to be a ballerina, but I DO want to be an astronaut or a female Jacques-Yves Cousteau.

BloodyGrownUpWorldTiggaxx

parabelle · 29/01/2014 12:24

I quit after hearing my father saying 'she'll never be a ballerina with thighs that size'. Now I ferry my dds to two classes a week and hold my tongue at the size of dd1's thighs. She is enjoying herself and doing two hours of exercise a week and she totally believes she can make it to the Royal Ballet. I'm not going to be the one that puts her off her dreams, I'm the one who has to help her achieve them.

SaucyJack · 29/01/2014 12:29

I'm still pissed off that I never grew up to be Mr. T.

Tho I suppose it was a bit of an ask for a short white girl from the Home Counties.

mostlyharmless · 29/01/2014 12:38

SaucyJack Grin

That's lovely parabelle. I said I didn't want to be a ballerina when I grew up, in fact I didn't want to be anything. I didn't have any dreams and I never believed I could actually achieve anything. You keep her dreams safe for her.

cory · 29/01/2014 12:40

That Noel Streatfield has a lot to answer for! Hmm

I only read it aloud to dd to stop her from leaving ballet lessons in mid-term (when we'd paid the whole term's fees at £4.50 a shot!) and now she's working on her audition to the NYT. So aiming for Pauline rather than Posy. Why couldn't she have admired Petrova instead? I always thought she was the most interesting character.

PixieBumbles · 29/01/2014 12:40

My nan was a ballerina. Well, she went to the Royal Ballet School, then did I think one season with Ballet Rambert before having to accept that she was a little too big and tall and was never going to make it and got an office job instead while teaching ballet in the evenings.

I think she was always a little disappointed that her children and grandchildren inherited my grandad's rather hefty physique and lack of grace so none of us were ever going to be dancers!

I was going to be an Olympic figure skater when I grew up. Never mind that our nearest ice rink was 70 miles away, small and kidney shaped and that my balance is so poor that sometimes I swear I risk falling over on solid ground in flat shoes.

gotthemoononastick · 29/01/2014 12:52

You do not grow up to be a ballerina.You are born one and you know you have to dance at all costs when you are three.

wholesomemum · 29/01/2014 12:52

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
Slubberdegullion · 29/01/2014 12:52

Grin Grin @ Canidae.

Those doing adult lessons, do you have to purchase a leotard?

OP posts:
Quinteszilla · 29/01/2014 12:54

You only realized just now?

I got that blow when I was 10, when I saw a documentary that prima ballerinas started aged 5. I realized, at 10, I was too old. Sad

So I did karate instead, and did as well as I did with ballet. Ie I did not get famous, but enjoyed it, and the boys in my group. Grin

But, alas, I agree with the sentiment, I did not become any of the things I aspired to, only what my mum feared I would be: fat.

SorrelForbes · 29/01/2014 12:57

"What Would Posy Fossil Do?" Henceforth this shall be my new mantra. Grin

wyldchyld · 29/01/2014 13:01

Canidae, I am a 22 year old cat! I have been known to miaow at my stbDH, purr, rub my head against him and knead his leg with pretend claws. It sounds very weird when I type that, but it's our "thing" that makes us laugh.

I used to do four hours on a Saturday from age 4 onwards - ballet, tap, modern and disco dancing. I gave up aged 9 / 10 to have an operation on my feet to make me able to walk properly again and they damaged the ligaments and tendons in my feet when removing the bone spurs. The week I took my "sabbatical", I was told I was being moved to the en pointe class when I returned. Never happened due to the damage.

I then did drama classes every weekend for 2 hours for a couple of years til DM complained about the distance and said I would study it at secondary school - nope.

I sang in an exceptional choir from age 11 - 18 and toured Venice singing in all the cathedrals!

And from all that experience and talent - I'm a fat student lawyer who's only hobby is voluntary work!

wholesomemum · 29/01/2014 13:02

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
Slubberdegullion · 29/01/2014 13:03

Quint, I like to keep my options open. You just never know when the opportunity might arise for one to spontaneously exhibit some sort of spectacular moment of limbered up elegance and it's caught on camera and goes viral.

The leotard question is a moot point as there is only one adult ballet class near me and it clashes with fecking Brownies.
Denied AGAIN!

OP posts:
Original poster
Slubberdegullion · 29/01/2014 13:06

Nodding vigorously at your post wholesomemum. When at think of all the years being forced to play shite-house lacrosse in the syphilitic drizzle at school, and I could have been advancing towards my destiny having a much more enjoyable time dancing instead.

Dancing also v good for balance and therefore falls prevention

OP posts:
wholesomemum · 29/01/2014 13:06

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

EmilyAlice · 29/01/2014 13:14

Well I am 64 and still hoping for my big breakthrough, after all Fonteyn danced Juliet in her sixties... I go to adult ballet with my DD and there are still a few things I can do better than my DGD (though at eleven she is very good, but then I know whose genes they are...) and I still read her copies of Lorna Hill..
Coupée, chassée, pas de bourrée....

RobinSparkles · 29/01/2014 14:13

Mostly my DDs have just started ballet and they love it. They'll never be ballerinas though. DD1 is willowy but tall (although that could change as I was the same but I stopped growing and ended up a short arse at 5'3) but not only that - the idea of going en pointe horrifies her.

Not sure about DD2.

All the little girls look sooo cute in their outfits though!

mostlyharmless · 29/01/2014 17:07

I haven't actually been to any adult classes yet. I do want to but haven't built up the nerve. I do love dancing but have never had any training. I went to one 'lyrical' class a while ago and loved it, but got retrospectively spooked by the skinny 18-year-olds in leotards (didn't bother me at the time as I was concentrating too hard!) and couldn't fake some of the basic ballet moves they used. There is a beginners course I could do and I keep getting inspired to go, then backing out.

mostlyharmless · 29/01/2014 17:11

DD1 does look very cute in her outfit. I even got her a wrap cardigan even though she doesn't need one for her classes.

I'm not sure dd2 will follow, she's more a musical theatre type I think Grin

They both certainly love performing.

Innogen · 29/01/2014 17:31

Aged 2-8 here.

Fuck the ballet gods. Tap and jazz can do one too.

I was fabulous. [hair flip]

ExcuseTypos · 29/01/2014 17:44

I saw Giselle at the cinema on Monday too. It was magnificent and so moving. I loved the Russian lady- Natalia. I want to see her again.

I also should have been a ballerina. I'm petite, so that's a start but my total lack of coordination may have hindered me.Hmm

I do occasional pirouette around the kitchen usually when wine has been consumed and it doesn't embarrass my DDs at all.

NotYouNaanBread · 29/01/2014 17:52

I'm going to my first adult ballet class on Saturday! I have NEVER forgiven my poor departed mother for quite randomly stopping my ballet classes when I was about 8 (I think she was pruning my excessive extracurriculars), so a DAMMIT I'm going to do them now.

I'm also going to do the free Ballet Bootcamp at Sweaty Betty starting next week.

Sparklymommy · 29/01/2014 18:06

I did ballet from 2-7, quit, went back to it at about 12-14 and then. Quit again.

Dd1 is 11, far more advanced than I ever was. She has her pointe shoes and dances every day. She started at age 2. I remember vividly sitting in the car with dh while she had her first lesson. He heavily disapproved and felt I was "living through her". Now he's the one running her to classes and rehearsals every day of the damn week!

Ds1 and ds2 and dd2 also all dance. It's a crazy world and 7 year old ds1 is at the level I achieved in all my years of dancing!

With regards to the lifts, dd1 (who is frequently being lifted in ever more adventurous lifts) tells me it is an art form all its own and not everyone CAN be lifted (and it had nothing I do with being too fat, and all to do with being brave, throwing yourself into it and how one holds themselves!!!).

I am proper poor BECAUSE my children dance. But I'd rather they were there than sat in front of the telly and they do love it.

I adored all the ballet stories when I was growing up (the ballet family in particular) but dd thinks they are old fashioned and contrived. I was devastated after hunting down a copy of "dancing shoes" for her to declare it "alright, I guess". These books were my life when I was growing up!

fuckitall · 29/01/2014 18:57

I wanted to be a very deep and interesting, yet misunderstood horse whisperer when I grew up.

Nowadays I settle with "WOAH, YA DAFT SHIT"

I still believe I am capable of jumping in the Olympics on my little ginger pony. I'm hoping a very insightful person will come and see the reason why I don't jump 5ft is society won't accept me.

I will settle for the lone ranger though Grin