Ballet and climbing - crossover skills?

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Messages 1 - 20 of total 39 in this topic << First  |  < Previous  |  Show All  |  Next >  |  Last >>
Banquo

climber
Amerricka
Topic Author's Original Post - Aug 1, 2015 - 06:31pm PT
So, I'm spending a week in S. Tahoe with a large family gathering and hope to do some climbing. I have a niece who is a ballerina with the NYC ballet (CORPS DE BALLET). I don't think she is "outdoorsy" but she is an awesome athlete and certainly has good balance, strong legs, high strength to weight ratio and strong toes. Any opinions as to whether such a person would be a good rock climber? I'm guessing she will be awesome (which of course she is) on the rock but I really have no idea. I've asked her if she would like to try and she says she is game.
philo

climber
Aug 1, 2015 - 06:35pm PT
Don't let her start it will only make you feel weak and insignificant when she flourishes.
I was a performing dancer during some of my best climbing years. Climbing and dancing are extremely compatible.
rgold

Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
Aug 1, 2015 - 07:26pm PT
I'm surprised she's game. I've known several professional dancers and they were all extremely careful about any physical activity with the potential to injure them for dancing. The risks coming from dance itself are very substantial, and the dancers I met, with careers on the line, had no interest in adding to that inventory.
Banquo

climber
Amerricka
Topic Author's Reply - Aug 1, 2015 - 07:28pm PT
Oh, She's game and tougher than any 10 climbers I know.
rottingjohnny

Sport climber
mammoth lakes ca
Aug 1, 2015 - 07:29pm PT
Philo...Pole dancing isn't usually considered traditional dance...rj
donini

Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
Aug 1, 2015 - 07:31pm PT
I love Philo....but the image of him pole dancing is only something Cosmic could photoshop.
Banquo

climber
Amerricka
Topic Author's Reply - Aug 1, 2015 - 07:34pm PT
Philo:

12712 forum posts
11 photos
No trip reports

I'm sorry but not a player.
philo

climber
Aug 1, 2015 - 07:36pm PT
Banquo you have no idea.
There was a time during the ten years I've been posting here that I had hundreds of climbing pics and original climbing artwork and 'toons, original stories from FAs in Red Rock, JTree and the Black Canyon as well as more than 10 very popular TRs with hundreds of comments and tens of thousands of views. But unlike you and I most forum posters do not bother checking into a posters contributions and before they condemn them utterly for making fun of ammosexual gun nuts. So I purged all the contributions I'd made except for my forum posts. I don't care if you can't be bothered to find out my history before dismissing me. Most of my detractors had little or no positive climbing content. No matter.
So are you a player?
pell

Trad climber
Sunnyvale
Aug 1, 2015 - 07:52pm PT
I would say a lot of. Both dancing and climbing are about discipline, whole body strength and endurance, and precision of movements.

Every time I see smthng like
[Click to View YouTube Video]

or
[Click to View YouTube Video]

I think about physical, mental and technical skills of those dancers and how those skills are similar to rock climbing ones.
Banquo

climber
Amerricka
Topic Author's Reply - Aug 1, 2015 - 07:53pm PT
So, I don't know who Philo is - clue me in.
Edge

Trad climber
Betwixt and Between Nederland & Boulder, CO
Aug 1, 2015 - 08:03pm PT
I took a year of ballet and tap when I was 8; my Mom said I was the strongest dancer at the recital.

Eight years later I took those skills to the mountains and became a fairly competent vertical dancer. That early exposure to dance began my tight shoe fetish.
Clint Cummins

Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
Aug 1, 2015 - 08:08pm PT
Some photos of Joyce Rossiter in this thread:
http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=709738&tn=0
philo

climber
Aug 1, 2015 - 08:11pm PT
Banquo I'm no one and nothing. Just a broke down has been wanna be from the dark ages.
But I'd did used to dance and choreograph.
Fossil climber

Trad climber
Atlin, B. C.
Aug 1, 2015 - 08:55pm PT
Back in the Eocene when I was running YMS I'd sooner have a dancer for a student than almost any other athlete. They're a natural for anything requiring balance, agility, lower body strength, and an analytical approach. Most of the guides loved dancers too - but often for other reasons.
MikeL

Social climber
Seattle, WA
Aug 1, 2015 - 09:18pm PT
Best climber I ever climbed with was a dancer. Beautifully elegant, courageous, a centered spirit, and a real control of his body.
Ghost

climber
A long way from where I started
Aug 1, 2015 - 09:30pm PT
A dancer who took up climbing at Sqaumish danced off a ledge and dropped 90 feet...

...fortunately into a mudpond. Dunno if it was her dancing skills or divine intervention that let her survive that one without serious injury.

Most of the guides loved dancers too - but often for other reasons.

Good one, Wayne.

Ghost

climber
A long way from where I started
Aug 1, 2015 - 09:55pm PT
Not all cyclists are like you.

Which is a good thing, or every Emergency Ward in North America would be so swamped with broken bicyclists that there would be no room for anyone else.

Maybe if I'd been a dancer or a gymnast, I could have vaulted over the cars that...

...oh, wait...

No cars were involved in any of the many times I rode my bike into an ER...
philo

climber
Aug 1, 2015 - 09:56pm PT
Having been simultaneously and avidly involved in climbing and dance made me better at them both. The biggest difficulty I faced was dealing with the freak out the director of the dance company would have every time I go do a big wall in the Black Canyon before every opening night. Made me a better dancer but made her a nervous wreck.
philo

climber
Aug 1, 2015 - 10:01pm PT
At the funeral for my best friend and climbing partner his brother referred to his skills as a "Vertical ballet of the soul". Always loved that resonate phrase.
Banquo

climber
Amerricka
Topic Author's Reply - Aug 2, 2015 - 08:12am PT
Wow, I feel like I tipped a sacred cow and triggered a shitvalance or something. Geez, even Tami is upset with me. "Not a player" must mean worse than I thought - I better check urban dictionary.

Philo - I am sorry if I have offended you. I perhaps assessed you too quickly and leapt to an unfounded conclusion. I will read all 12,000 posts as penance.

Tami - Peace. Please.
Messages 1 - 20 of total 39 in this topic << First  |  < Previous  |  Show All  |  Next >  |  Last >>
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