Learning/Unlearning?

I feel more confident about my hooking kick. If I practice it once or twice before breaking at the test, I'm pretty sure my leg won't do a ronde de jamb en l'air, the ballet move that it resembles.

Seems like to learn the hooking kick, I had to unlearn a bit of ballet.

Master Hughes has said that to me before when he's commented on my horse stance. I often look like I'm doing a wide second position, with a nice turn out, rather than having legs and feet face forward.

In ballet, I'm having to unlearn, too. When I want to do a beat, that move where dancers tap their legs and feet together in the air while doing a jump, I have to unlearn the simple flutter kick that I do when swimming laps. My legs want to go back and forth rather than cross and uncross.

It's not even as easy as that, as I want to continue ballet and swimming while still being able to do hook kicks and beats. I guess it's not so much "unlearning" as it is learning to know which move goes with which context.

When I learned German in college, it was much the same. I'd learned French in high school, so when I first began German, I'd try to answer the question "Was heisst du?" but "Je m'appelle Jane" would come out instead of "Ich heisse Jane"! Eventually, the German replaced French--and then I could only speak French with great effort. It made me truly admire those who are bi-and tri-lingual.

Maybe that's the way it is with physical activities: it's like learning a new language for the body. I hope I can become tri-lingual!