She is one of only a handful of Americans that have studied at the Bolshoi in Russia. She was the 1st American woman to graduate. She was so good they gave her a contract to dance with them.
This was SO interesting. Not only is Joy a great natural public speaker, but the way she explains everything in detail made it SO easy to understand *exactly* what she was talking about. She's such a GREAT teacher!! Please have her on again Wired! ♥
@@raymondmeyers8983 I don't think so, anyone can do it, even as a beginner, and it's really good for flexibility, strength, posture and stamina. There wouldn't be so many great 'silver swan' classes out there i.e. Ballet for the older generation, if it couldn't help improve movement and mobility
Better thann destroy my hands washing dishes, for example @@ElValuador, or playing football as a golkeeper or... waiting! i can also do it as a hobby and never use "tips". (That is was i make )
Ballet is at its core a study of the human anatomy and its movement. It's amazing how after dancing it for years, it sculpts the body and creates an illusion of lightness and harmony.
My favourite teacher at the end of my career always asked us if we understood physics and science because obviously ballet is about its artistry but you can't fight science in how to physically perform the actions. Gravity always exists and our bodies are built to move in certain ways no matter how you can train them to adapt to certain things. I'll always remember being so surprised that I'd never realized until they said it to me but we only really move around in 2 ways mainly either by falling and catching ourselves (that's fundamentally what walking is) or by jumping and catching ourselves (that's what running is) and any step in ballet where your travelling can be broken down to am I falling and catching myself (a pique turn for example) or jumping and catching myself (a grand jete for example). That's just a long way of me explaining a side that I so rarely seen used to explain how ballet works that so helped out though and I've brought to students of mine too.
Hats off to the editing team, you supported her words with visuals so eloquently and it was noticed. Joy thank you for sharing your talent with us, I will share this video with my 4 year old quite soon! I only got a few months of classes when I was her age and I'd love for her to have the opportunity to dance if she wants. Keep slaying legend! ❤
For those of us who have followed Joy's journey, this video is heartwarming! I wish nothing but the best in her career. She has fought for her place in the ballet world and seeing her dancing at the Paris Opera makes so much sense considering her desire to master her technique
Interesting that she admits that pointe is destructive to the body. It's amazing that ballerinas are able to willingly put up with the pain and destruction for the love of their art/sport.
Any sport done at a high level will be destructive. The impact on the joints really wears them out, ballerinas just add the more potential for damaging their toe, foot, and ankle joints.
@@cbpd89also the knees and hips, as the turnout with all of this is unnatural. I danced for years and ended up having a small tear in my hip that got so bad over time i had to have it surgically repaired. Had 2 knee surgeries as well. I thought i was doing something healthy dancing multiple hours a day 5 days a week, turned out i was destroying my body 😅
I wish she would have covered more how some, if not many, non pro female dancers just never do pointe. The emphasis of putting young girls en pointe has also greatly decreased.
@@HayleySulfridge you were probably not design to and most of all did not learn to do the movements properly. Ballet can't be a hobbie. On the long run it will ruin your joints, articulation and so on.
Joy Womack, After watching your interpretation of 21 Levels of Ballet, I started watching Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake - The Kirov Ballet, for the first time. In fact I have never watched any ballet before. I am very pleased with the way all the elements of music, dancers, costumes and scenery tell a story in such a unique expressive way. As a computer scientist myself, I made information exchange my profession. And its delighting and humbling to feel what machines may never be able to understand.
I appreciate her ability to take something that seems so complex to a non-ballet dancer like me and break it down into its smaller components. She made it feel approachable and increased my appreciation for this art form. I loved her dance sequences and the scaffolding teaching technique she employed in her explanations. I hope she takes up teaching after future retirement. I can definitely see her being an incredibly effective teacher for future generations of ballerinas.
Why did the end make me cry? First the 30(!!!) Fouttes made my heart swell, because ballet has always spoken to my soul, but then she turned around and said that ballet is for everyone and 😭
As a figure skater and an adult gymnast who is taking a beginning adult ballet class (I took some ballet in college about 20 years ago, and taking class again), I'm really beginning to see how so closely connected ballet is to these sports. I'm really hoping to see some big improvements when I get back onto the ice in August, and when I'm able to get back to get back to my gymnastics gym in a few weeks. BTW, her fouttes (sp?) at the end were beautiful!
A friend attended adult ballet classes at a local adult ballet school and told me about it. I have been doing stretching for a year and fell in love with ballet. So I have started adult ballet classes recently. Ballet is a unique and beautiful dance, and I respect all of you professional dancers.
I attended to ballet classes for 1 year, I was 23 years-old back then and it was my dream to try this. Never thought it would be SO hard and so difficult. After one hour of doing plie and tendu I was all in the sweat. I wish I could continue my ballet classes.
A scholar is a genius of a human mind, a ballet dancer is the prodigy of the human body. Great respect to these creative and brilliant athletes. The level of discipline, commitment, and GRIT makes them a genius with the human body and its mechanicst. This woman was a great dancer, teacher, and speaker. She would make a great and brilliant physical therapist.
Oh my gosh I just finished watching her biopic! I thought ballet was not for everyone after I saw all that fierce training and competition, but her saying dance and ballet is for everyone is just so heartwarming and encouraging ❤
BLESS you, Joy! This was so clear and easy to follow! At seventy years old and only having taken up ballet at sixty-one...my level is not very high! But my HEART is through the roof!! I've followed you for many years. You're SO inspiring, Joy! Sending you so much Love, Sweetheart! 🙏💕🤗 Janie 🇬🇧
Thank you Joy and Wired 🙏 I am a 47 yo ballerina, only for leisure, and I confirm that one can enjoy oneself very very much practicing ballet, even at a beginner level :)
I absolutely love Joy Womack. I have followed her career over the years and to see where she is now is inspiring. She emotes and performs with such strength. Well done Joy Well Done God Bless!!
I took intro ballet classes this past year and alignment was something I had never even realized was part of ballet lol it was exhausting. I have so much respect for the art of ballet. This was so great to watch and learn!
I have lived my whole life as a performer on stage. But after meeting ballet, I have become incomparably healthier and my life changed extremely better. I hope everyone experiences this magical feeling. And yes! Ballet is truly a physical activity for everyone. It's not something that only specially trained people can try. On the contrary, ballet is the foundation that should precede all other specialized training. It allows you to learn the fundamentals of body movement and posture properly.
I always got emotional watching ballet. My favorite expression of art. I never had the chance to became a ballet dancer, but I encouraged my daughter and today she's a happy dancer. I became a cellist and guess my favorite programs to play...ballet music!!
I really like how she used her arms and hands to shape the legs and feet as she described their positions. Very helpful to show this, then move to her dancing, along with the language.
So inspiring 😍 I started dancing contemporary again this month after 17 years and I also decided to take ballett lessons. My mom had the talent to be a ballerina(at least that was was her teacher back then said) , but her family was too poor. She is almost 73 and also wants to start again. Ballett and dance is for everyone and don't let people tell you, you are too old or to big or need to focus on something else. If you love it or really want to try it, do it!! The only regret I have, even though I am veeeery sore after each dance class, is, that I let other people decide what I should do. 💛
this is really helpful for those of us who cannot afford classes. i know i'll be able to turn this into a kind of checklist for mastery of each movement and actually feel i'm progressing. thank you immensely.
I'd like to see the men's variation (if there is one), but definitely a man/women combo and they types of ballet they can do together. This was very interesting.
I love how ballerinas are so elegant, strong and precise that they make such a hard dance look effortless. Oh how I wish I was privileged enough to start ballet at a young age. But my family and I were poor immigrants, I couldn't afford to be in any paid sports/dance classes.
yoooo i'm about to cry. I remember when Joy was a young ballet dancer at Bolshoi and she was the first American there omg omg. She's all grown up 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺 bae 🫶🫶🫶
I’ve tried to understand ballet and opera for about 40 years yet it still escapes me. I wish however that I was 10 % as flexible as this wonderful athletic artiste
I'm so grateful for ballet because I started dancing through it when I was 4/5 yo. Did it doing 5 years, it was at school so I never really got the chance to learn all these levels she showed in this video. I kept on dancing on my own, but other styles and sometimes I try and dance some ballet, I hope soon I can get back to dance classes. One thing that I've always admired a lot about ballet and ballerinas is that they need to have a lot of strenght to be able to do those movements but they also have to make it look easy, lightful and graceful
This was great to see as a dancer, but I wish a bit more attention was paid to which clips were being used for the positions! The video clip for effacé was actually croisé, and the clip for écarté was actually effacé. But I'm happy to see the difficulty of our art form on display!
Finial message was so wonderful!! I love to dance and I’m 65! I’ll never be at NYCB but who the heck cares!! Being “perfect” isn’t the point! Enjoy yourself!!
Wonderful. Thoroughly enjoyed this. Former dancer... something I really embraced was seeing heels into the floor. So many I see don't have that. Having the technique, the training, the stretch... to land with heels into the ground is one of my zillion things...
Ballet is beautiful and complex. Dancers take a whole lot of time, determination, and effort to perfect everything. Seems like being a ballerina is no easy job to begin with.
The editing MADE this video. Doug Larsen, Justin Symonds, and Courtney Karwal ya'll popped OFF well done. Made everything Ms. Womack say and do make perfect sense and has given me so much more context to videos I've seen of rehearsals now
WOW! This illustrates perfectly both the complexity and the extreme level of control over the body, while making it look elegant, ' easy' and beautiful. A bigger contrast with my own body [I am a quadriplegic with cerebral palsy] seems impossible. BEAUTY IN MOTION.
Watching this made me realize how far along I got in my ballet journey when I was younger and before I had so many medical issues. I'm only still in college now, but this makes me want to get back into it and see how much further I can get!!
"Otherworldly" Back in grade school, I saw a dance during a field trip where part of the choreography was matched with a strobe light and it looked like the ballet dancer was flying.
This video was an absolute Joy to watch (pun intended)! I'm not a dancer, but Joy really explains and describes everything so well, along with being an amazing dancer with incredible strength and grace. Love her passion, and like others have mentioned, I really hope she will become a dance teacher one day!
A childhood friend of mine did Irish dancing and I did ballet and I remember her asking me to teach her how to land an entrechat quatre with straight legs (OW) which is known as a double jump in Irish Dancing. I taught her the theory and then advised her to practise in the swimming pool. (you're essentially weightless in water -- my ballet teacher taught me that) when I did Irish dancing as an adult I could still land an entrechat quatre (with all the grace of a herd of rampaging alpacas!)
As a dancer, I personally disagree with some of her placements/rankings of difficulty (because, for one, a chainé turn is way easier than an attitude in a lot of ways and worlds easier than going on pointe, and spotting is one of the first things you learn in ballet), but I really respect her overall message
Yes I agree. Maybe she meant it in a different way tho, like how you build it up in class. First thing you do is a plié and the last thing you do is all the jumps.
@@erika7036 and I said that I personally disagree lol, I’m not saying that she’s flat out wrong because it’s her opinion, an opinion that I disagree with lmao
I think more than “levels”, what is meant here is “steps” - breaking down all the more basic steps which will lead to optimum advanced turns. It’s fascinating when you see it that way - the wording is just unclear/poorly thought out.
I agree with you. I have taught a lot of beginning and intermediate classes over the years and would associate my own rankings with that experience. I also know many lovely dancers that rarely or never dance on pointe and have mastery over the form, so I would put that close to the end as an embellishment.
Wonderful! No wasted time, you spoke clearly and used terms a non-ballet person can understand. You said something very significant; Anyone who is an expert makes it look easy. "It" is whatever you're doing; it could be dancing, singing, playing an instrument, acting, etc. I studied ballet for three years and I know how hard all this really is. I became a teacher instead, and you just earned an A+!
The videographer was not prepared to be shooting a dancer, or did not know that the edit would be slowed down and freeze frames required. There is a lot of motion blur making it impossible to see details in the moment. A higher frame rate and higher shutter speed are essential for this. What went wrong?
I deeply desired, as a joung girl, to take ballet class but It wasn't possible for many reason. Now I'm 45 and I'm having adult class and It's FANTASTIC. I really recomand It ti anybody Who love dance. I feel like I'm still a teenager 😂😂😂. Thank you so much
I've always wanted to learn to dance ballet since I was a child but my parents forced me to do martial arts instead. They probably thought it was more appropriate for boys to learn martial arts :/ But something about ballet makes me feel like I can be free. It looks so beautiful and graceful, and it makes me happy. I'm in my early 30s now and I don't think my body can handle it lol I'll just watch ballet dancers do it 😅
im 29 now and i want to try out both ballet and martial arts! i always tell myself, when im 90 i dont wanna look back and my life thinking "i always wanted to try ballet but never did it". found an entry class for adult beginners, th pictures also have a lot of men i think you should try it still! :)
Awesome video! Very informative! I am going to see Swan Lake performed for the first time later this month. I've never been to a ballet before and it's not something I was ever interested in until recently. I'm gaining an understanding and appreciation for this art form 😊
I did ballet for like 16 years. I wish I was half as good as you. I'm ok with the fact i was average but I love love love seeing true ballet dancers. ❤ Watching amazing dancers do ballet . It's just magic.
I've been wanting to learn ballet ever since I was a little girl, now on my late 30's I was wondering if learning ballet was too late for me but your words really touch me, thank you very much! 😢❤
it’s crazy to me as a ballet student myself how different the schools are. i’ve trained in american and italian styles and both are very different in their own way.
So beautiful 🥰 I love ballet and never able to take a class. My daughter do ballet but get bored 😢 I think they don’t really understand the challenge and the beauty on it. This video makes me think about taking classes as an adult, no matter if I can reach that flexibility, thank you for encourage me ❤
Holy moly! This was really fun to see. Very interesting how she explained everything and broke it down step by step. Her strength and skill are amazing. She is so graceful and beautiful to watch and she really does make it look easy. Step 1 is too hard for me 😊
What an amazing talent she has for public speaking and education - she could be reading the phone book and it would still be interesting and engaging! Not to mention the beautiful, positive attitude and message she is able to impart with such sincerity - what a joy to have been recommended this video!
Thank you so much for this clear and informative explanation of dance steps according their complexity. I loved the way that Joy explained, then demonstrated each step, emphasizing how each one builds on the others.
I miss dancing! I danced ballet, both American and modern, Jazz and tap dance for 12 yrs. It got to be too expensive taking 5 classes/week along with new Pointe shoes every month or so. Unfortunately, I was In 8th grade when I was at my best and a teenager, so of course I dropped out bc it "wasn't cool" to dance at that age. (yeah, right!!! The teenager brain...ughh🤦♀️) Although I never mastered the Fouettè, I considered myself a great dancer and I performed as Snow Queen in the Nutcracker my final yr, which was such an honor. Watching this video made me start dancing around my house, bringing back so much nostalgia. I think I may join a dance class in the near future. I still have all my leotards and ballet shoes! 😂 like she said, anyone can dance if they have poise and grace and can keep a tempo.
I finally grasp the fundamental movements in ballet and what expression is used. I stopped watching ballet acts because I cannot seem to understand what they were doing, and here is the answer.
Editing did great but did confuse just a couple things in the alignment section. What they have labeled effacé is actually croisé (crossed), and what’s labeled écarté is in fact effacé. An écarté position is not shown. If I were a beginner student of ballet watching this it would throw me for a loop, so just wanted to acknowledge it.
ballet was the most rewarding experience of my life, & im still sad that i haven’t been able to commit to it since going to college. i really cant wait to go back & try it all again, this brought back soo many memories! (especially that first beat in enchrecants oh god)
you can tell the editor doesn't know ballet cuz some of the steps were labeled wrong and the fouette turns were counted wrong. When someone does doubles in their fouettes, a difference arises between number of rotations and number of fouette turns. (more rotations and less fouettes)
Ok. The last message hit me hard, my eyes are watering. I was watching that and just thinking to myself that I'll never be anything but a forever beginner (been doing beginner adult class for about 3 years now) and some of these days I feel like I am fulling myself and only getting frustrated at my inability and wondering if I should quit. I've injured myself 2 month ago as well and recovery is really testing my patience. I feel like I've lost whatever little progress I had and I won't ever be able to even get that back
I did ballet for 15 years growing up but stopped in college, and sometimes I miss it a lot. Not to toot my own horn but my body type and feet lend themselves well to ballet and pointe, so it was one of the few things I excelled at and felt confident in doing. I'm 27 now and have considered trying an adult class, though I'm quite rusty these days lol.
I took fake ballet as a child for 13 years. Class was 1/2 hour once a week! I walked into my 1st real ballet class at 27. I had a lot of natural flexibility which really helps when doing ballet. Not to toot my own horn but now I am 65 and look and dance like I am in my mid 30s. Ballet keeps you young. Go for it! Find a beginning adult ballet class. Soon you will find you are in an advanced beginning or even intermediate level class and doing well!
She is one of only a handful of Americans that have studied at the Bolshoi in Russia. She was the 1st American woman to graduate. She was so good they gave her a contract to dance with them.
one day people will realize that ballet is not russia's culture. russian culture is killing people.
Then she left because she found out they were accepting bribes for principal ballerina positions and brought it to the public's attention.
@@suckedintothevoidpeople were shocked bribes were involved in something prestigious? lol
To pass the final graduating Vaganova exam, you have to be an incredibly strong and talented dancer. Money does not come into their abilities.
@@johannavanklaveren66 talent AND money, dear. You can’t ever forget the money 💰 lol
This was SO interesting. Not only is Joy a great natural public speaker, but the way she explains everything in detail made it SO easy to understand *exactly* what she was talking about. She's such a GREAT teacher!! Please have her on again Wired! ♥
I agree, she's excellent.
That’s a he. Look at that neck. Wow!
@@marktwain9818sure ok
@@marktwain9818what 💀
@marktwain9818 you don't choose and decide someones gender because of their physical appearance..
“Perfection doesn’t exist so be the best version of yourself you can be.” That advice is gold!
I LOVE that!
It does. Just hav a look at Sylvie Guillem. It s not the ordinary but it does.
I agree with you completely. That is good advice for anyone about anything 😊
If "perfection does not exist" - nor does Ballet.
Love her final message! Ballet is for everyone. I dance for a non-pro adult ballet company and personally find there is nothing more freeing :)
Except for the fact that it destroys your feet
What company do you dance for?
I agree to a point. Ballet is for everyone to appreciate but it’s not for everyone to actually do.
@@raymondmeyers8983 I don't think so, anyone can do it, even as a beginner, and it's really good for flexibility, strength, posture and stamina. There wouldn't be so many great 'silver swan' classes out there i.e. Ballet for the older generation, if it couldn't help improve movement and mobility
Better thann destroy my hands washing dishes, for example @@ElValuador, or playing football as a golkeeper or... waiting! i can also do it as a hobby and never use "tips". (That is was i make )
Ballet is at its core a study of the human anatomy and its movement. It's amazing how after dancing it for years, it sculpts the body and creates an illusion of lightness and harmony.
My favourite teacher at the end of my career always asked us if we understood physics and science because obviously ballet is about its artistry but you can't fight science in how to physically perform the actions. Gravity always exists and our bodies are built to move in certain ways no matter how you can train them to adapt to certain things. I'll always remember being so surprised that I'd never realized until they said it to me but we only really move around in 2 ways mainly either by falling and catching ourselves (that's fundamentally what walking is) or by jumping and catching ourselves (that's what running is) and any step in ballet where your travelling can be broken down to am I falling and catching myself (a pique turn for example) or jumping and catching myself (a grand jete for example). That's just a long way of me explaining a side that I so rarely seen used to explain how ballet works that so helped out though and I've brought to students of mine too.
She was my teacher in a summer intensive i did years ago..once i didn’t bring lunch and she gave me her mango.. She was soo nice
What a wholesome comment ❤
Hats off to the editing team, you supported her words with visuals so eloquently and it was noticed. Joy thank you for sharing your talent with us, I will share this video with my 4 year old quite soon! I only got a few months of classes when I was her age and I'd love for her to have the opportunity to dance if she wants. Keep slaying legend! ❤
Bless Wired's editors indeed.
hi anyone knows the name of the bgm?
@@KarieWei bgm?
@@rockcriedout7679 background music
@@rockcriedout7679 background music
For those of us who have followed Joy's journey, this video is heartwarming! I wish nothing but the best in her career. She has fought for her place in the ballet world and seeing her dancing at the Paris Opera makes so much sense considering her desire to master her technique
What is her current rank at Paris Opera Ballet?
@@shinemendwoor she's apparently on a short term contract so not a full member of the company
Wasn’t she anorexic?
Just like opera singers, Ballet dancers are just so incredible.
I’m not an opera singer or a ballet dancer, but I want to be incredible 😐
@@MoonSpinnersnever too late luv
@@Ch.erry_blossom ..thank you! 😁 my cat thinks I’m incredible, so that’s a start 😂
@@MoonSpinnersyou must be good if your cat is impressed
@@BethKing-z1d …😂 he loves my every movement (when it’s feeding time)
Interesting that she admits that pointe is destructive to the body. It's amazing that ballerinas are able to willingly put up with the pain and destruction for the love of their art/sport.
Any sport done at a high level will be destructive. The impact on the joints really wears them out, ballerinas just add the more potential for damaging their toe, foot, and ankle joints.
@@cbpd89also the knees and hips, as the turnout with all of this is unnatural. I danced for years and ended up having a small tear in my hip that got so bad over time i had to have it surgically repaired. Had 2 knee surgeries as well. I thought i was doing something healthy dancing multiple hours a day 5 days a week, turned out i was destroying my body 😅
Poor physical conditioning destroys the body too.
I wish she would have covered more how some, if not many, non pro female dancers just never do pointe. The emphasis of putting young girls en pointe has also greatly decreased.
@@HayleySulfridge you were probably not design to and most of all did not learn to do the movements properly. Ballet can't be a hobbie. On the long run it will ruin your joints, articulation and so on.
Joy Womack, After watching your interpretation of 21 Levels of Ballet, I started watching Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake - The Kirov Ballet, for the first time. In fact I have never watched any ballet before. I am very pleased with the way all the elements of music, dancers, costumes and scenery tell a story in such a unique expressive way.
As a computer scientist myself, I made information exchange my profession. And its delighting and humbling to feel what machines may never be able to understand.
[chuckling] Trivia. When regimes are changing in Russia there's a long tradition of playing "Swan Lake" on TV until everything calms down.
Beautifully said…
This is such a beautiful comment to read!
Agree, beautifully said ..
I appreciate her ability to take something that seems so complex to a non-ballet dancer like me and break it down into its smaller components. She made it feel approachable and increased my appreciation for this art form. I loved her dance sequences and the scaffolding teaching technique she employed in her explanations. I hope she takes up teaching after future retirement. I can definitely see her being an incredibly effective teacher for future generations of ballerinas.
Why did the end make me cry? First the 30(!!!) Fouttes made my heart swell, because ballet has always spoken to my soul, but then she turned around and said that ballet is for everyone and 😭
Omg, same!
As a figure skater and an adult gymnast who is taking a beginning adult ballet class (I took some ballet in college about 20 years ago, and taking class again), I'm really beginning to see how so closely connected ballet is to these sports. I'm really hoping to see some big improvements when I get back onto the ice in August, and when I'm able to get back to get back to my gymnastics gym in a few weeks.
BTW, her fouttes (sp?) at the end were beautiful!
I was thinking the same!
i always assumed figure skaters were taking ballet classes as part of their training.
A friend attended adult ballet classes at a local adult ballet school and told me about it. I have been doing stretching for a year and fell in love with ballet. So I have started adult ballet classes recently. Ballet is a unique and beautiful dance, and I respect all of you professional dancers.
I attended to ballet classes for 1 year, I was 23 years-old back then and it was my dream to try this. Never thought it would be SO hard and so difficult. After one hour of doing plie and tendu I was all in the sweat. I wish I could continue my ballet classes.
A scholar is a genius of a human mind, a ballet dancer is the prodigy of the human body.
Great respect to these creative and brilliant athletes. The level of discipline, commitment, and GRIT makes them a genius with the human body and its mechanicst. This woman was a great dancer, teacher, and speaker.
She would make a great and brilliant physical therapist.
Oh my gosh I just finished watching her biopic! I thought ballet was not for everyone after I saw all that fierce training and competition, but her saying dance and ballet is for everyone is just so heartwarming and encouraging ❤
BLESS you, Joy! This was so clear and easy to follow! At seventy years old and only having taken up ballet at sixty-one...my level is not very high! But my HEART is through the roof!! I've followed you for many years. You're SO inspiring, Joy! Sending you so much Love, Sweetheart!
🙏💕🤗 Janie 🇬🇧
Good for you Caroline!! Dance your heart out
@@lydipedia BLESS you, Spazzy!! 🙏🤗❤️🩰🎶🎵🎶💃🌈
Thank you Joy and Wired 🙏 I am a 47 yo ballerina, only for leisure, and I confirm that one can enjoy oneself very very much practicing ballet, even at a beginner level :)
Jesus loves you
I absolutely love Joy Womack. I have followed her career over the years and to see where she is now is inspiring. She emotes and performs with such strength. Well done Joy Well Done God Bless!!
I took intro ballet classes this past year and alignment was something I had never even realized was part of ballet lol it was exhausting. I have so much respect for the art of ballet. This was so great to watch and learn!
I love how knowledgeable she is about the 3 different schools of ballet. I had no idea there were 3 different ways of doing things in ballet.
I have lived my whole life as a performer on stage. But after meeting ballet, I have become incomparably healthier and my life changed extremely better. I hope everyone experiences this magical feeling.
And yes! Ballet is truly a physical activity for everyone. It's not something that only specially trained people can try. On the contrary, ballet is the foundation that should precede all other specialized training. It allows you to learn the fundamentals of body movement and posture properly.
I always got emotional watching ballet. My favorite expression of art. I never had the chance to became a ballet dancer, but I encouraged my daughter and today she's a happy dancer. I became a cellist and guess my favorite programs to play...ballet music!!
I really like how she used her arms and hands to shape the legs and feet as she described their positions. Very helpful to show this, then move to her dancing, along with the language.
So inspiring 😍
I started dancing contemporary again this month after 17 years and I also decided to take ballett lessons. My mom had the talent to be a ballerina(at least that was was her teacher back then said) , but her family was too poor. She is almost 73 and also wants to start again. Ballett and dance is for everyone and don't let people tell you, you are too old or to big or need to focus on something else. If you love it or really want to try it, do it!! The only regret I have, even though I am veeeery sore after each dance class, is, that I let other people decide what I should do. 💛
this is really helpful for those of us who cannot afford classes. i know i'll be able to turn this into a kind of checklist for mastery of each movement and actually feel i'm progressing. thank you immensely.
I'd like to see the men's variation (if there is one), but definitely a man/women combo and they types of ballet they can do together. This was very interesting.
Yes, there are moves exclusive to ballerino.
I love how ballerinas are so elegant, strong and precise that they make such a hard dance look effortless. Oh how I wish I was privileged enough to start ballet at a young age. But my family and I were poor immigrants, I couldn't afford to be in any paid sports/dance classes.
As a VERY casual ballet goer, this definitely game me much greater appreciation for this beautiful art. Thank you for sharing ❤
yoooo i'm about to cry. I remember when Joy was a young ballet dancer at Bolshoi and she was the first American there omg omg. She's all grown up 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺 bae 🫶🫶🫶
I’ve tried to understand ballet and opera for about 40 years yet it still escapes me. I wish however that I was 10 % as flexible as this wonderful athletic artiste
If you practice regularly, you can definitely improve your flexibility past 10% of hers! :D
I married a professional ballet dancer. She’s gave my size and just as strong. What she went through is astonishing
I'm so grateful for ballet because I started dancing through it when I was 4/5 yo. Did it doing 5 years, it was at school so I never really got the chance to learn all these levels she showed in this video. I kept on dancing on my own, but other styles and sometimes I try and dance some ballet, I hope soon I can get back to dance classes. One thing that I've always admired a lot about ballet and ballerinas is that they need to have a lot of strenght to be able to do those movements but they also have to make it look easy, lightful and graceful
When she says it seems unattainable that’s always what I think, I am mesmerized by the ballerina’s skill and athleticism, it is fascinating to watch.
This was great to see as a dancer, but I wish a bit more attention was paid to which clips were being used for the positions! The video clip for effacé was actually croisé, and the clip for écarté was actually effacé. But I'm happy to see the difficulty of our art form on display!
I noticed that too! I did a double take on ecarte...
Finial message was so wonderful!! I love to dance and I’m 65! I’ll never be at NYCB but who the heck cares!! Being “perfect” isn’t the point! Enjoy yourself!!
Wonderful. Thoroughly enjoyed this. Former dancer... something I really embraced was seeing heels into the floor. So many I see don't have that. Having the technique, the training, the stretch... to land with heels into the ground is one of my zillion things...
Ballet is beautiful and complex. Dancers take a whole lot of time, determination, and effort to perfect everything. Seems like being a ballerina is no easy job to begin with.
The editing MADE this video. Doug Larsen, Justin Symonds, and Courtney Karwal ya'll popped OFF well done. Made everything Ms. Womack say and do make perfect sense and has given me so much more context to videos I've seen of rehearsals now
She's so good talking to the camera, and so light dancing, she is beautiful ❤️
WOW! This illustrates perfectly both the complexity and the extreme level of control over the body, while making it look elegant, ' easy' and beautiful. A bigger contrast with my own body [I am a quadriplegic with cerebral palsy] seems impossible. BEAUTY IN MOTION.
Joy is such a joy to listen to! Her positivity is uplifting! I just started learning ballet at 24 and I aspire to her ease of performing 😍
Watching this made me realize how far along I got in my ballet journey when I was younger and before I had so many medical issues. I'm only still in college now, but this makes me want to get back into it and see how much further I can get!!
i really love the "broken down" sequences! it shows a bit of how much ballerinas have to control at the same time.
amazing video!!
"Otherworldly"
Back in grade school, I saw a dance during a field trip where part of the choreography was matched with a strobe light and it looked like the ballet dancer was flying.
I have so much respect for ballet dancers everything they do must be so hard to perfect and they do it with passion.
This video was an absolute Joy to watch (pun intended)! I'm not a dancer, but Joy really explains and describes everything so well, along with being an amazing dancer with incredible strength and grace. Love her passion, and like others have mentioned, I really hope she will become a dance teacher one day!
All forms of dancing are awesome to watch but I particularly love ballet because of how effortless they make it look
i'm about to take a ballet class as an adult after three years off and this was actually a great review of technique
A childhood friend of mine did Irish dancing and I did ballet and I remember her asking me to teach her how to land an entrechat quatre with straight legs (OW) which is known as a double jump in Irish Dancing. I taught her the theory and then advised her to practise in the swimming pool. (you're essentially weightless in water -- my ballet teacher taught me that) when I did Irish dancing as an adult I could still land an entrechat quatre (with all the grace of a herd of rampaging alpacas!)
Joy really really shows the hardships and the rewards of being a ballet dancer and should carry on inspiring.
Omg Joy!! I remember following her years ago. Glad to see her hear again
This has been one of the most useful videos I have ever watch to help me understand my daughters ballet training. Thank you so much for making this.
As a dancer, I personally disagree with some of her placements/rankings of difficulty (because, for one, a chainé turn is way easier than an attitude in a lot of ways and worlds easier than going on pointe, and spotting is one of the first things you learn in ballet), but I really respect her overall message
Yes I agree. Maybe she meant it in a different way tho, like how you build it up in class. First thing you do is a plié and the last thing you do is all the jumps.
she said herself that it was a personal ranking lol. for me chainés are more difficult than pirouettes for example.
@@erika7036 and I said that I personally disagree lol, I’m not saying that she’s flat out wrong because it’s her opinion, an opinion that I disagree with lmao
I think more than “levels”, what is meant here is “steps” - breaking down all the more basic steps which will lead to optimum advanced turns. It’s fascinating when you see it that way - the wording is just unclear/poorly thought out.
I agree with you. I have taught a lot of beginning and intermediate classes over the years and would associate my own rankings with that experience. I also know many lovely dancers that rarely or never dance on pointe and have mastery over the form, so I would put that close to the end as an embellishment.
Wonderful! No wasted time, you spoke clearly and used terms a non-ballet person can understand. You said something very significant; Anyone who is an expert makes it look easy. "It" is whatever you're doing; it could be dancing, singing, playing an instrument, acting, etc. I studied ballet for three years and I know how hard all this really is. I became a teacher instead, and you just earned an A+!
The videographer was not prepared to be shooting a dancer, or did not know that the edit would be slowed down and freeze frames required. There is a lot of motion blur making it impossible to see details in the moment. A higher frame rate and higher shutter speed are essential for this. What went wrong?
I deeply desired, as a joung girl, to take ballet class but It wasn't possible for many reason. Now I'm 45 and I'm having adult class and It's FANTASTIC. I really recomand It ti anybody Who love dance. I feel like I'm still a teenager 😂😂😂. Thank you so much
Joy is FANTASTIC at explaining and demonstrating everything. this is so helpful to hear very educational thank you
I’ve been following Joy’s dance career for years and I clicked this so fast. I’m so inspired and proud. ❤
Im a ballet dancer for over 10 years now and now I'm learning to get on point because I found that so beautiful
In case anyone was wondering:
- 1:30 is actually a croisé position
- 1:33 is actually effacé
1:33 is effacé 🤗
@@urcannabuddy7692 omg whoops you're totally right! i just edited my comment thanks :)
Beautiful! Loved her dancing and her message at the end. I’ve always loved ballet it’s one of my favorite styles of dance.
I joined an adult beginner ballet class one month ago and I just love it! Thank you for this amazing video
I've always wanted to learn to dance ballet since I was a child but my parents forced me to do martial arts instead. They probably thought it was more appropriate for boys to learn martial arts :/ But something about ballet makes me feel like I can be free. It looks so beautiful and graceful, and it makes me happy. I'm in my early 30s now and I don't think my body can handle it lol I'll just watch ballet dancers do it 😅
you should take her advice at the end and just try it!
im 29 now and i want to try out both ballet and martial arts! i always tell myself, when im 90 i dont wanna look back and my life thinking "i always wanted to try ballet but never did it". found an entry class for adult beginners, th pictures also have a lot of men i think you should try it still! :)
You can see the strength in her neck, so graceful!!
Shivers! Wow! as an adult beginner she gave so many great tips! Definitely bookmarked this video to watch again and again
Awesome video! Very informative!
I am going to see Swan Lake performed for the first time later this month. I've never been to a ballet before and it's not something I was ever interested in until recently.
I'm gaining an understanding and appreciation for this art form 😊
I did ballet for like 16 years. I wish I was half as good as you. I'm ok with the fact i was average but I love love love seeing true ballet dancers. ❤ Watching amazing dancers do ballet . It's just magic.
Love this! She made it so accessible and clear and I love how welcoming she was to non-dancers.
I've been wanting to learn ballet ever since I was a little girl, now on my late 30's I was wondering if learning ballet was too late for me but your words really touch me, thank you very much! 😢❤
it’s crazy to me as a ballet student myself how different the schools are. i’ve trained in american and italian styles and both are very different in their own way.
She is such a stunning dancer🤯gorgeous turnout
I just started beginning ballet for adults!!! Its a childhood dream come true!!
LOLLL the straight spinning during spotting was a hilarious way of showing the single action of spotting! Love the way she communicates!
So beautiful 🥰 I love ballet and never able to take a class. My daughter do ballet but get bored 😢 I think they don’t really understand the challenge and the beauty on it. This video makes me think about taking classes as an adult, no matter if I can reach that flexibility, thank you for encourage me ❤
Found this to be SO INTRIGUING my goodness. My respects forall the men & women who dance so gracefully while making it look like a song & poetry.
Holy moly! This was really fun to see. Very interesting how she explained everything and broke it down step by step. Her strength and skill are amazing. She is so graceful and beautiful to watch and she really does make it look easy. Step 1 is too hard for me 😊
JOY WOMACK! I watched a video of this girl when she was 15 so many times that I have the whole thing memorized word-for-word to this day!
Joy!!! So wonderful to see you on here. Been following Joy for years - she deserves all of her success 🎉
What an amazing talent she has for public speaking and education - she could be reading the phone book and it would still be interesting and engaging! Not to mention the beautiful, positive attitude and message she is able to impart with such sincerity - what a joy to have been recommended this video!
Thank you so much for this clear and informative explanation of dance steps according their complexity. I loved the way that Joy explained, then demonstrated each step, emphasizing how each one builds on the others.
I miss dancing! I danced ballet, both American and modern, Jazz and tap dance for 12 yrs. It got to be too expensive taking 5 classes/week along with new Pointe shoes every month or so. Unfortunately, I was In 8th grade when I was at my best and a teenager, so of course I dropped out bc it "wasn't cool" to dance at that age. (yeah, right!!! The teenager brain...ughh🤦♀️) Although I never mastered the Fouettè, I considered myself a great dancer and I performed as Snow Queen in the Nutcracker my final yr, which was such an honor. Watching this video made me start dancing around my house, bringing back so much nostalgia. I think I may join a dance class in the near future. I still have all my leotards and ballet shoes! 😂 like she said, anyone can dance if they have poise and grace and can keep a tempo.
I have to watch this again. I love ballet. I’m obsessed!
Skilled professional ballerinas make this look so easy but she does an excellent job explaining how difficult this stuff really is.
I finally grasp the fundamental movements in ballet and what expression is used. I stopped watching ballet acts because I cannot seem to understand what they were doing, and here is the answer.
And I can also finally say the French words correctly haha
Do you really need to know the moves to enjoy ballet?
I went to a private arts school growing up in Toronto and it’s amazing seeing all my dance major classmates execute all these moves with such grace
her: casually does 32 fouette turns while also changing her spot and adding in some doubles... wow!!!!
It is the arts that make humanity worth it, dance, music, art, acting,storytelling , without it we would be lost!
Great video and message thank you
Editing did great but did confuse just a couple things in the alignment section. What they have labeled effacé is actually croisé (crossed), and what’s labeled écarté is in fact effacé. An écarté position is not shown.
If I were a beginner student of ballet watching this it would throw me for a loop, so just wanted to acknowledge it.
what a professional and graceful woman
being a ballerina requires incredible dedication and fitness! so awesome to share this.
Yessss Joy!!!! I've been following you since Jenna and Julien had you on their podcast! So happy to see you showing your expertise here!!! ❤❤❤❤
ballet was the most rewarding experience of my life, & im still sad that i haven’t been able to commit to it since going to college. i really cant wait to go back & try it all again, this brought back soo many memories! (especially that first beat in enchrecants oh god)
you can tell the editor doesn't know ballet cuz some of the steps were labeled wrong and the fouette turns were counted wrong. When someone does doubles in their fouettes, a difference arises between number of rotations and number of fouette turns. (more rotations and less fouettes)
Ok. The last message hit me hard, my eyes are watering. I was watching that and just thinking to myself that I'll never be anything but a forever beginner (been doing beginner adult class for about 3 years now) and some of these days I feel like I am fulling myself and only getting frustrated at my inability and wondering if I should quit. I've injured myself 2 month ago as well and recovery is really testing my patience. I feel like I've lost whatever little progress I had and I won't ever be able to even get that back
This is the most amazing video talking about ballet. I recently start learning ballet for over half year and I really love it
Her movement looks so effortless. A true beauty.
I did ballet for 15 years growing up but stopped in college, and sometimes I miss it a lot. Not to toot my own horn but my body type and feet lend themselves well to ballet and pointe, so it was one of the few things I excelled at and felt confident in doing. I'm 27 now and have considered trying an adult class, though I'm quite rusty these days lol.
I took fake ballet as a child for 13 years. Class was 1/2 hour once a week! I walked into my 1st real ballet class at 27. I had a lot of natural flexibility which really helps when doing ballet. Not to toot my own horn but now I am 65 and look and dance like I am in my mid 30s. Ballet keeps you young. Go for it! Find a beginning adult ballet class. Soon you will find you are in an advanced beginning or even intermediate level class and doing well!