Andrea’s Promenade: Intro

Hello! I’m glad you stumbled across this little corner of the Internet. Andrea’s Promenade is a place where I can create, learn and share the process of ballet with you, whoever is reading this. Whether you want to make ballet your career, you are taking a few classes in your local studio, you are a “dance mom” who wants to learn more about the world your child is in, or you are simply a person interested in the mysteries of the world of ballet, this blog is for you.

Why “Andrea’s Promenade”?

“Andrea’s Promenade” is a blog about all things ballet as I live through them myself. The name of this blog is a pun, or in lack of a better way to explain it, a phrase with a double meaning: “Promenade” in French means journey, but it is also a ballet term for a difficult step. And in the inevitability to sound cheesy, this blog is a way to document my journey through the world of ballet and life; it’s my “promenade”.

Let me introduce myself

I am Andrea, a 19 year old girl on her way to become a professional ballet dancer. I have worked six months with my country’s first Ballet Company. Although I have a history of practicing gymnastics, ice skating and other sports, ballet had always caught my eye. But the level required to dance professionally was never available to me, until 3 years ago. Since then, while juggling the highly-demanding academic program of my school and the International Baccalaureate, I managed to train for my desired path in life: ballet. It took me about 15 years to find the right place with the correct technical knowledge to even consider ballet as a possible career path. So, this leads me to explain why I created this blog and what its aim is.

Purpose of the blog

Ballet has always been an enclosed, elitist type of art. The world of ballet is this hidden gem that only those emerged in the water are able to find the pearls of. Ballet is usually perceived as this closed bubble towards the general public. Yes, you might hear once in a while about a Russian, Cuban, French or American ballet company that is performing at your city’s theatre, and you might even go watch the “The Nutcracker”, “Swan Lake” or other ballet productions near you once or twice a year. But, you are never encouraged to look into the process that those performances entail. One never learns about the how the french origin of the names of the fouettés, the pas de chat or the promenade were changed during the Chinese Cultural Revolution, the struggles of ballet during the Russian Revolution of 1917, the technical and historical differences of the various ballet techniques or the misconceptions of ballet stereotypes in our society.

For example, in Costa Rica, there is a lack of knowledge sources to learn ballet. 

“Andrea’s Promenade” aims to change that. 

I had a hard time finding the right information about ballet, but it’s never too late to learn about it and be captured by its beauty and cultural richness. All of the history, the technique, the struggles and the complexities of ballet are going to be explored in the following blog posts along my personal experiences during my career. I am getting myself emerged into this world and I want you to come along with me.