{"id":6954,"date":"2017-12-08T16:29:11","date_gmt":"2017-12-08T16:29:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fitproblog.mysites.io\/fitpro-interview-big-ballet-star\/"},"modified":"2017-12-08T16:29:11","modified_gmt":"2017-12-08T16:29:11","slug":"fitpro-interview-big-ballet-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fitpro.com\/blog\/fitpro-interview-big-ballet-star\/","title":{"rendered":"“Big Ballet” star"},"content":{"rendered":"

Christine Longster went to her first ballet class at the age of four and has had a love affair with ballet ever since. After being accepted to the Royal Ballet Upper School, despite a teacher telling her she was too plump and too short, at the age of 13 Christine found herself at ballet boarding school with aspirations to be a professional dancer. Here she tells us how she turned these aspirations into a fitness career and shares her experience of being on a TV show called Big Ballet<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

At ballet boarding school I put on a lot of weight and they said I had to lose it. I probably lost too much weight and then I became run down and got glandular fever. The doctor said I couldn\u2019t dance for 10 months and my father wouldn\u2019t let me go back to ballet after the illness. It was the start of the fitness boom at the time; I went to my first fitness class, which was very Jane Fonda \u2013 it involved ballistic stretching. I thought, \u201cI can do this.\u201d<\/em> So, I went to audition at York University to be an aerobics instructor.<\/p>\n

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In those days, dance wasn\u2019t really accepted in the fitness industry. I can still remember the first class I ever did: it involved a half turn, a star jump and a turning knee lift. When we performed that, everyone was literally like wow! I had a lady who did my BODYPUMP\u2122 class and she always looked miserable. I asked her why she didn\u2019t come to the BODYJAM\u2122 class. She replied, \u201cI can\u2019t because I have a false hip.\u201d<\/em> I said, \u201cOf course you can!\u201d She came to my class for 15 years and told me it had changed her life.<\/p>\n

Fast forward to 2014 and, while I was working at Bannatyne\u2019s Health Club, I received an email from a production company asking if there were any \u2018plus-sized\u2019 women who were interested in ballet. I\u2019ve always been a size 10\/12 but I\u2019m only 4\u2019 11\u201d. I hadn\u2019t done ballet for 30 years but I needed closure. I rang the producers of Big Ballet<\/em> and told them what size I was but they said they were looking for \u2018bigger girls\u2019. My friend yelled down the phone, \u201cShe\u2019s really short! She is big!\u201d<\/em> I sent a video and got accepted for the audition. I had been down the thin side of the ballet world and I thought maybe it was time to see what the other side of the ballet world is like.<\/p>\n

There were two days of auditions and, once I\u2019d been accepted on to the show, I did six months\u2019 training at the Northern Ballet with Monica Loughman and Wayne Sleep, who were inspirational. We trained on Thursday and Friday nights and all day Saturday and Sunday. It was really tough because I was teaching as well.<\/p>\n

The performance was an amazing experience; I had 100 people from my classes cheering me on. I\u2019m so glad I did it because my mother died four years after the performance and that was the last time she ever saw me dance. She turned to one of my friends and said, \u201cThat\u2019s my daughter on that stage!\u201d<\/em> Yet, when she spoke to me, she said, \u201cHow ridiculous, a 52 year old dancing on the stage!\u201d<\/em> I had been bitter about ballet for so long but I can now enjoy it.<\/p>\n

Big girls aren\u2019t going to be ballet dancers on the stage \u2013 they aren\u2019t. But it doesn\u2019t stop them from enjoying classes and not feeling intimidated. I think from doing Big Ballet<\/em>, I was able to reach out to everybody. I have class participants say to me, \u201cYou were amazing on that show, Christine.\u201d<\/em> I\u2019m probably the biggest I\u2019ve ever been in my life but it hasn\u2019t stopped me from enjoying ballet and getting involved.<\/p>\n

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(Christine pictured here, first dancer on left)<\/em><\/p>\n

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The importance of the warm-up and cool-down in dance<\/strong><\/p>\n

Recently, editor Olivia Hubbard spoke to Edel Quin, MSc and MFA dance science programme leader and dance lecturer at Trinity Laban Conservatoire, about the importance of warming up and cooling down to prevent injury in dance. She found that, despite the most recent research, dance is still behind in applying the principles of warming up and cooling down relative to other sports. Quin believes that\u2019s partly because of a lack of awareness of how and why, but also potentially due to a culture that pain and injury is an accepted part of the \u2018suffering artist\u2019 persona. Despite positive developments in vocational dance training programmes, a challenge remains in reaching the independent or private studio teachers, as well as general fitness instructors who deliver through dance. More needs to be done to encourage the application of the latest scientific guidance for basic safe dance practice. Quin said, \u201cIt\u2019s important that an experienced dance instructor is able to find a balance where the movement material is sufficiently challenging fitness and skill levels, but isn\u2019t chorographically challenging to the point that form becomes compromised.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Here are some resources you might find useful to explore this topic further:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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