Month: June 2014

As you lovely dancers are perfectly aware, this blog is about dance. Lots and lots of dancing and dance-related fun. Because, you know, dancing is right up there with breathing and smiling and living. It’s that important.

However, as you are also aware, I’m a huge fan of reading, which has been made apparent in previous random posts. I’m still inching my way through Rick Riordan’s The House of Hades, gobbling up my allotted two chapters a day (talk about a mini heart attack this morning, when that wind bomb blew up in Piper’s hands…).

HOWEVER (Yeesh, me and this word!), I have never really expressed my passion for writing. I guess I’ve always just assumed that I didn’t need to, since, after 203 blog posts, it’s more of a fact than an assumption. So, I’m going to go at this like a winner and just say:

I love to write.

I have tons of incomplete short stories and manuscripts, and I’m proud of it, too! When I get a good idea, I write it down, and when I get bored, I move right along through all of my other ideas, searching for one to add on to. Because stories are really just ideas. All of the characters and settings and plot lines that people have come to adore? Those all began with an idea. And thank God for people like Shannon Hale, Catherine Gilbert Murdock, Heather Vogel Fredrick, Suzanne Collins, Rick Riordan, Wendelin Van Draanen, Margaret Sidney and Noel Streatfeild, who, like me, responded to those ideas. One day, like them, I hope to hand my ideas off to people like me, whose love of reading is so outlandish, they tend to forget…

Yesterday was beyond awesome.

Honestly, I don’t know what I’d do without ballet. Probably pirouette around Bass Pro Shop (No, I didn’t do that over break! Why would you even ask that?).

But fear not, lovelies, for summer classes have come to my rescue, lest I lose my mind! Speaking of which, I have not forgotten about my owing you a random post. I just haven’t found the right words yet….

Miss Sara started off our first Wednesday ballet class of the mini-mester with plies, tendus, degages and ronds de jambes. After that, we had a nice stretch and then returned to the barre for grand battements. We performed a challenging adagio piece before knocking up the pace for a slightly disastrous across-the-floor combination, and after a good laugh, it was time for pointe.

Sarah and I had a semi-private pointe class yesterday– it was great. We did a handful of releves, while I cringed over the deathly state of my shoes. When it came time for chaines, however, I decided that the Mirellas must go and slipped on my Euros. They were hard and uncomfortable and hard, but I felt much less nervous as I attempted my turns. I can’t say that I was especially proud of my chaines, but I like to think that my piques made up for them…. It was, indeed, a “turn day,” working on pirouettes and soutenus besides. I decided to show Miss Sara the picture that I took of Kaden and my dad at Bass, attempting to stand in pirouette position, a row of large guns behind them. We smiled, laughed and all-in-all, felt much better about our own pirouettes! (P.S. I would totally LOVE to post that picture, but Kaden won’t let me…)

Oh, lovelies. Nobody pinch me.

Right off the bat, I just want to thank Miss Jenna for being amazing. I am seriously bouncing off the walls in happiness (OR folding massive loads of laundry after our vacation with an unprecedented vigor… your pick!).

Leaps and Turns began with a bit of a shpeel; the class will be divided into an intermediate group and an advanced group, starting next week. The advanced group will arrive an hour later than the intermediate group. Ms. Tina will be sending out email confirmations for class placement by the end of the week. Ta-da!

Then, we talked about the importance of not being too hard on ourselves because–let’s be honest–leaps and turns are not exactly plies and tendus. They are, however, my two favorite things in the book, and not even this conversation was enough to deter me from believing that I’ll be able to master whatever I set my mind to. Because that’s how God programmed me. Sometimes, I get annoyingly obsessive, but I can’t quit. I just… can’t.

So, we began class with a full-blown warm-up, including cardio and stretching exercises. The best way to describe this part of class would be Miss Jenna’s line, “Hello quads! Welcome to summer class!”

It was great.

The remainder of class was spent in across-the-floor, doing grand battements, jazz walks, chasses, soutenus and a new favorite: six-step pirouettes. Those turns were confusing, crazy and otherwise challenging, but I loved them.

When class ended, I couldn’t believe it. Even after 160 crunches, I felt like I could go for another two or three hours.

And now, I must go mope, for ballet does not begin until Wednesday. You may end up with another post tomorrow, however, and if so, you can bet your ballroom shoes that it’ll be random. 🙂

Normally, I wouldn’t use #summerlovin because the phrase, in itself, weirds me out. I don’t normally admit to this truth: I CAN BE A VERY UPTIGHT BALLERINA!— either, but obviously, this isn’t happening today.

It’s summer, lovelies. Even I can let go.

Because–honestly–who ACTUALLY minds waking up at nine every morning? Reading for the next hour or two? Eating toaster waffles and a fruit smoothie with REAL SUGAR for breakfast? Sitting outside to read some more? Starting five or six different short stories and tossing around which one you’re going to finish first? Not me!

My last two weeks have been busier than my first year of high school ever proved to be. No, I’m not working math problems, dissecting World War II and cramming a bunch of French words into my brain (Okay, so that last one’s not entirely true….); I’m doing things that I WANT to do. I’m busy LIVING instead of learning how I SHOULD.

Summer is a time to make your own rules, or so I’ve come to realize. Over the past two weeks, I’ve watched myself evolve from a girl who planned out every waking minute of her day in permanent marker, to a girl who jots down a few things she MIGHT like to accomplish on said day, and sees what happens after that. And, once again, I’m not talking about work.

Of course I’m exercising and attempting not to lose everything that I gained in dance this past year (Wow, that sounds crazy…). Because that would really stink. But these last couple of weeks have given me so much besides time for my body to recover from… well… May. These days, my mind is clearer, too. And yeah, it’s partially because it’s not overflowing with algebraic equations and historical facts, but mostly, it’s because I’m learning to relax.

I’m not a pro yet, by any means, and I doubt that I ever will be. But when I came across that field yesterday (pictured above) and thought about taking off my shoes and running around in the misty fog, I knew that I was getting somewhere.

Even moving isn’t stressing me out as much as it usually does. We’ll be heading a ways down the street on the 27th, and no, I haven’t boxed a single thing. Actually, I got up this morning and asked for Kentucky Fried Chicken with mashed potatoes for dinner. I’m embracing the cardboard and plastic wrapping scattered all over my house, and I’m actually really, really happy.

But no, parents, I will NOT be prevailed upon to leave our home state. Smiles.

And dance starts Monday, and it’s kind of hard to be sad about that… so I don’t even try. 🙂