Fascinating discussion on body-awareness and stage movement. I have always, always always been clumsy and unaware. Every movement was fraught with equal expectation of sucessful completion and crash-and-burn. I took ballet as a small child, which, really, only helped me fall more gracefully.

I'm a very graceful faller, and I rarely get seriously hurt.

Imagine my surprise when I had small children and suddenly I could grab falling objects or small bodies out of midair without conscious thought or preparation. Make it halfway across the room to snatch a toddler away from an unprotected light socket. Turn as I fell with a baby in my arms to land, unhurt, on my back, with the baby cradled safely in my arms, laughing and no doubt thinking, "That was fun! Do it again!"

Oddly, I kept most of the adeptness. But I'm still thoughtlessly clumsy, and I'd be seriously alarmed and disoriented if I didn't frequently trip over small to nonexistant obstacles or bash into table corners and doorframes.

This was inflicted upon me in email. I feel it's only fair to share.

I took ballet as a small child, which, really, only helped me fall more gracefully.

I'm a very graceful faller, and I rarely get seriously hurt.

Karate did the same thing for me. I can't fight worth a damn, but I can usually recover from a stumble without falling, and when I do fall I automatically do the arm slap that minimizes the chances of being hurt. I'm a klutz, but I'm good at it.

I also spent an entire PBS Great Performances arguing over whether the tradition of hiding a ballerina's hips (with skirtage) necessarily means that hips aren't pretty and exciting to look at.

Uh... it's the same tradition as hiding a woman's hips with skirtage. Dresses had skirts, bathing suits had skirts, ballet costumes had skirts. When skirts disappeared from bathing suits, they disappeared from some ballet costumes.

In a Balanchine ballet, the ballerina is as likely as not to be wearing just a leotard and tights. And shoes, of course.

I suspect the particular person you are talking about had "I'm never wrong" mentallity

It's not a particular person. There's usually 3 or 4 of them per beginning class, which means it's not just an idiosyncrasy, but something I want to develop the vocabulary to address. I'm out of learning/teaching modes on that one.

Help with the spring movies.

Hands should be placed in pockets the way George Clooney did in that escalator shot in Ocean's Eleven. Lacking that ability, I prefer the horizontal, oddly.

I'm usually sporting one or two bruises from running into doorways, tripping over unreasonably placed objects (such as my own feet), and banging into furniture corners. I'm not terribly clutzy per se, although there's probably some clutziness in there, too. But mostly I'm not paying attention. I'll be in a conversation, or off in some mental gerrymander, and *bang* reality will remind me that physics does not make exceptions for me.

two things I love together - Sugar Hill Gang and pink convertibles - BRILLIANT!

ita, those people are crackheads. They said Miss Congeniality 2 is inessential!?! It is on my must-see list and I am right.

reality will remind me that physics does not make exceptions for me.

It totally should, though.

It totally should, though.

No! You start making exceptions, and where does it end? Chaos, I tell you, chaos.

It totally should, though.

I've always thought so. Maybe there's a place where I can fill out some paperwork, get an exemption.

When skirts disappeared from bathing suits, they disappeared from some ballet costumes.

This was my thinking. Also, hips are like the rebar of the body, right? If I am looking at the body, I like to see how its structure all works together, not just the finials and wingdings and jazz hands. You know?

But my classmate argued that there were aesthetic reasons to hide the hips, not just modesty ones.