After 30 years, extending myself again at ballet
Plus: 'Hit a lick' on new Teen Talk; New crossword; Top news of the week — CMS hustles to hire teachers — City election is Tuesday — Tepper Sports backs out of Eastland
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Ever tried dusting off a skill you haven’t done in decades? An adult dance class at Charlotte Ballet seemed intimidating — but made my 47-year-old self feel 17 again.
There’s a range of skill levels at Charlotte Ballet adult drop-in dance classes, from novice dancers to people who dance regularly. And then there’s me (far right), taking a ballet class for the first time in 30 years. (Photo by Claire Lechtenberg/Charlotte Ballet)
by Cristina Bolling
I took a deep breath as I stepped into the expansive Studio A in the Charlotte Ballet headquarters on North Tryon Street for my first ballet class in 30 years.
Hair pulled tightly back? Check.
Stretchy workout clothes on? Yep.
Ballet slippers borrowed from a friend? Got ’em.
Confidence? Uh, no.
The soaring ceilings, bright lights, marley vinyl floors and piano in the corner were a big departure from the studio where I’d grown up dancing in Great Falls, Va., which had parquet wood floors and a record player and sat above an old Irish tavern.
In Studio A, professional dancers train and rehearse, as do young ballerinas who are working toward a dance career. The room converts into an intimate black box theater that seats 200 in chairs that extend out of one wall. This is the big league of Charlotte’s dance world.
I’d summoned the courage to try out Charlotte Ballet’s adult evening drop-in classes (they’re $16 per class) at the suggestion of a friend. I’m fit-ish, but no hardbody. I spend more time driving my youngest daughter, a competitive dancer, to dance class than working out on my own. My flexibility peaked exactly 30 years ago, at age 17.
Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.
Or, maybe it was.
How often do we get to try our hand at skills we were once good at but gave up long ago? There’s a vulnerability that comes from getting back on the soccer field or picking up that French horn after a long time away, because we worry how we’ll feel about ourselves if we’re no longer good at them. But maybe that’s the wrong way to look at it?
As I kicked off my sandals and slipped on the leather ballet shoes, I made a little nervous chit-chat with a fellow classmate who, like me, had also danced growing up.
Now she’s a child life specialist at Atrium Levine Children’s Hospital. I’m a writer and editor.
For the next 90 minutes, we’d be among eight students of Ben Kubie. He’s a former company dancer for Charlotte Ballet and a longtime teacher in the company’s academy — in short, a total pro.
We took our places at the barre.
Kubie teed up piano music on his phone to play through the studio’s speakers, and started the class the way all ballet classes begin, with pliés to warm up the legs. My knees crackled in a way they never did in high school. A voice inside my head reassured: You can do this!
Then came the battement tendus — leg extensions along the floor that end in a pointed foot. I challenged my 47-year-old toes to form a sharp point that had served me well as a young dancer. I looked down and considered the sight. Not too bad.
As Kubie moved through the class, I felt my muscles loosening up, my breath easing, my muscles remembering the predictability of the movements.
There’s something of a universal structure to a ballet class that hasn’t changed through the decades — plies, battement tendus, ronde jambe (semi-circles with a pointed foot), fondu (a melty leg action), fast little frappé kicks and big grande battement kicks at the bar, then center combinations.
“Very nice!” Kubie exclaimed as we finished one exercise and moved onto the next.
A pulling sensation ran down the insides of my legs as I struggled to achieve a good turnout, reminding me that ballet movements aren’t ones we humans do in nature. But the discomfort felt familiar, and somehow good.
Looking around the room, it was clear that some of the other students also had a dance background. A couple wore black leotards and pink tights like the ones commonly required at serious dance schools.
Kubie walked around the studio as he demonstrated the combinations and provided something of a ballet terminology refresher course along the way.
“Anyone remember what tendu means?” he asked. Silence. I imagined how my childhood dance teacher would be shaking her head that I had forgotten.
“It means stretch,” Kubie revealed.
THEN AND NOW: I was a high school senior in the photo on the left, posing before my final ballet recital. Right, Charlotte Ballet Academy instructor Ben Kubie demonstrates proper technique as he teaches an adult ballet class. (Photo on right by Claire Lechtenberg/Charlotte Ballet)
As we ended the barre portion of class, Kubie had us finish a combination with arms up and rounded, chest up, our right cheekbones tilted up and to the side. “Hero pose!” he exclaimed.
I set my gaze high and pictured myself as a prima ballerina beaming on stage at Lincoln Center.
One glance in the mirror and I zoomed right back to reality.
Barre work finished, we moved the portable metal barres to one side of the room and began our work in the center of the studio.
Kubie taught us a simple combination of steps, teed up a piano version of “All That Jazz” from Chicago on his cell phone, and I felt a skip in my step.
He led us in a combination of fast little jumps called sauté, and with each one my legs felt more and more like concrete. We students exchanged smiling glances and remarked quietly about how movements that look so easy can feel so hard.
Before I knew it, 90 minutes was up. Kubie led us in a reverence, the final cool-down portion of a ballet class that ends the session with grace and gratitude.
I’m not sure that I’d been very graceful. But as I stepped back into my street shoes and strolled out the door, I was filled with gratitude that this long-ago dancer-turned dance mom could for a few minutes feel 17 again.
Cristina Bolling has decided not to pursue a second career as a professional dancer, but to remain as managing editor of The Ledger: cristina@cltledger.com
🩰Want to take a ballet class from a pro? Charlotte Ballet’s adult drop-in summer classes continue through this week and will resume in late August. (Register and choose your classes here. You’ll see the fall schedule once you register on the website.)
🩰Or maybe skip the workout and just watch a show? Tickets for Charlotte Ballet’s 2022-23 season and the Nutcracker are now on sale.
Today’s supporting sponsor is Soni Brendle:
Teen talk: Build your vocabulary
Impress and delight the young people in your life by using the words they use. The Ledger shows you how in this occasional Saturday feature.
Today’s phrase: hit a lick
Pronunciation: “hit a lick”
Definition: to steal something, usually from a public place like a business or a school
Used in a sentence:
“I just hit a fat lick on the soap dispenser in the school bathroom.”
“Andrew hit a lick on the maple syrup at the restaurant.”
Ledger analysis: The phrase can be traced back to the “devious lick” trend on TikTok from fall of 2021, which caused some schools across the country to temporarily close because students were stealing things that were critical to operations, like plumbing pipes and water fountains. The trend is largely over but kids still use the phrase to talk about stealing. —Andrew Bolling, age 15
Crossword this week: ‘Fresh Mecklenburg Ways’
Our weekly Ledger crossword has a Charlotte theme. It’s possible that not everyone will be thrilled with this theme, which is of a recent vintage.
Ledger crosswords are created by Chris King, edited by Tim Whitmire and presented by CXN Advisory. Enjoy!
.PDF (suitable for download and printing):
.PUZ (suitable for use on tablets and computers with Across Lite app):
Headed out of town? Why not print off a few? For more crosswords with local clues, check out our dedicated Charlotte Ledger Crossword page.
This week in Charlotte: CMS short 441 teachers; Tepper Sports backs out of Eastland; Charlotte FC beats Chelsea; Housing sales drop
On Saturdays, The Ledger sifts through the local news of the week and links to the top articles — even if they appeared somewhere else. We’ll help you get caught up. That’s what Saturdays are for.
Education
CMS teacher vacancies: (Observer) Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools reported 441 teacher vacancies as of last week for the 2022-23 school year, which is higher than usual. This time last year, CMS only had 123 teacher vacancies. CMS is also short 146 teacher assistants, 78 custodians, 100 cafeteria workers and 35 bus drivers, with 48 more drivers on medical leave.
New community college interim president: (AP) The State Board of Community Colleges appointed former interim president Bill Carver for a second time as interim president of North Carolina’s community college system. The board is seeking a permanent replacement after President Thomas Stith III abruptly resigned. Carver first served as interim president in 2020 before Stith’s hiring.
Politics
Election day on Tuesday, early voting ends today: The city of Charlotte’s municipal elections are on Tuesday, and voters will make choices for mayor, city council at-large and city council districts 2, 3 and 6. City council candidates in districts 1, 4, 5 and 7 are running unopposed. Polling locations will be open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. The Observer has a voter guide with information about each candidate. Find your polling place here. Early voting ends today at 3 p.m. Find the list of early voting locations here.
Local news
Tepper Sports backs out of Eastland: (Axios Charlotte) Tepper Sports & Entertainment says it has no plans to be involved in the long-awaited redevelopment of Eastland Mall. The city and developer of the project say they’re confident it will move forward anyway.
Country club land purchase, new don’t-sue-us rules: (Ledger 🔒) Myers Park Country Club bought a house that’s near — but not on — its golf course for $1.4M last week. The purchase is puzzling neighbors, and the club told its members in an email that it would like to buy more adjacent property for potential future expansions. In addition, the club enacted new bylaws that say it will suspend any member that sues it, following the resolution of a lawsuit in which the club spent $166,000 in legal fees.
Business
Bank earnings: Bank of America said its 2Q profits were lower than a year earlier, but revenues grew 6%. CEO Brian Moynihan said the bank is seeing few signs of consumer economic weakness: “U.S. consumers remain quite resilient,” he said. Last week, Wells Fargo’s earnings and revenue fell, in large part because of a plunge in mortgage fees.
Housing sales fall: The number of homes sold in Mecklenburg County in June fell by 16% compared with a year ago, while inventory rose 7%, suggesting a softening of demand, according to figures from Canopy Realtor Association. “We expect to see sales decline further as buyer demand cools due to the affordability challenges from rising rates and continued inflation challenges,” Canopy’s president said in a news release.
Sports
Charlotte defeats Chelsea: (Fútbol Friday) Sure, it was an exhibition game. But did we mention that Charlotte FC beat Chelsea of the English Premier League? Full coverage, as always, in The Ledger’s Fútbol Friday newsletter.
Another Tepper shake-up: (Observer) Another top Tepper Sports & Entertainment executive has left: chief operating officer Mark Hart. His resignation was effective Monday. It is unclear why he left.
Good reads
Indiana Jones mystery solved: (N.C. Rabbit Hole) Jeremy Markovich of N.C. Rabbit Hole investigates why Steven Spielberg was wearing a yellow “North Carolina Highway Patrol” truckers cap during the filming of an Indiana Jones sequel in Spain in 1989. And Markovich tracks down the man who “unlocked the mystery of how a peculiar hat went from a small town in North Carolina to the heights of Hollywood, or at least to the heights of a legendary Hollywood director’s head.”
Bus ridership collapse: (WFAE) WFAE’s Steve Harrison goes in-depth on the plunge in bus ridership in Charlotte by talking with riders, politicians, activists and experts. Ridership has fallen by 75% in the last decade. One bus in Davidson had just four riders in a month.
Mosquitos, meet your pesticide-free match: (UNC Charlotte) It’s called the “Bucket of Doom.” Just fill a five-gallon bucket about halfway full of water and throw in a few handfuls of leaf litter or straw. Let it sit for a couple days, and female mosquitos will start to lay their eggs on the water. The concoction will kill the mosquitoes at the larval stage.
From the Ledger family of newsletters
Tour guide: Ruben Ordonez is the only Charlotte tour guide on ToursByLocals.com, an international private tour provider. His tours range from $200 to $780 and have earned him a 5-star rating. He wasn’t always a tour guide, though. He was born in Colombia and worked in chemical engineering before landing in Huntersville to work as a medical interpreter.
Drive-thru concerns: The head of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Planning Commission, Keba Samuel, says the advisory committee that reviews rezoning applications is taking a hard look at proposals for new drive-thrus because of environmental concerns.
Nonprofit repairs houses: Rebuilding Together of Greater Charlotte is fighting the affordable housing crisis by repairing houses of low-income residents to correct health and safety hazards that are common in older homes. Since 2018, Rebuilding Together has repaired almost 80 homes in Charlotte’s neighborhoods, including Lakeview and Druid Hills.
Apartment boom: Charlotte had about 20,000 apartments under construction in the 2Q of this year, the most ever.
Wednesday Ledger (🔒):
Charlotte housing market: We asked Yongqiang Chu, an economics professor at UNC Charlotte, for his take on the housing market, and he said, “It is true that the housing market is cooling down, compared with what happened during the last two years. However, I do not think house prices will go down any time soon. [...] We are going to see a slower growth rate going forward, but not price decreases.”
June’s rezonings 🔥: Our monthly summary of rezoning filings included plans for a senior community in Ballantyne, an 8-story condo/office tower in Eastover and a new Piedmont Natural Gas facility near the airport.
Friday Ledger (🔒):
CATS brings on a consultant: The city of Charlotte has hired an outside consultant to evaluate the Charlotte Area Transit System, including its leadership, as its buses struggle with reliability.
Prices up at farmers markets: Farmers markets are typically places where shoppers can buy fresh produce, meat and baked goods at more affordable prices. But inflation is causing prices to rise at markets across Charlotte, as farmers say they’re having to pay more for everything from gasoline to animal feed, making it more costly to grow and transport crops.
Senior community coming to Shalom Park: Shalom Park, the center of Charlotte’s Jewish life, plans to open a new senior living facility in 2024 called Generations at Shalom Park. Construction hasn’t started yet, but plans show 125 apartments starting at $361,000 with amenities like a movie theater and walking trails. Project leaders say half of the units are already reserved, and the facility will be open to anyone regardless of faith or denomination.
Stonk graffiti: The word “stonk” has been showing up in graffiti tags around Ballantyne. We tell you what it means, where it’s popping up and we get the lowdown from Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police on whether it’s gang related.
Ways of Life (🔒):
Woman and her caregiver: Mary Russell’s final six weeks with Alzheimer’s were blessed by loving caregiver Olympia Massey, who sang gospel with her, arranged Dessert Nights and prayed with her. “I felt like God gave me this personality, and that the best thing I can give to the world is me,” Olympia said. “He sent me the Russells.”
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Executive editor: Tony Mecia; Managing editor: Cristina Bolling; Staff writer: Lindsey Banks; Contributing editor: Tim Whitmire, CXN Advisory; Contributing photographer/videographer: Kevin Young, The 5 and 2 Project